Hot off the press!

+18%

FAQ:
Search for your property here. Note your legal description neighborhood.
http://hcad.org/property-search/real-property/real-property-search-by-address/

Appraised value - value for what you will pay your taxes on. Can only increase 10% year over year (if you have the homestead exemption in place). It will increase 10% every year until it reaches the market value - this is by law so no need to complain about it. If you purchased the prior year, the 10% rule does not apply and appraised/market values will match.
Market value - what HCAD thinks your house is worth. Can increase by any amount year over year. You want this as low as possible since the Appraised (taxed) value will eventually catch up to it. This is what you're protesting.

Protest here. You will need your ifile number mailed to you by HCAD with the valuation.
http://hcad.org/hcad-online-services/ifile-protest/

When protesting, get comps here. Enter your Legal Description neighborhood and Total Sq Footage +/- 10% and search.
http://hcad.org/property-search/real-property-advanced-records/
-There will be 100s of records.
-Copy/paste into a spreadsheet, do some calculations to get $/sq ft, and sort.
-Choose the bottom 3-4 with similar bed/bath.
-If you live in a neighborhood that has different land sizes, you need to account for this.
-Make sure there is nothing extraordinary about them that HCAD can dismiss.
-Land vs. Improvement values. These are mostly irrelevant unless you are comparing houses with different land sizes. Just pay attention to the Total value since this is all HCAD cares about.

Alternatively, use tine board endorsed service Jubally.com which essentially does the above for you in addition to using recent MLS sales.

There are two protest meetings - informal and formal.
Informal - meet with HCAD appraiser and go over your comps and major deficiencies with your home (foundation, roof, etc.). You can skip this and go straight to formal, but you may get an appraiser who is sympathetic.
Formal (if you can't come to an agreement at the informal) - meet with HCAD 3 person "independent" board and present your evidence.

+20.5%

77389 - (Edit because I can't use a calculator correctly) 8.4% increase on market and appraised, but I successfully protested back in 2016, and this the first increase I've gotten since then. House was appraised at significantly less than what I could sell it for, so I was due.

Shockingly, of the 22 houses on my street (all were built at the same time by the same builder and are very similar in size and finish), HCAD actually DECREASED the appraised value on 13 of them! We had several houses sell last year, so I'm guessing HCAD realized some of them were over-valued.

Funny thing is, when I compare on a price per square foot basis, there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for the houses that got a decrease in value vs those that got an increase.

Pending in 77096

+21%

+21.2% in 77008

I see a visit to Jubally.com in my near future.

Question...is it worth it to fight the square footage they have listed for my house? They have me listed 100 sqft higher than it actually is. I've looked up 5 other houses that have the exact same floor plan as I do, and all 5 of them are listed 100 sqft less (which matches the original construction plans).

7.7% in 77079

Up 3.5% in 77079, all on improvements -- to which there have been no changes in the past year. Land value is flat.

15%.

Time to send in pics of storm damage from last year that is pending repair.

Yes. Easy way to decrease appraisal too.

Down 2%. Kingwood

I got the full 10% in 77018

Up 5.4% in 77055. Not sure if I should be happy or pissed.

Those houses that were reduced probably protested last year.

Question....how does it work if your house is under construction? My value in 008 still shows as Pending.

Martin Q. Blank said:

---

-Land vs. Improvement values. These are mostly irrelevant unless you are comparing houses with different land sizes. Just pay attention to the Total value since this is all HCAD cares about.

---

Appraised went up 10% and market 13% for the year in 77018, BUT, my land value went down and improvement value went up.

In 2017 I protested based on sales price and had the total market value knocked down by over $100K. My house was built in 1947 and I showed them pictures of deferred maintenance and they brought the improvement value down to $200 (not $200K, $200 dollars) and the land value the remainder.

This year they DECREASED the land value by 11% and INCREASED the improvement value to $65K from essentially zero. How does that work? There have been no noticeable improvements on my home inside or out other than I painted it.

Can I protest again that the house itself isn't actually worth any more today than it was last year? Especially when the comps in my neighborhood are all in the middle of being torn down or heavily remodeled?

I'm sure its been discussed before? Is O'Connor worth it to fight my increase?

Up 5.06% in 77429. First increase since 2015.

SweaterusVestus said:

---

Martin Q. Blank said:

---

-Land vs. Improvement values. These are mostly irrelevant unless you are comparing houses with different land sizes. Just pay attention to the Total value since this is all HCAD cares about.

---

Appraised went up 10% and market 13% for the year in 77018, BUT, my land value went down and improvement value went up.

In 2017 I protested based on sales price and had the total market value knocked down by over $100K. My house was built in 1947 and I showed them pictures of deferred maintenance and they brought the improvement value down to $200 (not $200K, $200 dollars) and the land value the remainder.

This year they DECREASED the land value by 11% and INCREASED the improvement value to $65K from essentially zero. How does that work? There have been no noticeable improvements on my home inside or out other than I painted it.

