Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Ownwell's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

close

Find a Location

Ownwell has 2 locations, listed below.

*This company may be headquartered in or have additional locations in another country. Please click on the country abbreviation in the search box below to change to a different country location.

BBB accredited

Near

Country

USUnited States

Please enter a valid location.

Filter

• 

  Ownwell

  1703 W 5th St Ste 650 Austin, TX 78703-5392

  
• 

  Ownwell

  1639 11th St Santa Monica, CA 90404-3727

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/08/2025

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Please remove my address from all Ownwell paper mail advertisement mailing lists. I do not wish to receive these "presorted standard" advertisement letters in the mail. These letters are addressed to someone named ******* ****** who doesn't live here. I have attached a picture of the letter I received, it was disguised as official government mail.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 04/08/2025

  Hi ****, 

  We have removed your name and address from our mailing list. You will no longer receive advertisements from us. Please be aware that it is possible you may receive more mail, if we have already sent another letter through our mail service that we cannot cancel. The reason the letter was addressed to ******* ******, is that according to the property records with ****** Central Appraisal District they are the owners of this property. Our system pulls this information when addressing letters to potential clients. 

  Best Regards, 

  ***** *****

  Customer Answer

  Date: 04/08/2025

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Regards,
  
  **** ********

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/20/2025

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I AM UNABLE TO CONTRACT BUSINESS TO ****** AN AGREEMENT TO PROTEST PROPERTY I DO NOT OWN ANYMORE. YOU CANNOT GET THEM TO ANSWER THE PHONE ************

  

  Business Response

  Date: 03/20/2025

  Hi *****, 

  We want to first apologize that you have not been able to get in touch with us to resolve this issue. Our **************** Line ************ is available Monday - Friday from 8 am to 7 pm CST to assist our customers in these matters. In addition to our customer service line, we have a live chat option available on our website ************************** Monday - Friday from 9am - 5 pm CST. You can also contact us through email at **************************************************** 

  I have canceled your account for ***********************************************, and we will no longer handle appeals for this property. You will receive an email communication confirming this cancellation. 

  Again, we apologize that you were not able to get in touch with us. If you have any further questions about this, please feel free to reach out to me directly, *******************************************************. 

   

• Initial Complaint

  Date:01/02/2025

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Please advise the difference of 35% rate vs 25% rate on my numerous properties. Is there an official FAQ document on website or you can share about the rate difference?

  

  Business Response

  Date: 01/06/2025

  Hi ********, 

  Your properties were originally signed up using multiple email addresses. Some of the properties that were signed up under different email addresses, were signed up for our **************** which has now been discontinued. At the time they were signed up, our contingency fee for *************** members, was 35% instead of the standard 25% contingency fee. At this time all 10 of your properties have been placed under one email address and the contingency fee for all of your properties have been adjusted to 25%, as we no longer offer a ***************. 

  ***** ***** *********************** Specialist

  Customer Answer

  Date: 01/06/2025

  Complaint: 22750463
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Ownwell should be making proper notifications to customers regarding this rate change or post information about this rate change notification on the website. There was no prior notice.
  
  Regards,
  
  ******** ***********

  

  Business Response

  Date: 01/14/2025

  Hi ********, 

  We understand your concern. When our customers sign up with us, our goal is to make sure that they are fully aware of the contingency fees that they will pay for the properties that they sign up. I have attached a copy of what upgrading to *************** would look like so you were aware of the contingency fee for each property signed up for that service. I have also included an email sent to you on 11/20/2024 confirming that all of your properties were being merged into one account under your preferred email address and that they would all be at the 25% contingency fee, as you requested. 

  I hope this information helps and we look forward to helping you again in 2025. 

  ***** ***** *********************** Specialist

   

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/18/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I used their service to get my homestead exemption filed because I did not have time to do it in person. ****** filed it, but before it was even approved I received a bill for the reduction in my property value and the taxes saved. I was confused about receiving this bill because the exemption had not yet processed. I was assured it was the final bill. A month or so later my exemption is granted. Another month or two passes and I receive ANOTHER bill that is roughly 6x the original bill. Since then I have been going back and forth with them about this and now they are saying I signed up for a monitoring serviceI did NOT. They even tried to send me a contract with a signature that is clearly NOT mine. I am honestly astounded by the whole situation. I never signed up for a monitoring service. Now, I wish I would have just paid the extra taxes and filed it next year on my own when I have more time because this is truly becoming a headache. I was told the bill I paid in August was my final bill and it should have been just that. Now, it seems theyre so desperate to take my money theyre forging my signature, and not doing a very good job at it either.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 12/19/2024

  Hi *******, 
  
  First, we want to apologize for the confusion caused by our communication with you. After carefully reviewing your correspondence, I can understand why you were initially unclear that the invoice sent to you was for the tax appeal we handled for your property and not the homestead exemption you had us apply for. 
  
