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Bill Cunningham, the Great America.
Welcome this Flarius Wednesday afternoon in the Tri

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state Reds Baseball kicks off in about
twenty seven hours Nationals in town. No

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one's been hurt with the Reds today. But Mount McClain had what might be

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season ending shoulder surgery yesterday to repair
cartilage and a torn labraham and his shoulder

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that normally is a two to four
month process. Mount McClain, I think

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going down the same route as Joe
Burrow, can't stay on the field,

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can't be healthy. We'll see what
happens, and tomorrow it all kicks off

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right here about nine o'clock in the
morning, and I'll be at the Holy

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Grail with other great Americans starting about
one o'clock. Gets you ready for Reds

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baseball. But until then, Chris
Finnie as a great attorney in town.

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He's involved in civil rights issues,
human rights issues, also involved in property

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rights, and he sues everybody he
can, which we certainly encourage. And

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Chris Finnie, welcome again to the
Bill Cunningham Show. Two issues are percolating.

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One is March thirty first is quickly
approaching. And secondly, our squatter's

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rights so let's deal first of all
with them March thirty first, which is

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a deadline, statutory deadline. Explain
what that date means to the American people.

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Yes, our office has been very
busy preparing property tax valuation complaint challenges.

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So the county auditors in Hamilton County, Butler County, and Claremont County

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in January of this year came out
with all new values for all properties all

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in Hamilton County, three hundred and
sixty thousand properties. And it probably would

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be appropriate to mention the passing of
our county auditor. I think they announced

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yesterday who had served less than a
year in office, and she had done

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a great job for a very short
time there. But I think she passed

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from cancer, and I don't want
that to go unmentioned in her service,

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to be unrecognized. But anyway,
every year, taxpayers have a right to

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go into what's called the border revision. It's run through the auditor's office and

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you file a complaint to have your
value reduced if you think it's been excessively

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valued. And a lot of people
are doing that this year because of the

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dynamic nature of the real estate marketplace
both upwards. For some properties, so

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single family homes and apartments, and
downward for other properties, offices and in

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some cases retail you know, malls
and such. So there's a you know

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a lot of people that are upset
about their valuations, but the reality is

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so. And by the way,
Willie, the thirty first is typically the

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deadline. That's a Sunday, that's
this coming Sunday, So you have until

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Monday to file with the Hamilton County, Butler County, and Claremont County auditors.

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If you have listeners listening to Montgomery
County the same and really every county

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in Ohio has that deadline, but
those are the counties with new valuations.

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So next year, Warren County,
everybody at Warren County will be up in

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arms because they're going to get new
values in January of of twenty five.

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But thirty first of March each year
is the deadline to file property valuation challenges.

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So we are we filed on on
fifty or seventy five this year or

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something like that, And it's important. I've gone through that myself about fifteen

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twenty years ago. You think it's
a great, austere gathering of eagles,

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and really it's rather informal, and
you have to file it and then you

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go to a hearing, which might
be many many months from now, and

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because of the large number, it
might be a long time before the hearing

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itself takes place. You need,
if possible, to go in with an

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appraisal, and you can put down
on the form right now what you think

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it's worth, and then later on
in the weeks and months ahead, you

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can get a real appraisal done and
if it comes back right or wrong for

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you, you can dismiss your appeal
or you can go forward with it.

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So, but you're saying it's now
April first, by close of business April

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first, which would be about four
pm on Monday, Is that correct?

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Yeah, and we recommend filing that
in person. The form is available online

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at the Hamilton County Auditor's site,
which is Hamilton County Auditor dot org.

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I believe, and let me just
say a few things about the valuation process,

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Willy. First of all, I
get I must have gotten two hundred

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calls this year from people who say
my property value went up thirty eight percent,

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forty two percent, sixty five percent, and therefore I must be overvalued

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because property values didn't go up that
that much. First of all, the

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valuation increases a three year increase,
so as johnt just one year. The

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last time you got revalued was in
twenty twenty one and then twenty twenty four.

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Secondly, if the auditor had your
value too low before, which is

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many times the case, it honestly
is, doesn't mean you're entitled to a

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low value. Again, the target
number that the auditor is shooting for for

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every property three hundred and sixty thousand
properties in Hamilton County is fair market value

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as of January one, of twenty
three. So what would it be worth

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if you sold it? I had
many calls from people Willie and they say,

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well, this is my property worth
what they say it's worth? And

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I look online and I say,
well, you just bought it last June

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for that number. Well yeah I
did, But you know, so they

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think there's some fictional number other than
fair market value is the assessment, and

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it's not. And what the auditor
values your neighbor's property for what he previously

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valued your property for is simply inadmissible
at the hearing and not relevant to that

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analysis. The only thing that's relevant
for a single family home as far as

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I'm concerned, is either a sale
of that home, so if you bought

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it for less than what the audit
says it's worth, you can pretty much

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win automatically, or sales of comparable
homes in your neighborhood and you see what

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you know, homes on your four
bedroom, two and a half bath homes

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sold for in your neighborhood and that's
what they're worth. Appraisers can do that.

