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Property tax protest recommendation - The Woodlands

1,350 Views | 5 Replies | Last: 6 yr ago by Bassmaster
Goose06
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AG
My assessment came in over 10% higher than what I paid for my house in September. Anyone have a suggestion for who will protest this on a contingency basis? Or should I hire an attorney and pay a flat fee?
TXTransplant
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Are you in Montgomery Co or Harris Co? Im in The Woodlands and successfully protested my HCAD valuation myself last year using the online system and comps provided by my neighbor/realtor.
hopeandrealchange
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I always hit them with a equity comps using their numbers. You don't have to fight them with sales comps. Search their numbers on your neighbors and find someone who has been doing a good job over the years and use them as a comp. the more people that do this the better for us all. You will rattle them when you come in with an equity comp argument. They do not see it often.
Goose06
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AG
I am in Montgomery county

What are equity comps?

Do I have to show up in court to protest if I handle myself or is the online system one where I don't have to show up?

I figured there was someone out there who would protest on my behalf on a contingency basis, is that not a good idea?
TXTransplant
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You can protest on the basis of one of two things:

1) Your house is valued more than comparable houses in your immediate neighborhood. To do this, you go online and look at what your neighbor's houses are valued at. You have to be careful with this, though, because if one neighbor is over 65 and/or has lived in their house a long time, their valuation is going to be lower, and that's not a fair comparison.

2) Your house is valued more than recent sales of comparable houses in your immediate neighborhood (recently is preferably the last 6 months of the previous year, but you can probably include comps from all of the previous year). A realtor can provide sales price information from the MLS. Alternatively, if you bought the house last year, you can show your HUD statement and probably get your valuation lowered to your purchase price.

I'm not familiar with the MCAD system and online appeals. The website right now says the online appeals system is disabled due to updates and maintenance.

You can always pay someone to protest for you. They will charge a fee that is typically a percentage of whatever amount they get your tax bill reduced by. However, if you have a HUD statement from Sept, the CAD should be willing to reduce your value to the sales price. That's a really easy argument to make, and I would do it myself rather than paying someone to do it for me.
Cyprian
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AG
I did it myself the first year after I bought a house in Harris country. I just showed them what I originally paid a couple of months ago, and they lowered it.
Bassmaster
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AG
TXTransplant said:

Alternatively, if you bought the house last year, you can show your HUD statement and probably get your valuation lowered to your purchase price.



That's the way it should work, but the Montgomery County folks are a step above illiterate. Below is my history with them taken from the Houston board.

Quote:

We closed in May 2016 and the appraised value was $127.5k greater than what I paid for my house, so I protested. They said, "nope, can't go all the way down to purchase price because the appraised value is as of 1/1/16 and you didn't close until 5/27/16. They ended dropping it 100k to $27.5k above what I paid. I asked them if what they are saying is that my home value dropped by $27.5k to my purchase price between 1/1/16 and 05/27/16. They said yes, that's what were saying.

I just got my 2017 appraisal and it is 75k more than what I paid last year. If they are right, my value dropped $27.5k from 1/1/16 - 5/27/16 and then increased by $75k from 5/28/16-1/1/17.

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