An Invitation to Save: On Your Property Taxes
Why Protest? It does make sense to appeal Texas property taxes annually. Appealing annually will tend to keep your assessed value (and thus your property taxes) in the lower quarter of the range. There’s an incredible range for assessed values for Texas properties. Relatively homogeneous houses often range by 10 to 20% in value for no apparent reason. If you annually appeal property taxes, you have an excellent probability of keeping your property in the lower quarter of the range. It will take about three to five years to move it to that level. For Example: The protest for the current year’s property taxes depends partially upon the final results achieved in the prior year. If the prior year’s assessed value was not appealed, the base level for this year’s appeal will be somewhat higher. For example, let’s assume a house was assessed at $200,000 last year and noticed at $220,000 this year. At the informal hearing, the appraiser might suggest adjusting the value to $205,000. His comment might be it is somewhat higher than last year’s value, but not by much. However, if you’d appealed the prior year’s value and reduced the value to $190,000, the result might be different. Instead of proposing $205,000, for this year’s value, the appraiser may well have suggested $195,000.
When do I protest?
You will receive your assessment notices in the mail at the first of May and you typically have about a month to protest.
The initial protest is not a formal process, you simply sit down with your neighborhood appraiser, provide your evidence and discuss the valuation. It could be this simple. If you are not happy with the results of this informal procedure you can go before the appraisal board to have your case heard. Contact me to help you prepare your evidence for a lower value!Tina Marr, REALTOR® , GRI, Keller Williams RealtyA protest is an opportunity to prove that your property’s estimated value is either inaccurate or unfair. Reasons for a protest might include: 1. Items that affect value are incorrect on your property record. You have an unfinished basement, not finished. You have a carport, not a garage. Your home has 1,600, not 2,000 square feet. 2. The estimated market value is too high. You have evidence that similar properties have sold for less than the estimated market value of your property.
How do I protest?
A reduction is not automatic. You must present evidence as to why you think a value is too high. One example is a closing statement showing that the home recently sold for less than its appraised value. Others are estimates or photos that show the house needs repair, results of a private appraisal, or recent sales figures from comparable homes. Sales figures are available from Realtors; the appraisal district does not provide them to property owners. Another approach is to show that the appraised value of a property exceeds the appraised value of nearby properties of similar size. You may not always get the value you want, but chances are good you will be able to lower the value some and therefore save you some cash!
Tina Marr, REALTOR® , GRI, Keller Williams Realty - April 2009
