Hi Carleton, welcome to the site!   We buy properties for pennies on the dollar even though they are worth significantly more, and the town has them assessed at some higher number, closer to market value.  As the market is down, it is a good time to do some comps to prove our point, that our taxes should be reduced to some lower number.  So we got on MLS and found 10 properties in the neighborhood that had sold in the last couple of years PER property we were arguing (that would be 200 properties).  We decided to use sale price / SFLA to determine an average pr sq ft, then applied that average to each of our properties.  It basically meant that, based on the sales in the neighborhood, the assessed value of our properties was literally reduced by half.... Assessed value is not a function of market value - and we have had all our properties appraised this year - they are worth twice the investment!  So we are still able to deliver the instant equity return while reducing our outgoings.  In a few days we'll know if it worked!  I'll let you know! :)

the hearing went great.  We went in ultra prepared, the most organized they had ever seen, and we knew two people on the panel...  apparently we have to wait 5 days to get the results of the hearing.  I'll keep you posted!