Question for those who've gone through the protest process:

1) Do you recommend appearing in person for your hearing? I would prefer to present my evidence via an affidavit.

2) How does one go about getting a sworn affidavit?

You don't go to a formal hearing until you've spoken with a protest official, which you do in person. If you do not get the results you want there, then you get a hearing. You really do not need sworn testimony. Just do some research on the property values in your neighborhood on the HCAD website, get the average $/per square foot, year built, etc., put them in a chart or table, showing how your appraisal is different than that of comparable houses. If a house in your neighborhood skews the averages (and makes your comparison unfavorable), find out why and take a picture of the house. For example, we bought in an older inner-loop neighborhood and most of the property values are consistent. However, there are a few teardowns with new big homes, which were valued much higher than the rest of the neighborhood, and made our value look comparable. I took a picture of the new house to show that my older house should not have the same value as the new house. Also, take a picture of every imperfection in and around the house -- cracked driveway, drywall cracks, etc. That's all you need. The informal meeting will typically take care of your protest unless you want something outrageous.

If you really want an affidavit, prepare it (you can probably get a form online), all but the signature, and find a notary public.

I would recommend appearing in person. Just have your facts straight when you show up and present your case. HtownAg gave you some good suggestions. Look at the appraisal rolls to see what other houses in your neighborhood are assessed at. Make sure your value is in line with those. Call up a broker in the area that can give you some actual sale information on some houses in your area so you can see what that compares to what the appraisal district has your house assessed at. Put all of your findings together and go present it.

i do contract appraisals for about 80 counties in texas, and every affadavit hearing I have had the ARB will 99% side with the county, I deal with personal property more than improvements and real estate, so that could be different, it would be better to show up, you have on paper is all left up to interpertation of the person reading it,

show up and do it in person

I would definately appear in person. I work at a property tax firm in Harris County. Sending in an affidavit generally will not get you the same results that appearing in person will. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

www.proptax.net

HCAD = Total crooks! I have gone in there with 2 day old 'comps' and the woman working the MLS system "can't find them" in the computer. When I offered to help her, she stood up and covered her monitor with her body. When I went to the formal protest in front of my "peers". All Three of the SOBs had already signed the paper rejecting me before I even got in the room. lesson learned go early in the morning. I had a 4:45 review and the SOBs just wanted to go home. I sold out of Houston and moved to Brazoria county where things are a lot better. One year my taxes actually went down. Imagine that...

HCAD is a farce with no accountability. I believe that if they place an unreasonable tax value on a property then I should have the right to say "SOLD" and they have to buy it at that price. I guarantee that after the second time that happens they would start doing thier job correctly.

Sorry for the rant. This topic really pisses me off and it has been years...

I worked for a property tax litigation firm last summer in Houston. I can attest that HCAD has some shady folks working there. The way most of the appraisers work, you'd think they are making commission on these properties.

However, if you make it to the appraisal review board where you testify in front of the 3 person panel and have an appraiser testify against you, you have a decent shot. You have to show emotion and some humanity in your plea. These panel members are people too, and they aren't making anything off of you getting your property value increased or decreased.

Make sure that you let it be known that the "grades" houses are given are purely subjective and do always compare $/square foot.

minnow

i am assuming that when you went to the board it was in the june-august period. and two day old comps would not have worked b/c they are valuing the property as of jan 1 of that year and those comps would be 6-8 months old. don't know about the signing before you got in there or not but just some fyi for you

They may have signed the ARB form but I doubt they had already determined a value.

I would recommend not getting too emotional during an appeal. It can often make the board uncomfortable. Do you homework and present the facts. Look at land values and improvment values per square foot. Look at home listing in your neighborhood to see if that will be helpful.

You can also request the information that the appraisal district will present ahead of time. I would do so and review the information. Often times you can find facts within that information that will help your case.