Six Questions the Free Assessment Review Answers
The Free Assessment Review answers more than "is this assessment too high". Ask it what a building will cost to hold after closing, whether a prior year is still refundable, what number belongs in the reserve, why an appeal lost, or whether a personal-property schedule is carrying equipment twice. Each answer comes back in writing, scoped before any work starts, with my signature on it and no fee.
Some Questions Deserve an Answer Before There Is Anything to Appeal
Most of my work is contingency appeal representation: no fee unless the tax bill goes down. That model fits one question well: is this assessment too high, and is it worth fighting. That question is the Free Assessment Review, and it has its own page.
Owners, buyers, and controllers also face property tax questions that don't wait for an appeal window. What will this building's taxes actually be after closing? Did we overpay in years that are still refundable? What number belongs in the reserve, and will it hold up when the auditors ask how we got it? Why did the appeal lose, and is anything still live? Is the equipment schedule carrying items the county already taxes as part of the building?
Each of those is a question the Free Assessment Review can be asked instead, and the answer comes back the same way: in writing, free of charge, with a defined scope agreed before any work starts and my signature on it. They are free because they are how I demonstrate the work: if the answer is that there is nothing worth pursuing, the memo says so, and it is yours either way. Each one is built the same way as the research published here: from county assessor, board, and treasurer records, benchmarked against my own published data in Colorado, and against county records and comparable evidence in the other states I cover.
Six Written Reviews
Every review comes with the same terms: a defined scope agreed up front, no fee, acknowledgement within one business day, and a turnaround commitment in writing. For real property that is a written read within one week of receiving the notice of value; for business personal property, a written declaration memo within 30 days of receiving the county's property record card and your fixed-asset ledger, or a written date ahead of your county's personal-property protest deadline (in Colorado, June 30, or July 31 from 2027 in alternate-procedure counties), whichever is sooner. The four memos that need more than the notice (diligence, overpayment, reserve, lost appeal) typically come back within one week, with a written date at intake during protest season, when hearing calendars come first. Several properties at once: each gets its own memo. One week per notice. Five or more notices: a written delivery date in the acknowledgement, within one business day of intake.
The Free Assessment Review
Is this assessment defensible, and what is an appeal worth?
The base question, and the one most owners start with. Send the notice of value, or just the address and county; the rest comes from the county's public record. What comes back is a signed memo that answers three things:
- Defensible or not: the county's value measured against the market evidence for the level-of-value date that governs it, with a file-or-hold recommendation and the reasoning.
- The dollars, year by year: what a successful appeal would return in each year the reduction holds (both years of Colorado's two-year cycle, or the period that applies in your state), at the property's actual assessment rate and mill levy.
- The exact matrix rate for that property: the row its own annual tax bill puts it in, 8% to 20%, which is the rate the engagement letter would carry if you decide to file.
Pre-Acquisition Tax Diligence
What will this building actually cost to hold after closing?
The tax line in most pro formas is last year's bill. In a state that revalues on a fixed cycle, that number can be two assessments out of date by the time the deal closes, and the purchase price itself becomes evidence the assessor will eventually see. This report tells you what the building will actually cost to hold. The report covers:
- Reassessment-on-sale exposure: how your purchase price will bear on the next revaluation, and what the bill looks like if the assessor moves toward it.
- The cycle forecast: projected taxes for the next two tax years, grounded in the assessment cycle and the level-of-value date that will govern them.
- Appeal upside, quantified: whether the current assessment sits above the market evidence, and what a successful appeal would return to the buyer.
- The assessment-date calendar that governs the deal: which party holds the appeal rights at each date, how the proration interacts with a pending appeal, and the windows that open and close around your closing date.
Prior-Cycle Overpayment Review
Did we overpay in a year that is still refundable?
Colorado's abatement process reaches back two tax years, and other states have refund or correction windows of their own: money already paid can still come back. But eligibility is not automatic: it depends on each year's protest history, and in Colorado a year that was already protested to a decision generally cannot be reopened on overvaluation grounds. This review answers, year by year, whether there is a refund worth pursuing. The review covers:
- Over-assessment, year by year: whether each open prior tax year was assessed above the level of value that governed it, measured against the market evidence from that date.
- Eligibility: whether each year remains open to an abatement petition given the property's protest and appeal history.
- The refund, quantified per year: assessed value, mill levy, and the dollars at stake for each recoverable year.
- A file / do-not-file recommendation: in writing, with the reasoning, for each year reviewed. If the answer is that the money is not recoverable, the report says so plainly.
Property Tax Reserve & Accrual Memo
What number belongs in the reserve, and will it survive the audit?
Budgets and financial statements need a property tax number months before the assessor publishes one, and "last year plus a guess" does not survive an audit workpaper review. This memo delivers a supportable figure and shows its work. The memo covers:
- A supportable reserve figure: for the property or portfolio, suitable for budgeting and financial reporting.
