Mr. AGSPRT04 said:

---

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).]

---