Just got through with my formal hearing. It went much smoother and easier than I thought, considering it was my first time.

I used the Jubally comps. The appraiser agreed to the Jubally suggested value of a 15K reduction from market value. I don't know if it was the Jubally documents or my Matlock level lawyer skills that swayed her.

My informal is tomorrow morning. I'm requesting a $30k drop, exactly to the Jubally comps on Market Value. Going by Unequal, it would only be a $6k drop. But am I correct in assuming that only indicates that the comps on the Unequal list are over appraised too? Those are based on 2015 appraised values, right? So, if they are all 10% overvalued like I think mine is, then the fair comp would be 10% lower,, right?

My Jubally comps did not take into account time adjustments so they would not drop to Jubally's proposed market value at my informal. Kind of surprised Jubally doesn't take this into account since it's a big driver for HCAD and their values.

quote:

---

My Jubally comps did not take into account time adjustments so they would not drop to Jubally's proposed market value at my informal. Kind of surprised Jubally doesn't take this into account since it's a big driver for HCAD and their values.

---

Discussed on page 13...

quote:

---

At your formal hearing (they won't listen to you at your informal hearing), you can use these two arguments to get out of the time adjustment. 1.) a true appraiser who is hired by BoA will look at sales that took place in your neighborhood for the past 6 months. They will not apply some arbitrary time adjustment to make the value go up as that creates a bubble and we've seen what happens with that. They would lose their license if they did. 2.) if you had purchased your home this year, you would be able to walk in with your HUD-1 statement to show what you paid, and they would lower your value to your contract price. They would not apply a time adjustment. Since this is the way they would handle that if it were your home with the HUD-1, then why would they add a time adjustment in on a comp, again, the HUD1, or contract sales price is the Market value of that home.

---

quote:

---

My Jubally comps did not take into account time adjustments so they would not drop to Jubally's proposed market value at my informal. Kind of surprised Jubally doesn't take this into account since it's a big driver for HCAD and their values.

---

Look at Cru's post regarding this on the prior page, it's spot on:

quote:

---

atm_bomb, yes sir, there is.

At your formal hearing (they won't listen to you at your informal hearing), you can use these two arguments to get out of the time adjustment. 1.) a true appraiser who is hired by BoA will look at sales that took place in your neighborhood for the past 6 months. They will not apply some arbitrary time adjustment to make the value go up as that creates a bubble and we've seen what happens with that. They would lose their license if they did. 2.) if you had purchased your home this year, you would be able to walk in with your HUD-1 statement to show what you paid, and they would lower your value to your contract price. They would not apply a time adjustment. Since this is the way they would handle that if it were your home with the HUD-1, then why would they add a time adjustment in on a comp, again, the HUD1, or contract sales price is the Market value of that home.

Make sense?

---

Question:

I protested my taxes and they denied my protest stating that the raise was in line with the rest of my comps. I don't believe that my pool is included in my estimate, should I accept the 10% raise, or will they come out again and potentially discover my pool in the process?

I don't want it to go up any more than it already has in the past 3 years.

TIA.

My informal this morning was surprisingly easy. I presented my Jubally comps and they met my suggested value exactly. I was surprised because there were only two market comps and there was a large spread between the two. But, they took it. Thanks, Jubally. I was out of there in 10 minutes.

quote:

---

I got to my 2014 purchase price which I thought was good enough. Just sucks because jubally had my market comp 25k lower then my purchase price. Guess that means I overpaid

---

Can Jubally run a house for me I want to put an offer on & tell me how much I should pay haha?

quote:

---

quote:

---

I got to my 2014 purchase price which I thought was good enough. Just sucks because jubally had my market comp 25k lower then my purchase price. Guess that means I overpaid

---

Can Jubally run a house for me I want to put an offer on & tell me how much I should pay haha?

---

You're wanting to buy the former Bama player's house? Didn't know he had one in Houston.

quote:

---

quote:

---

I am a new homeowner in Oak Forrest and dealing with this crap for the first time...quick question/wisdom seeking:

I bought the house in 2014 for $325k. I filed for homestead in January 2015 since the house already had homestead in 2014 (never heard anything back, but I guess I didn't expect to). The appraised value went up $145k to $370k and the market went up $68k to $370k.

I assume my best course of action is to just protest it back down to purchase price? Any other tips or ideas? How do I know I have the homestead exemption in place?

---

Take your closing statement to the informal and it should get lowered to purchase price.

---

i looked up my old house and HCAD apprised it for 25k over what the new owners purchased it for and it appears they did not protest. Or maybe they did and HCAD said to bad....wish that HCAD would have bought my old house.

quote:

---

quote:

---

I am a new homeowner in Oak Forrest and dealing with this crap for the first time...quick question/wisdom seeking:

I bought the house in 2014 for $325k. I filed for homestead in January 2015 since the house already had homestead in 2014 (never heard anything back, but I guess I didn't expect to). The appraised value went up $145k to $370k and the market went up $68k to $370k.

I assume my best course of action is to just protest it back down to purchase price? Any other tips or ideas? How do I know I have the homestead exemption in place?

---

Take your closing statement to the informal and it should get lowered to purchase price.

---

I did this today. Bought in March 2014. Appraised value for 2015 was almost 9% more than what we paid. Walked in and showed them my HUD and got it lowered to the sale price. In and out in 20 minutes and pretty painless.

