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Annual TCAD Gripe

12,981 Views | 105 Replies | Last: 4 yr ago by AustinScubaAg
Laser Wolf
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Something weird happened with my taxes this year. My home value dropped $20k, but my land value went up $40k.

I'm considering using a company to protest, but they charge 40% of the tax savings they get me for the year. Is that a good rate?
evan_aggie
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Co worker just suggested a company to me that takes 35%.

Very frustrated that the home my wife and K close on in two weeks is assessed at 95% the market rate.
stardustag
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Got my house's proposed value a couple nights ago... I don't recall seeing 'Market' value listed in previous years. "Good" news, TCAD thinks my house's Market Value is about $200k more than the 'assessed' value... so at 10% cap, they'll be maxing out the 10% every year for the foreseeable future until the "assessed" value match the "marketing value".

And no, that Marketing Value is a whole lot higher than I thought I could sell my house. It's ridiculous.
Martin Cash
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Aston 91 said:

It's becoming fairly obvious we won't be retiring here. Our income will drop off substantially when we retire, but the tax bill isn't. I know every place has to get tax revenue from somewhere, but Texas (and metropolitan areas with significant school taxes in particular) isn't the tax wonderland that some would have us believe. I'd prefer lower property taxes and a state income tax than this system - particularly when our school taxes don't even stay local.
A little know provision of the Tax Code (Section 33.06) allows anyone 65 or over to defer, or quit paying property taxes. Now, the bad news is when you die, or sell, you have to pay the back taxes with interest, but if your kids aren't counting on inheriting your house to live in, you can live there tax free after 65 and let it be sold when you die, or you kids can redeem it. The only caveat is that you can't have a mortgage on the property. Lenders frown on non-payment of taxes.
SteveBott
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Learn something new everyday. Similar to a reverse mortgage.
Aston 91
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Thanks for that info - I didn't realize that. Probably won't make a difference in our case, but might be something my parents want to consider. In our case, we don't have kids and we're hoping to retire well before 65, with the latter being possible in part because of the former.
rather be fishing
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evan_aggie said:

Co worker just suggested a company to me that takes 35%.

Very frustrated that the home my wife and K close on in two weeks is assessed at 95% the market rate.



What's the company?
evan_aggie
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https://www.fivestonetax.com/property-tax
rather be fishing
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Thanks, we'll give them a look this year. If I'm going to get nothing back again, I'd rather get more savings in the event they do win than the company we have used previously.
Laser Wolf
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evan_aggie said:

https://www.fivestonetax.com/property-tax


They do 40%. That's the same company I was looking at.
voorheesdn
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www.texasprotax.com
tlepoC
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10% cap again this year. Market value right at the Zillow estimate that I think is a bit high. 180% if what I bought it at 5 years ago. Interestingly, building value decreased 40k and land increased 65k. Interesting having the land called higher than what I bought the house for. Land has quadrupled since I bought and I'm in Northwest Austin near the domain.
tamc93
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Mine jumped almost 20%, but a house down the street did the same and cannot sell for about the same amount it is appraised for last year. Should be a fun battle...
SteveBott
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I'm mortgage not a tax guy. But my weak guess is it's harder to dispute land value vs home value. There are two parts of your appraisal. Land and any improvements. Land is well land. Hard to argue there is no value and MLS sales won't show the land value stand alone.
tamc93
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Agree on the land...hard to argue that when property is being sold by the SF (or close to the equivalent of it) in most areas of the residential market.

The cost to develop new property is absurd with the permitting process (regardless of city/county) and the costs are being passed onto to the consumer and now showing up in appraisals (IMO).
voorheesdn
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Just want to offer up my assistance on any of these items. Always happy to meet some good Ags and provide comps - market data that might help your cause to fight the values.

Email - david@voorheesteam.com
Text - 512.422.2033
Spider69
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I've eFiled protests last two years & gotten my appraised value down substantially. This years accessed value is up 10%. My appraised value on my home has gone up $185,000 since 2013. That increase is almost the total value of my home in Amarillo that was ~1,200 sq ft larger than my home here that I sold in 2013 after owning it for almost 30 years. Why are vacant lots near me valued at $6,500 and my lot at $32,500 for exact same size lot?

I've examined the TCAD "evidence" on my previous fights. Their appraisals are complex but rather straight forward. I've compared sales to appraised values that seemed to be reasonably close - some higher, some lower, but nearly a mean match.

I just computed my value increase as $197.39/day.
cas8019
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Can I hop in? I'm in WILCO about 100 yards from Travis county and ours is up 85k. 25k land / 60k structure. Newly built in 2016.
tailgatetimer10
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Holy crap mine barely changed, up 3k (all land value).. shocking
SteveBott
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I'd look at appealing that
Spider69
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Wow, I thought mine was bad. I checked my next door neighbor's that's 3 years newer & maybe 100 sq ft bigger that went from $462,381 to $650,833 for a increase of $188,452 or 40.76%.
Spider69
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Filed my eFile TCAD protest at 3:05 pm on Wed. I had my proposed settlement offer by 3:00 pm on Thurs. TCAD offered to lower my appraised value from $548,628 to $489,771. Their sales comps were 2% higher than the median sales they compared with. Just info! I've not accepted their settlement offer, yet.
evan_aggie
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When you eFile do you provide the comps and any evidence via pictures? My coworker told me to dispute based on "equity"?
Spider69
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evan_aggie said:

When you eFile do you provide the comps and any evidence via pictures? My coworker told me to dispute based on "equity"?

