Straight answers.
No marketing hedge. These are the questions we get most, answered the way we'd answer them at a dinner table.
Will I lose by filing an appeal? ▾
Filing an appeal cannot increase your assessed value. The Cook County Board of Review can only lower or leave it the same. If we tell you to file, the worst-case outcome is a "no change" decision — not an increase. The model only surfaces properties where the current assessment exceeds what comparable evidence supports.
How is this different from Ownwell or TaxProper? ▾
Ownwell takes 25–35% of your savings, forever. If we both find a $1,200/year reduction, that's a $300–420 cut on year one and every year after. Our flat fee is paid once — your savings are yours.
TaxProper was acquired by Opendoor and is winding down the consumer business. TaxProper's Cook County product never operated at scale; ours is built on a 1.58M-PIN model specifically calibrated to Cook.
Censum shows you why. Every evidence packet includes the top three model drivers — what the comparable properties are, why yours is out of line, and what an appeal can reasonably argue. Ownwell doesn't show you the math.
See the full comparison.
What if the appeal doesn't win? ▾
Tier A purchases include our credit-forward guarantee: if the Board of Review does not reduce your assessment, we credit 100% of your fee toward next year's packet. You don't lose the money — you get another swing when your next appeal window opens. See the guarantee page.
Is this legal? Are you a law firm? ▾
Censum LLC is a data and analytics company, not a law firm. Cook County allows any homeowner to file their own appeal — it's a right, not a privilege. We provide the evidence; you file.
If you want an attorney to sign and file on your behalf, add the Concierge service (+$79). Those filings are signed and submitted by a licensed Illinois real-estate-tax attorney we partner with.
How accurate is the model? ▾
Our single-family model (CensumAVM v3.1) scored 1.58M Cook residential PINs and achieved 86.1% precision at the top decile against the 2024 Board of Review outcomes — meaning 86 of every 100 properties we flagged as highest-conviction won a reduction.
The methodology — features, training data, validation protocol, published metrics — is on the methodology page. Unlike black-box services, we show our work.
When does my appeal window open? ▾
Cook County runs appeals on a rolling township schedule — each of the 30 townships opens a 30–35 day window once per year at the Board of Review, in addition to a one-time appeal window at the Assessor during reassessment years. Look up your PIN to see your specific window; the dates appear on your PIN page in the detail view.
I own a condo. Do you cover condos? ▾
Condos (class 299) are in beta and expected in production Q3 2026. Our condo model (CensumAVM CONDO head) uses a different feature set and validation regime than single-family, and we don't ship it until it clears our launch bar. If you want to be notified when Cook condos go live, drop your email on the landing page and we'll tell you the day it opens.
Do you share or sell my data? ▾
No. We operate on public Cook County data (assessor, recorder, Board of Review). Your personal information — email, payment, filings — is used only to deliver your packet, not monetized or sold. See the privacy policy.
What if my PIN isn't in your database? ▾
We currently cover every Cook County residential PIN (single-family, 2–3 flats, small residential). If your address doesn't return a result, either it's a commercial, industrial, or vacant parcel — which we don't yet score — or there's a data-entry mismatch. Email hello@censum.tax with your address and we'll investigate.
Texas / Ohio / other states? ▾
Texas (Harris, Dallas, Bexar) is scheduled Q3 2026. Ohio (Franklin, Cuyahoga) is Q4 2026. Each state has different appeal mechanics; we don't launch until the local model meets the same launch bar that Cook single-family did.
Real humans read every message at hello@censum.tax.