Is Protesting The Increased Tax Appraisal Worth the Effort?

[gdr_11]

I looked up the 2021 appraisal data for my street. There are 30 homes on my street and the $/sq ft number is all over the place. Anyway, I did a spreadsheet and found 5 homes built at about the same time as mine with comparable or larger sq. ft that are appraised at lower $/sq. ft than mine, most of these have pools or have had significant remodels. The bulk of the homes, however, have much higher $/sq ft rates but I think that is because they have been recently sold or have pulled a lot of large permits for the remodeling both of which are red flags for the appraisers.

Next stop is to get a roof estimate and an estimate to replace the four exterior doors which have dry rot and threshold issues.

The two approaches will hopefully help when I appear before the board in two weeks.

 

[oldag]

I looked up the 2021 appraisal data for my street. There are 30 homes on my street and the $/sq ft number is all over the place. Anyway, I did a spreadsheet and found 5 homes built at about the same time as mine with comparable or larger sq. ft that are appraised at lower $/sq. ft than mine, most of these have pools or have had significant remodels. The bulk of the homes, however, have much higher $/sq ft rates but I think that is because they have been recently sold or have pulled a lot of large permits for the remodeling both of which are red flags for the appraisers.

Next stop is to get a roof estimate and an estimate to replace the four exterior doors which have dry rot and threshold issues.

The two approaches will hopefully help when I appear before the board in two weeks.

You have solid data with those five homes built at the same time. List 'em in a spreadsheet with yours. Show the $/ft2, date built, total ft2, then a column with anything that would drive up their value over yours. Print out copies and take with you. Tell them you are protesting on "terms of equity."

When I was in the same boat as you, the board granted my request and lowered the appraised value to match the $/ft2. In your case, if they have amenities that yours doesn't (pools, outbuildings, etc.), you should press for a slightly lower $/ft2. Very polite, but very firm. You might start by explaining you realize their appraisals have to generalize to a degree and you recognize this is a difficult task. However, you have details in this instance that are extremely important.

I don't have any experience with the my house has problems approach, so I have no idea of how that will go.

Good luck.

 

[joking]

Can you provide more of a name. Might be interested.

I'm using Resolute Property Tax Solution for 6 years now. They charge 40%.

Resolute Property Tax Solutions

The easiest way to save money on property taxes in Texas. We help our customers save time and money by obtaining the lowest assessed value for your property.

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[gdr_11]

Well, here is the update; I had my appeal board hearing today. Had good facts and data but I drew a three person board made up of two good people and one asshat.

I let appraiser go first (he was a real jerk and obviously qualified only to crunch numbers). I made my pitch based on the fact that the comps he used on my street were all of homes with $150K-$200K remodels and showed photos from the real estate listings of the kitchens and baths compared to photos of my home which is large original 1980's (the panel could not believe the differences). Furthermore, I noted that I have no permanent outbuildings or shops like the others and my home is all electric with no gas like the others which is a big deal now that electric rates have doubled. I also showed 4 homes from the Appraisal District database that had $/sq. ft appraisals far less than mine, two of which have in ground pools.

Two of the board members reacted well and noted that all of the things I pointed out affected market value but the asshat said he would consider nothing other than applying the average $/sq ft from all of the local sales and applying that to my home. Anything other than that was no acceptable to him. Then, it became obvious that the panel chair could only live with a unanimous decision so the other two gave up their positions and voted with the asshat.

The only positive was that they discovered a minor math error in the appraiser's calcs hat lowered my appraisal by a bit over $10,000 which is about 1/3 of what I wanted.

I went with the panel because I assumed the appraiser would be a jerk and not want to back off from his findings (I was right) but I had the misfortune to draw another jerk as a member of my panel. I have no doubt that another panel would have knocked $20K-$30K off my appraisal.

So I was victim to the logic that if completely restored 55 Chevy Bel Airs are selling for $200K, a rusted out original model should be appraised at the same amount even if no one will give you anywhere near that for the car.

I have an appeal right but they can kiss my appraised arse. It's no wonder Smith County has some of the highest taxes in the state.

 

[toddnjoyce]

We settled our appraisal last night. The CAD’s appraisal was 27% higher than last year and we settled at ‘just’ 22%. Homestead cap kept it to a 9.79% increase.

