OP, it is my understanding that the best method for segueing your appraisal is comps. If you can find comps that show your home worth less that the appraised a value, they will probably adjust it.

My property tax was less then. $7,000 a year when we moved in in 2012. It's now over $16,000. I guess that's just "a few dollars more"
Per year

I'm resigned to my taxes doubling every 7/8 years based on the 10% cap as the value of my property has increased at a much faster rate and will never catch up at 10% per year.

It's both an inflation and supply/demand phenomenon and also a doer of vicious cycle that once you start assessing market values in an area at the short term going rate, that becomes the new value for every nearby property in the area effectively, and all comparable are set at that new value, pushing up the floor for market values.

Real estate is making many people wealthy but it's also not a liquid wealth unless you are planning to go through a significant life change or you have investment real estate.

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Landlords are getting bent over though.

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This. I'm all for homestead caps, etc. but we are getting killed on rental properties. We closed on a house last week that was - admittedly - under value on the tax roll. Looking at the settlement sheet & pro-rated tax line, we decided to go pull the 2023 card on it at the CAD before closing. WOW. 81% increase from last year without them even knowing that it had just sold. Seller flipped out & his realtor took the info to them - which pissed us off - to get the value down to a hair over what we paid, not even what we paid. But now they have the pics, etc. that we were going to take in to ask for a reduction, but we're going in this year anyway to try to knock it down a bit more.

Pulling the card saved us about $700 in additional taxes though that were due from the seller - our county has not posted 2023 online or mailed out the slips yet. Anybody looking to close on property right now, I suggest you go see what your CAD has the current value at. It won't be certified until July, but we are glad we thought to do it after hearing rumors of big increases. We'll still make money on it as a rental, but seriously rethinking purchasing any more.

i use a consulting firm to protest my taxes. has been very worth while. example. had 2 duplexes values went up approximately 100k each. the protest company was able to keep values the same

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i use a consulting firm to protest my taxes. has been very worth while.

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We've done both & have had better luck face to face. Our ARB is overall pretty helpful if you can back up your protest.

So you won for 1 year for you, but overall you lose because they continue to go up and it's justified because all those around you are going up at the same rate.

Protesting on your own is futile. You may (and I mean may if you're lucky) get it reduced for a year, but in the end you lose.

People need to start attacking this problem on a larger scale. Your community needs to go protest together, elect new leaders, start making it ****ing clear that this **** is changing.

nrm02 said:

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Got my appraisal in today, went up exactly 10%. Search of neighboring properties has my house on average appraisal wise.

Any reasonable way to fight this or just part of "owning" a house?

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Stuff costs money.
Every single year since 2001 Texas has increased government mouths to feed after the legislative session.
We have a HUGE surplus now that should go back to taxpayers.
But RePORKlicans will not send us checks.
Elections have consequences, right?

FIDO*98* said:

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My property tax was less then. $7,000 a year when we moved in in 2012. It's now over $16,000. I guess that's just "a few dollars more"
Per year

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That sucks for you and is part of why I said "most".

Now to the more important question: why have they gone up? Bonds from school districts (voted on by your fellow tax payers)? New municipal districts where your property sits? Add on or build additional structures on your property? Something made them increase by 2.5X but it wasn't the appraisal. The appraisal just accounts for what percentage of the local entities budget you'll be responsible for. The budget makers set the rate later and the tax rate for most entities has gone down in recent years to account for increased appraisals.

TxTarpon said:

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nrm02 said:

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Got my appraisal in today, went up exactly 10%. Search of neighboring properties has my house on average appraisal wise.

Any reasonable way to fight this or just part of "owning" a house?

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Stuff costs money.
Every single year since 2001 Texas has increased government mouths to feed after the legislative session.
We have a HUGE surplus now that should go back to taxpayers.
But RePORKlicans will not send us checks.
Elections have consequences, right?

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Yea, and the democrats would do so much better because they aren't known for needlessly expanding government

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Yea, and the democrats would do so much better because they aren't known for needlessly expanding government

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No.
Live your dream in Cali or Austin lib.

Martin Cash said:

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Great. Another 'property tax is legalized theft' thread.

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Great. Another "govern me harder, daddy" poster.

Everyone wants to attack at the local level while the state legislature is the one creating the game. Until they blow the system up, nothing can / will change.

ABATTBQ11 said:

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Martin Cash said:

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Great. Another 'property tax is legalized theft' thread.

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No, it's another, "I want cops, courts, and roads but don't want to pay for them," thread.

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Be that as it may, property tax is patently inequitable as it is taxation on unearned capital gains as valued by a government entity, not the free market.