  When you signed up with us late on 05/21/2024, the original sign-up was for our ******************* You received a confirmation of this sign-up on 05/22/2024 at 2:15 am; I have attached a copy of this email for your review. It is important to note that in **************, **, the only way to sign up for Ownwell to complete your homestead exemption filing is to sign up for our ******************* The exemption application can not be accessed or applied for unless you have completed signing up for our ****************** and created an account portal on our website, ****************************************************. Once you completed the sign-up for our ****************** and created your account portal, you signed up for Ownwell to file for your Homestead Exemption and for us to apply it to your property retroactively. The Service Agreement signed by you clearly outlines our fees for both services, 25% of the tax savings as the result of our appeal, and 25% of any refund issued by the county as the result of the retro application of your homestead exemption. 
  
  The invoice sent to you on 07/02/2024 concerns the tax appeal we handled for you. This was based on our lowering your propertys value from $254,547 to $237,000. 
  
  After looking at your communication with our customer service representative regarding this invoice, we should have better explained this to you and apologize that it was not. However, they did not imply that this was the final invoice, as they did explain, The exemption values are outside of the appeal result which there will be a separate invoice.
  
  We should have offered you the option to postpone the payment of the appeal invoice until your homestead exemption was put into place so that we could accurately invoice you for savings that resulted from our lowering of your homes assessed value for 2024, which would be the most accurate once your homestead exemption had been put into place by Tarrant Appraisal District. Since this is the case, we are offering to refund the amount you already paid for the appeal since there was a misunderstanding, and we will keep the invoice for the homestead exemption in place. 
  
  Your account with ********************** for future tax appeals has been canceled as of 12/18/2024. Please review the attached information and let me know how you would like to proceed. 

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/21/2024

  Complaint: 22702146
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  It was not disclosed that the only way to get the exemption filed with you was to subscribe to a service. 
  

  Further, it is ironic that you suggest that is the only way to go about this in my county when your employee told me in August that bill was my FINAL bill, even though the exemption was still pending.
  

  ****, ******* even told me to REST ASSURED that it was the final bill because I was concerned about being billed a second time for what was advertised as a one-time service, and yet he still told me it was the final bill. 
  

  Now, youre attempting to bill me not for said service but for a refund I had gotten on taxes I overpaid, and it seems you would have kept billing me for your service. Whatever that even entails at this point. 
  

  Filing for a homestead exemption is FREE when done in-person in the countys office. I wish I would have just made the time to go do it myself for free. Sure, it would have been an inconvenience with my schedule back in May, but it would have saved me the headache that this has become. 
  

  Its not like I am trying to get something for free here either. Once I was assured the bill in August was the final bill, I paid it. I am not asking for that money back, and I dont expect to get it back. However, I am not going to pay you nearly $700 or 25% of what I overpaid in PREVIOUS years. Especially after an agent of your business told me to REST ASSURED that the bill I paid in August was the final bill. 
  

  This whole thing has been incredibly shady, from the way you advertise your service, which apparently is a subscription disguised as a one-time deal, to your poorly trained employees who apparently do not grasp that it is a subscription service with reoccurring fees either. The audacity your business has to make its deceptive trade practices and poor training MY problem. 
  

  To give another dime to you business would violate my principles of good faith and fair dealing, as I think it would any other reasonable person under the circumstances. 

  Sincerely,
  
  ******* *******

  

  Business Response

  Date: 01/14/2025

  Hi *******, 

  Thank you for agreeing to settle the invoice with a 40% discount. I do agree that ******** email was confusing, but he did not state that the invoice was final. He stated that the results of the appeal were final, which is why we had issued an invoice for the results of these and that when your homestead exemption application was accepted by the county that another invoice would be issued, if you received a refund. 

