Property tax assessments in California are based on the value of the property, which the county assessor's office determines. The assessed value is used to calculate the amount of property tax that a property owner is required to pay. If a property owner believes that their property has been overvalued, they have the right to appeal the assessment and request a reassessment. 

California's property tax appeal and reassessment process is governed by state law and varies depending on the county. The following is a general overview of the process: 

1. Filing an appeal 

Property owners who wish to appeal their property tax assessment must file an application with the county assessor's office. The deadline to file an appeal is typically on or before the date that property taxes are due. 

2. Assessment review 

Once an appeal is filed, the county assessor's office will review the property's assessment and consider any evidence submitted by the property owner to support their claim that the assessment is incorrect. 

3. Informal meeting 

In some cases, the county assessor's office may offer an informal meeting with the property owner to discuss the assessment and any evidence submitted. If both parties agree to a newly negotiated tax amount at this meeting, then it can be finalized.  

4. Formal hearing 

If the assessment is not resolved through an informal meeting, a formal hearing will be scheduled with the Assessment Appeals Board. The board is an independent body that will review the property owner's and assessor's evidence and make a determination. Here the property owner needs to provide concrete evidence of why their property was wrongly assessed. Without evidence, the appeal can fall short at this stage.  

That is why working with a property tax assessment and appeal service provider at this stage can be very important. Like Assetsoft, here, our team can help you in gathering the evidence to prove your appeal and successfully reduce your taxes. Our team has extensive experience in this sector, and we know all the rightful legal ways to prove your case. When you take help from us, we also join you at the hearings and present the case on your behalf to improve your chances of getting a lower tax bill.  

5. Board decision 

The Assessment Appeals Board will issue a decision either affirming the original assessment or adjusting the property's assessed value. Then the board will send a notice to the city to process your refund. 

6. Appeal the board's decision 

If a property owner is not satisfied with the decision of the Assessment Appeals Board, they may be able to appeal the decision to the California State Board of Equalization. 

In addition to the appeal process, California law allows for a reassessment of the property's value in certain circumstances. For example, if a property undergoes significant damage from a natural disaster or is sold, the assessed value may be reassessed to reflect the property's new value. 

1. You lack expertise in property management 

   
   

There are different kinds of properties in real estate, retail, restaurants, warehouses, malls, residential, multi-family homes, affordable housing and much more. Every piece of this real estate needs a different level of expertise to handle the clients and manage the property. Every property has different legal, tax, insurance, and other compliances. Do you see yourself struggling to figure this out? Then the main problem here is that you lack the basic training and expertise in different types of property management.  

If you lack expertise, you can end up with a lot of bigger issues. Some of them are, 

• Failing to understand and follow all Fair Housing Laws 

• Failing to inspect the rental to obtain a rental license 

• Not adhering to all habitability standards and building codes 

• Obtaining a Lead Certificate or adhering to other environmental guidelines 

• Not knowing security deposit limits and return guidelines 

2. Too many properties for you to juggle 

All real estate properties have some common requirements that come under the property manager's purview. These mainly include,  

• Addressing tenant complaints 

• Rent collection 

• Assessing late fees and sending notices 

• Paying taxes and insurance and reporting 

• Coordinating maintenance and repairs 

• Compliances and legal items 

• Property inspections and turnover 

• Leasing and marketing vacant units 

• Applicant screening 

Doing all of these tasks for one property is hard enough; imagine adding multiple properties into this mix. An inexperienced person is bound to struggle.  

3. Finding good tenants is becoming a struggle 

   
   

Identity thefts and crimes are very common in America. Reports say more than 15 million people experience identity theft issues every year. If you do not do a proper screening, getting stuck with bad tenants is very easy. This can lead to overdue rents, damage to property or frequent tenant turnover.  

4. The landlord stays out of town 

   
   

Are you a real estate business owner who has many properties under them whose landlords stay out of town? But you hate public interaction? This can be a roadblock, and a lack of communication with tenants can lead to a lot of lease violations and unhappy customers.  

5. You are not able to pace up sales 

   
   

Hiring a dedicated property manager for your real estate portfolio is the best way to help your business grow.  

1. Reduction in tenant turnover 

   
   

Tenant screening is part of the property manager's job profile. They also ensure that you always get good tenants at your property. This helps reduce tenant turnover and stops burning a hole in your pocket.  

2. You do not have to do client interactions 

   
   

Even if you are not in favor of direct client interaction yourself, you can not stop doing them. Instead, your property manager can do that for you. Even if the landlords stay out of town, it does not matter. Property managers can do a lot, from listening to client grievances to giving them tours of the house.  

3. They bring training and expertise to the table 

   
   

When hiring a property manager, also ensure that their area of expertise matches your portfolio and property types. This will bring a lot of experience to the table, and you will be able to customize your business approach based on different market types.  

