Property tax answers · Updated June 2026
How do I lower my property taxes without an attorney?
The short answer
For a standard home you almost never need one. Two free levers do most of the work: make sure every exemption you qualify for (homestead, senior, veteran, disability) is applied, then appeal your assessment yourself with a table of comparable properties assessed lower than yours. Appeal boards in every state are built for self-represented homeowners, and the deadline and process are public. Attorneys are worth it mainly for commercial, multi-family, or high-value litigation cases.
Lever 1: claim every exemption first
Before you touch the assessment, make sure you are getting every exemption you qualify for, because exemptions come straight off your taxable value and are often the bigger, easier win. The homestead exemption is the headline one: Texas exempts a large fixed amount and caps homestead increases at 10% a year, Florida's homestead is worth up to $50,000 off assessed value and locks in the 3% Save Our Homes cap. Many states stack additional exemptions for owners over 65, veterans, and people with disabilities.
Pull your assessment notice and confirm each exemption you are entitled to actually appears. A missing homestead exemption is one of the most common and most expensive errors, and fixing it is a free form filed with your assessor, no appeal required.
Lever 2: appeal the assessment yourself
- Find your deadline. It is public and jurisdiction-specific: Texas around May 15, New Jersey around April 1, Colorado early June, New York on Grievance Day, Florida 25 days after the August TRIM notice. Check your notice or your assessor's site.
- File the appeal form yourself, online in most major counties, free or for a small fee. You do not need a stated reason beyond value is too high.
- Build comparable evidence: 3 to 5 similar nearby homes assessed lower than yours, or that sold for less, compared per square foot. This is the core of the case and the part the board responds to.
- Attend the informal review or first-level hearing. It is a short, plain-spoken meeting, not a trial, and it is where most cases settle.
- Escalate only if needed. If the first level denies you, every state has a higher board (and small-claims-style routes like New York's SCAR) designed for homeowners without lawyers.
When an attorney is actually worth it (and the shortcut when it isn't)
Hire a professional for complex property, commercial, multi-family, or high-value homes where valuation gets technical and the stakes justify a fee, or where you are heading to court. For a normal residential appeal, the boards are built for you, and hiring out usually means giving a contingency firm 25 to 50 percent of your savings, every year. The DIY shortcut is the evidence: the free check shows your over-assessment in about 30 seconds, and the $49 protest kit comes with the comparable table pre-filled so you sign and submit it yourself and keep 100% of the savings.
See if your home is over-assessed, free
Search your address and see how your assessment compares against similar properties from the public assessment roll. Free, no signup, about 30 seconds. If the record shows a gap, the $49 protest kit comes pre-filled with your comparable evidence and the filing steps for your jurisdiction, you sign and submit, and you keep 100% of the savings. No contingency, ever.
Check my address · FreeFlat $49, one time. Filing your own appeal is free in every state; what you're buying is the evidence and the steps, done.