Life Insurance Company
The Challenge
A Kansas City-based life insurance company owned a nearby commercial office building, located just up the street from company headquarters. The county assessor created a valuation of the property using the cost approach, which prioritizes the replacement cost of a given property as well as the land value and depreciation assessment. In creating the valuation, however, the county did not consider the vacancy rate of the building, which can dramatically affect the market value of a commercial property.
Our Solution
The SALT team at Springline evaluated the entire property, including its high number of vacancies, and came up with a new proposed valuation based on the income approach. Instead of replacement cost, this approach analyzes the property’s capacity to generate income, which is more appropriate for commercial or investment properties. The team began a series of appeals of the county’s valuations over the ensuing years.
Client Impact & Results
After hearing the appeal from the Springline team in 2023, the county reduced the valuation from $12.5 million to $6.8 million, a 45% reduction.
Missouri assesses real property every two years, so in 2025, the county created a new valuation of $8 million. But through another appeal, Springline was able to reduce that to $5.2 million—another 35% reduction. This most recent reduction was able to save the company approximately $90,000 in taxes that year.