4. You can grow your portfolio 

   
   

• Use of the latest selection of technology in project management to automate work and make it remote. 

• Office spaces will change due to the pandemic and remote work, but they will not shut down. 

• Retail shopping has not fully recovered, but e-commerce has raised the demand for warehouses. 

• Focus on sustainable real estate to reduce the carbon footprint of this global industry.  

Here are some top tips to help you make more sales and get ahead of your competitive brands. 

1. Humanize your company 

Real estate sales are all about human contact. Even if it is commercial real estate and not residential, you need to connect with your customers regularly and make them feel valued to get their business. Why? Hubspot stats say that more than 90% of Americans depend on their decision on the quality of customer service to decide if they will repeat their business with a company. 

The customers you deal with may be one of these 90% people, so make sure you up your customer relations and stay directly connected with them to amp up your sales. Sending them customized offers and exclusive benefits and talking to them in detail about their real estate needs can be a few of the things you can do to get ahead.  

2. Define your target audience 

Every business should have a target audience in mind. Experts say that if you believe the whole world is your customer, then you are wrong. You need to cater to a specific group of audiences to customize your marketing and sales plan based on your audience. How does it work?  

Understand which social media your target audience spends the most time in. What is your competitive brand doing to communicate with this audience? Are you doing anything to provoke the thoughts of your target audience? Find the answers to these, and you are good to go.  

3. Minimize site visits and speed up sales 

Minimizing your site visits, be it construction sites or property tours, will help reduce your carbon footprint. It will help you cater to CRE trends and also create a USP for your business. You can also use virtual tours and drone views of properties to get a competitive edge.  

4. Do competition analysis 

What is your competition doing in business, be it social media, business strategy and leadership, or daily back office work? Do a thorough competition analysis to get a clearer picture of the market trends and what is going on around you. Do not let your potential customers tell you that a said brand is offering more than you have clear responses to such queries.  

5. Attend industry-related events to build network 

Your vendors, investors, developers, agents, competitors and customers make up your network in the real estate industry. So no matter who your competition is, you need to stay connected with every stakeholder in the real estate market to stay aware and grow your outreach. Attend industry-related events like conferences, seminars, etc., to build up your knowledge about the latest trends and accordingly plan strategy.  

6. Always cater to your local audience 

CRE businesses are mostly huge in size and have national and international dealings, but never forget to cater to your local audience. Why? You have a chance to communicate with them directly. Also, local people always tend to look for property buying or renting options within their known areas. Never forget to tap into this market in between your plans to grow and hit the national market.  

7. Your online presence is a must 

According to NAR reports, more than 97% of customers looked for properties online during the pandemic. More than 76% of them used mobile or tablet devices to conduct these searches. This is enough reason to strengthen your online presence. If you still live in the pamphlet and word-of-mouth phase of business, then you are already losing business that you don’t even realise.  

The number of millennial homebuyers is increasing by the day and they are here to change the way you see the industry. Millennials check everything online before they set their hands on a product, be it a property or a toothbrush. So, build your website and your social media presence before anything else.  

8. Always have competing property listings  

It is not possible that the same company owns all the real estate listings in one complex, mall or property. So it is important that you know everything about the competitive listings inside the same building to help better your negotiations with your clients. Make sure to do your homework! 

The population in the US is increasing every day, but the amount of land remains the same, hence the rising demand for more multi-family homes. Here are the major driving factors in the growth of multi-family homes and the future of mass-scale housing. 

• Low and moderate-income renters 

As per data findings, the average income of an American family is $67,521 as of 2020. But the minimum wage is $7.25 per hour of work. Many families work for more than 40 hours a week and still struggle to make the average income bracket. The average rent remains at $1,164, but the rates are much higher in the cities. This makes it extremely difficult for low and moderate-income renters to afford homes. The rising demand for housing from this category of workers is driving the major investment and increased construction of multi-family homes.  

• First-time tenants 

Living in apartments is cheaper, and first-time renters like college students and freshers at new jobs find it harder to rent out whole houses. Many of these new tenants are coming in from rural or semi-urban areas and driving up the demand for multi-family homes to help make housing more affordable for first-time renters. 

• Senior housing 

Government census data says that more than 23% of the American population will be 65+ by 2060. Another type of multi-family housing is full-serviced apartments for senior citizens. These are people who find it challenging to live alone in single homes; assistive living works better for them. This is another factor that is driving up the demand for multi-family homes as a form of senior housing.  

• Lifestyle renters 

Here is a list of the biggest challenges faced in the digital transformation of the real estate industry. Check them out to understand them better and stay on top of them. Learn about them and plan ahead to mitigate them before they curveball into a major business issue and hamper your growth.  