- The reassessment forecast: direction and magnitude of the coming revaluation, grounded in the cycle's level-of-value date, the applicable assessment rates, and the district's mill levy history.
- Methodology, documented: sources, assumptions, and the calculation itself, written so the figure stands up to audit review rather than resting on a consultant's say-so.
Lost-Appeal Second Opinion
Why did the appeal lose, and is anything still live?
A loss at the county board leaves a record, and the record usually explains the loss better than the denial letter does. This is a free review of that record by someone who argues these cases, answering three questions:
- What was argued, and what was arguable: the case that was put on versus the grounds and evidence the record shows were available.
- Whether the record supports a different 2027 case: what the next revaluation cycle's case should look like, and what evidence to start assembling now.
- What remains live today: any escalation window still open, any abatement path still available, and what is simply closed.
Business Personal Property Declaration Review
Is the schedule carrying equipment the county already taxes as part of the building?
The declaration is usually nobody's job: the appeal firm works the real estate while the schedule gets filed the way it was filed last year. This is an independent written review of the equipment the county carries on one schedule. For business personal property I need two things: a signed agent authorization so I can pull the full property record card from the county, and your fixed-asset ledger. The annual declaration only shows that year's adds and deletes; the record card and the ledger together show what the county is actually taxing. In Colorado, declarations are confidential by statute, which is exactly why the review starts with your signed authorization: with it the assessor releases the account's record card to me, and nothing is requested from any county, in any state, before it is signed. The review covers:
- Real-versus-personal reconciliation: declared equipment checked against the county's public real-property cost record, so nothing is carried twice.
- Category coding and depreciation: each asset's category and economic life re-run against the assessor's published depreciation and trending tables, so a server is not depreciated like a press.
- Record card against ledger, line by line: the county's asset listing reconciled to your fixed-asset ledger, so in-service dates, idle or retired assets still carried, and embedded software or intangibles are each identified on the asset line they sit on.
- An audit-exposure grade on every finding: a finding that would not survive a county audit is labeled flag-don't-file, and positions filed under a signed engagement are defended through county audit at no additional fee.
Included once you engage: the reporting behind an appeal
Under an engagement, every property is reviewed again each year when the new notices arrive, real and personal, without being asked, and gets a written recommendation (file, hold, or watch) weeks ahead of the protest deadline. Two more written work products come at no additional fee: the status memos with every appeal engagement, the roll-up with every engagement of more than one property. They are not reviews, but buyers ask for them by name, so here is exactly what they are.
Status Memos & Written Checkpoints
What is happening on my file, without my having to ask?
A written status memo every month a file is active, and a written checkpoint at each of three points: before anything is filed, before any settlement is accepted, and after every decision. Plus an email the day your file changes stage. Nothing to log into, no call to schedule. Each memo covers:
- Where the case stands: the current stage, what has been filed, and what the record shows to date.
- What happens next: the next deadline, hearing date, or decision window, and what is being prepared for it.
- What changed: any determination, stipulation offer, or value movement since the last memo, in plain English; and, at the three checkpoints, the decision that needs your written instruction before anything moves.
Portfolio Appeal Roll-Up
Can I see every property on one page?
Yes. Every month during an active engagement, one table, one line per property, in Excel and PDF, with the per-property status memo behind each line. It is built to be forwarded as-is to a partner, a lender, or the accounting team, and to be reconciled against the memos without a call. Each line carries:
- Stage and next deadline: where the file is and the date that governs it.
- Protested versus current value: the county's value, the value protested, and the value achieved to date.
- Savings to date and accrual impact: realized tax dollars by year of the cycle, and the figure to carry for the reserve.
How the reviews run
Every request is acknowledged within one business day, by me. The scope is defined in writing before any work starts, and there is no fee: the reviews are free, because the work itself is the introduction. A mutual confidentiality agreement, on your paper if you prefer, precedes any exchange of documents, and nothing is filed with any county without your written instruction.
The clocks are the ones on the cards: one week from the notice of value for real property; 30 days from the county's property record card and your fixed-asset ledger, or a written date ahead of your county's personal-property protest deadline (in Colorado, June 30, or July 31 from 2027 in alternate-procedure counties), for personal property; and for the four memos that need more than the notice, typically one week, with a written date at intake during protest season. Every one is researched, written, and signed by me, not delegated; I am the one who would have to argue it.
Get the answer in writing
If one of these questions is on your desk (a deal under contract, an audit approaching, an appeal that just lost, a schedule due in April), start the Free Assessment Review and say which question it should answer. The scope comes back in writing within one business day, before any work begins, and there is no fee.
Ready to appeal instead? Representation is pure contingency: see how the fee works.