How many of you are surprised at the increase in your appraisal?
We closed on our house April 6, 2015. Our 2015 appraisal was $250,000 and our 2016 appraisal is now $295,000.
For some reason we weren't given a Homestead Cap Loss for 2016, even though our appraisal form shows that it was applied last year.

UPDATE: just got off phone with WCAD and the Homestead Cap does not apply to the first full year we occupy the residence. Which means not only do we not get the Homestead reduction but we also don't qualify for the 10% max increase in appraisal value.

is there anything to do about the increase at this point or do i just bend over and take it.

protest it...works every year

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protest it...works every year

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except last year...and the year before that

***Update***

2016 Online protest just failed as well. Time to schedule a hearing for another good failing.

Mine went up 26,000... Luckily we have the 10% cap. Otherwise would have been closer to 40,000. Bought our house about 3 and half years ago for 200,000. Market value is currently 270,000. That's just cray...

Has anyone had experience with the "Meet with staff for possible resolution" option before directly going to protest? Trying to decide if it is worth the drive up to Georgetown.

In Travis county the meet with the staff is only good if there is a data issue (wrong property ID, etc) or if you just bought your house, you bring in the contract and they lower the value. Not sure about WCAD.

276k to 304k in one year

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Has anyone had experience with the "Meet with staff for possible resolution" option before directly going to protest? Trying to decide if it is worth the drive up to Georgetown.

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I've done it twice in Travis county and won (got it lowered) both times. That is over 14 years or so, only went when I thought I had a good case and data to back it up. If you can get sales data from a realtor for comparable "comp" houses of the same general size as yours from your neighborhood, you can use that data to show them that the houses are actually selling for lower prices than the number they came up with for your house. Of course with the cost of housing in the general Austin area, you can't always come up with comps that work in your favor.

Anyway, both times I went I had data with me and it was actually a pretty easy process. Showed them what I thought it should be valued at and they accepted it. I didn't try to pull off some crazy number, just something more reasonable than the number that I received from them. I'd only invest the time and effort of going down to protest if you are confident that they have overvalued your house and you have something (data) to back it up.

$70k increase in one year in Leander.

This is absolutely criminal and a complete waste of my time to protest this. The comps in no way justify this.

Where is the accountability with these idiots.

I should probably check my mail.

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complete waste of my time to protest this. The comps in no way justify this.

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Isn't this the precise reason to go protest, then? If you can find comps that don't justify it then you have your argument against the increase.

I was pissed last year when I got my estimate in Travis county. I thought they were robbing me blind. I sold my house that summer and made 40,000 over my estimate. So I don't think they are always screwing us.

The bigger problem is the law allows a 10 percent increase per year.

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complete waste of my time to protest this. The comps in no way justify this.

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Isn't this the precise reason to go protest, then? If you can find comps that don't justify it then you have your argument against the increase.

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My point being it's a waste of my time to have to argue an appraisal that is clearly not correct.

Why can they not asses an accurate / fair value? Its a money grab that requires all of us to fight or get screwed over. They are criminals.

They would argue that they have a limited amount of information to use, and have to apply blanket valuations because of the shear volume of properties. That is why you see a bill every session to require buyers to disclose sales prices to the counties. It always gets defeated, but that may not always happen.

And you are right, it is a money grab. Being taxed based on what someone else would pay is the acme of stupidity. That we all live with it, just makes me sad.

I would be all for requiring disclosure of sales price, if that meant they had to leave the value at that amount until it sold..

Less than 10% but just barely. No use in fighting because smaller, less nice houses are selling for more than my new appraised value.

I'm in Wilco too. Just started my second year in our house and it went from $417 to $500k. Absolutely ridiculous. I was wondering about the 10% cap as well but reading the OP's comment made sense.

It's sad that I'm happy with an 11% increase this year on a rent house after it went up 29% last year.

TCAD came out today.

Up 70k in Travis county. Lovely. *******s. Ever higher valuations and ever increasing number of line items on the tax bill after the county comes up with whatever it wants to force me to pay for.

Looks like they changed up their valuations a bit. Much higher land values and dropped the construction values on every property I looked at. "Only" up 16% here in North Austin, but they still haven't caught up to recent comps, thankfully.

http://propaccess.traviscad.org/clientdb/?cid=1

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TCAD came out today.

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Just pulled mine up online, we were under the 10% cap this time, but still higher of course.

Our appraised went up 30%, capped at 10%.

Both land and construction increased significantly.

Travis county here, land value doubled, improvements dropped almost 20k. 13.5% appraisal value increase

14% in NW Austin, but HS cap did hold it to ten. Much larger jump on land value than the last couple years. Unfortunately, based of what some neighbors have recently sold for I have no ground to negotiate.

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14% in NW Austin, but HS cap did hold it to ten. Much larger jump on land value than the last couple years. Unfortunately, based of what some neighbors have recently sold for I have no ground to negotiate.

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You always have ground to negotiate, or at least hire a company to do it for you.

Plus $91K in Travis. Up 14.5% all in improvement value, no adjustment on land value. Sure. Please TCAD, make me an offer at your valuation and you've got a deal.

I protested and drove up to Georgetown and it worked. Was going to be 25% increase (insane). Based on other home values (we had just bought ours 6 months earlier), got it limited to 5%.

I live in Travis on a few acres, and they almost doubled our value, however the taxable increase was capped to 10%.

1. Will my taxes just go up 10% a year until they hit the appraisal value?

2.Almost all of the increase was due to property value going up. However, I think the house is under valued in their estimate. If I protest the property could this cause them to look at the house and raise that too?

I'm inexperienced in this stuff and any advice is appreciated.

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I live in Travis on a few acres, and they almost doubled our value, however the taxable increase was capped to 10%.

1. Will my taxes just go up 10% a year until they hit the appraisal value?

2.Almost all of the increase was due to property value going up. However, I think the house is under valued in their estimate. If I protest the property could this cause them to look at the house and raise that too?

I'm inexperienced in this stuff and any advice is appreciated.

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#1 is yes. It'll keep inching up each year. Not sure on #2, you probably ought to run that by someone who contests appraisals for a living. There are companies out there that assist with fighting appraisals, might be worth checking out in your case.

$27K increase in Travis County for me. Lots of homes for sale in my neighborhood for 6+ months. NONE are selling.

Moved to new home off city park road in October. TCAD just sent an appraisal for 200k more than I paid. They are nuts. Needless to say I protested immediately and included my settlement statement.