1. Having no long-term vision  

Having the right selection of technology might seem like a rising trend in the real estate industry. But make sure you have a vision for what your goals are from the technology implementation. Without the right long-term vision, technology can become a redundant investment and lead to a lot of monetary and time loss. You need to read useful customer reviews about the software you choose, make sure that the tech features are customizable according to your business needs, and then start integration.  

2. Employees not adapting to the technology 

Making all employees and stakeholders agree to the new technology selection and training them properly to use the tech is an essential part of the integration. As a real estate property manager, do you see your staff is reluctant to adapt to new tech and is not motivated enough to make the shift? This is a common problem among real estate businesses, and you need to plan your strategy and leadership in a way that you make your staff understand the need for the tech. You also need to take reviews from your staff about their every need in work process automation and the hurdles they face. This will help put all the stakeholders on the same page and streamline the automation process.  

3. No proper budget for tech investments 

Tech investments need a lot of planning, but it also needs a proper budget for you to understand which investment works best for you. It can be a major challenge if you do not understand your technology selection positively impacts your business ROI. Budgeting and forecasting beforehand is the best way forward in such a scenario.  

4. Not understanding which tech works best 

You need a technology consultant to advise you on which software works best for your particular business. Your tech implementation partner must provide customized solutions to your needs to complete the integration. Why? Statistics published by Harvard Business Review says that more than 55% of technology selection like CRM software fail to produce the accurate results they were implemented for.  

5. Not integrating data and workflow systems 

Integrating a project management software without data integration and automating workflow systems is a major pitfall. The right technology selection in project management can streamline your whole data management and back office work to ease your business management plans. A tech like Yardi or MRI software can easily integrate your data and automate your back office work, including accounting and repetitive and tedious project management tasks. You need to make sure your software solution provides this pre-integration.  

6. Concern about data security of new tech 

The biggest challenge during new tech integration is the data security issues is cyber security during data migration. Without proper integration, a lot of data can be lost in the process and create a lot of problems for your business. But most cloud services are secure; you need to make sure your software provider is doing good integration work to ensure no data is breached.  

7. Client interaction is changing 

Due to technology implementation, the pattern of client interaction is also changing. Face-to-face interactions are decreasing. A significant part of the real estate business was about direct client interaction, but with the right technology selection, you can make client interaction a constant thing. With things like RPA chatbots and CRM software, you can constantly be in touch with your customers and never lose track of your clients.  

8. Teamwork might suffer without the right tech 

So, how do you decide which property managing partner is the best fit for your business that goes beyond their qualifications on paper? Here is a carefully curated list of key questions you can ask a property management partner before getting them on board.  

1. How much experience do they have in handling real estate properties? 

The right qualifications are just the beginning. You also need to ask your property management partner how many years of experience they have in handling properties and projects. Real estate property deals are of many kinds, from single residential homes to multi-family homes to restaurants, malls, warehouses, hotels, properties can vary. Every type of these businesses need different business abilities and experience. You need to make sure that your partner has specific experience in the field that your property dealings happen in.  

2. What kind of property management plans do they offer? 

Property management has many different needs, rent collection, tenant onboarding, tenant eviction, common area maintenance, property listings, tenant screenings, sales, home tours and much more. Before you partner up with a property manager you need to tell them your business needs and also get a holistic understanding of which of these services they offer under their purview. You will lose out on money if you hire a property manager who does not offer all the property management plans you need to smoothen your business process overview. The strategy and leadership team at your business needs to think this through before making a decision. 

3. How are the property management fees divided among parties? 

If you are a real estate business owner or landlord and get a third-party property management partner, they will take a portion of the management fees. Before cracking a deal, all stakeholders must agree on the share of management fees they are entitled to with each sale and each customer onboarding. 

4. Do they use any property management software to automate the work? 

Property management data collection is a necessity for any business with growth plans. Getting customer data, feedback, making logs and registering these information is crucial to understand buying patterns and improvement areas. According to UNITrends market reports more than 94% of companies that suffer from data loss do not recover from it and have to call for bankruptcy. 

These can be solved with the use of latest property management software like Yardi project management or MRI software services. From data collection to rent collection or even accounting and budgeting and forecasting work can be automated with these software. Ask your property managing partner which software they use to streamline your work and ensure you get to leverage the best tech in the market. 

5. Ask if they are real estate investors 

Many property management firms and staff are real estate investors and property owners. As a fellow real estate business owner, you need to know who you are dealing with before making a move. Be upfront about it; you can not afford to lose out on business if your property manager themselves own properties and make sales at your expense without sharing profits with you.  

6. Ask if they do the marketing for properties listed with them 

Property management also includes sales, which should include the marketing o listed properties. You must ask if your partner provides marketing strategies for your units to drive sales and what they charge for these extra services.  