I just give them a few sales in my area from Zillow (addresses; sales date; sales price) and check doesn't agree with appraisals in my area or sales. I've given them copies of my plans previously to correct my house area. What does equity have to do with appraised value? My equity is essentially 100% since I bought my home. I'm happy to send my TCAD evidence file if someone really wants to see the TCAD methods. PM your email address. Their methods are somewhat suspect to get a number they want. My neighbors have used some commercial tax protest firms like ProTax that seem to get lower appraisal value on larger homes, so the commercial tax protest companies perhaps know other buttons to push or ways to fight TCAD. Getting their evidence file let's you see their poker hand!
evan_aggie
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No, not that Equity dispute.

"In Texas, property tax reductions can be negotiated in one of two ways: by demonstrating that the market value of a property is less than the appraisal district's proposed value or by demonstrating that the property is overvalued when compared to "a reasonable number of comparable properties appropriately adjusted". This latter method of appraisal, commonly referred to as the Equity Method of Appraisal, takes precedence over the market value appraisal. "
Spider69
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evan_aggie said:

No, not that Equity dispute.

"In Texas, property tax reductions can be negotiated in one of two ways: by demonstrating that the market value of a property is less than the appraisal district's proposed value or by demonstrating that the property is overvalued when compared to "a reasonable number of comparable properties appropriately adjusted". This latter method of appraisal, commonly referred to as the Equity Method of Appraisal, takes precedence over the market value appraisal. "


The TCAD evidence includes every house on my side of my street with my lake view using their adjustments. Their adjustment method on "equity" per your method involves one major fudge factor that I've determined is their way to adjust my house value to be near where they're willing to reduce my appraised value. There are several factors that are qualitative that you can argue about on the TCAD evidence. The problem is everyone protests, and unless you have a group trade of neighborhood info it's hard to know how TCAD is adjusting other homes compared to yours. You can see their 2018 proposed values but not their proposed protest values. In 2017 my neighbor's new house that's about 200 sq Ft more with a similar pool and view and about twice my lot size was appraised after a commercial protest at about $45,000 less (but that's the one I mentioned above that in 2018 went from $462K to $650K) than my house just eFiled protested.
CapCity12thMan
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they raised my land value 100,000, but decreased my "improvements" by 130,000 for a net decrease in appraised value for 2018 of 30,000.
AgGrad99
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Quote:

It's becoming fairly obvious we won't be retiring here. Our income will drop off substantially when we retire, but the tax bill isn't. I know every place has to get tax revenue from somewhere, but Texas (and metropolitan areas with significant school taxes in particular) isn't the tax wonderland that some would have us believe. I'd prefer lower property taxes and a state income tax than this system - particularly when our school taxes don't even stay local.
Yep. My wife and I have had the same discussions...

When you compare all the taxes paid by a Texas/Austin resident, to comparable cities around the country...it's about equal, maybe even better.

But for a retiree? Not so much. They are still getting hit hard, even if they dont have much of an income.

And I'd like to actually own my house someday, and not worry about paying $1000 a month in taxes (or more).


KT 90
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For those that filed a protest online and received a settlement offer, any input on how that went? Did you just accept whatever TCAD offered, or did you try to get it lower?

I just received my offer yesterday, need to dig through it tonight.
AgGrad99
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KT 90 said:

For those that filed a protest online and received a settlement offer, any input on how that went? Did you just accept whatever TCAD offered, or did you try to get it lower?

I just received my offer yesterday, need to dig through it tonight.
If you reject their offer, you schedule an appt to go down to their offices and discuss it with them.

I have done that a handful of times (and brought along plenty of info to support my case), but only once did I get anything reduced.

This year i just accepted their offer.
KT 90
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AgGrad99 said:

KT 90 said:

For those that filed a protest online and received a settlement offer, any input on how that went? Did you just accept whatever TCAD offered, or did you try to get it lower?

I just received my offer yesterday, need to dig through it tonight.
If you reject their offer, you schedule an appt to go down to their offices and discuss it with them.

I have done that a handful of times (and brought along plenty of info to support my case), but only once did I get anything reduced.

This year i just accepted their offer.

Thanks for the update. I'm probably just taking their offer as well, need to get it out and go through it though (been a busy weekend). They gave me most of what I was trying to get, probably not worth it to take off work and make a trip down there. This is my first time doing the online version of this, last few years we had pretty decent appraisal amounts from TCAD. I've protested in person a few times over the years, and have gotten it reduced it time, but I've only taken the time to do that when I really felt I had a compelling case with good support info from a realtor.

evan_aggie
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https://www.statesman.com/news/local/breaking-dps-arrests-several-employees-with-travis-county-tax-assessor-collector/JF5mX8Wkh6kUS7oqjqObOO/
tamc93
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evan_aggie said:

https://www.statesman.com/news/local/breaking-dps-arrests-several-employees-with-travis-county-tax-assessor-collector/JF5mX8Wkh6kUS7oqjqObOO/
And I was planning on trying to meet them on Tuesday...perhaps my odds are better now ?
tamc93
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Lost the battle today (dropped about 30K, but was up much more), but hope to plant seeds for next year. They were surprisingly helpful in person and the wait was not too bad for an informal hearing (about an hour). The person who helped said to come in earlier next year when they first start taking informal hearings in person - basically no wait.
evan_aggie
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thanks for the update!
 
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