texas property tax people

[jk the sooner fan]

has anybody ever protested a raise in property tax? had any success? know any good tricks, etc etc?

[Beef]

Never protested before, but I will definitely try this year. They raised my value another 30k this year which tacks on an extra $700.00 to my bill. Friggin ridiculous. They've raised my value over 60k over the last 4 years and 130k from the last appraisal of the previous owner 5 years ago with no major improvements on my end.

I'm going to have a realtor buddy run comps and go from there .

[1stTimeCaller]

can you tell them to buy it?

[OUDoc]

Never protested before, but I will definitely try this year. They raised my value another 30k this year which tacks on an extra $700.00 to my bill. Friggin ridiculous. They've raised my value over 60k over the last 4 years and 130k from the last appraisal of the previous owner 5 years ago with no major improvements on my end.

I'm going to have a realtor buddy run comps and go from there .
Check out www.zillow.com first.

[sanantoniosooner]

has anybody ever protested a raise in property tax? had any success? know any good tricks, etc etc?
You bet I'm about to learn how.

Somebody needs to convince me that my house increased by $26K in one year.

Complete BS.

[sanantoniosooner]

Check out www.zillow.com first.
This site shows a $16K increase as opposed to a $25k.

[jk the sooner fan]

well mine increased by 10K - however I'm going to have a hard time stating there were no major improvements after i just put in a new kitchen

but that doesnt mean i wont try!

[sanantoniosooner]

Mine has had ZERO improvements. In fact, my roof needs replaced and I need to do some exterior repairs before painting.

[jk the sooner fan]

i've got weeds in my yard, that should be worth a 5K reduction alone!

[85Sooner]

MIne went up 13k but my tax liabiility wen t down ten percent. NOW THATS the way its supposed to happen.

[sanantoniosooner]

MIne went up 13k but my tax liabiility wen t down ten percent. NOW THATS the way its supposed to happen.
You don't know when you are being set up.

They drop the % so that they have room to increase under the cap, but they increased the value so that the % drop doesn't hurt them that much.

This is positioning for some ankle grabbing down the road.

[1stTimeCaller]

isn't the DFW area mostly a buyer's market now? I'm sure that there are areas where this isn't the case but damn, do the assesors think your houses are appreciating like San Diego in 2003?

[jk the sooner fan]

i think its generally a buyers market everywhere right now

[sanantoniosooner]

isn't the DFW area mostly a buyer's market now? I'm sure that there are areas where this isn't the case but damn, do the assesors think your houses are appreciating like San Diego in 2003?
I've found out that we are supposed to be protected from anything greater than a 10% increase in one calendar year.

[sooneron]

My dad took picutes of everything that was wrong with his house in Houston. After two kids getting through HS, he and the step mom are ready to do some repairs. I think he had the appraisal knocked down 40K.

You guys have NO idea how good you have it. My house's value has risen over 100k in 3 years and over that 3 years our taxes have gone up to nearly 12k a year. And you have no state income tax to boot.

[crawfish]

We protested out first year in this house. And won.

The reason was they sent the homestead exemption form to the previous owners, and we had ended up filing it late. They went ahead and lowered it to the exemption-limited rate. And raised it by that again for the next three years. :)

[jk the sooner fan]

i suppose the flip side is that you want the value of your house to increase rather than decrease..

[Howzit]

i've got weeds in my yard, that should be worth a 5K reduction alone!

Tell them you're within 20 miles of me. That's gotta be worth something.

[skycat]

i think its generally a buyers market everywhere right now

Three houses have sold on my 5 house cul-de-sac in the last two months, after being on the market between 3 days and 3 weeks. They're getting their asking prices too.

I already had a hard enough time recoginzing my neighbors but this is nuts.

I'm starting to think that people don't like me.:(

[OUMonster]

Three houses have sold on my 5 house cul-de-sac in the last two months, after being on the market between 3 days and 3 weeks. They're getting their asking prices too.

I already had a hard enough time recoginzing my neighbors but this is nuts.

I'm starting to think that people don't like me.:(

Where do you live if I may ask?

Just to add to the poll, I live in far NW Houston and had about a 3% increase.

[skycat]

Where do you live if I may ask?


Why, are you trying to avoid me too?:texan:

Anyway, I live in southwest Austin.

[Beef]

The topic at work this morning has been property taxes and the dramatic increases this year. I put in a call to the people that deal with our company's property taxes to see if they have any advice.

[jk the sooner fan]

you have to wonder if the counties arent raising the property values across the board to make up for the loss of revenue as a result of Govenor Perry's bill to ease property taxes

[85Sooner]

All I know is my 400.00 savings is NOT gonna cover my new toll road expenses.

[trwxxa]

I have used a third party. They did all of the leg work and got the valuation reduced to a much lower level than I would have tried to get. The fee was 30% of the tax savings.

[bluedogok]

Three houses have sold on my 5 house cul-de-sac in the last two months, after being on the market between 3 days and 3 weeks. They're getting their asking prices too.

I already had a hard enough time recoginzing my neighbors but this is nuts.

I'm starting to think that people don't like me.:(
Most of the ones seem to sell pretty well in our South Austin neighborhood, not as quickly as that but pretty well for a moderate sized, mid-70's neighborhood.

Our value went up a little but the taxes went down a little (around $200). I will not be surprised when they shoot back up next year.

[47straight]

Last year, they bumped up my appraised value by 32% (house in North Austin.) This year, they didn't change the appraised value after that fiasco. Still, the taxes still go up (another 10%) less the tax savings.

One angle I'd like to use to protest is the separate appraisal for the structure and the land. They claim the structure is worth around $68 per square foot, 1950s construction. Are there any sources of information out there to compare this against, other than what they (mis)appraised the other houses in my hood for?

[Beef]

I just got back from my appraisal hearing and they shot me down. Bastards. Learning process, though.

[C&CDean]

Serves y'all right with your "we don't pay state taxes in Texas" attitudes. They're gonna get their damn money, one way or another...

[jk the sooner fan]

true

you should see the add on taxes when you rent a car in a city with a new arena....we arent the only ones paying for stuff down here!

[47straight]

I just got back from my appraisal hearing and they shot me down. Bastards. Learning process, though.

Did you have your own appraisal?

[Beef]

No. I had a realtor buddy run comps for me and went with that. My house would probably be appraised for more than what the city had it at.