I opted for the in-person informal. They sent me an email last week offering to drop my value by ~$6K which I ignored. I had my informal this morning and agreed on a value $39,000 less than initial valuation.

I think other posters here are correct, they are rushing to get the tax roll finalized and are agreeing to any valuation that seems reasonable.

For those that have protested before can you use sales comps from current year (i.e 2020) as evidence? Not many comparable homes sold last year (not many homes sold at all) that reflect the value I think is fair but 3 homes sold in the first 6 months that reflect my value target.

What did you use in your evidence packet and what kind of questions did the appraiser ask?

I only fought them on my improvement value compared to comps.

I downloaded all of the homes in my neighborhood +/-10% of my SF, sorted that by current market value then deducted land value to get just the improvement value. I also looked at when each house was remolded. I looked at the improvement value on a PSF basis compared to where they valued my house.

I found the ones that supported the value I had in my mind that were remodeled much more recently than mine (I was 1994 and I found 7-10 that were remodeled around 2010 that were less on a PSF basis) and showed that to the appraiser. She took that, looked in her system and came back with a value that was $6,500 more than what I was asking for but was only a 0.60% increase over last year so I took it and ran.

I assume all this data came straight from HCAD? I've pulled the same and 95 of 100 homes in my section of the neighborhood within 10% sq ft. have a lower improvement PSF then mine. Average is $11 less PSF and lowest is $25 less PSF.

I opted for remote meeting and still haven't received any dates.

jaggiemaggie said:

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I opted for remote meeting and still haven't received any dates.

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I have not either.

Mr07Ag said:

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I only fought them on my improvement value compared to comps.

I downloaded all of the homes in my neighborhood +/-10% of my SF, sorted that by current market value then deducted land value to get just the improvement value. I also looked at when each house was remolded. I looked at the improvement value on a PSF basis compared to where they valued my house.

I found the ones that supported the value I had in my mind that were remodeled much more recently than mine (I was 1994 and I found 7-10 that were remodeled around 2010 that were less on a PSF basis) and showed that to the appraiser. She took that, looked in her system and came back with a value that was $6,500 more than what I was asking for but was only a 0.60% increase over last year so I took it and ran.

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Did you only use comps with the same "Cond / Desir / Util" they had you classified? or did you solely use improvement value based on your SF? They have me classified as "Extensive" and I have a spreadsheet of properties with "Extensive" and "Very Good" conditions to use as my argument. I'm curious if they are going to pull some of these properties and argue that I'm not comparing apples to apples

Also curious on this. All of immediate neighbors are classified as very good so their equity comp looks fair but much of the neighborhood is classed as average. Going to argue my house is average too.

Aggie71013
Yes, all data straight from HCAD. I was lucky that there is an abundance in my area to choose from. I am not sure of HCAD's thoughts on going outside the neighborhood but I assume it would be a hard sell.

Jaggiemaggie
I did not focus on the "Cond/Desir/Util" section, only focused on Building Quality which is in the section above. Everyone I looked at were "Good" but had varying years of construction/remodeling so I am not sure how often that designation changes.

I did not ask them to see the cops they based my lower value on. They were so close to where I wanted to be that when they gave me the number I just accepted, signed and left before they could reconsider.

I'm classified as "Extensive" and my next door neighbor is classified as "good" even though their place is more updated than mine and we are talking about a $50/sqft difference.

I had my informal - appraiser I was dealing with was clearly not looking at my evidence of market value based on sales comps. I told him let's stop wasting time and go to ARB.

Had my informal last Thursday. Lady didn't push back too hard and we basically ended up splitting the difference between my value and their revised number. About a $15k reduction from last year and $50k less than their initial value this year. Can live with that.

Was supposed to have my remote informal this morning and never received an email to check-in / start the informal meeting. Called HCAD's support line and was told that informals are no longer happening this month and are being pushed until August.

I did not receive any notification in advance that my informal was canceled.

For those that have completed their informals, were they remote or in person?

Edit to add that this may only apply to remote informals.

jaggiemaggie said:

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I'm classified as "Extensive" and my next door neighbor is classified as "good" even though their place is more updated than mine and we are talking about a $50/sqft difference.

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Good luck with that. This happened to me when I moved into my current house almost 10 yrs ago. HCAD pulled pics from HAR and used those to justify the bump in condition (they openly admitted this to me the 1st year I tried to fight). Thing is, the actual upgrades to my house are really not that special and I have seen numerous comps via HAR since that never get the bump. It took me several years of fighting every angle I could and eventually a trip to ARB to get it down to a true comparable level. They technically never changed my condition code but they no longer drag me over the coals because of it.

Wtf? I wonder if they're just saying screw the deadline?

I thought the in person informal process was pretty well done from a socially distancing perspective.

Had our informal in-person this week. Relatively painless.

