Wow, one commenter built a business from the same idea (sorry to repost a comment, but it's pretty great.):
"I have been doing the same thing since 2001. Only I live in Cook County Illinois, the second most populated county behind Orange County, California.
So my database has upwards of 1,000,000+ properties in it (residential, commercial, and industrial).
Funny thing…I took the experiment one step further. I fed every single house in the county through the algorithm, to see who else had a similar appeal case.
Lo and behold, 65% of the county was being overassessed.
So I had two choices:
1) Class action lawsuit on behalf of the county
2) Mass mailing. Gimme $25, I give you the appeal info.
I chose two, and have been mopping up ever since. If you don’t win the appeal (all public record) you get a refund."
"I have been doing the same thing since 2001. Only I live in Cook County Illinois, the second most populated county behind Orange County, California.
So my database has upwards of 1,000,000+ properties in it (residential, commercial, and industrial).
Funny thing…I took the experiment one step further. I fed every single house in the county through the algorithm, to see who else had a similar appeal case.
Lo and behold, 65% of the county was being overassessed.
So I had two choices: 1) Class action lawsuit on behalf of the county 2) Mass mailing. Gimme $25, I give you the appeal info.
I chose two, and have been mopping up ever since. If you don’t win the appeal (all public record) you get a refund."