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I admit I'm a noob. I thought no comps would be needed if you just bought your house. That is as close to an equal comp as you can get considering it's the same exact house.

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That's true, but only useful if the purchase price is less than the hcad values. If it isn't and you want to fight, u&e would be needed, or other note creative arguments.

Went in with Jubally, got the overall market value lowered but still higher than my 10% cap... curse you HCAD...

Chalk one up for the little guy. Value lowered by 40K this morning.

Formal hearing was really simple. Presented my HUD doc with sales price, presented invoice for work done prior to moving in, and requested a fair market value based on a partial remodel which was still 50k below appraised value. They all agreed and it was done.

Just got done with formal hearing and got screwed. We bought in dec 2013. The noticed value was 54% higher than last years and was just above sales price. They lowered to confirmens sales price after presenting U&E which showed value that was 35% lower than their value. I'm dealing pissed. We used jubally and they provided great information. Even though it did not work for us I have the highest things to say about jubally. GREAT Company! I will use them again.

The board we had sucked! They broke the law today because our value is higher than our neighbors. We are looking at next steps. Has anyone ever done the arbitration? Do we need to hire an attorney?

i expected too much from the 1st round monkey. my logic:
- last year's value is the baseline; ie, my value was apples to apples with my neighborhood
- i have made zero updates to my home since last year's agreed upon value
- citing THEIR comps, the average increase of total property value was 5% across them; mine was 14%.
- citing THEIR comps, the average "improvement" adjustment was -13%; mine was +13%


the guy says last year is irrelevant. he then points to recent sales; i point that every house in the neighborhood has been adjusted per the recent sales - they saw a 5% increase. i ask how can the tide lift me 3x more than every other boat THEY picked. he glazes over.

the fool never even looked at my analysis or the map i put together. on to the board.

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i expected too much from the 1st round monkey. my logic:
- last year's value is the baseline; ie, my value was apples to apples with my neighborhood
- i have made zero updates to my home since last year's agreed upon value
- citing THEIR comps, the average increase of total property value was 5% across them; mine was 14%.
- citing THEIR comps, the average "improvement" adjustment was -13%; mine was +13%


the guy says last year is irrelevant. he then points to recent sales; i point that every house in the neighborhood has been adjusted per the recent sales - they saw a 5% increase. i ask how can the tide lift me 3x more than every other boat THEY picked. he glazes over.

the fool never even looked at my analysis or the map i put together. on to the board.

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I am in Ft. Bend and submitted my protest online. I am still waiting on them for a settlement offer and/or a hearing. WTF is taking so long if they "know" mine went up that much? They probably had me flagged for getting mine lowered last year. I used the logic above that all neighbors on cul-de-sac went up 3% so how can mine go up 8%. I feel I will be getting hosed. Got to keep fighting the good fight.

[This message has been edited by KW02 (edited 7/9/2014 4:22p).]

yep - i protest every year and for the most part am very successful. i think/know this is a "make-up" attempt.

Question for the pros- does my argument that part of my property is mis-classified have a leg to stand on?

I purchased my house in Timbergrove in March 2013. In 2008, the owners along my side of the street all acquired a 60' wide strip of land completely within the flood control easement that our properties back up to. A 7.5' storm sewer is buried within it and obviously cannot be built upon. The owners each paid around $300 for the parcels. In my case, it added approximately 4,000sqft to the lot size.

HCAD jacked my market value this year by 33% (40% increase on the the land alone), to where the $300 flood control easement land is now valued at $58k. HCAD has classified the flood control easement as "1001 -- Res Improved Table Value SF3 -Residual" and lumped it together with the residual that my lot had prior to 2008. (It is my understanding that residual is simply the surplus square footage of your lot above the standard lot size for the neghborhood -- Timbergrove's standard lot size is 7200sqft for everyone, so all properties have a couple hundred sqft of residual).

It seems to me that flood control easement is mis-classified and should instead be classified as "1109-- Usable Land in Flood Control Easement" or at least "1105-- Governmental ROW Easements". I have the survey and county/city schematics showing the easement as well as placement of the storm sewer. Is my argument valid? What is the best way to frame the argument? And if I do succeed in reclassifying the flood control easement, what kind of valuation should I be shooting for? The only easement comps I could find were of the 1105 variety, and they are all $0.

[This message has been edited by Mr. (edited 7/16/2014 5:39p).]

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Question for the pros- does my argument that part of my property is mis-classified have a leg to stand on?

I purchased my house in Timbergrove in March 2013. In 2008, the owners along my side of the street all acquired a 60' wide flood control easement that our properties back up to. A 7.5' storm sewer is buried within it and obviously cannot be built upon. The owners each paid around $300 for the parcels. In my case, it added approximately 4,000sqft to the lot size.

HCAD jacked my market value this year by 33% (40% increase on the the land alone), to where now $300 flood control easement is now valued at $58k. HCAD has classified the flood control easement as "1001 -- Res Improved Table Value SF3 -Residual" and lumped it together with the residual that my lot had prior to 2008. (It is my understanding that residual is simply the surplus square footage of your lot above the standard lot size for the neghborhood -- Timbergrove's standard lot size is 7200sqft for everyone, so all properties have a couple hundred sqft of residual).

It seems to me that flood control easement is mis-classified should instead be classified as "1109-- Usable Land in Flood Control Easement" or at least "1105-- Governmental ROW Easements". I have the survey and county/city schematics showing the easement as well as placement of the storm sewer. Is my argument valid? What is the best way to frame the argument? And if I do succeed in reclassifying the flood control easement, what kind of valuation should I be shooting for? The only easement comps I could find were of the 1105 variety, and they are all $0 valuation.

