At our July Coffee with Your GADs, we were joined by Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi, who discussed updates from the Assessor’s office. Here’s what’s impacting Chicago’s real estate industry:
Valuations Changes Based on COVID-19
New market valuations due to COVID-19 took effect for the south and west suburbs, but when will new assessments outside of the south and west take place? Chicago and the north suburbs can expect to see announcements on new valuations within the next month. As the north suburbs were assessed last year and considering the size of Chicago, the circumstances of these valuations will be slightly different than the south and west suburbs.
Addressing Previous Inequities in the Assessment Process
Based on recent discussions on systematic racism and bias, Assessor Kaegi said they have looked at how their assessment process is conducted to eliminate any biases that might exist. Assessor Kaegi says the only way to solve for racial inequities in the assessment process is to get it right at the beginning at the assessor level. This is because the more appeals that take place to get an assessment right, the more inequitable the system becomes. Larger homes with less racially diverse homeowners tend to be appealed more frequently, so the more assessments get whittled down from larger homes to smaller homes, the more burden tends to be transferred to racial minorities.
RLTO Amendments
CAR discussed the most recent city of Chicago call for action for the Residential Landlord Tenant Ordinance amendments, which would increase tenant notification of lease termination from 30 to 90 days and provide tenants with a relocation fee. CAR opposes this ordinance, as we believe this is a violation of private property rights, that will increase the cost of renting property and create negative ramifications for law-abiding property owners. To find out more information and take action, click here.