J B Brown Associates is located in Lutherville, MD although some might call it Timonium since it isn’t far from Timonium Rd. So, what is JB Brown? Sounds kind of like a law firm or an accounting firm but it isn’t.
Tax Assessment Appeals
J B Brown is a real estate consultant. Specifically, they help people appeal property tax assessments and get the property tax lowered. Now, before you get all excited and call them up about your house because you are tired of paying the hefty real estate taxes in Maryland, don’t call them. Why? Because they only deal with commercial properties.
Why No Residential, Only Commercial
The reason is because of how they get paid. They get paid when they are successful by receiving a percentage of the decrease in taxes that they won for you. The problem with residential real estate is that most houses aren’t that incorrectly valued so the savings and therefore their percentage isn’t very much. Plus, the value of the house is usually less than commercial property so that also holds down what they can make. Those two things combined mean that they usually lose money when they work on residential properties.
They have done work for us and saved us a lot of money over the years. They have an impressive client base that includes companies like Merritt Properties, Jim Koons Mgt, St. Joseph Hospital, Valley Motors and many more.
Storm Water Remediation Fee (Rain Tax) Appeals
Naturally, when Maryland adopted the “rain tax” this was a natural for J B Brown to incorporate into what they do. We haven’t used them for this, but considering how expensive this tax can be, the savings can be considerable.
Lease Audit & Property Management Consulting
Since J B Brown has been operating for 24 years, they have a lot of experience. Ben is a real estate investor himself and is very savvy about real estate. Although, their main focus is on the tax and rain water appeals, they also do lease audits and property management consulting. This makes sense since they have to value a property to appeal it and that involves getting a rent roll. Since they work with lots of landlords and property managers, they have seen best and worst practices over the years and can advise what to do or not do.
General Real Estate Consulting
They helped us with a problem. We had decided to sell a property that they had done tax appeals for. It wasn’t clear what the value was and they were able to help with that. In addition, they were able to suggest some possible buyers, but also made a key suggestion. That was that the property didn’t fit the typical profile that commercial brokers were looking for. Therefore Ben felt they wouldn’t push as hard. He knew several people who had had success by auctioning properties and suggested exploring that.
That is what we ultimately decided to do and were glad we did and that Ben made the suggestion. The property sold for almost double what we were expecting to get for it. Of course, there are no guarantees you will get those results if you auction a property.
In any case, we have dealt with J B Brown for a number of years and find that they are honest, great to work with, and knowledgeable.