If you own your home, how much do you pay for property taxes? Does it seem like too much?
If you disagree with how much you’re paying in property taxes, you can appeal the assessment. Most people don’t, though — perhaps because they are unaware they can, or because they just don’t have the time or resources to deal with the lawyers and paperwork.
TaxProper, a company out of Y Combinator’s Summer 2019 batch, has raised $2 million to simplify the process. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, backed by Global Founders Capital, Clocktower Ventures and a handful of angel investors.
Once you’ve punched in your address, TaxProper’s algorithm looks at the assessments of similar homes in your surrounding area, looking at things like size, number of rooms, construction materials, etc.
If the algorithm determines that you’re paying more than your share, they generate the required paperwork and send it off to the county. The company estimates that their part of the process takes 3-5 minutes (after which you’re waiting on the county’s response, which they say takes 6-8 weeks).
They’re offering up two different pricing models, charging either a $149 up-front fee or 30% of total first-year tax savings. If their algorithm says your taxes can’t be lowered, you don’t pay — nor do you pay if the appeal gets denied. The company tells me they’re currently seeing an average per customer savings of around $700.
TaxProper’s two co-founders have a good bit of experience in the space of taxes and government. Geoff Segal was previously an actuarial statistician and research analyst for State Farm, while Thomas Dowling was a municipal finance advisor for Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
One thing to note: TaxProper is only up and running in select areas right now, as the company tests different strategies and makes sure they’re doing everything right region-by-region. It’s currently available in Chicago and the surrounding Cook County area, with plans to roll out “in the coming months” in New York and Texas.
