How Ownwell earned a 16% property tax reduction for an $8.8M waterfront office

A longtime real estate investor knew something was wrong when the assessed value of one of his firm’s office properties increased almost 8% while vacancies at the property had also increased over the past year. The city’s public health mandates and tenants’ changing lease appetites were causing an increase in delinquencies, too.

After hearing about Ownwell through a mutual connection, and learning about the evidence-generation technology and concierge service the company prides itself on, he decided to move forward with appealing the new tax assessment with Ownwell to see if there was a way to bring the reality of the current situation to light.

It wasn’t long after his firm provided property-specific information that Ownwell was able to generate evidence supporting an assessment reduction of nearly $1.5M for the $8.8M property.

Ownwell’s tech-enabled appraisal team determined the county tax assessor’s valuation failed to account for both physical and economic vacancies the real estate investment firm’s office property was experiencing.

What’s more, the county tax assessors had underestimated the property’s operating expenses by nearly 50%, since the county was under the impression the property was being leased triple-net.

Getting the assessor’s income valuation adjusted for actual instead of stabilized lease rates, and operating expenses adjusted upward for costs the firm was bearing helped secure a >$12,000 tax reduction for the property.

Considering the office was initially valued for tax purposes at $8.8M, and the assessment was reduced to $7.4M, this amounted to a 16.3% reduction.

The result meant a better bottom line and a fairer tax burden, for a development and investment firm that’s laser-focused on providing affordable space for office and residential tenants.

Ownwell's client was left feeling confident in Ownwell’s commercial property tax reduction services, knowing their ongoing property tax monitoring and appeal services would provide stability and clarity in increasingly uncertain times.