How far would you go to be a hero and lower property taxes? According to legend, Lady Godiva answered that question in the 11th century with a nude ride through the streets of Coventry, England. You may be wondering what a naked woman on a horse has to do with property taxes. Trust me, they’re related.

Coventry was burdened by heavy property taxes imposed by Godiva’s husband, Leofric, whose job description included assessing and collecting property taxes. Wanting to provide relief to the people, Godiva begged Leofric to lower the property taxes. Leofric did not want to lose the revenue he gained from the taxes so he responded with a bet that he thought would never be taken. The terms of the bet were that if Lady Godiva would ride through the town completely naked he would lower the taxes.

Upon taking the bet, Lady Godiva sent out a herald requesting that the people of Coventry go indoors and close their shutters at midday. Legend has it that all the people obeyed her request, except one man. His name was Tom the tailor, but you may know him as “Peeping Tom”. He went inside, but peeped through his shutters and was the only one who saw her naked body that day.  

At the completion of the ride, Leofric begrudgingly honored the bet and lowered the property taxes. How about this as a way to become a property tax hero? Thank goodness these days we have forms to use instead.

Twelve employees of Advantax volunteered on 4/28 at Feed My Starving Children (www.fmsc.org), a non-profit organization dedicated to sending millions of meals to starving and malnourished children across the world.  Our team was one of several groups (other companies, families, churches, clubs, etc) packing food that day.  After a briefing on poverty and how the meals were packaged and used, we went to work packing as many meals as possible in 2 hours.  It was an exciting way to spend the afternoon and gave us a chance to have lots of fun, engage in team building, and make a difference.  In the end 103 boxes were packed, which means 22,248 meals; 61 kids fed for a year!  What a great day’s work!

On 5/17, fourteen Advantax employees and members of their families participated or helped in the Feets of Strength 5k Run/Walk, a non-profit organization that is dedicated to creating positive memories for abused and neglected children in our community.  The weather was great for running/walking and each participant had the opportunity to raise both awareness and support for the needs of these children.

I’m excited that activities such as these are part of the culture at Advantax and proud to work with individuals dedicated to helping others.

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Do you remember your first kiss?  Was it in junior high, high school, college, or are you still waiting? How about your first job… your first venture into property taxes?  If you are like many in the property tax industry you probably stumbled into it and over time found a home.  I’d like to take you back… through the eyes of someone new to the industry. Scott Eckhardt joined Advantax last November through our intern program. Seven months into his career as a full time employee of Advantax, he shares his fresh perspective and first impressions – his first kiss with property tax.

Appraise a house in just 10 minutes or your money back!  If you can count doorknobs and measure windows, you too, can become a professional appraiser. Or so declares an Illinois Township Assessor, who has developed a simple method to calculate the value of a single-family residence.  Simply multiply the number of square inches of glass in a home by the number of doorknobs. That’s it!  You automatically have the assessed value of the home at one-third of market value.

The Ground Rules:

•           A typical door has a knob on each side, so you would count both

•           Fancy handles do qualify and can be included in the count

•           Don’t forget closet doors, which typically have only one knob

•           When measuring glass, be sure to include mirrors attached to the walls

For example, a typical new home has approximately 30 doorknobs and 2,500 square inches of glass. When you multiply 30 x 2,500, you get an assessment of $75,000. Multiply this figure by 3 to reflect the market value ($225,000). Older or more modest homes tend to have fewer rooms (hence, fewer doorknobs and glass) and would yield lower values. Larger homes have more rooms and, well, you get the picture.

Before you quit your day job, be forewarned: The fundamental principles of this technique are still in the experimental stages. It is yet to be determined whether constitutional law will allow appraisals based on the Glass & Knob technique. Nor is this technique applicable to commercial or industrial property.