Situations
How Illinois assessments are built, where they go wrong, and what an owner can actually do about it. 105 articles, written to be useful to somebody who then does it themselves.
Condominium assessments: your best comparables are in your own building
Units in one building share everything except floor, view and finish — which makes the comparison unusually clean.
Situations · 2 min
Vacant land: assessed on what it could be, not what it is
Land assessment follows zoning, buildability and access. Any of those can be wrong on file.
Situations · 2 min
Rental property: no homestead exemption, every other remedy intact
Landlords lose the exemption and keep the appeal. Condition is often the strongest argument.
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Inherited property: exemptions end, and the record is usually stale
The exemptions died with the owner. The assessment probably has not been looked at in years.
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Divorce: title changes end exemptions, and both names still owe
Removing a spouse from title can drop the homestead exemption without anyone being told.
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Commercial property: income is the argument
Commercial assessments turn on income, and the evidence is your own operating statements.
Situations · 2 min
Mixed-use property: two uses, one parcel, frequent errors
A shop below and a flat above are assessed differently, and the split is often stale.
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Busy roads, rail lines and substations: assessing external factors
Mass appraisal often misses what is next door. It is a documentable argument.
Situations · 2 min
Corner lots, flag lots and unusable land
Square footage is not usable area. Where the difference is large, the assessment should reflect it.
Situations · 2 min
Property in a flood zone
Floodplain designation affects insurance, buildability and price. It should affect assessment.
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Historic designation: restrictions, and the freeze that offsets them
Illinois offers an assessment freeze for rehabilitating a designated historic residence.
Situations · 2 min
Do solar panels raise your assessment in Illinois?
Illinois provides a special valuation for solar energy systems. It has to be claimed.
Situations · 2 min
Does a home office change your property tax?
For most people, no. Where it changes classification, it can matter a great deal.
Situations · 2 min
Mobile and manufactured homes: two different tax systems
Whether it is taxed as real property or under the privilege tax depends on how it sits on the land.
Situations · 2 min
Owning several parcels: check them together, appeal them separately
Assessments are individual. Reviewing a portfolio at once shows you which one is the outlier.
Situations · 2 min