The Swartz Report: The Power of Snail Mail – A Client Success Story

Chiefs Kingdom is Alive and Well

Another football season, another Super Bowl… Ho hum, ho hum!!! Okay, not exactly as this season provided thrills and tension every week up to and certainly including the Big Game against the Eagles.

While we were in the Phoenix area during the Super Bowl, we did not attend the game. But we did find a great Chiefs bar in Scottsdale called Pub Rock Live. We watched the game with a thousand other Chiefs fans. Football fans all across the country streamed into Phoenix during the week and all were representing their favorite teams with pride.

I was really surprised. I assumed the gear would be predominately Chiefs and Eagles attire, but I was wrong. It’s estimated that over one million people converged on the Phoenix area over the two weeks including the Super Bowl, the Waste Management Open and the hint of the beginning of Spring Training. It’s clear the NFL is THE machine in the US for sports. Families were dressed in their respective team’s attire everywhere we turned, and it was quite entertaining.

But all good entertainment must come to a pause and “work” must take place so we can enjoy more entertainment in the future.

We are ramped up for another property tax season.

Railcar information and mileage is coming in; year-end fixed asset listings are being forwarded and we are set to review additions and retirements in our preparation to file thousands of  State and County personal property declarations.

Kansas real estate valuations will be mailed out in the coming weeks; Iowa will send out re-assessment notices by the end of March; Missouri and Colorado are ramping up for their re-assessments as we roll into May and June. Busy, busy, busy.

Entering my 37^th year of the “property tax season”, this never gets old. We are excited to assist our clients in this  annual (or in some states, bi-annual) review.

The Power of Snail Mail

While we are constantly trying to catch up in the world of technology, I would like to share a brief story of how “snail mail” is still an effective tool.

In 2017, we sent out mailers to prospects advising taxpayers of the upcoming reassessment in Missouri, and specifically, Jackson County. Fast forward to 2019, when an out-of-state owner that has property in Jackson County reached out to me. They had received the letter back in 2017, but were engaged with another provider at the time. They decided to see if we were interested in reviewing their property in 2019.

After a face-to-face meeting in early 2019, we were engaged to review the property and several others in their portfolio across several states. Additionally, they had a very good relationship with a tenant, who also had a significant portfolio of properties across the country. We reached out to their tenant and ultimately were given the opportunity to review their real estate portfolio.

As we head into the 2023 tax year, we’ve saved each of these clients tens of thousands of dollars in our review and successful appeals. They remain clients to this day, and it’s a result of the antiquated process of sending out a letter the old-fashioned way! I think there is a lesson in here somewhere. ????

As always, please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions relating to real and business personal property valuations.
We are here to assist –  .

For questions regarding railcar valuations and assessments you can reach me at as well.

Looking forward to Super Bowl LVIII in Las Vegas – that should be interesting!