I picked remote because I figured it would be easier, but clearly that was wrong.

I'd always plan on the government screwing up when they can.

Sitting at HCAD now. Just realized I'm here for the informal and not the formal. Hopefully I can get this **** over with and I don't have to come back.

Value reduced by $65k which is $44k less than I refinanced for a few months ago. I walked in with 3 cherry picked recent sales (thanks jubally) and the person I met with made an offer based on those properties only. I gladly accepted.

Once again, under 10 min informal meeting with my Jubally report and hit their/my number (-$14k). 6/7 of hitting my number, the other time got ~70% of the way there just because that year there were only 3 comps and one got thrown out.

Well, broke my streak of 3 for 3 with Jubally.

All she hammered about was the sq. ft not being close; at least closer than what HCAD is looking at. She graciously offered to only increase the price by only 6% instead of their current 10.6% increase. Looking at a 1.3% according to Jubally.

I really wanted to ask if I found 5 houses that had the same sq. footage, but were ranked lower (CDU, etc.) would that be better or is it better to match more of the values they have and let others 'float'.

Pissed that I had to waste 90 minutes and gas to argue with a just-out-of-college grad who couldn't or wouldn't accept facts I presented.

~egon

For those that chose remote how did you know when it was? I still don't seem to have a date. The emails have been pretty hit or miss about getting to me.

I see a link for a remote meeting. Just not a date or anything. I can't click on my reschedule appointment link (I assume because I don't have a date yet).

Just wondering WTF is going on and why I don't have a date yet.

ETA: Just read Aggie71013 response. I guess that would be why.

I called and was told they scheduled my time by mistake. I had to email someone to reschedule and am now scheduled for August 5th and received email confirmation. Did you receive an email confirming your remkte time?

Does your hcad account have a date?

Dr. Doctor said:

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Well, broke my streak of 3 for 3 with Jubally.

All she hammered about was the sq. ft not being close; at least closer than what HCAD is looking at. She graciously offered to only increase the price by only 6% instead of their current 10.6% increase. Looking at a 1.3% according to Jubally.

I really wanted to ask if I found 5 houses that had the same sq. footage, but were ranked lower (CDU, etc.) would that be better or is it better to match more of the values they have and let others 'float'.

Pissed that I had to waste 90 minutes and gas to argue with a just-out-of-college grad who couldn't or wouldn't accept facts I presented.

~egon

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I assume that was informal? Just like every other informal, they find whatever they can to justify the original value even if its bull***** Also freshouts are definitely under the gun to follow the rules to impress the boss, while also probably not being a taxpayer.

At least during the formal it won't be a bang-your-head-against-the-wall stupid college kid. It'll be three bang-your-head-against-the-wall stupid middle aged people.

Middle aged? That's optimistic

Just got out of my informal. Pulled up in my car, handed restaurant style pager through my window, waited in parking garage listening to Stern until it buzzed, ushered in to temp screen and COVID questionnaire (been out of country/been around anyone that tested positive?), checked in and waited for my appraiser to call my name in socially distanced waiting room. Took about 30 minutes from when I pulled in the parking lot.

Appraiser pulled up my 3 comps identified by Jubally, appraiser tossed one because it was a foreclosure and picked 2 of his own. Ran his adjustment calculations, and accepted my proposed value. Decrease of 13.8% from noticed value. Signed and bolted.

Had my remote informal this morning. Dropped my appraisal by $41k.

Aggie71013 said:

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Had my remote informal this morning. Dropped my appraisal by $41k.

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What format did you present your argument ? PowerPoint? I have the Jubally report also have a table of properties I want to use as argument.

jaggiemaggie said:

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Aggie71013 said:

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Had my remote informal this morning. Dropped my appraisal by $41k.

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What format did you present your argument ? PowerPoint? I have the Jubally report also have a table of properties I want to use as argument.

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I haven't done mine yet . Don't even have me scheduled but I'm using a PowerPoint with some excel tables.

Part 1 is the proof that my house is 2600 sq feet and not 2900. Mine is a new build and the royally effed up the house size.

Part 2 shows my exact floor plan along with other comps. I applied an average price / sq foot for anything 2500-2700 sq feet on my street or the surrounding streets. They have me at $365k (mostly because of the wrong size). My floor plan is $338-340k. I have a smaller lot so I'm proposing $334k in my argument when I apply price/sq ft to my house/improvement plus price / sq foot for my land.

Dora wants her money one way or the other...

https://thetexan.news/harris-county-to-consider-disaster-declaration-loophole-to-raise-property-tax-rate-above-sb-2-limit/?fbclid=IwAR1j6jY4bYfzcMTt6GKVQUidKoTrhHSIl3oFrxTBzVQWL3QaH96cDp7EFHg

I wonder if this is due in part to the increase in the exemption amount for homeowners over 65.