The lady sitting across from me in the waiting area had her laptop with a power point presentation. She was ready for a fight.

quote:

---

My informal this morning was surprisingly easy. I presented my Jubally comps and they met my suggested value exactly. I was surprised because there were only two market comps and there was a large spread between the two. But, they took it. Thanks, Jubally. I was out of there in 10 minutes.

---

Going to my informal tomorrow, hopefully the Jubally packet does the same for me!

Great news!

This year even Jubally couldn't help. When I ran their comp for my informal it was $13,000 above my appraised value. I guess I did too good last year.

So if I am removing and replacing my garage apartment, that allows HCAD to break the homestead cap, right?

I believe so but only on the garage apartment (and garage below it).

quote:

---

Boom! Another win for Jubally! Handed my agent the packet, she said "based on this evidence I'll lower it to the suggested value". $23k drop.

---

Contested and got the 2015 value down to a 0.65% increase over 2014.

In theory, no. What they're going to do is add the new construction value of that garage (which will be uncapped) to the existing value of the home (which is still subject to the homestead cap). Any new construction is valued according to the year it was built in.

So in reality, yes you may get hit with an increase above the homestead exemption cap, because it takes the old value (capped) + the value of the new construction, which is not subject to any caps.

quote:

---

In theory, no. What they're going to do is add the new construction value of that garage (which will be uncapped) to the existing value of the home (which is still subject to the homestead cap). Any new construction is valued according to the year it was built in.

So in reality, yes you may get hit with an increase above the homestead exemption cap, because it takes the old value (capped) + the value of the new construction, which is not subject to any caps.

---

But the cap is only lifted for a single year, correct?

The next year the entire property will be subject to the 10% cap again unless you add something else.

In your case, the entirety of the 'leased space' will not (at least should not, by law) be subject to your homestead exemption or cap. A partial will (should) be in place to account for the separation of homestead (what you own and occupy) and what you lease.

quote:

---

In your case, the entirety of the 'leased space' will not (at least should not, by law) be subject to your homestead exemption or cap. A partial will (should) be in place to account for the separation of homestead (what you own and occupy) and what you lease.

---

Living space above a detached garage of less than 900 SF doesn't count as SF for tax purposes. My property is SFR, not a duplex because of the way it is configured. My homestead applies to the ENTIRE property.

quote:

---

quote:

---

In your case, the entirety of the 'leased space' will not (at least should not, by law) be subject to your homestead exemption or cap. A partial will (should) be in place to account for the separation of homestead (what you own and occupy) and what you lease.

---

Living space above a detached garage of less than 900 SF doesn't count as SF for tax purposes. My property is SFR, not a duplex because of the way it is configured. My homestead applies to the ENTIRE property.

---

Do you know which section of the tax code states this?

http://www.hcad.org/help/footage.asp

quote:

---

Living area above detached garages is not included in the square footage living area of the dwelling but is valued separately.

---

From my tax records:

quote:

---

State Class Code
A1 -- Real, Residential, Single-Family

---

The valuation is done as a second building.

quote:

---

(k) A qualified residential structure does not lose its character as a residence homestead if a portion of the structure is rented to another or is used primarily for other purposes that are incompatible with the owner's residential use of the structure. However, the amount of any residence homestead exemption does not apply to the value of that portion of the structure that is used primarily for purposes that are incompatible with the owner's residential use.

---

The garage apartment should be valued on a separate building line and the homestead exemption should reflect a % that's proportionate to what is owned and occupied by the property owner and what is not.

Of course, they'll likely never know unless they stumble upon it but that's how it should be applied.

Chalk it up: 27% bump cut to 14%. Still hurts the pants but better than 27%. Didn't think I had much of a case either. 9-0.

Just did informal with jubally report. Only was willing to give $1000 less than what the notice was for.

Off to formal hearing for me!

~egon

quote:

---

Just did informal with jubally report. Only was willing to give $1000 less than what the notice was for.

Off to formal hearing for me!

~egon

---

Please feel free to reach out to us before your formal. We're always willing to go the extra mile to help.

Here's a little story from earlier this year that many will appreciate.

A client from last year called us this year and said she had great results this year, and shared that with her neighbor. They are in townhomes right next door to each other. They have the exact same property, with just a different street number. The reports we provided to them were exactly the same (minus the account number, name, property address, and subject property). They had the same comps, and the same suggested value. We discussed. The following day he went to his informal hearing at 10:00 AM and did not get a reduction. She went in 15 minutes later and got the exact number we indicated. He went to his formal 2 weeks later and got the exact number we indicated. Consistency, don't you love it?

My informal person didn't really seem to want to be there. I wasn't super pushy, but stated that things were different and that I felt I was overvalued and not U&E.

She said "the list has some that are higher and some that are lower valued than your house, so it averages out".

I figured I wasn't really dealing with someone who was going to work with me, so I finished up quickly.


Just annoyed I get to go back up 290 to deal with them. Again, later in the year. I'll email you closer to the date.

~egon

This is my first time to protest, I couldn't make the informal. How does the formal hearing typically work?

welp, no success at the informal. they would only offer the U&E. my market comps is ~20k lower. off to the formal i go.

quote:

---

This is my first time to protest, I couldn't make the informal. How does the formal hearing typically work?

---

Prepare your anus you gonna get rappppppped

Just finished informal. Dropped a 20% increase to a 7% increase.