After you file your protest, they provide their evidence showing how they came to their assessment. Included is like 3 years of sales data, did you refer to that or find your mls comps on that data? It's usually pdfs at the bottom when you login to your account on hcad.org

Kind of hard for them to non qualify their own evidence against them.

Her response seems like a load of crap from them and probably new line they're using if they are getting hammered on sales comp disputes.

YellAg2004 said:

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Is she trying to say that if the sales price is listed in MLS, they won't consider it valid unless you have a copy of that property's closing documents?

What kind of crazy BS is that?

Also, isn't that how HCAD gets their values on sales (unless you are dumb enough to return your postcard listing your sales price)?

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Yes. She said that's hcad value was derived from equity and not sales and then "non qualified" all comps.


I've informal'd a minimum of 100 properties over the years and never heard that one. I knew the appraiser at table over and he was shaking his head at me as if he felt my pain.

aTm_bomb said:

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After you file your protest, they provide their evidence showing how they came to their assessment. Included is like 3 years of sales data, did you refer to that or find your mls comps on that data? It's usually pdfs at the bottom when you login to your account on hcad.org

Kind of hard for them to non qualify their own evidence against them.

Her response seems like a load of crap from them and probably new line they're using if they are getting hammered on sales comp disputes.

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In her equity calc she had a property neighboring me that closed on 12-21-2021. She would not accept it as a comp sale even though it was used as an equity evaluation.

Yea, you got a lemon. That is a bad beat.

That's awesome!

How long does it take to hear back? I submitted ours over a month ago.

I submitted my protest on 5/14. Got my notice for my appointment about 2 weeks later. I originally got scheduled for last week but I didn't like the late day appointment. Only time I got completely shot down was a late day, so I rescheduled for this week for an 8:15 appointment. Check your email and junk folder for your notice. .

Crazy Ag 97 said:

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Just left my informal. Used my Jubally report, and got the appraiser to reduce my value from a 23% increase to less than 1%. Almost $100,000 value decrease. 77008. Needless to say, I'm in a good mood this morning.

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Can I hire you for my formal?

Got my ARB date... currently scheduled for a Friday at 2:40pm. Would really prefer earlier in the day so that the ARB panel isn't tired/bored of a full day of hearings. Only option I am being given to switch is a Saturday (didn't even know they did that). Would Sat morning be a better option than Fri afternoon? I think morning would be better but could also see someone not wanting to be there on a weekend.

It an ARB hearing. Time and place don't matter, they have already made their decision. Good luck!

Got my iSettle offer this morning which drops me to ONLY a 21.5% increase instead of 36%... I protested for less than what Jubally was suggesting and it came back somewhere in the middle (so still beat Jubally)

Got notice my iSettle offer was declined and they are setting up a hearing date. Hopefully I will be successful based on some of the tips y'all have posted.

HCAD gave us an $80K raise in value this year so I was going to fight it harder than normal. I normally protest every year unless they leave it the same. It's saved me a large chunk of money in the last 8 years.

I put in for an informal and used the Jubally report as a starting point. My experience is they really don't like Jubally so I take the information from their report and repackage it into a word document so it looks no different than if I did it myself.

This year, Jubally said sales comparisons were my best bet. I took the Jubally comps and removed the fancy HCAD algebra and just did a straight sq/ft adjustment to my house based on their 5 comps adjusted sale sq/ft price. That made my number about $10K better than Jubally and submitted that requesting an informal. I normally just do Isettle, but based on so many people saying they were getting offers before informals, I went this route instead. They offered an insulting $3K off the $80K raise. See you at the informal.

I took a day and went through their comp package "evidence". It was crap. Not a single home was a good comp, they were just in my neighborhood. I live on the only busy through street, in a one story, and don't have a pool. Every one of their comps had multiple things (including more bedrooms), being on a culdesac, had a pool, or was even sold at $150K more because it had been renovated. And then they used their fancy math to on average add another $70K per comp of value on top.