Do the same for retirement accounts, and the whole economy would collapse. Actually, to make it comparable, that would be like taxing all retirement accounts the same based on the potential high gains and portfolios of early phase investors, regardless of how close to retirement you are and your risk tolerance.

itsyourboypookie said:

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How to protest

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lol, I opened that video because I was curious what it may be. Couldn't get past how much of a slob that guy looked like while doing a presentation, even if he wasn't the primary presenter.

I can't imagine charging people to come listen to a presentation that I organized and then dressing like that. So completely unprofessional. A hat, a t-shirt and athletic shorts.

Woods Ag said:

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So you won for 1 year for you, but overall you lose because they continue to go up and it's justified because all those around you are going up at the same rate.

Protesting on your own is futile. You may (and I mean may if you're lucky) get it reduced for a year, but in the end you lose.

People need to start attacking this problem on a larger scale. Your community needs to go protest together, elect new leaders, start making it ****ing clear that this **** is changing.

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Close. But the "just elect better people" approach isn't going far enough. At the state level the mechanisms handed down to local jurisdictions are ripe for abuse. If the solution doesn't address and correct the systemic incentives - it's merely a stop gap.

Jurisdictions should not be able to collect "new" revenue without a clear vote from residents. (And by clear I mean not nested in the unread fine print of a bond package)

nrm02 said:

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Got my appraisal in today, went up exactly 10%. Search of neighboring properties has my house on average appraisal wise.

Any reasonable way to fight this or just part of "owning" a house?

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All income and property taxes should be outlawed. Nationally. And in every state.

It is immoral and unethical to tax people on what they earn and what they already own.

The only taxes that should be allowed are consumption/sales taxes. The rate should be universal, and there should be NO sin taxes (like on tobacco or alcohol). When people are reminded of the true cost of taxation every time they buy something..... it will open their eyes that 'free' is not 'free'.

I would leave a provision that a Congressionally declared war would allow a 5 year income tax to be imposed to fund the war at a flat rate across all income levels but only if ratified by 26 states (simple majority).

Works for me.

Eternal Pessimist for President, 2024.

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All income and property taxes should be outlawed. Nationally. And in every state.

It is immoral and unethical to tax people on what they earn and what they already own.

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Why should I believe property taxes are "immoral" when property is directly served by the public services the taxes pay for....water, sewage, roads, police, fire, etc.?

I got a letter this month from our county tax assessor or whatever illegitimate office it was that required me "by law" to fill out any new purchases I'd made over the past year (cars, tractors, rec vehicles, etc etc) because they needed it to asses my taxes owed.


LOL! That got an audible "**** you!" and immediate garbage toss. Like I'm going to tell these pirates what new assets I hold so they can then tax me again on them? Didn't even make sense.

TheEternalPessimist said:

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nrm02 said:

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Got my appraisal in today, went up exactly 10%. Search of neighboring properties has my house on average appraisal wise.

Any reasonable way to fight this or just part of "owning" a house?

---

All income and property taxes should be outlawed. Nationally. And in every state.

It is immoral and unethical to tax people on what they earn and what they already own.

The only taxes that should be allowed are consumption/sales taxes. The rate should be universal, and there should be NO sin taxes (like on tobacco or alcohol). When people are reminded of the true cost of taxation every time they buy something..... it will open their eyes that 'free' is not 'free'.

I would leave a provision that a Congressionally declared war would allow a 5 year income tax to be imposed to fund the war at a flat rate across all income levels but only if ratified by 26 states (simple majority).

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Consumption/sales taxes are immoral and should be outlawed. It's immoral and unethical to tax people on what they they already paid for and own.

Same logic.

Increased home values cut both ways

Martin Cash said:

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TheEternalPessimist said:

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nrm02 said:

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Got my appraisal in today, went up exactly 10%. Search of neighboring properties has my house on average appraisal wise.

Any reasonable way to fight this or just part of "owning" a house?

---

All income and property taxes should be outlawed. Nationally. And in every state.

It is immoral and unethical to tax people on what they earn and what they already own.

The only taxes that should be allowed are consumption/sales taxes. The rate should be universal, and there should be NO sin taxes (like on tobacco or alcohol). When people are reminded of the true cost of taxation every time they buy something..... it will open their eyes that 'free' is not 'free'.

I would leave a provision that a Congressionally declared war would allow a 5 year income tax to be imposed to fund the war at a flat rate across all income levels but only if ratified by 26 states (simple majority).

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Consumption/sales taxes are immoral and should be outlawed. It's immoral and unethical to tax people on what they they already paid for and own.

Same logic.

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Really? Do you get taxed on the clothes you bought 5 years ago every year?