7. Ask if you have any say in the lease agreement terms & conditions 

Are you a property manager who has been facing a huge loss of tenants recently? Has the rising loss of rent kept you worried? You can start using these proven strategies for better tenant satisfaction and retention. 

1. Smooth communication 

Good communication is one of the oldest and most approved forms of project management best practices. Be quick to respond and fast to resolve issues. If the high number of tenants make it hard for you to individually pick up calls you can start using the software. A property management software like Yardi can help ease the process. You can address/manage and respond to all issues right from the dashboard and solve them immediately. 

Our team at Assetsoft and the Yardi consultant is here to customise the software based on your property management needs. We will also make the tenant data migration and user training trouble-free for a better user experience. 

As many as 68% of people are even willing to pay more if they receive good customer service. Get why you need to better your customer service plans? 

2. A seamless tenant screening process  

You must start a thorough tenant screening process to understand the pulse of the situation before onboarding. If you as a property manager fail to understand the true potential of a tenant then you are up for a lot of risks. If you find the process a bit too much you can start using set question templates that you put out on your management website. All of these can be easily done with the MRI software for property management. 

The MRI services will help you automate the screening process, background checks, security checks and much more. Shed the dependency on manual screening processes and save time and effort with a new age property management software. 

3. Good maintenance of property premises 

As a property manager, it is one of your primary duties to keep the property in good, habitable conditions. Lease renewals will go down if they are not prompt to solve maintenance issues. It is a tenant's fundamental right to a proper livable place when they sign an agreement. If you do not keep up to these rules then not only do you stand to lose the tenant. You can also face legal charges, furthering your harassment. 

4. Start lease renewal incentives 

When the time comes for lease renewal, start providing extra offers and incentives to benefit your tenant. Reward your good tenants, this will give you an edge while contracts are renewed. A small incentive can go a long way.  

But it can be a long drawn process if you do it physically. Instead, when you use property management software, you can integrate these features into your system. You can simply upload the free benefits with the rent renewal applications on your user dashboard.  

5. Survey market rate of rent 

You must know the market you are leasing properties in. In-depth knowledge of what the market rates of leases are in your area, the spending capacity of your potential clients can give you an edge. Knowing this you can even offer small rebates on your lease plans.  

Market research says property rentals increased way more than property ownership post-pandemic. If you do your research well you can leverage this data to provide attractive offers on leases. This will give your tenants enough reason to renew contracts and stay back long term. 

6. Keep little space open for flexibility 

From online rent collection to leniency in collections, you can show a lot of flexibility for long-term residents. It is extremely hard to find good tenants and you must try your best to retain them. The pandemic has for sure made us realise the impotence of unforeseen situations in our daily lives. You need to be open to new forms of tenant interactions and relations when there are genuine problems at play. This will help you develop long-lasting relations with tenants resulting in better retention.  

7. Always provide proper paperwork 

When it comes to lease and property papers you need to make them perfect to the T. Following all guidelines and regulations while making them is crucial. You need to ensure this to avoid any legal and insurance battles at a later stage.  

If you have a property management software in place then getting information from your tenants can become virtual and hassle-free. You do not have to knock on doors to get the ball rolling on the lease papers. This will ease the life and work of all parties involved. From filling out information forms and proofing data given by your clients, you can do it all on your software dashboard. 

1. More Data Unearthed 

Unlike a manual property inspection, drone-based practices are comprehensive. The footage is detailed, but you can also store it for later review. 

Advantages of Using Drones 

With a manual inspection system, you have to hire third-party professionals for your property inspection as a business owner. This service entails that whatever information you receive is passed on to you via the property inspector. As a result, many crucial repairing or vulnerable spots may remain in the areas they inspect. 

The DJI Mavic 2 Pro is an excellent fit for more conventional inspection work. The multi-rotor drone boasts a Hasselblad L1D-20c Camera able to capture images with 20 mp clarity. A built-in CMOS sensor enables the machine to scan your property even in low-light areas. Moreover, the drone has a reduced noise system and an Intelligent Flight Battery to enhance your experience. In addition to decreasing the risk factor, these drones also provide more data within the same time frame. With a manual system, a visual reading, however thorough, is all you will receive. But unmanned flying vehicles can be equipped with more complex equipment. Attaching multispectral and thermal sensors to the drone can give you a highly detailed report of your property. 

2. Less Risk 

Dangers of Manual Inspection 

Places like boiler rooms and equipment storage can be challenging to inspect. In such cases, a drone-like Elios 2 can be beneficial. In addition to this, drones can even give you a thorough review of cramped, inaccessible areas. 

This machine specializes in indoor inspections. The cage/shell built around it protects the device even during collisions in tight spaces. Meanwhile, its GPS-free stabilizing system ensures stability during navigation. Other oblique and dustproof lighting features guarantee that you receive the most precise picture on your live steam. 

3. Cost-Effective