Sold Stories #5: Lisa’s Taxes Kept Going Up. Joe Kept Knocking Them Down.

The Situation

On Staten Island, property tax reassessments are a fact of life. The New York City Department of Finance assesses property values on a rolling cycle, and for many homeowners — especially those who have owned their home for years in a neighborhood where values have risen — the annual tax bill can become a frustrating source of financial pressure.

Lisa Terranova had been through this before. Her taxes had gone up in a previous cycle, and she had worked with Joseph Ranola to challenge the assessment. That grievance process had worked — her taxes came down. But Staten Island property reassessments don’t stop. A year later, Lisa found herself looking at another increase.

For a lot of homeowners, this is where the frustration really sets in. You fight the assessment. You win. You breathe a little easier. And then a year later, the number creeps back up. The cycle can feel endless — and many homeowners simply stop fighting and accept the increase, not realizing that the grievance process is there precisely for situations like theirs.

The Challenge

Property tax grievances in New York City require documentation. You can’t simply show up and say the number feels too high — you need data. Specifically, you need comparable sales in the area that support a lower assessed valuation for your property. The argument to the NYC Tax Commission is essentially this: given what similar homes have actually sold for nearby, the current assessed value overstates what your home is worth.

For a repeat grievance client, the challenge is demonstrating that the increase is still not supported by market evidence — even after a prior reduction. The city doesn’t automatically restore the old assessment when you previously won; the new year’s assessment stands until challenged again.

The other challenge is timing. Property tax grievance deadlines in New York City are strict. Miss the filing window and you’re locked in at the higher number for another full year. Homeowners who don’t track these deadlines — or who wait until they’ve received the final tax bill rather than the tentative assessment notice — often find themselves too late.

Lisa came back to Joseph because she trusted the process and knew it worked. But the documentation still needed to be built from scratch for the new assessment year.

How We Got It Done

When Lisa reached out, Joseph moved quickly. He ran a detailed comparative market analysis (CMA) — pulling recent comparable home sales in Lisa’s neighborhood to establish what the market actually said her property was worth. In a properly functioning tax system, assessed value should bear a reasonable relationship to market value. When the city’s number exceeds what comparable sales support, that’s the argument for reduction.

The CMA Joseph prepared wasn’t a rough estimate. It was a structured report using actual closed sales — the same methodology used when pricing a listing. It identified the homes most comparable to Lisa’s in terms of size, condition, age, and location, and established a supportable value that was lower than the city’s assessment.

Joseph walked Lisa through every detail of the report. Which comparables he selected and why. What the numbers said. What outcome was realistic to expect from the grievance. And what the timeline looked like for the process.

This is the kind of work that goes beyond what most people think a real estate agent does — but it’s exactly what homeowners on Staten Island need, because property taxes are one of the biggest ongoing costs of ownership here. Reducing them, even modestly, compounds over years of ownership into real money. For homeowners who use tools like the Downsizing Equity Calculator or are thinking about their long-term financial picture, every line on the carrying cost ledger matters.

The Result

The grievance was filed with the data in hand. And once again, Lisa’s taxes were successfully lowered.

For Lisa, the outcome was straightforward: a reduced tax burden for another year, money back in her pocket, and confirmation that the process works when someone who knows what they’re doing is running it. For Joseph, it reinforced something he’s believed since he started building his practice on Staten Island — that a great real estate agent isn’t just there for the transaction. They’re a resource for the long haul.

Here’s what Lisa had to say:

“Thank you Joe, once again my taxes were increased and Joe took Is time out and a look to see if they could be lowered.”

— Lisa Terranova  |  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  |  ✓ Verified Google Review