[This message has been edited by Mr. (edited 7/15/2014 11:03a).]

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No clue but I wish we were on that easement instead of the power line easement (on Wynnwood). Where is it?

North side of Minimax. I live on Droxford. Yeah, power line easement would make me uncomfortable between the electricity and people walking through...

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North side of Minimax. I live on Droxford. Yeah, power line easement would make me uncomfortable between the electricity and people walking through...

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It's not a high voltage line so I'm not worried about that but I do worry about people walking back there. One of the neighbors mows a big section and they use it basically like a dog park with some other folks. If I'm working on a dirtbike I'll ride some laps back there as well.

How fast can Jubally get the info to you? We just got our notice of informal hearing that's on July 30.

The Jubally report downloads in ~5 seconds.

Okay so downloaded the report - is it a big deal if google maps pic of our house (and subsequently the pic on the report) is not actually our house? I wonder if you can get them to change it or paste a pic over it in the PDF. Or does the appraisal board even care.

Mr., is the easement still active? If so, who is maintaining it?

Christ, images are embedded from Google. Or doesn't matter too much but if those homes look a lot nicer it can certainly help.

Arguing U&E at my Formal with the ARB today, wish me luck!

LG- I'm not sure what you mean by still active...it is reserved within the real property records and is reflected in the title survey. The records reflect that the County maintains it, but in speaking with the County, they claim the City of Houston maintains it. (eye-roll icon is for the County pointing the finger at the City)

[This message has been edited by Mr. (edited 7/16/2014 9:36a).]

informal this morning at 11:30, are these running on time, and how long does it normally take?

so the 08 owners didn't acquire the easement per se, they simply purchased the underlying land subject to said easement? And the easement is still being utilized and mantained by the city or county? Sounds like you definitey have a valid arguement

Gotcha. Correct, the residents purchased the land subject to the easement, not the easement from the County/City.

Had my informal this afternoon. Actually came a bit early and started right after. They did not budge, so a formal is coming my way. Hope the formal takes U and E more seriously as that is my case.

They can't change values based on U&E only at informals.

Just got back from my Formal, they didn't move an inch. Used Jubally and had multiple properties that were appraised lower than me with higher CDU and Remodel levels.

Board said, after closing arguements mind you, "Well I look at net adjustments and yours are greater than the HCAD ones so I am going with HCAD as they are more similar." That is because higher quality homes are appraised lower than me! Kind of a bad break that you can't make any points after you hear they are overlooking details you explained to them. Other 2 board members were just going with whatever main guy said.

I used U&E but they made a point to continually mention the purchase value. I think the fact that my appraised value was less than purchase price skewed me, they took the attitude of well he already got a discount so why give him more.

Annoyed, but it is what it is. Better luck next year. Really appreciated Jubally with the resources and would definately use them again.

Well...I got my online settlement offer from Fort Bend CAD and they gave me the middle finger. Time for a hearing.

They totally missed my reasoning that the properties on my street all increased only 2.5% and they are sticking me for 3.9%. Total BS. Also they are using comparable sales from 2014.

Resurrecting an old thread - my informal is on Wednesday and I'm feeling quite a bit unprepared. We bought our house in July 2013, and our appraisal is about $7000 less than purchase price, but a jump of about $40000 from where it was.

From what I understand from my jubally report, I can only argue uniform and equal, which cannot be adjusted at the informal hearing, so is there any point in going? I really don't want to fight traffic on my only morning off this week to drive through construction at 9am. I'm not anticipating getting much if any knocked off since our purchase price is over the appraised. We have homestead exemption for this year.

If you skip the informal, do they automatically schedule your formal? Howl long afterwards is that usually scheduled (couple weeks or months)? And do they ask why you didn't go to your informal? Thanks for the help.

Go straight to the board and do not waste your time in the informal. Typically they will schedule you in 14 days for your formal or could be longer depending on your value. Have 5 copies and be ready to grab your ankles.

SP> > > > > > > > out weighs U&E from the board members perspective.

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SP> > > > > > > > out weighs U&E from the board members perspective.

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this is the truth. At my formal they all agreed with my argument about U&E but didn't change my value because of sale price. They pretty much just ignore the rules on the books.

still pending

I am set for Sept. 9. I am sure they will give me the middle finger just like the online protest. they screwed me 2 years ago when I used a house that sold in January saying we can't consider anything after January 1 and now they are using houses sold in January and March.

[This message has been edited by KW02 (edited 7/29/2014 12:02p).]

We don't hear back from everyone, but have had a few people call us back to tell us they got lower than their sales price this year. One guy gut 145k lower. Your purchase year is the toughest year to fight, but it's worth it to try, especially since Jubally gives your money back if you don't win at the formal. Moving forward, it is a lot easier, and a lot more successful.

Skip your informal, Christ. Feel free to shoot us an email, or call, too. We'll be glad to discuss strategy with you.

We are going to Europe in 2 weeks - so I hope they don't schedule the formal during that time. Can someone else call and re-schedule if needed? Do they send you an email or is it only via mail to schedule the formal?

Do you have an HCAD login account? You can always check the status of your hearing that way, but the normal HCAD property card will show you the status as well.

You get one unforced reschedule per year. More if forced, but you'll need to show good reason.

Really, I'd assume anyone can call in for you. It isn't as if there's an authorization process.

Cru...yall are not doing Fort Bend County yet correct? Got to get my ducks in a row for my hearing as they did not budge in the online protest.