In residential appeals assessed values are compared to properties within the same neighborhood having similar characteristics .
Residential appeals are fairly common but many of the commercial taxpayers who should file appeals don’t. The reason is unclear, especially considering that most of the attorneys will take an appeal on a contingent fee basis.
If commercial assessed values increase more so than residential assessed value then a shift of property tax burden from residential to commercial can occur. Some business taxpayers choose to pay the property tax rather than pay someone to help reduce the assessed value. Other commercial tax payers look at the cost of prosecuting an appeal as a cost of doing business. The answer here is to challenge the assessed value at every opportunity, since assessed value is used to calculate the property tax payer’s portion of the property tax. 
Residential appeals rarely require an appraisal. Commercial appeals on the other hand almost always require an appraisal, which the commercial taxpayer will need to pay for regardless of the outcome of the appeal.
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