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I'd recommend going in with an appraisalt. I think when we have a

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residential appraisal it costs maybe fifteen hundred
dollars with testimony to do that. But

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you don't have to have an attorney
and you don't have to have an appraiser,

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so you can pull up you know, if you you know, carefully

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pull together that data, you can
do that. Our office, by the

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way, has a lot of resources
online at Finnylawfirm dot com on our blog.

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We also have a free one hour
video if you email me at my

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office. There's one on our website, but if you email me, I'll

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send you the link Chris Chris at
Finnylawfirm dot com and we can send you

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the link to an updated twenty twenty
four video. I did about six or

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eight classes this year on this issue, and it you know, I think

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the Border revision is having a record
number of complaints. I will tell you

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that I taught a class gosh a
month and a half ago to somebody.

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He filed his complaint in January and
he got and he put a lot of

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data in there of these comparable sales. He got a letter back in January

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said, you get your reduction,
you don't need to come down for a

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hearing. And then, as you
point out, when you do go to

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the hearing, you know it's judge
Judy. I mean, it's very friendly

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as long as you have your ducks
in a row. If you watch our

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video, it'll tell you how to
present your case, and you know,

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part of it's being respectful and part
of it's bringing the proper data with you.

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And if you do that, you'll
you know, a great number of

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people get reductions. But having said
that, a lot of home and by

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the way, when you go down
there, they can give you an increase

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as well as a reduction. Oh, so be careful what you asked for,

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because a lot of people are just
not aware. Willy how much.

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You know, if you've lived in
your house for twenty years and you're not

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in the market to buy a new
house, you may not be aware of

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how the housing market is out of
control. But it's really sad for young

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families today. If you didn't buy
a house you know when interest rates were

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down at four percent or three percent. Between the high prices and the high

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interest rates, it's hard for young
people to break into this market now.

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It's really expensive. Well, Chris
Finney, I want to send the American

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people to Finny fi n n e
y Finnylawfirm dot com. That's where it

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starts and let's see what happens.
I mean, the market right now is

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crazy. Is still high prices and
high interest rates many places, and that's

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a difficult combination. Secondly, squatters. We spoke off the air yesterday about

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this a little bit. Squatting has
become a big issue. In fact,

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online of TikTok and other social media
sites. It tells individuals how to become

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professional squatters and move from good property
to the next. Squatter Rights in Ohio

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I have a website up that Squad
of Rights in Ohio gives certain opportunities to

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a squad in order to gain title
or possession of vacant property if they meet

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certain requirements. Now, adverse possession
means open, continuous, exclusive, adverse

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notorious after twenty one years. So
that's not the issue. The issue is

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someone's gone for a period of time
and someone monitoring the property comes in,

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changes the locks and starts living in
your home. And I had the Melissa

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Powers on yesterday about this, and
she's aware of two circumstances in Amblety County

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in which the police were called.
In one, the police were able to

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course the person out under threats of
B and E or burglary charges. But

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the other one, the person who
dummied up police, which was a bunch

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of bs online, forged the name
of the owner and then the tenant was

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that person and it took months to
get that person out. I want to

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provide a public service to people.
This is going to be a growing trend,

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and you're the man when it comes
to this, Chris Finny, what

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about squador's rights in Ohio? Rob
Sanders tells me similar things happening in Kenton

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County. What are the rights of
homeowners as someone's living in your house,

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that's a great question. So,
first of all, you know, if

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you go back historically, you know
it used to be self help, just

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between the landlord and the tenant.
Ohio, as with every other state,

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enacted what's called a forcible Entry and
detainer statute that says two things. If

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a tenant starts out being rightfully in
your property and then overstays, is welcome,

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not paying his rent, or is
causing damage to your premises, you

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have to go through the statutory eviction
procedure. You give them a three day

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notice, you get a hearing date
usually about fourteen sixteen days later, and

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then they get another two weeks to
vacate the property, and then you've got

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to get the sheriff to set them
out. It can take six or eight

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weeks to get possession of your property
back. They can even drag that out

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by asking for a jury trial,
but they have to post a bond in

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order to do that. Okay,
So the problem is if I have a

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client who calls, are you subject
to the Ohio Forcible Entry and Detainer statue?

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Because if you don't comply with that, you could have a damage's claim

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against you by the tenant. But
when the tenant doesn't start out properly being

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legally in your property. It doesn't
start out a tenant or a guest of

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your tenant. Then, as far
as I'm concerned, you can use self

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help. Now, self help can
be lots of things, be going over

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there with a bunch of buddies with
shotguns and getting somebody out of there,

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which is certainly within your rights.
But you know, we don't nobody they

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and you know it could end up
being a very unpleasant situation. So we

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don't want to what we call disturb
the peace in this process. What I

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recommend people do is wait till the
tenant goes to the grocery store and literally

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go with some plywood and some screws
and a screw gun and nail the place

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shut and they can't get back in, and what are they no, But

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it's really in that circumstance, what
are they going to do? Sue you?