Can I protest again that the house itself isn't actually worth any more today than it was last year? Especially when the comps in my neighborhood are all in the middle of being torn down or heavily remodeled?

---

It works the way I said. HCAD only cares about the total value. They set the land value across the neighborhood and adjust improvement value to whatever makes the total value work out.

Your argument that HCAD/s improved value increased from $200 to $65k without any improvement will not work. Show them a tear down comp and that your house would be a tear down.

pending still

77379 - +4.1% with no change in land value.

9% increase for 77030.

Up 10% in 77388. First increase since 2015. Not surprised given it had never followed here and the amount of growth with the XOM campus.

Probably going to get hated on for this but I think it is dumb Texas has no income tax but instead such high property taxes. I'd rather have a low income tax and a low property tax.


This is such an easy way for the city to get substantially more revenue to waste, just increase everyone's property values.

drumboy said:

---

Those houses that were reduced probably protested last year.

Question....how does it work if your house is under construction? My value in 008 still shows as Pending.

---

Maybe, maybe not. But the value showing in HCAD now for 2018 would be the new value after the protest. Why would HCAD decrease their value even MORE this year? That's not typically HCAD's MO.

Also, the two sales last year on my street both went for $144/sq ft (all of the houses are 2100-3000 sq ft, and the average is 2485).

There are 7 properties that were already appraised at about $144/sq ft or less in 2018 that got further reductions in 2019. And there are a couple of houses that were appraised at more than $144/sq ft in 2018 that got their values raised even more for 2019. Makes no sense to me.

IDaggie06 said:

---

Probably going to get hated on for this but I think it is dumb Texas has no income tax but instead such high property taxes. I'd rather have a low income tax and a low property tax.


This is such an easy way for the city to get substantially more revenue to waste, just increase everyone's property values.

---

Be careful what you wish for. I lived in Alabama, which has exactly that scenario - a "reasonable" income tax and relatively low property tax (I paid ~$500/year on a $155k house that was in an unincorporated area). And the state was perpetually broke. The elected officials in Montgomery couldn't manage the revenue from the income tax to save their lives. And raising property taxes wasn't even on the table for consideration (I think it would have required an amendment to the state constitution, which isn't going to happen even if pigs fly).

Up 10% in Westbury (77096).

They dropped us 5% last year and so it's probably warranted.

Up 12% in 77095

Quote:

---

Be careful what you wish for. I lived in Alabama, which has exactly that scenario - a "reasonable" income tax and relatively low property tax (I paid ~$500/year on a $155k house that was in an unincorporated area). And the state was perpetually broke. The elected officials in Montgomery couldn't manage the revenue from the income tax to save their lives. And raising property taxes wasn't even on the table for consideration (I think it would have required an amendment to the state constitution, which isn't going to happen even if pigs fly).

---

Well Alabama doesn't have the resources or the amount of people that Texas has.

I'm interested in buying another property but the thought of paying 2.75% tax on it and not getting a homestead makes it not worth it to me.

These high property taxes also makes me not want to buy a more expensive house that I live in. I can't fathom living in a $600k house and paying roughly $17,000 in taxes a year.

IDaggie06 said:

---

Quote:

---

Be careful what you wish for. I lived in Alabama, which has exactly that scenario - a "reasonable" income tax and relatively low property tax (I paid ~$500/year on a $155k house that was in an unincorporated area). And the state was perpetually broke. The elected officials in Montgomery couldn't manage the revenue from the income tax to save their lives. And raising property taxes wasn't even on the table for consideration (I think it would have required an amendment to the state constitution, which isn't going to happen even if pigs fly).

---

Well Alabama doesn't have the resources or the amount of people that Texas has.

I'm interested in buying another property but the thought of paying 2.75% tax on it and not getting a homestead makes it not worth it to me.

These high property taxes also makes me not want to buy a more expensive house that I live in. I can't fathom living in a $600k house and paying roughly $17,000 in taxes a year.

---

Fair point about the difference in tax base. And my perspective is a little different because I pay less than 1/2 that in property taxes (if I paid more, I'm sure I'd feel differently).

But, fortunately, I see every day how what I pay is benefiting my community (the MUD, ISD, and Woodlands Township all seem to be using tax revenues to make continuous improvements - can't really say that about unincorporated Harris Co, though).

Up 33.9% on my market, 10% on appraised in 079

To be fair, I did finally finish our remodel, and I had argued last year's down pretty low. So I was expecting an increase.

This may be the first year since I have owned the place that I don't have much of a leg to stand on in protest.

Somehow down 3.5% in 77375

Nothing for my home in 77018 yet. Expecting a significant jump to an unrealistic value we could never get, as usual. Homes are sitting forever in Oak Forest. HCAD is such a racket.

Mine is still pending while my neighbors are not. Guess I am about to get hit based on the remodel I did in 2017 that wasn't picked up last year.

Up 3.5% in 77450