The second part of this process that stinks is the timing. By the time the BCAD reps change the valuation on the improvements, all protests for that year are finalized. Therefore, the outrageously low improvement valuations are only on the books for ~6 months when they cannot be used for equity comps. This is the manipulation that OP must be referring to.

I have to agree about the notion that they work to keep your overall assessed dollars the same, even if they agree to change something that you protested.

In 2011, they increased the value of my pool by $15,000. I ran assessment values of neighboring homes with pools and argued based on that. They agreed that there had been an error and dropped the value of my pool the entire amount. Then, they tacked it on to my house value, which had already gone up $4,070.

I don't like this year's overall addition of $10,000 per lot on my street without regard to lot size, but I also ran what sales comps I could find for the neighborhood and my total assessment is under what the average sales price per square foot was.

ReelDeal said:

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I have a very similar example. I have a property in south Brazos County in the Navasota School district (Investment Property/Rental) It has ~5 acres and a modular house in a neighborhood that needs quite of bit of cleanup. I have protested the last 2 years on the property. Year 2014 House Appraisal $24K Land ~21K Year 2015 Valuations was $31K Higher ( I don't have the breakdowns of what was raised) Met with CAD rep and settled before going to review board. Price stayed relatively the same. Year 2016 Assessed Improvement $24K - Land assessment $62K. Went to formal review and protested the increase in land. We presented only arguments that supported land valuations only. The CAD rep contented that the land was worth $12K/Acre and I contended that the value was closer to $6K/acre. The Board made a final decision and the chairman/speaker says they feel the land value would be fair at $7,600/acre. Then the board does some calculations based off this and says the overall valuation would be $65,270 (Improvement and Land). Great!! Right? They make a motion for the overall valuation to be set at $65,270. Then I get this years Proposed valuation. They made the land on the 2016 reflect $61,250 with the improvement set at $4020.00. The 2017 valuation shows the improvement at $40,820 and the land at $57,870. I speak with the director at BCAD and he goes back and listens to the ARB hearing and agrees that the entire presentation was based on land valuation and that he even heard the speaker on the board give the $/acre amount in his decision making. But, because the board made a motion for the overall valuation and not land/improvement, he says it is within their power to change the numbers to fit whatever they see as appropriate. "Sometimes the board misses on their numbers" he says. I ask him how a reasonable person could listen to that hearing and not clearly identify the intent of the ARB. He won't answer the question; he keeps saying that they have the power to change the numbers to fit whatever they feel is more representative to their perceived market value. Next, I ask how a reasonable person could lower an improvement valuation from $24K down to $4K in one year, but feel that it is undervalued by $40K the next year. Again, no response directly addressing the question. I am disgusted with the process at this point and feel like the BCAD has misused their authority to interpret the laws however best suites their objectives. I also, have a great deal of respect for the members of the ARB and feel like they have done exactly what they are commissioned to do. The problem, in my opinion , is : we as a society, set up a system of checks and balances; When we circumvent these for irrational reasons, we start to loose faith in the system. It's not the job of the BCAD reps to interpret numbers how they see fit, when they knowingly do so against the intent of the ARB findings. Please don't respond to this post with disagreements on my valuations. That's not why I'm posting. Whether you agree with the valuations is besides the point. It's about the manipulation of numbers.

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You Sir have done a much better job of stating what I have been trying to communicate. What is taking place is wrong. I only wish we had a media outlet that would shed some light on this in a timely manner. I can only imagine what a shock it is going to be for folks who have a mortgage on their home and have no idea what is headed their way and once they get the notice from their mortgage co that they now owe a bunch more in taxes it will be to late for them to rebut.

Here is how they system works......

They need your money.

They try and take your money.

They don't care if they are taxing you out of your home.

Few people fight. Most of those that fight do win, or win some. I would encourage you to fight every year. Every single year.

"Appraisals" are the opinion of one person, based upon personal preferences of perceived value. The "Appraisal" system is crooked. Last year the appraiser I met with told me that my roof (shingle) was better than a metal roof because it had more points. It was one persons opinion that couldn't be substantiated with any facts. The fact is that almost any metal roof will cost more (or add more value) that a shingle roof of similar size.

One thought I had is that with about a 50-70 hour time investment and about $1500 bucks you could become a licensed appraiser in the state of Texas. At least that way when you fight, your arbitrary opinions are equally weighted as their arbitrary opinions.

You gotta go in there with a Colonel Slade (Scent of a Woman) - "I'm going to take a flamethrower to this place" kind of an attitude. You don't have to be rude, you can be polite and respectful, but the whole system is corrupt, not based on logic or facts, and is designed to relocate your money into their pockets.

You can't state what it would cost to rebuild my house in today's market with any accuracy. Nor can you state what it would sell for until it has sold. Those are guesses, not facts. And I won't stand to have my taxes raised without facts.

I've long advocated on this board for property taxes to be locked at purchase value for the period of ownership, and when the property is sold the new value becomes the taxable value. Anything else is speculation.

Getting ready battle again. Anyone Settle yet?

They do have to pay for their new office building (wink)