Even how the appraisers measure a neighborhood seems arbitrary.
I couldn't find any homes in my area that had a "quality" rating above "average" but looks like your area does. There's a "multiplier" associated with all of those grades that determines the final values so they all count.
I see homes in my neighborhood that were marginally remodeled 15 years ago, but were coded as "total" and stayed that way. They're currently being valued at an ~60% premium to my place. Totally bonkers.
The key is to use their own guidelines against them in the protest
This is HCAD's definition of "Total Remodel" (credit to Cru for sharing this info for me many years ago)
vs. "extensive"
In my case, there was an addition in the back the was clearly "newish" but the rest of the home was much more in line with "partial" or "extensive". I showed pictures that illustrated these points and they agreed. Essentially, a "total" renovation is determined to be equal to (or more expensive) than new construction, from a cost perspective. Shockingly, HCAD is a bit loosy goosy with these grades.
I asked them how they came up with the "total" designation and they pointed to the listing agent's description that the home was "totally remodeled". We agents are never known to exaggerate of course!
I couldn't find any homes in my area that had a "quality" rating above "average" but looks like your area does. There's a "multiplier" associated with all of those grades that determines the final values so they all count.
I see homes in my neighborhood that were marginally remodeled 15 years ago, but were coded as "total" and stayed that way. They're currently being valued at an ~60% premium to my place. Totally bonkers.
The key is to use their own guidelines against them in the protest
This is HCAD's definition of "Total Remodel" (credit to Cru for sharing this info for me many years ago)
vs. "extensive"
In my case, there was an addition in the back the was clearly "newish" but the rest of the home was much more in line with "partial" or "extensive". I showed pictures that illustrated these points and they agreed. Essentially, a "total" renovation is determined to be equal to (or more expensive) than new construction, from a cost perspective. Shockingly, HCAD is a bit loosy goosy with these grades.
I asked them how they came up with the "total" designation and they pointed to the listing agent's description that the home was "totally remodeled". We agents are never known to exaggerate of course!