The Tax History section gives you the historical context for property taxes, which is one of the largest line items in a multifamily NOI build-up.
What's on this card
- Assessed value history — typically 5–10 years of assessor history (land + improvement split where available), plus market value where the assessor publishes one.
- Most recent tax bill — with the year-over-year change and any exemptions on record.
- Effective tax rate — tax bill divided by assessed value.
- Tax growth — the compound annual growth rate across the years on record.
- Payment status — paid, delinquent, or pending, where the record shows it.
- Jurisdiction — the taxing authority, where known.
Until the Intel Report has run, a property with only one billed tax year shows a locked preview rather than a headline figure — one year is a teaser, not the answer.
If a figure had to be projected or estimated rather than read from a recorded bill, the card labels it — for example Projected — verify with assessor or Estimated from area comps — verify with assessor. Treat labelled figures as placeholders until you've checked them with the assessor.
For condos, taxes are often assessed per unit rather than per building; the card says so and lets you enter your unit's figures.
Where the data comes from
Tax data comes primarily from nationwide property records that aggregate assessor and treasurer records across most U.S. counties. This normalization is critical because every state assesses differently. Relm also checks county assessor and treasurer websites and any tax bills you've uploaded, and cites the sources it used. When no recorded bill is available, Relm may project one from a per-unit figure or estimate it from comparable properties nearby — those figures carry the labels above.
See Where your data comes from and Citations & source traceability for more.
How taxes flow into the pro-forma
The Financial section builds its year-1 property tax line from your override if you've entered one; otherwise from the recorded assessed value and local tax rate, or the most recent tax bill; and only falls back to local market benchmarks when there's no record. Later years grow at a modeled rate based on local economic conditions.
Relm doesn't automatically reset taxes to the purchase price after a sale. If the property is in a jurisdiction with a known sale-triggered reassessment (like Texas), override the pro-forma's property tax line to reflect the post-sale assessment.
Editing
- Override the tax bill or assessed value. If you have a more recent bill than the data source has, open the Tax History page, click Edit, and change it directly.
- Account for special assessments or a pending appeal in the pro-forma. PIDs and MUDs are common in newer Sun Belt deals. There's no separate field for these on Tax History, so adjust the property tax line on the Financial Pro-Forma page so the model reflects the real bill.
Common pitfalls
- The OM understates taxes for newly-constructed properties. New construction starts with a partial-year tax bill that ramps as the building completes. Don't mistake the partial bill for the stabilized number.
- Texas, Florida, and California all behave differently on reassessment. If you're crossing state lines for the first time, double-check the tax line in the pro-forma before signing off.
- Personal property tax (PPT) is separate from real estate tax in some jurisdictions and can be a meaningful line for amenity-rich properties. Check the Tax History sources for "PPT" entries.