  You are correct that filing a homestead exemption in ** is free of charge, and we do not charge for filing the exemption. This invoice, and our service agreement states, is for the retro-application of the homestead exemption and the refund that results from this. If there is no refund issued due to the application of the homestead exemption there is no fee from Ownwell for filing the exemption application. I hope that this helps. At this time your account is paid in full and closed with Ownwell. 

  ***** ***** *********************** Specialist

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/27/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I was sent an invoice to pay within 1 month and I have nothing to show for the tax break. I want my invoice to be lowered as this seems too high for what was done.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 12/18/2024

  Hi ******, 

  On 06/10/2024 you signed a Service Agreement requesting that Ownwell file for a homestead exemption for your property located at ************************************************. Ownwell processed this request and filed the exemption to be applied beginning with tax year 2023 on 07/11/2024. In the Service Agreement you signed, you were informed that if the filing of the exemption resulted in a refund for the retroactive application of the exemption then Ownwell would invoice you 25% of those savings. On 10/28/2024, Ownwell was informed by Bexar County that your property did receive a retroactive application of the homestead exemption and that a refund check in the amount of $564.74 was sent to you. Ownwell, therefore, invoiced you for 25% of these savings, or refund. 

  I have attached a copy of the communication you have had with Ownwell regarding this invoice, and our explanation of it. In this communication is confirmation that we had broken this invoice into 5 payment links for you to pay the invoice over time, due to an accessibility issue. It should be noted that this payment arrangement was done as a courtesy for you, as our Service Agreement states that an invoice is due in full when it is issued. I have also attached confirmation from ************ stating that the refund was issued due to the homestead exemption application filed on your behalf by Ownwell. As a result, we will not be able to reduce your invoice any further. 

  Please review this information and let me know if you have any further questions. 

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/21/2024

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I hired Ownwell to protest the tax appraisal for three properties. They did an acceptable job on two properties, then no-showed the hearing for the third. When I reached out to them, they said they would contact the county for a makeup hearing. Three weeks and multiple emails later, and no update. So I called the county and learned that the appraisal rolls have been certified for months, and state law says no changes can be made this late unless it's part of an appeal to district court. So this company either doesn't know the law, or they lied to me. Either way, they shouldn't be trusted to do the job they're advertising.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 11/25/2024

  Hi *****, 

  Hi *****, 
   
  I want to first apologize for how long it took us to update you on this situation. 
   
  After looking further into this appeal, we have discovered that it is one of a group of appeals that we are working with Nueces CAD to rectify. Your appeal was scheduled with several other properties for a hearing on 06/26/2024. Before that date, we submitted an affidavit in person at *********************************, confirming that we would attend the hearing via video or telephone conference, not at an in-person hearing. We are still working with Nueces CAD  to determine why the affidavits were not applied to each property, which resulted in them coding these accounts as a No-Show for 2024. 
   
  While it is true that the tax roll is certified as of July 31, 2024, since we did file an active appeal before the filing deadline and submitted an affidavit confirming that we would attend the hearing via either telephone or video, your account should not be considered closed by the appraisal district. This is why we are in communication with them regarding several accounts, including yours. If they do not agree to reopen your appeal, we still have the option to file and attend a *****d (correction) hearing, as explained by *** in her earlier correspondence with you. 
   
  Unfortunately, our communication has either been in person with the appraisal district or by phone, so I do not have any email correspondence to provide. We also want to apologize that we did not have a more clear explanation as to what happened with your appeal before this. I do want to assure you that I will be speaking with our ***************************** regarding this situation on a regular basis and will keep you updated on the actions being taken as I have more information to share. 

  ***** ***** *********************** Specialist

  
   

   

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/18/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Signed up for Ownwell to see if they could save on my property taxes for my home I bought in *******. No fees if no savings. They got back to me saying that there was no way they could reduce my taxes. But...A form popped up to have them file for my homestead exemption. No charges were mentioned on that form. No credit card was requested. I filled it out, thinking it might save me some time (I already had the homestead exemption paperwork, was just waiting to get my Florida driver license before filling it out and sending it in).Months later, now they are billing me $260. They point to the "service agreement" which states 35% of property tax savings. But the savings doesn't kick in until 2025, so there's no way to calculate that amount until the 2025 tax bill ********** complaint is about the deceptive business practices involved in the form for having them file the homestead exemption. There is no mention of costs on that form, and there is no request for payment at the time the form is submitted.I offered to pay $130 to make the problem go away, but they refused to reduce the invoice. I do not feel that this is worth $260, as I had already planned to do it myself for free, and there was NO mention of any cost at the time the form was popped up for me to fill out.I feel that they are abusing senior citizens, and should make the costs clear at the time the form is filled out.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/22/2024

  Hi ***,

  We apologize that we were unable to resolve this issue with you before.
  