Guy I had for the informal was really nice and down to earth. I have no doubt they have quotas or targets or something because he wouldn't go all the way down to what I requested even though I had him laughing at their comps at one point. The kicker? They raised my 1968 built home condition to "very good" because 12 years ago the previous owner put in new windows. Home hasn't been renovated otherwise. The comps were all "average" or "good" and most were renovated compared to mine.

In the end we settled for $4K under the Jubally suggested value and $50K under HCAD's 2022 value (originally an $80k raise). At least I didn't lose my ass like I thought I would.

Sitting at HCAD right now and ready to get medieval on these asswipes!!

chjoak said:

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Got my ARB date... currently scheduled for a Friday at 2:40pm. Would really prefer earlier in the day so that the ARB panel isn't tired/bored of a full day of hearings. Only option I am being given to switch is a Saturday (didn't even know they did that). Would Sat morning be a better option than Fri afternoon? I think morning would be better but could also see someone not wanting to be there on a weekend.

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Earliest appointment available just so you don't have to wait. At 2:40p, you won't get in front of the board until 3:30p. I always go for 8a so I'm the first appointment. Show up, present my evidence, get disappointed, and leave all within 10 minutes. Doesn't seem as big of a waste of time.

We got bent over.

Got $51k off the market, but only $14k off the appraised.

Didn't think going before the formal board would have helped any.

That's not bad at all. my best case scenario will be getting Market = Appraised.

We did get market=appraisal.

We just went in wanting more based on a quote for repairs and the comps we used.

Thats a good point.

Its taxing unrealized gains. No way around that.

Yeah, it's kinda like...a property tax.

Had a virtual ARB last week.
They offered to drop mine 10%, but couldn't explain how my 3 direct neighbors with similar houses would still be another 6% less. So onto another meeting next month.

Finally got an email and Isettle isn't an option so now waiting an appointment.

However I have no data to back my complaint up.

AlaskanAg99 said:

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Finally got an email and Isettle isn't an option so now waiting an appointment.

However I have no data to back my complaint up.

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I'm in the exact same boat. No clue what to do.

Jackal99 said:

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AlaskanAg99 said:

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Finally got an email and Isettle isn't an option so now waiting an appointment.

However I have no data to back my complaint up.

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I'm in the exact same boat. No clue what to do.

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If you just don't show up, you are effectively dropping your argument and the initial values will stand. Just punch yourself in the junk and go about your day. It'll save you 2 hours.

Just had my formal. Lowered my market value increase from 26% to 23%.
In your face HCAD!!!!

If he's got a $1mm house that's some real cheddar

It's more than likely no cheddar because like everyone else, his market value is probably massively over his appraised value.

Bassmaster said:

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It's more than likely no cheddar because like everyone else, his market value is probably massively over his appraised value.

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I keep seeing this and that doesn't appear to be correct if you continually protest your taxes

Under this law, the value for tax purposes (appraised value) of a qualified residence homestead will be the LESSER of:

the market value (what the property would sell for on the open market); or
the preceding year's appraised value
+ 10%
+ the value of any improvements added since the last re-appraisal.

Had my Formal ARB this afternoon and it was an unexpected experience... Had a 2:40 appt. Got there at 2:25. Got called back at 2:50. Had 1 ARB rep this year (thought I had selected full panel but oh well). Went through the normal explanation of things and then she asked me to go first (I have always gone 2nd in the past).

My case was directly questioning HCAD logic on the properties they selected as comps and then presenting my own and explaining how/why I picked them. This year HCAD tried to raise my Appraised by 10% and my Market by 25% but 3 of the comps they were attempting to use were 1 story houses 900+ sqft smaller than mine. Sales comps I pulled (and simpler calcs) suggested my Market should be an 11% increase. HCAD rep openly admitted that the 3 disputed comps were crap and looking at the 2 remaining the values were "close enough" so he agreed with my argument.

Unfortunately it doesn't lower my tax bill this year but I still got a pretty big chunk off my Market which will hopefully next year.