Once all the newspapers and websites have written about something, it seems like it goes away–because we’ve stopped writing about it.

But in the case of the good old property tax review scam, nothing could be further from the truth.

Here’s the schtick: the property tax you pay every year is based on a percentage of the value of your dwelling. But when the real estate market takes a haymaker, the way it did last year, the value of your recently-purchased property may sink like a stone.

When that happens, you have the right to ask the Los Angeles County Tax Assessor to re-appraise the value of your home–which will be less because the market has fallen–and to lower your property tax.

No smoke or mirrors. It’s free, says the Assessor–which reviews hundreds of properties for free anyway. Says the Assessor, “There is no reason to pay for a review that has been done for free.”

But, this being a capitalist society, there’s naturally some folks who’d like to charge you anyway.

Back in February, the Los Angeles Times told you about a company called Property Tax Reassessment–which was sending letters to homeowners that looked uncannily similar to the state property tax bills, offering to mastermind their property’s reassessment for the low, low fee of $179.

Earlier this year, I got one of those letters–and almost fell for it, until I Googled the company responsible.

The next day, I actually visited the county tax assessor’s office in Signal Hill–where, if you have your identification, you can see the original build sheet of your historic house (if they have it)–and someone there said they’d get around to reassessing my house for free, this year.

I went home, and eventually, they did–in six or eight weeks. (Just like a commercial.)

Then, Friday, I got a letter from another company offering to do the same thing–again, for money.

“There is a one-time $25 processing fee for all exemption applications processed,” read the letter from Property Tax Assessor Records Corp., whose address is a post office box in Los Angeles. (Their work has been noted in the Times as well.) “Send no money with this form. Your account will be billed.”

That last sentence, and two others were printed in red ink in my letter, which included this ominous concept:

“Again, you will not need to apply in future years; the exemption will automatically be deducted from your tax bill once your claim form has been received and processed by the county Assessor.”

That’s a long-winded way of saying that you only need to do this once–with them, for the low, low price of $25.

Does that sound like something you’d be interested in?

Tags: California, Long Beach, Los Angeles County Tax Assessor, Los Angeles Times, Property Tax Assessor Records Corp., Property Tax Reassessment, property tax scam, Signal Hill, Southern California, The District Weekly, Theo Douglas