Shooter McGavin said:

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These threads make my head spin as an appraiser.

You guys get all tangled up about your assessed value, but when an appraiser shows up to do your refinance appraisal you are giving me two sheets of BS repairs "improvements" and push for every nickel.

Then you ask me as I'm leaving "you don't give this to the tax office do you?"

All that aside, if the commercial property and high value houses were assessed at the same percentage of actual value as Joe Sixpack, we would all have lower taxes.

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This is exactly right. think the appraised values in CAD get more and more disconnected from market value as the price goes up.

I wish we had a robust way of getting very accurate market values for commercial and residential properties. Do everything possible to create a very open process to be as accurate as possible. It would never pass on the residential side, but something that says any person can buy a commercial property for 130% of the cad value would be hilarious to watch. That HEB at Tower Point on the roles for $4 million goes to $30 million overnight.

We the new accurate rates. Tax rates should be dramatically lower.

nrm02 said:

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Good luck! I wonder what my chicken coop will add next year.

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Next year's appraisal notice

"nrm02,

The county appraisal district has placed the value of the new 20 unit rental property located at 12345 FM 5678 at $450,000, and has adjusted your tax bill accordingly. If you would like to file for an appeal the deadline is (two weeks ago) and must be filed in person at the county courthouse."

Woods Ag said:

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So you won for 1 year for you, but overall you lose because they continue to go up and it's justified because all those around you are going up at the same rate.

Protesting on your own is futile. You may (and I mean may if you're lucky) get it reduced for a year, but in the end you lose.

People need to start attacking this problem on a larger scale. Your community needs to go protest together, elect new leaders, start making it ****ing clear that this **** is changing.

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Actually my 1 year win has been a win for 3 years now.

For example, say my home was valued at $500k, and I get them to drop it to $425k one year. In 2020 values went nuts with the Californians moving in, so my value went up 10% (it actually went up 75% In real life, but they could only increase me by 10%).

Now, instead of my new 2021 value being $550k, they could only bump me to $467.5k. Each year goes up 10%, but realistically I am still below what I could sell it for, since the values have gone up so much.

Things in my neighborhood have cooled, but with that said my neighbors just sold their 1 story for double what it was appraised at 5 years ago when I moved into the hood (and it sold at that price after a bidding war on the first weekend on the market).

1 or 3 years, its still a short-term, personal win and that doesn't fix the problem.

Correct, still need to fight it at least every couple of years. Going to try fighting it again this year, but I'm not hopeful that I'll get anywhere.

My point was simply that if you go in prepared and present your case, you might win big over the appraiser. That and one big win can set you up for multiple years of winning, especially if we see another market explosion in the coming years.

I'll add that fixing the problem has nothing to do with appraisers and fighting the value of your home. Fixing the problem needs to come from the state or at a minimum your local taxing authorities (ISD, MUD, county, etc). It's the percentages that need to drop, since the values are truthfully increasing.

If you are over 65 or disabled vet you can stop paying property taxes on your residence. Doesn't work for everyone, because they don't go away, just accrue with an interest charge. The total bill comes due when you finally sell the property or die and the heirs pay. Either way helps your cash flow in the present. They have a form to fill out at your appraisal district and needless to say they do not like this. It starves them of cash so not a lot of publicity about the program.

Catag94 said:

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I think you may be combining M&O and I&S rates together to get $1.4. If they gained values, or paid off debts (bonds), their I&S may have dropped but I suspect their M&O did not.
I should have clarified the M&O is seldom ever dropping.

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I just happened to look at the Hays CISD M&O rate for the past three years, and theirs has gone down the last three years. Wanna try a third time?

txrancher69 said:

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If you are over 65 or disabled vet you can stop paying property taxes on your residence. Doesn't work for everyone, because they don't go away, just accrue with an interest charge. The total bill comes due when you finally sell the property or die and the heirs pay. Either way helps your cash flow in the present. They have a form to fill out at your appraisal district and needless to say they do not like this. It starves them of cash so not a lot of publicity about the program.

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Yeah, no kidding. If you don't want the property to eventually get foreclosed on you need to be really careful about going this route. It doesn't take a million dollar mansion to rack up a hefty tax bill after accruing interest for 20 years

I use oconnor and associates every single year. They usually save me some money.

It's a complete farce what's happening with property taxes and school taxes. I mean my kids school can't get A/C for weeks, yet we can have 5 different football helmets for 70 kids, a different one for every home game.

same. It's BS.

I live in south Montgomery County. And by lot value until this year has breathe same for 12 years. That is until this year. It went from $25,600 to $80,000! Now my residence value went down. This has been the same case for members in my subdivision.