Property Tax Consultants Editing and Proofreading Services

An appeal succeeds or fails on comparables. The argument is always that the assessment is too high, and the evidence is always a set of other properties — but a list of lower assessments is not an argument, because the other side has a list too, and the case is decided by whoever explains why their properties are the relevant ones.

We edit what property tax and rating consultants produce — appeal and challenge submissions, comparable evidence schedules and their analysis, valuation and assessment arguments, adjustment and analysis documentation, statements of case and expert reports, negotiation correspondence with assessing authorities, client reports and savings estimates, engagement terms and fee documentation, portfolio review and liability reporting, and reliefs, exemptions and empty property submissions. Our editors work on the comparable evidence that has to do the persuading.

The comparable evidence schedule is where a property tax appeal is won or dismissed, and its failure is presenting a list rather than an analysis. Ten properties with lower assessments prove that ten properties have lower assessments. We work through these so each comparable is presented with what makes it comparable and what does not, in the same table, since a schedule that hides the differences will have them found and the whole submission then reads as advocacy; so the adjustments are shown as arithmetic — for size, for location, for condition, for the date of the transaction — because an unadjusted comparison invites the authority to make its own adjustments in the other direction; so the hierarchy of the evidence is stated, distinguishing settled assessments, actual transactions and other appeals, given that these carry very different weight and mixing them dilutes the strong ones; so the comparables that are unhelpful are addressed rather than omitted, as the authority has the same data and will produce them; so the analysis reaches a figure and shows how, rather than concluding that the assessment is excessive; so the physical differences are evidenced with measurements and photographs rather than described; and so the submission states what it is not arguing. Submissions written this way settle before a hearing.

Everything you send is treated in confidence, including client information, valuations and submissions. We are editors rather than rating surveyors or valuers, and we offer no view on assessments, comparables or liability. What we can do is turn a list into an argument.