We don't just help you file your appeal. We help you win it.
Filing is the easy part. After you file a King County property-tax appeal, the Assessor typically responds by citing 3 to 5 comparable sales they claim justify your current valuation. Most homeowners freeze here. The Appeal Response Audit reviews each cited comp against the full universe of arms-length sales in your neighborhood and produces a filing-ready rebuttal PDF built on the same published methodology as our packet.
Appeals are decided by evidence, not argument. We produce the evidence.
Your appeal in three phases. This tool is phase 3.
You enter your address at pads.tax, get a free fair-value verdict. If the data supports an appeal, the $59 packet is your complete evidence file: analyst PDF, narrative, pre-filled petition, raw data CSV. You file with King County in 15 minutes.
Within a few weeks the Assessor's office sends a written response defending their valuation. They cite 3 to 5 of their own comparable sales to justify it. Most homeowners freeze here. Without specialized training, rebutting the Assessor's grid is hard.
Paste the parcel IDs of the Assessor's cited comps into the audit tool. You get a filing-ready rebuttal PDF with each cited comp audited on 10 weakness rules. Upload as your response to the Assessor or the Board.
From a one-page letter to a filing-ready audit
Upload the Assessor's response (or paste the cited parcel IDs). This is what you get back.
"We have reviewed your petition and maintain the assessed value. The following comparable sales support our determination:"
audit
The five comparable sales cited by the Assessor in support of the current assessed value of 9237 41ST AVE NE do not meet the standard of comparability the Board requires. Of the five, four score below the tenth-ranked comparable from the full universe of arms-length sales within one mile of the subject property over the preceding two years.
Cited comparable #1 (512 NE 83RD ST, parcel 2878600510, sold $1,425,000 on 2024-01-17) is located 1.85 miles from the subject, outside the 1.0-mile radius used in the Assessor's own mass-appraisal procedures. It was further substantially renovated in 2023, giving it an effective vintage 62 years newer than the subject. These facts together render it unsuitable as a comparable...
The Assessor is presumed correct. You carry the burden.
Washington law presumes the Assessor's valuation is correct. When you appeal, the Assessor's office responds with a grid of three to five comparable sales they claim support your current assessed value. Unless you demonstrate those comparables are meaningfully inferior to other available sales, the Board sides with the Assessor by default.
The way to overcome the presumption isn't volume. It's measurement. Picking apart the Assessor's grid requires the same bulk-data and scoring infrastructure PADS already has running.
Common weaknesses in the Assessor's cited comparables
Published methodology. $59 flat, not 30% of your savings.
Firms like Harley Hoppe and Ownwell charge contingency on the savings they win: $1,000 to $2,000 on a $4,000/year reduction, a tax you effectively pay to them. PADS is $59 flat. You keep the rest. The evidence file is the same professional quality the Board of Equalization responds to, built on the same seven-dimension methodology used in our packet.
Some national services sell a sub-$50 packet for any US county using a generic comparable-sales template. Our methodology is calibrated specifically on 173,000 paired King County sales, uses KC's exact grade scale, and surfaces KC-specific flags (plat structure, recent-buyer re-baselining, substantial-renovation permits). The audit depth isn't comparable.
You can rebut the Assessor's comps yourself from KC's free bulk data, if you have Excel skills and the patience to read the appraisal methodology, pull the comparable sales, and write a narrative the Board responds to. Most people don't. And even if you do, a consistent, published methodology applied the same way for every comp is what the Board actually weighs.
Our methodology is published. The backtest is validated against every SFR appeal KC ruled on from 2020 to 2024 (10,139 cases). On cases with a 10%+ percentage gap from comparable sales, our recommendations win 42% more often than the typical appeal. You can reproduce every number in our rebuttal PDF from King County's public database. That's what makes it Board-ready evidence, not an opinion.
From their response to a filing-ready audit
Every claim traceable to public data
The audit is included with every packet
Buy the packet once. Run the audit whenever you need it, for the twelve months following your order. No per-audit charge, no renewal, no catches.
- Fair-value estimate for your home
- Top 10 comparable sales, mapped
- Verdict: appeal or not
- Fair-value estimate for your home
- Top 10 comparable sales, mapped
- Verdict: appeal or not
- Full methodology write-up (PDF)
- Pre-filled King County BOE petition
- Plain-language narrative you can submit
- Rebuttal tool: audit the Assessor's cited comparables if they contest your appeal