ValueAppeal CEO Charlie Walsh responds to a letter Mayor Michael Pavia submitted earlier this week telling residents to use caution before hiring ValueAppeal.

Photo Credit: Contributed

Charlie Walsh is CEO and founder of Value Appeal.

Photo Credit: Contributed

STAMFORD, Conn. — The following is a letter from ValueAppeal’s CEO Charlie Walsh in response to a letter submitted earlier this week from Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia warning residents about using ValueAppeal for property tax appeals.

I appreciate the opportunity to address Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia’s recently published alert regarding the property tax appeal services provided by ValueAppeal.  There are some important basics that were not covered in the mayor’s alert: At the most fundamental level, ValueAppeal's mission is to help homeowners ensure that they're not overpaying their property taxes. 

Homeowners can determine if they are over assessed for free by visiting www.ValueAppeal.com and typing in their home address. If ValueAppeal determines that a homeowner is not likely to be over assessed, we will not allow that homeowner to proceed with developing an appeal, also saving local assessor’s offices from having to deal with frivolous appeals. ValueAppeal will not allow a homeowner to proceed with developing an appeal unless we project a tax savings of at least $300.

Counterintuitive as it may seem for an online business, ValueAppeal actually turns away the vast majority of homeowners who visit our site. Only 20 percent to 25 percent of homeowners nationwide are overassessed — and the remainder should not spend their time or money on filing an appeal that has little chance of lowering their assessment.

Yes, homeowners can absolutely appeal their own property taxes – just like any taxpayer can prepare their own income tax returns. For most homeowners, the process can be complex, confusing and time consuming. Many people find it very useful to have additional outside assistance in preparing their appeal. We established ValueAppeal to level the playing field for homeowners who ordinarily would not appeal their property taxes because the process can be too time-consuming, confusing and difficult for many to do on their own. 

ValueAppeal’s success rate in lowering assessments is 80 percent, while homeowners who do it on their own are only successful about 40 percent of the time. Our service is guaranteed, meaning that any homeowner who does not receive a reduced assessment using ValueAppeal’s evidence is eligible for a full refund.

In Connecticut, ValueAppeal's letters were only sent to selected homeowners whom we believe have a strong case to appeal their property tax assessments — there is no benefit to the homeowners, ValueAppeal or local assessor’s offices in generating appeals that have little chance of success.

ValueAppeal’s core strength is in the quality of comparable sales homes (comps) we identify and provide to homeowners to use as evidence in their appeals. There are not always eligible comps within designated neighborhoods within the eligible timeframe, so ValueAppeal provides a vetted list of comparable sales homes within close proximity to a designated property.  

ValueAppeal’s service is, in fact, guaranteed as can easily be seen in the second sentence of the paragraph 9 referenced in the mayor’s alert. ValueAppeal specifically states: “If, however, you receive no savings in your tax assessment we will refund one hundred percent (100 percent) of the fees you actually paid to ValueAppeal.” Customers can also easily see this on our site here: http://www.valueappeal.com/propertyTax/our-guarantee.aspx. ValueAppeal charges a flat-rate of $99 and guarantees the service. This means that if a homeowner fails to get a favorable outcome to their property tax appeal using ValueAppeal's evidence, she/he is eligible for a full refund of the fee.

ValueAppeal takes our customer’s privacy very seriously. We never have and we never will sell or share any of our customer email addresses with any external parties.

Finally, ValueAppeal carefully applies the rules as set forth by every jurisdiction it covers. In terms of Stamford, ValueAppeal only considers home sales that took place prior to the assessment period, in this case, 2007. 

Thank you again the opportunity to clarify these matters.

Sincerely,

Charlie Walsh is founder and CEO of ValueAppeal (www.valueappeal.com).