If you're like many office building owners you pass through many of your expenses to your office tenants. Many of you probably prorate the property tax and send it on to each of your tenants. Although property tax changes based on the millage rate and the assessed value of the property, property taxes are considered a fixed expense. However, if you can get this fixed expense reduced you may be at a competitive advantage compared to your office building competition.
Of the major commercial property types in the Atlanta area office buildings have the highest vacancy rates at over 20%, according to Realty rates.com. This means there are tens of millions of square feet of office space available throughout the Atlanta metropolitan area. Office tenants that are flexible on where they are located have an opportunity to save money by changing their location.
That office building owners are competing for tenants is nothing new; however with continued elevated vacancy rates, it becomes more important than ever to do what you can to attract tenants. If you can show your potential office tenants that your building has a lower property tax burden than the competition that gives you an advantage. And if you can show your existing tenants that their property tax burden is lower than the competition there is less chance that they will move.
How do you do this? With Fair Assessments LLC. The principals of Fair Assessments have been in the property tax reduction business for nine years and have reduced taxable values all over the East Coast. They are, however, located in Atlanta, Georgia, and have relationships with the tax assessment personnel in the various counties throughout the Atlanta metropolitan area. They have continued to save their clients money post Great Recession and into what is supposedly a commercial property recovery. Their average reduction in 2012 was 20%.
What the future brings is anyone’s guess but you can control your immediate future by lowering your property tax burden and helping your tenants control their costs at the same time. Even if all of your office building is triple net leases and you have a washed your hands of property management for the most part, you can still keep your tenants happy and loyal. With the US consumer still struggling on average, many small businesses are struggling right along with them. Anything you can do to help them hang on ultimately flows to the bottom line.
Many multitenant triple net office owners do not allow their tenants to appeal the property tax assessment. Instead, the office building owner reserves the right to appeal the property tax assessment, but may not have time to do the analysis of value and uniformity required to determine whether tax savings are possible. Having a property tax service do the analysis for you is a time-saving option and we have existing relationships with the County personnel that need to be negotiated with.
Keep your office tenants happy with Fair Assessments LLC. We provide the expertise and experience needed to keep property tax assessments as low as possible. Given the high office vacancy rates it’s only reasonable that a service like ours would be used to make your building as competitive as possible and to keep your existing tenants. Contact us for a free consultation regarding your property tax assessment and the potential tax savings in yours, and your office tenant’s futures.
