Cook County Assessor raised the market value of 103 N Laramie Avenue, Chicago by 1,642% increase in just one year! This is for a duplex in West Chicago Township.
The total market value was raised to $310,000 in 2024 from $17.800 in 2023. The assessed value rose from $1,780 in 2023 to $31,000 in 2024. It is impossible to contrast the sales price to the 2024 tax assessment since this property was part of a bulk sale with a total sales price of about $1.4 MM.
One might expect a major renovation. There was a sale from St. John Church of God in Christ to Fuller Springs LLC in March 2023, however, there is no indication based on online photos or from residential rental advertisements to support a massive renovation, yet the value of the improvements rose by 2,727% from 2023 to 2024. If this is not a world record, it is noteworthy just on the sale.
Property tax increases are generally correlated to tax assessment increases, unless you protest. At first glance, it appears the 2024 property tax bill for this property could increase from about $375 in 2023 to over $6,500 (exact tax rate data for Cook County is not transparently available; surprise.)
Cook County Assessor reports this property was built in 1,914 and is 110 years old. The lot is small with just 4,725 SF. The front of the building is tan, and the side appears vintage dark-red brick.
The building is L-shaped and has a flat roof. There is a Whatta Potato restaurant across the street from 103 N Laramie. MacArthur’s Restaurant, Red Snapper and The Licking Chicago restaurants are all within walking distance. Greenline Foods, Frank’s Food Market and L & L Mini Mart appear to be the closest food stores. Several U.S. Bank branches provide the closest financial services.
This duplex is located at the northeast corner of Laramie and W Washington Blvd. Both West Washington and N Laramie are major traffic arteries. The property is adjacent to mixed residential and commercial with commercial on the ground floor and residential above.
Google street scene photos indicate this was a religious facility in 2011 and later converted to a duplex. Although it apparently was owned by a religious group and used as a religious facility based on signage, there is no indication it received a religious exemption. [Note: There is no fee or cost to file for exemptions. We will help you for free on exemption questions; just call us and we will help you without charge on exemptions.]
What Happened Here??
Here is what we know:
- • The property sold as part of a bulk sale
- • The seller was a church
- • There is no outward sign of remodeling on Google or the Cook County Assessor site, nor does the Cook County Assessor indicate the effective age has changed.
Based on the evidence we have; it is not possible to support a 1,642% increase in the market value of this property in one year. Requesting a property tax increase of over 1,600% seems offensive and egregious. Real estate owners can no more budget for 1,600% property tax increases than a family can budget for food costs up 100%.
Cook County Tax Assessor Estimates of Market Value
Property owners have an unrealistic conception of the standard of care used by county tax assessors to generate the taxable value of your property. To you, this value is highly personal involving three hot button issues: property taxes, your money, and your home. To the tax assessor, generating the initial assessed value is part of a process of guesstimating a value for hundreds of thousands of properties using one model, as a first step in raising billions of dollars to fund Cook County local government, including city, county, and school. The first part of the process is to gather property and sales data and use a model to estimate values for a massive number of properties. The second part of the process is to respond to property owners who address errors in property description, unequal appraisal, excessive appraisal and missing exemptions.