Thanks to California's Proposition 8, passed back in 1978, homeowners in the state can get a temporary reduction in their home's assessed value—and, accordingly, their property taxes—when the housing market enters a slump. Recognizing that that applies to virtually everyone who purchased property in the state within the past few years, Prop8.org is a new consumer advocate group that was formed specifically to help California consumers take advantage of the law.
Prop8.org provides tax-assessment appeals services for commercial, industrial and residential properties throughout California. With a team that's professionally trained in tax appeal rules, procedures and requirements specific to each California county, Prop8 can provide market data and analyses needed to advocate the lowest possible tax assessed value. Clients get full-service representation, from the initial filing of the assessment appeal application and supporting documentation, through negotiations with the county assessor—even including a formal hearing before the County Tax Appeals Board, if necessary. Prop8's services are available on a contingency fee basis for 50 percent of the first year's tax savings or via a flat-fee plan that covers the entire process—with a three-year guarantee—for USD 495. For homeowners who bought their homes between 2004 and 2006, the average savings that result from hiring Prop8 are between USD 1,500 and USD 2,500 per year, the company's founders say.
Prop8 is currently seeking affiliates to help extend its service throughout California. Meanwhile, of course, there are also many other situations in which consumers are legally entitled to compensation but are unaware or too busy to claim it. Find one of those, and you just might have something to build a business on! (Related: Claiming compensation for duped passengers.)
Website: www.prop8.org
Contact: info@prop8.org
Spotted by: Troy Nelson
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BEWARE!!! Most California Tax Assessor offices re-assess automatically and the form for appealing your taxes is FREE from your local tax assessors office. In fact the Los Angeles Times looked at several organizations that do exactly what Prop8.org does and they advised AGAINST it stating that you can do the EXACT SAME THING for yourself FREE & E-Z!!! PLEASE SAVE YOURSELF THE $$$ & DIY!!! IT IS EZ!
these guys are a scam and a rip off charging $495 to fill out the paperwork or taking 50% of the annual savings...total rip off
prop8.org rip off scam!
Actually, we are not a rip off. The problem is that you are only hearing one side of the story in today’s news. You have to realize that hundreds of thousands of people were automatically reassessed, but the question is were they assessed correctly? I am not here to bash the county assessor’s offices but the facts are that there are a limited number of assessors in each county and hundreds of thousands of properties that needed to be reassessed. They did what we call a blanket assessment due to the time constraints and the number of properties that need to be reviewed. They have done the best that they could have done with the limited amount of resources they have. We are here to make sure that everything was done correctly. In addition there are thousands of home owners who were missed by the counties assessor’s office all together. We have found home owners whose neighbors had received an automatic reduction, but they had not. If they had not contacted us, this could have cost them thousands of dollars per year that they would have overpaid. There are a number of counties, like San Diego, that are NOT doing any automatic reassessments, and they are one of the hardest hit counties in all of California.
You brought up a good point, that homeowners can do this themselves, and this is true. We have never misled any homeowner to make them think that they HAVE to use our services. However, you can file your own taxes, and sell your own house, but most educated people leave this up to the professionals. In this case, we are the professionals when it comes to property taxes. Our experts will handle your property tax reduction from start to finish, even if we have to appeal the counties decision. All in all it’s a great VALUE, and we stand behind our services with a 100% money back guarantee.
We will do a FREE evaluation of any homeowner’s tax assessed value. If there is no substantial savings, due to a correct reassessment or no lose in value, then we will let the client know that their property taxes were assessed correctly. Who wouldn’t want to take advantage of this opportunity….it is FREE!
Please don't jump to conclusions until you see both points of view. I have plenty of satisfied clients and can provide you with verifiable references.
Cordially,
Shane Barker
Co-Founder/CEO
Office: 916.570.3577
Fax: 916.256.1077
www.prop8.org
I have also used Prop8.org services and I was extremely happy. I did try to do it on my own and it was really difficult. So after a few weeks of trying I decided to hire the Prop8 guys. So far things are going great! Take a look at their website it is very informational.
JK
Do a Google search of Shane Barker, Joshua Carnes, and all of the little companies set up by these prop8dotorg guys, and read thoroughly. These clowns are self-promoting 'artists, planting stories, "articles" and references all over the web to drum up credibility, horribly articulated and without spell-check for the most part. I would not give them my money if they pointed a gun to my head. Do your Proposition 8 challenge by picking up the phone and calling the assessor's office to ask questions, and then ask the realtor who helped you purchase your home to pull comps to determine your best course of action. Watch the deadlines, read the rules, and fill out the papers. Simple. Free. BEWARE companies that take your money for services that are FREE, especially companies run by kids with little or no education - it's all out there, on the web. This industry is sadly little-regulated with regards to people like these.
I have two neighbors that had told me about lowering my property taxes (Proposition 8). One of them knew about prop8.org and that is the company that he used. He highly recommended them! Now that I see them on Spring Wise I am sure that they are 100% legit. My neighbor that used prop8.org, he saved about $1,700 a year. Time to call them and save some money on my property taxes!
BM
Bob Michaels | May 29, 2008 11:42 PM