Could be back to the property vs. Income tax discussion. If you are unemployed you won't pay income taxes.

Aggie71013 said:

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Could be back to the property vs. Income tax discussion. If you are enemployed you won't pay income taxes.

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Feel like I'm screwed either way.

I think my property tax should be assessed by how much I bought my house for. My house has doubled in price since I bought it and it very well could price me out to where I need to move. Crazy.

SquanchyAg said:

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htxag09 said:

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Not to mention other variables like still having a $1k/month tax bill when you're retired and "own" your home.

Or like me during COVID and being unemployed for 6ish months, still have that property tax bill at the end of the year....

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wait... so you don't think it's fair for you to pay your normal property tax bill because you didn't work for 6 months of the year during covid? what did you do during those 6 months? hang out at the beach all day? sure, we'll pay your share for you. poor thing. wow.

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Lmao. Way to assume and completely miss the point. My point wasn't that I didn't want to "pay my share" or that it "wasn't fair." My point was simply that there is more to comparing states with higher property taxes vs state income tax vs higher sales taxes then just trying to convert to an equivalent percentage.

Frok said:

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Aggie71013 said:

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Could be back to the property vs. Income tax discussion. If you are enemployed you won't pay income taxes.

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Feel like I'm screwed either way.

I think my property tax should be assessed by how much I bought my house for. My house has doubled in price since I bought it and it very well could price me out to where I need to move. Crazy.

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I welcome it. That's how we get the undesirables out of our neighborhood.

1. They increased my square footage by ~400 SF, but we didn't do anything to our house. It has been the same size since 1961. I am positive of that fact. WTF?

2. Does anyone have protest firms they recommend? With my work schedule I need to farm this out.

User mr. Mcgibblets has a firm. He posted the info on this thread back a page or two.

LostInLA07 said:

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I'd much prefer a use / consumption tax. Frankly I'd rather we have a national and state sales tax rate around 25% vs the current income tax and property tax schemes. It's much harder for a government to redistribute wealth and socially engineer behavior with a sales tax. And individuals gain a lot more control over their tax liability.

Also much easier to administer, harder for people to avoid paying or cheat on, and WAY less individual administrative burden.

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At that high a rate, you can bet your sweet bippy that many sales will be done off record with crypto and cash to avoid taxes.

K_P said:

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1. They increased my square footage by ~400 SF, but we didn't do anything to our house. It has been the same size since 1961. I am positive of that fact. WTF?

2. Does anyone have protest firms they recommend? With my work schedule I need to farm this out.

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https://www.hataxgroup.com/ - McGibblets group.

Martin Q. Blank said:

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Frok said:

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Aggie71013 said:

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Could be back to the property vs. Income tax discussion. If you are enemployed you won't pay income taxes.

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Feel like I'm screwed either way.

I think my property tax should be assessed by how much I bought my house for. My house has doubled in price since I bought it and it very well could price me out to where I need to move. Crazy.

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I welcome it. That's how we get the undesirables out of our neighborhood.

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I'll be gone soon.

2021 - X
2022 - 1.28X

Fort Bend County
Sugar Land

AggieChemE09 said:

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2021 - X
2022 - 1.28X

Fort Bend County
Sugar Land

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I got the exact same treatment in the Katy part of Fort Bend County

1.34x

oof.

Teddy Perkins said:

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K_P said:

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1. They increased my square footage by ~400 SF, but we didn't do anything to our house. It has been the same size since 1961. I am positive of that fact. WTF?

2. Does anyone have protest firms they recommend? With my work schedule I need to farm this out.

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https://www.hataxgroup.com/ - McGibblets group.

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Thanks. Although I kind of agree that my home has appreciated in appraisal value after being artificially stagnant for the past 6 years.

htxag09 said:

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SquanchyAg said:

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htxag09 said:

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Not to mention other variables like still having a $1k/month tax bill when you're retired and "own" your home.

Or like me during COVID and being unemployed for 6ish months, still have that property tax bill at the end of the year....

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wait... so you don't think it's fair for you to pay your normal property tax bill because you didn't work for 6 months of the year during covid? what did you do during those 6 months? hang out at the beach all day? sure, we'll pay your share for you. poor thing. wow.

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Lmao. Way to assume and completely miss the point. My point wasn't that I didn't want to "pay my share" or that it "wasn't fair." My point was simply that there is more to comparing states with higher property taxes vs state income tax vs higher sales taxes then just trying to convert to an equivalent percentage.

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my apologies. I guess I just assumed you were another one of the hipster millenials on here. I didn't read every post.

So my house is for sure worth more than the 10% cap increase, not 34% but how do tax protest companies make money in this case….the taxed value won't be going down basically no matter what.

12thMan9 said:

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Mr. AGSPRT04 said:

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TX04Aggie said:

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Market and appraisal about the same. Up 9% in Timbergrove.