  When one of our customers asks us to file their homestead application, the fee of 35% of the first year's savings is posted at the beginning and the end of the application before it is signed and submitted for us to process. I have attached a copy from a test account to show what the sign-up for homestead exemptions looks like for our customers in *******. The savings of $743 estimate the savings you will see on your tax bill in 2025 based on how the homestead exemption affects your property's value. In *******, the homestead exemption gives homeowners a $25,000 reduction in the value of their school taxes and a $50,000 reduction in the value of their county and city jurisdictions. Based on the average tax rate for the county of **********, we estimate that the savings will be $743, and our fee is 35% of those savings, or $260.
  
  I saw in your communication that you offered to pay half of our invoice or $130 to resolve the issue. I apologize that this request was not directed to our management to see if it could be accommodated, as it should have been. We are willing to reduce your invoice to $130 if you are still willing to pay that amount. Please let us know how you would like to proceed. 

  ***** ***** *********************** Specialist

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/23/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  After negotiating with support, we agreed that $130 was fair.  I received an invoice for that amount, and paid it.
  
  Regards,
  
  *** *****

• Initial Complaint

  Date:10/15/2024

  Type:Billing Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I was charged $100 over and above the described agreed to 25% of savings.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 10/17/2024

  Hi *****,

  We are sorry to hear about the confusion regarding the $100 fee associated with your invoice for the three-year freeze we were able to obtain for your property located at **************************************. When one of our customers in ******* signs up for our appeal service, we do our best to make sure that they are aware of all of the fees associated with this service. This is why, before a customer signs our Service Agreement authorization, we include as point number 3 that if we are successful in lowering your taxes you will be billed at 25% of the tax bill reduction and if a tax freeze is placed on the property, and additional $100 fee will apply.  The fee is also addressed on the first page of your Service Agreement, under Tax Monitoring Service. 
   
  I have included a copy of the Service Agreement you signed on 06/10/2024, showing this fee. I also have included a screenshot of what our sign up page looks like for Georgia customers, showing that the fee is addressed there as well. Please note that the screenshot of sign up is from a test account, but reflects the sign up process for all our our Georgia customers. 

  The Georgia Freeze locks in your propertys value for three years, ensuring stability during that period. While it doesnt prevent changes in your overall tax bill due to potential millage rate adjustments, it guarantees that your propertys assessed value will not increase unless improvements or updates are made to your property. Significant renovations or improvements to the property can result in a reassessment at any time.

  
  We also want to clarify that this is a standard fee across the industry, with various companies charging for the same service. This protection is not automatically granted, which is why we include it as part of our service. Our fee covers the effort of securing this benefit for you.

  
  The stability it offers is a significant advantage, providing peace of mind against any unexpected increases in property value. Our goal is to provide you with the best long-term value and ensure your property taxes remain as stable as possible during the freeze period.

  ***** ***** *********************** Specialist

  Customer Answer

  Date: 10/22/2024

  Complaint: 22420056
  
  I am rejecting this response because: While it may have been in the contract it was not explained
  
  Regards,
  
  ***** ******

• Initial Complaint

  Date:09/16/2024

  Type:Sales and Advertising Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  We are not interested in their services and would like that they don't contact us anymore

  

  Business Response

  Date: 09/16/2024

  Hi *****, 

  We are sorry to hear that our advertising was upsetting to you. We have put your name and address on our Remove from Mailing List so that you do not get further contact from us regarding our services. This request was made today, 09/16/2024, and it is possible that there is some marketing materials that have already left our office that you have not received yet. If this is the case, we do applogize for any inconvenience and we will stop any contact through any future advertising campaigns immediately. 

  ********************* *********************** Specialist

  Customer Answer

  Date: 09/16/2024

  Complaint: 22283549
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  Regards,
  
  *************************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/26/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I've tried repeatedly to get information about homes they handle (that they're charging me for their services). They will not address all the homes, they only reply in piecemeal about one or two.Their "appeals" fluctuate by nearly $100K for two houses within two blocks of each other. Lack of transparency and consistency and in addition to paying for their services, I have an escalated tax bill due to their lack of detail and accurately handling the tax appeal process.