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Well, if they can, they're
not going to win. I would

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hope not. But then you don't
have access to your property either. You

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want to live in your house without
plywood on the windows and doors. Well,

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but once they're set out for a
day or two, believe me,

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they'll get there. They'll they'll you
know, find it. Yeah, yeah,

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and but but I'm just saying it
becomes a question of of sort of

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you know, posturing to see who
can get without disturbing the peace, who

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can get possession and control of that
property. But I you know, I've

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told clients in similar situations, just
change the locks, you know, put

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a put a board across the door, and they're either reluctant to do that,

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or in the one case, I
had a guy his mother in laways

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living with him and he wanted her. He told her to leave, and

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she wouldn't leave, and so they
changed the locks. But then somebody gave

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grandma the key, so it didn't
it didn't work real well. But if

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you just exercise your dominion and control
over the property and kick the person out,

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it's effective. Now if you go
to Los Angeles, if you go

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to New York and try that.
The one woman in New York got arrested

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for that. But I don't see
the basis for any criminal charge against a

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criminal or a civil complaint against a
homeowner who does that. And if you

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want to be safe and not get
sued and not have a confrontation, then

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you get the forceable entering detainer process, and in that process you actually get

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the sheriff to go with you eventually
to set the person out, and they

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they you know, you have to
set all the stuff on the curve.

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The sheriff just watches over. It
keeps the peace. But there's sometimes a

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formal handover process with the sheriff goes
in and says, you know, hit

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the road and you get your workers
to dump all their stuff out on the

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street. It really is kind of
almost a ceremony to see it happen,

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and it's unfortunate that people find themselves
in these situations. Don't get me wrong.

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I mean there's people who live,
you know, struggle a lot more

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than you and I do to get
through their days and weeks. But squatting

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and somebody else's property is probably not
the best way to get through all that.

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I'll give you an example. An
extended family member had a daughter who

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moved back into her home. And
this woman, who was sixty six years

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old, she wanted daughter, had
terrible drug problems, the wrong kind of

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friends, out in, out in
finally moves back, brings her all over

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stuff in and show. Mom would
come home from work every day and there'd

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be two derelicts, three derelicts smoking
dope in the basement, making a fool,

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and these guys wouldn't leave, and
so took it took several months,

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had to go downtown. File it
takes time, didn't show up, publication

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finally shows up, legal aid,
attorney shows up. It took several It

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took two to four months to get
the daughter out. And then as soon

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as that happened, the police got
involved and sheriff's office put the stuff on

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the street. But then mom would
go to work and the daughter would come

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through a window and start the process
all over again. And I'm thinking,

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good, Lord, well, Chris
Finnie, I like to provide some good

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service to the American people. You're
doing the Lord's work, and I think

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we're blessed to have you in our
community, not necessarily after the almighty dollars

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so much, but just trying to
help people. And I respect that quite

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a bit. Well, Willie,
over many decades you've been on the radio.

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You are the personality, the pulse
and the voice of common man in

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Cincinnati, and we appreciate having you. But every time I'm on Willie,

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I get calls from ten or twenty
people say, Oh, I heard you

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00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:50.320
on the radio and so on.
So you've got great reach and great respect

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in the community, and it's an
honor to be on Chris Finnie. You're

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a great American. To get my
best to your lovely wife. Thank you,

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00:14:56.600 --> 00:14:58.000
sir, I appreciate it. Well, let's continue with more and once

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00:14:58.039 --> 00:15:05.000
again that website Finny if I n
n Ey law Firm dot com. If

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00:15:05.039 --> 00:15:09.039
you need more information, you don't
necessarily need an attorney. I know it's

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00:15:09.080 --> 00:15:11.840
hate for lawyers to say such things, but you don't necessarily need an attorney.

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00:15:11.879 --> 00:15:16.200
But in my view, you need
some sort of an appraiser or some

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00:15:16.399 --> 00:15:20.759
basis upon which to do this.
Let's continue. Bill Cunningham News Radio seven

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00:15:20.840 --> 00:15:24.720
hundred WLW. Lawn Plus understands your
time is valuable. There's not enough time

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00:15:24.720 --> 00:15:28.879
in the day between attending your kids'
games events or trying to get in a

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00:15:28.960 --> 00:15:31.919
round of golf. Lawn Plus knows
what it takes for a fit, healthy

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00:15:31.960 --> 00:15:35.120
turf. Call five, one,
three, seven, seven one lawn Today.

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Remember, if you give a weed
an inch, it'll take a yard