Homestead will cap protect again next year and the extra $15K in the exemption amount will help then, too.

 

[popper]

They are still plying games with taxes. 75% of my $ goes to school taxes and schools don't like reduced income. You get the 'feel good' reduction.

 

[gdr_11]

We settled our appraisal last night. The CAD’s appraisal was 27% higher than last year and we settled at ‘just’ 22%. Homestead cap kept it to a 9.79% increase.

Homestead will cap protect again next year and the extra $15K in the exemption amount will help then, too.

Thanks for the reminder; the 10% cap will reduce my increase by another $7K. Still pisses me off, but I feel a bit better.

I read somewhere that a study showed many of the people associated with PADs have personal appraisals of 40%-50% of the norm. I would not be surprised

 

[FireInTheWire]

My buddy bought a house in a gated community in Texas City 2 years ago. His taxes last year we're $16,000. Spoke with him last week. Said his taxes were $21,000 this year and they bumped his house up to $580,000. I almost fell over when he told me that. That's insane! He went and fought it and they dropped him back down to $16,000.

You can GTFO with those kinda taxes.

 

[Wiliamr]

I thought the taxes were locked at age 65 and would never increase. Is that incorrect?

We protested ours when we bought the house. Same situation as @EZ-E above - they appraised our house for a lot more than we bought it for 6 months prior.

I've looked at protesting since then but it's never been worth it. With the homestead exemption we would have to get the market value lowered a lot to make a difference.

Sadly the answer is no. At 65 the School district can have the tax frozen at that tax for the tax year you turn 65. Depending on the county/city/ EMS/ Road taxing units, the tax level can be frozen but not required.

 

[gdr_11]

In our county, we are frozen on the School and Jr College taxes but not the regular County and City taxes. That is BS in my opinion because I know there are some counties where all taxes are frozen for seniors

 

[candcallen]

Got my notice today. Appraisal went up almost 50 grand but my taxes stayed the same due to exemptions.

Whew!

 

[Tex929rr]

Our homestead appraisal (16 acres plus house and two steel buildings) went from 480 to 880. Two adjacent 5 acre lots went from 73 each to 160 each. I turn 65 later this year and my reading of the rules is that I’ll be frozen at last year’s rates. We filed the protests but have yet to hear from the appraisal district.

Now to be honest, our appraisals were previously well below market value, especially given the rise in prices the last two years. Another nearby 5 acre tract is on the market for 225 and they will likely get it.

Counties are limited from collecting more than a 3 1/2 percent increase over the previous year without a vote, and school districts limited to 2 1/2 percent, so the tax rates will have to be lowered anyway. Our appraisal district says that county property overall went up about 40 percent.

 

[oldag]

Well, here is the update; I had my appeal board hearing today. Had good facts and data but I drew a three person board made up of two good people and one asshat.

I let appraiser go first (he was a real jerk and obviously qualified only to crunch numbers). I made my pitch based on the fact that the comps he used on my street were all of homes with $150K-$200K remodels and showed photos from the real estate listings of the kitchens and baths compared to photos of my home which is large original 1980's (the panel could not believe the differences). Furthermore, I noted that I have no permanent outbuildings or shops like the others and my home is all electric with no gas like the others which is a big deal now that electric rates have doubled. I also showed 4 homes from the Appraisal District database that had $/sq. ft appraisals far less than mine, two of which have in ground pools.

Two of the board members reacted well and noted that all of the things I pointed out affected market value but the asshat said he would consider nothing other than applying the average $/sq ft from all of the local sales and applying that to my home. Anything other than that was no acceptable to him. Then, it became obvious that the panel chair could only live with a unanimous decision so the other two gave up their positions and voted with the asshat.

The only positive was that they discovered a minor math error in the appraiser's calcs hat lowered my appraisal by a bit over $10,000 which is about 1/3 of what I wanted.

I went with the panel because I assumed the appraiser would be a jerk and not want to back off from his findings (I was right) but I had the misfortune to draw another jerk as a member of my panel. I have no doubt that another panel would have knocked $20K-$30K off my appraisal.