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Up 21% in Timbergrove. They doubled the value of my improvements and kept land value the same. I guess because I tore down an old 8x15 shed and replaced it with a new 8x15 shed?

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How did they know?

If you're not fighting your property taxes EVERY year, shame on you.

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I'm not sure why that's directed at me. I protest every year.

They could know about the shed just by driving past the house and seeing the slab poured. It is taller than the fence.

Up 41% in 77494. I already reached out to the protest man mentioned here. We built a pool last year but geez.

Market value up 37% in 77494. No improvements done at all.

Hmm…in 77494 too, nothing new.

When's the pool party?

Also in 77494 - Ft Bend

23% increase

Up 22%, 80k, fort bend 77478

How does Harris County define "Cost & Design" on recently renovated older homes? I know some of the examples are "Partial", "Extensive", and "Total". My understanding is that "Total" would be the highest level of renovation. When and how does HCAD make this determination and can it be changed?

Full story:
My home's appraised value is about $45/SF higher than the average of all homes on my street and 2 streets in each direction North/South. A commonality between my home and the few others that are close to my cost/SF is that "Cost & Design" is shown as "Total".

I've been inside many of the renovated homes around me. Many of them are just as nice or nicer than mine, but, for most of them, their "Cost & Design" is listed as "Extensive". The appraised cost/sf for those listed as "Extensive" is significantly less than mine and closer to the average.

My home's renovation was done 2 owner's ago and included kitchen, 2 bathrooms (partial), new AC, UG plumbing replacement (partial), new windows, new flooring (carpet/tile) and minor structural changes to create an open flooplan. The majority of the other renovated homes had the same things done, but they are listed as "Extensive" and I'm shown as "Total".

The protest firm I've used in the past has told me they have attempted to get that changed and have been unsuccesful. I'm not sure whether to believe them or not.

Protest yourself and take data/pictures into the appraiser.

I got mine changed from "total" to "extensive" shortly after I bought my current home.

I just showed them pictures of some of the older parts that had not been renovated recently to argue my point.

Using HCADs own definitions, "total" is as good (or better) than new construction. It was pretty clear that wasn't the case for my home so the ARB made the change.

GoAgs92 said:

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So my house is for sure worth more than the 10% cap increase, not 34% but how do tax protest companies make money in this case….the taxed value won't be going down basically no matter what.

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I have the same question. Mine's up 35% and I don't see how I could possibly protest it down to below the 10% it's capped at. Am I misunderstanding something or am I just gonna have to bend over and take 10% increases going forward?

BowSowy said:

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GoAgs92 said:

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So my house is for sure worth more than the 10% cap increase, not 34% but how do tax protest companies make money in this case….the taxed value won't be going down basically no matter what.

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I have the same question. Mine's up 35% and I don't see how I could possibly protest it down to below the 10% it's capped at. Am I misunderstanding something or am I just gonna have to bend over and take 10% increases going forward?

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If you protest yourself, you can ask for the market value to be lowered. That's what I did. I can't (at least not with a straight face) protest my appraised value. But my market is too high based on a recently sold comp, so that's what I argued in my ifile protest. That should help me going forward, since they will continue to raise your appraised value until it reaches market. Ideally, you want the two values to match, but I just don't think that's realistic for me right now.

I asked a coworker the same question last week re how do the third party protest companies make any money if only the market value is lowered. We were both wondering.

Quote:

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It is either or. You get to pick.

My fee is on a year to year basis. I do not believe in auto renewals. I ask for the business every year. Your fee is for that 1 year only not for multiples(never heard of that).

I am not allowed(neither are you) to discuss appraised value when arguing valuation unless it was an exemption issue. So the % fee is based solely on the reduction of market value only.

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From mcgibblets earlier in this thread. If your market is up 20% but appraisal is capped at 10%, and he reduces it to 15%, you'll still owe him the theoretical tax savings on that 5% drop even though your tax liability is the same.

Still worth it, IMO. Lowering your market value will obviously leave you at a lower base and help in future years.

I dont care if it is a penny or a grand, I want to fight for anything thst will help me give less of my money to bureaucrats who use it on garbage.

Thanks, I missed that. I always thought companies based their fee on the tax savings because they got the appraised value lowered.

If I protest the market value and they find a higher priced comp, could they potentially raise my market value? In other words, is there any possible downside to a protest?

I believe some companies do operate that way. For example O'Connor and Associates don't charge a fee unless they lower your taxes and their fee is 50% of the tax savings.

Montgomery Country

Went up $20,710 (+9.998%...they rounded down $4).

If not for the homestead exemption, they would have raised it almost $75,000.

We use O'Connor (one of the few that operate in MoCo) and the above poster is correct. If they get the value dropped, I pay them half of the savings.