ProperTax

Beware!!! This business is a scam. Propertax advertises throughout my Redwood City neighborhood and promises to handle property tax appeals in front of the San Mateo County board of assessment appeals on behalf of homeowners whose houses have declined in value. The price is steep – they take 40% of any tax refund obtained by the homeowner.
I thought the price was worth it, given that I am a busy professional and did not want to bother preparing my own application for changed assessment or appearing for a hearing before the board. I was wrong. Propertax filed my application for changed assessment for the year 2008, claiming that my house had declined in value over $ 200,000.00. I waited and waited and finally received a notice that a hearing date had been set. On the day of my scheduled hearing, I called ProperTax to see how it went. No response. I left several messages and received no return call. A couple of days later, looking through my mail, I found a notice from the County «accepting my withdrawal of my appeal.» WTF??? I called ProperTax again; I emailed; I left messages. Why had my appeal been withdrawn without my knowledge or consent??? I filed a BBB complaint against the company in Bakersfield, the location of its main office. Guess what? ProperTax never responded to the BBB. After I informed ProperTax that I had filed a complaint, Jerry Dufloth of ProperTax finally responded to me. He told me that the comparable sales in my neighborhood didn’t support a decline in value for my home, and that ProperTax had cancelled my hearing for that reason.
In the meantime, I pursued and obtained a reinstatement of my hearing with the Board. At my hearing, I received a reduction in the assessed value of my home of over $ 150,000.00. In other words, the comparable sales clearly supported a significant reduction in my property taxes. Thanks to ProperTax’s ineptitude, laziness, or whatever else, I will keep %100 of my tax refund and will not have to share it with this fake «business.»
Handle your own property tax appeal! No one knows the comparable sales in your neighborhood better than you. Do not trust this business (what kind of business does not even respond to phone calls from the Better Business Bureau)?