So I was victim to the logic that if completely restored 55 Chevy Bel Airs are selling for $200K, a rusted out original model should be appraised at the same amount even if no one will give you anywhere near that for the car.

I have an appeal right but they can kiss my appraised arse. It's no wonder Smith County has some of the highest taxes in the state.

Interesting. In my appeals, there was not a requirement for unanimous. Only a majority.

 

[oldag]

In our county, we are frozen on the School and Jr College taxes but not the regular County and City taxes. That is BS in my opinion because I know there are some counties where all taxes are frozen for seniors

Yes, but usually the city and county taxes are a pittance compared to the school district.

 

[candcallen]

Yes, but usually the city and county taxes are a pittance compared to the school district.

Yep I saw another person bitching on a local forum and asked 2 questions

1 did you vote for the 2 recent tax props and
2 did you vote no on all recent school district increases and bond elections.

Crickets.

Pull your head out I told him. The school district already owns all the land for future schools. They are wasting money on indoor football practice fields and the tax base is still growing thru new construction and property value increases. They need to manage their resources better.

Local elections have consequences.

Idiots.

 

[cajunautoxer]

Our homestead appraisal (16 acres plus house and two steel buildings) went from 480 to 880. Two adjacent 5 acre lots went from 73 each to 160 each. I turn 65 later this year and my reading of the rules is that I’ll be frozen at last year’s rates. We filed the protests but have yet to hear from the appraisal district.

Now to be honest, our appraisals were previously well below market value, especially given the rise in prices the last two years. Another nearby 5 acre tract is on the market for 225 and they will likely get it.

Counties are limited from collecting more than a 3 1/2 percent increase over the previous year without a vote, and school districts limited to 2 1/2 percent, so the tax rates will have to be lowered anyway. Our appraisal district says that county property overall went up about 40 percent.

Did you fill out the paperwork when you turned 65. Your house appraisal will increase but you pay the old appraisal. My house appraised for $675,000 but I pay off of $335,000. And there's a discount on school taxes

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[Grumps21]

We protest ours every year. Three years ago, the county offered to settle with a pittance off the appraisal, something like $2k, so we rejected and set a date to plead our case. Wife and I showed up with a 70 page PowerPoint presentation along with hard copies and walked out with $30k reduction. I think if you overwhelm them with information, they will give up. They are just regular people who do their 8 and go home. They don’t want to spend hours sifting through my backup documentation. They have changed their MO this year though. Instead of upping the value of the house as they have every other year, they upped the land value instead. Gonna be hard to fight that one, but I’m sure gonna try.

Had our date with the appraisal district yesterday. Got the market value reduced by $51k and the appraised value reduced by $10k. The agent assigned to our case was actually pretty friendly. I learned two things from that meeting.

1) fencing, driveways and sidewalks are not taken into account when assessing the property value
2) it s forbidden to talk about your master bedroom or master bathroom. They are to be called primary bedroom and primary bathroom. The agent rolled his eyes when he corrected me, so I could tell he didn’t agree with that loopy woke chit.

 

[candcallen]

Did you fill out the paperwork when you turned 65. Your house appraisal will increase but you pay the old appraisal. My house appraised for $675,000 but I pay off of $335,000. And there's a discount on school taxes

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Disabled and over 65

Tax ceiling on school and value. Mine didn't go up this year county and local taxes are nothing. The schools phuvk you.

 

[Wiliamr]

Austin is a miserable market to fight the tax appraisals in. I spent a couple hours with a realtor friend going over the MLS history in our area and even teardown ( sold and within a couple weeks demolished) houses like mine built in mid to late 1940s were selling for 695K. The appraisal people here have been doing the higher land value. Hard to fight. Usually I am able to use their analysis method against by building comparison matrix charts using demo houses vs new builds vs older home sales and remodeling to sell data from city building permit office. The Board people get rolly eyed and give up. The appraiser people get defensive and prissy. My favorite new game is the ignore what a property sold for this year and make "market adjustment" to extrapolate predicted sales value . With sales prices increasing about 60% from January to December last year they made a real mess of the Market valuations. The crazy market here has made fighting comps based on sales tough.

 

[Wudidiz]

Every time I show up they lower the tax amount. Bring some supporting documentation (comps) for the neighborhood.