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/28/2024

  Hi ******, 
   
  Thank you for your patience while we reviewed your account with us. After reviewing your past communication with our customer care team, I can see why you were frustrated with some of our answers. Our customer care agents are trained to answer the questions raised by our customers in their emails, which is why only the properties you inquired about were addressed instead of each property you have. However, the answers provided were not always concise, which caused you to ask the same question multiple times before being provided with the correct answer. We apologize for this and are currently updating the information our agents provide and retraining them properly to provide this information so that our customers feel their questions are answered thoroughly without the need for follow-up. 
   
  I have had our Property Tax Consultant Manager review all of your properties with us, and this is the information that he provided for me. As to the question regarding properties within the same neighborhood being different values, these can be highly influenced by several variables such as sale price, property condition, deferred maintenance, external/economic factors, and functional obsolescence. Our Property Tax Consultants take care to review all data and additional information submitted by our property owners to arrive at an objective opinion of value for any given assessment year. Additionally, each property that protests its valuation is subject to an individual review, and the value reduction (if any) that could potentially be received is highly influenced by the data and additional information provided. For example, your neighbor may have condition issues and provided $25,000 in contractor bids, so an appraiser/appraisal review board may weigh that differently than a property with no reported condition issues. By doing so, each property can be reduced differently, be it by % or $; this naturally creates inequities among properties in the same neighborhood because the county will not discount your property further because your neighbor provided $25,000 in contractor bids. Please rest assured that the interest of our customers is paramount; therefore, after we carefully review any information provided to us by the customer, we will only furnish information in the appeal or obtain a reduction that would benefit our customer. We would not provide any information or obtain a reduction that would negatively impact their tax burden. 
   
  Here are his notes for each of your properties: 
   
  **************************** ****** 2024 Appeal Won
  2023 the Value was $775,000
  2024 Noticed Value: $721,991
  2024 Final Value: $675,062 a 7% reduction
   
  We did not receive any information from you regarding the condition of this property. Therefore, we relied on sales/equity comps that supported a higher value than we were able to achieve on this property. 
   
  ******************************** *********** appeal canceled by property owner
  2023 the value was $253,800
  2024 Noticed Value: $505,286
  2024 Final Value: $505,286
   
  You purchased this property for $480,000 in 2023. As of 1/1/2023, the improvements were partially complete and subsequently increased to 100% complete as of 01/01/2024. You canceled our appeal for this property as of July 31, 2024, and the hearing was scheduled for 08/02/2024. Therefore, we were unable to represent the case for reduction, though sales in the area are in line with the purchase price of the property. 
   
  9001 Looksee Ln ************************* 2024 Appeal Won
  2023 the value was $409,070
  2024 Noticed Value $543,272
  2024 Final Value $514,000
   
  This appeal was taken to a formal hearing, and our property tax consultant included the evidence you provided regarding the property's condition. The final value we achieved was in line with our sales comparisons opinion of value with this information. 
   
  ******************************************************* ****** 2024 Appeal Won
  2023 the value was $460,000
  2024 Noticed Value $444,510
  2024 Final Value $415,617
   
  We did not receive any information from you regarding the condition of this property. Therefore, we relied on sales/equity comps, and the final value we achieved was lower than that indicated by our analysis. 
   
  I hope this information addresses your concerns regarding how we have handled your properties. We take this very seriously and always strive to act in the best interest of our clients. Please feel free to reach out with any further questions - we are always happy to help. 
   
  Best Regards,
   
  *********************
  Senior **************** Specialist
  www.ownwell.com
  P: **************
   
   
   
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/29/2024

  Complaint: 22192595
  
  I am rejecting this response because: The merchant didn't do their job. They told me they would inform me before the cancellation window would happen and they didn't dispute the taxes properly. I know, for a fact, they did not provide comparable home sales for my house on Looksee, because that home is worth $400K, not $500K++. They said they have "sales data" to back that up, but my realtor looked at the comps and none of those homes are selling over $500K. Ownwell didn't do anything.

  HI *****,
   Thanks for the below, but these multiples paragraphs do not make sense. 
   Let's discuss what you wrote:
  9001 Looksee Ln ************************* 2024 Appeal Won
  2023 the value was $409,070
  2024 Noticed Value $543,272
  2024 Final Value $514,000
   
  This appeal was taken to a formal hearing, and our property tax consultant included the evidence you provided regarding the property's condition. The final value we achieved was in line with our sales comparisons opinion of value with this information. 
   
