Does anyone have any recommendations for a outfit to (help) protest property taxes in McLennan County?

I helped a friend win last year.

I made a spreadsheet with all of the homes in their neighborhood. It included the address, sq. footage, appraised value - current and past year, increase in appraisal - and the 2 or 3 decreases, % appraisal increase, $/sq. ft.

I showed that their house was valued near the top per sq. ft. in the neighborhood and was out of line with comparable homes.

I also had photos of the "deficiencies" in their home and estimates to bring them up to good.

I could have presented more than 30 minutes analyzing why their appraisal was too high, the board surrendered after just a few minutes. One commented, "Boy, you were prepared!"

I did meet another couple while waiting, they said they protested and lost every year. They brought nothing with them other than saying that the appraisal was too high. If you try that approach, unless your appraisal is absolutely crazy, you're not going to win.

EMY92,

Thanks for the response. We have had success protesting in Houston (Harris) and College Station (Brazos) with the same methodology. However McLennan, at least where we are, close to Mart, it feels like we can't crack into the "good ol boys" club. They are comp'ing properties on Lake Waco on the clear other side of town and want nothing to do with our rebuttal of "these are not even close to the same area". So with that, we're trying to find an outfit to help/rep us, since they don't seem to care to hear our side.

We got hurt because we were one of the only comps that protested our status, so when it came to looking at all of the comps, we were compared against these recently inflated houses. Me and the three friends that appealed and prepped for it all were quickly dismissed based on being in the middle of the comps.

That's kind of what we are experiencing. We moved some acreage from one entity to another (from "residential" to ag arm) and the tax went up more than 10% after loss of acreage. It seems the CAD is being able to run wild with no one forming a protest base.

Meet with an appraiser as oppose to going before the board. You can generally get them down a bit. I have done this many times after going before the board and getting shwacked by them.

Just call and tell them you wish to meet with an appraiser before hand. Its one on one and they will work with you. Still take your comps.

Good luck.

I get to do this on July 5th in Plano. It's my land appraisal that's gone through the roof. However, my lot is 0.65 acres and there's very few comps with that lot size in the area.