With plans to enter an additional seven states this year, Chicago-based TurboAppeal may be one of the Midwest’s fast growing tech startups.
A property tax appeals firm, TurboAppeal currently serves homeowners in select counties of Illinois, Florida and Texas. Plans call for the firm to begin filing tax appeals for homeowners in Colorado, Georgia, Indiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Washington this year.
Homeowners lack property tax education
In short the firm aims to ensure that homeowners are paying only their fair share of property taxes and aren’t being over assessed.
“The homeowner doesn’t really know if they’re taxed correctly,” said Badal Shah, CEO and co-founder of TurboAppeal. “Maybe they look at market value or search sales but that doesn’t always tell if there’s an opportunity for reduction.”
Shan and TurboAppeal encourage homeowners to appeal their property taxes every year, mainly because of recent year-over-year volatility in home values. Homes are typically appraised every one to five years.
Of the cases they’ve filed appeals for, TurboAppeal has seen reductions for 75 percent of the homes. The average reduction equates to a 7 percent savings on property taxes.
To file an appeal, a homeowner must sign up on the firm’s website, providing their full name and property address. Once filed, homeowners are updated as to the status of an appeal. The firm on average hears back from various accessors’ offices in 30 to 45 days.
If a homeowner receives some savings on their property taxes, via the appeal, the firm receives 30 percent of the first year of savings. If an appeal reaps no savings for a homeowner they are not charged a fee.
The catalyst for the TurboAppeal’s 2016 expansion was the recent completion of a $3 million series seed raise, which was led by KGC Capital.
“We believe they will be the national leader in this space and change the way homeowners deal with one of the most expensive line items in their home,” said Dick Kiphart, the co-founder and chairman of KGC.