  ******************************* ****** 2024 Appeal Won
  2023 the value was $460,000
  2024 Noticed Value $444,510
  2024 Final Value $415,617
  
  
  These two houses are the same size, same year built, within 2 blocks of each other in the same community. As I've said multiple times: if the house at 8308 Audblick was valued at $415,617, the house at 9001 Looksee should be valued at the same price. 
  You're copying and pasting hundreds of words of jargon and using words like "data" and "opinion". If the data for the house on Ausblick supports $415,617, the same set of information would support the same value for the house on Looksee. There is no reason that the comp information for the house on Ausblick and house on Looksee should be rated differently.
  
  
  Also, that house in ******* is in escrow with a list price of $400,000, so you reference comparable sales, and I would love to see what comparable sales are $514,000. There aren't.
  Your company did a poor job on that appeal and it's proven by the fact that two nearly identical homes have a difference in value of nearly $100K. 
  
  
  Multiple times, I contacted your company via email and said "the house on Looksee is for sale, when can I cancel your services" and you can read the replies. I was told that I would be contacted before the cancellation window closed and I wasn't. That's one thing, but the other thing is that your company didn't even do it's job by properly appealing the value. The trends of the market is for real estate in ****** to go down *** (see Ausblick, which went down approx $15K from 2023 to 2024). But with your work on Looksee, the value went up approx $105K YoY.
  
  
  Please share this reply to the BBB so they can understand why I can't pay you for the work you did on the house on Lookesee. 1) I wasn't told of the cancellation 2) the service itself wasn't performed.
  
  
  
  

  
  Regards,
  
  *********************

  

  Business Response

  Date: 08/30/2024

  Hi ******, 

  The home located at *************** has an improved square footage of *****, whereas the property located at 8308 Ausblick has an improved square footage of *****. While they are in the same neighborhood, were built in the same year, and are classified the same (Class code R4) by the ****** Central Appraisal District, the difference in the improvement square footage would also come into play for how the Central Appraisal District values the properties. 
   
  For ***************, this property had a value of $409,070 for the tax year 2023. However, each year, the Central Appraisal District reevaluates the property as of January 1. Since real estate markets are cyclical in nature and are subject to fluctuation, appraisal districts will not allow sales dates from two years prior if there is a reasonable amount of sales that took place the year before. The value is also determined each year by the Appraisal District. This means that for the 2023 appeal of this property, the Appraisal District and Ownwell had to look at sales comparisons that took place before January 1, 2023 to determine the correct market value for 2023. Since the home was purchased on 10/31/2022, Ownwell was able to get the Market Value for 2023 reduced from $631,204 to $409,070, which was the purchase price. For the 2024 value of this property, we had to find sales comparables that took place before January 1, 2024. 
   
  In short, 9001 Looksee Ln and 8308 Ausblick are not properties that we would refer to as 'model matches' or highly identical properties. The difference in size is most definitely impacting the value of each one based on the range of sale prices and the median of each sample. Additionally, each assessment year stands on its own and each property is valued as of January 1st of said year by the central appraisal district. With that being said, we were able to successfully reduce both of these properties below the median sale price that was captured in the samples of each segment.

  As explained above, properties are valued by the Central Appraisal District as of January 1 of the tax year. This means that when we build a case for an appeal, we have to look at sales comparisons from the previous year for these to be considered as acceptable comps by the Central Appraisal District and their *********************** This means that for the 2024 appeal, we had to pull data and sales comps from January 1, 2023 - December 31, 2023. As for your question regarding the difference in size, when the Central Appraisal District values a property, they do not look at the total number of rooms a home has; they base the value on the total square footage of the property. This is why even though Ausblick may have more bedrooms and bathrooms than the home on Looksee, the total square footage is lower and thus is valued differently by the Central Appraisal District. While we apologize that these results were not in line with your expectations, we can assure you that our opinions of value were data-driven and are well supported. We can offer no further information or explanation regarding these results. 

  As for our cancellation policy for 9001 Looksee, you were informed on July 29, 2024 that the appeal was scheduled for the following day, July 30, 2024, and therefore the property could not be canceled. If you can provide proof that the property sold or went into escrow before July 29, 2024 we will consider voiding the invoice, but at this time based on our cancellation policy that was explained on July 29, 2024 the invoice stands. 

  ********************* *********************** Specialist