Lowering Taxes On 22 Unit
I currently have a 22 unit under contract in south suburban cook county. It cash flows well now. However taxes are high. Does anyone have experience with success of getting taxes lowered and the time frame it takes. 
There are a number of attorneys in my area that will prepare tax appeals for you for either a fixed price or a percentage of savings over previous year. I would search for a real estate attorney that lists RE tax appeals in their experience areas. In Philadelphia, there are a couple of attorneys working in this specialty and handle hundreds of cases a year. You usually need to have the appeal in to the county before a certain date each year. Check with your attorney or local tax officials. Note** I did the same for my personal residence and saved over $400 per year.. Definitely worth looking into.
Tom:
Well what do you mean by high? What are the taxes as a % of income? As a % of your purchase price? Typically in Chicago when I ran apartments ten years ago the taxes were about 15-25 % of gross income depending on how well the ownership had managed them. The only thing that cost more was heating fuel in those buildings where we paid the heat. I hear natural gas prices and taxes are both up so I have no idea where these ratios stand these days.
Cook county probably has the most screwy taxation system of any county in the country. I am convinced they do this on purpose just to be obtuse. If the system is too complicated for the taxpayers to understand they will get frustrated and quit before they get around to actually filing a protest or, even worse, actually asking what Stroger and Dailey are doing with the money.
For example, apartment buildings of more than 7 units are taxed at 2 times the rate of those with 6 units or less. In addition condos are taxed at half the rate of the same apartment were it rental. (assessed valuation of 1-6 units is 16% of market value 7 units and more are 32% industrial and commercial properties are 40%).
The easiest protest to do is if the assessed valuation is wrong. Assessed valuation should be no more than 32% of the purchase price. Assuming that it is less than that then your life gets more complicated-- you have to make your tax protest on some other basis.
There are a number of law firms who specialize in these things. Most of them work on a contingency basis and only charge you if they actually get a reduction.
But yes, I have protested taxes many times and always gotten at least some reduction. I usually do the first round of protest myself and hire an attny for the second round.
As to how long it takes to get results it depends on where your township is in the triennial reassesment cycle (I warned you this was complicated). The townships in Cook county are grouped into three groups and each group is re-assessed every three years on a rotating basis. The process for filing a protest is different depending on where you are in the triennial process. If you file promptly after the notice of the re-assesment then you can see reductions immediately. However when you are buying a building the odds are against you that you are in such a cycle. Typically results take 6 months to a year from the time of filing. Sometimes you have to wait for the filing period to re-open.
I have protested taxes retroactively and gotten refunds from years already paid. That process takes about 5 years.
Hope that helps.
Mark