Has anyone ever protested their new property tax appraisal? We got ours yesterday, and I about fell over! ::BaHump::
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Has anyone ever protested their new property tax appraisal? We got ours yesterday, and I about fell over! ::BaHump::
Yes, I did mine the year after we bought this house. I was successful. Two takeaways from my experience:
1)Make sure your "ask" is reasonable and is based on hard numbers.
2)Gather comps from your neighborhood (same street/block if possible in at least one example) and base your value on SF as much as possible. I'm guessing your addition is part of the jump. State law says they can only go up by a maximum percentage (10% in 3 years, iirc), but your addition might have triggered a new valuation.
^Thanks Mike. Actually, the biggest jump was the land itself. It nearly doubled in value!!!
PS
My garage has been there 4-5 years now.
http://www.star-telegram.com/news/bu...e69084867.html
Mine took a pretty good jump also. May bolt the tires back on it an move it to Parker County. ;-)
http://www.tubbycreekfarm.com/sites/...Day%20(31).jpg
Also to compare appraisals go to www.tad.org and do some property searches. ;-)
Those are 2015 numbers, because you have until 5/2/16 to protest the new appraisal. I need to find how much homes in my area have sold for lately.Quote:
Originally Posted by POS Racing
True but it will show Proposed Values for Tax Year 2016 for your neighbors. My realtor neighbor has said in my hood houses are selling for more than market value over the past few years. She is going to get me comps but I got a feeling it is going to be an uphill battle this year.Quote:
Originally Posted by sammm
We are going to have a street party here. All of the people on our street the values are 0, ZERO. I wonder how long it will take them to figure that out.
You city folks just stay where you are.
Can I park my house behind your house for a few weeks?? ;-)Quote:
Originally Posted by general default
I don't think your house will fit through the gate.
I'll bring the BFH!Quote:
Originally Posted by general default
Going to be tough, property values in the metromess are stupid high right now. When your neighbors are selling for 15-20% more than what the houses in the neighborhood were worth 3-5 years ago it's tough to argue the value is lower.
I emailed the realtor we used we when sold/bought 10 years ago, and she sent me a list of what houses in my area have sold for recently. I think I have enough ammo to protest,
and I've got nothing to lose at this point.
She did tell me everyone's taxes really went up this year. Not sure how far widespread it is.
That phrase makes you sound so old. LOL!Quote:
Originally Posted by sammm
Got mine yesterday. Only $150 higher. I guess I'll consider myself lucky.
"Arlington" ;-)Quote:
Originally Posted by jrj512
They should've lowered it then ;-)Quote:
Originally Posted by POS Racing
I am old & I don't miss Arlington.Quote:
Originally Posted by jrj512
May not wanted to move to a place called "Rich-land", county this ya got $$$ ;-)Quote:
Originally Posted by sammm
Grayson county... I'm only paying $400/year more in property taxes on my 14.5 acre compound than I was for my 55'x85' lot with smaller house in McKinney...
^Nice! I put my protest letter in the mail this morning. I think the next thing would be for TAD to schedule a hearing. Stay tuned (or not.)
5/4 @ 9AM for the inquisition!
Well, that was a waste of time! ::BaHump::
Protest was ineffective, I take it? Go figure...
So you weren't the winner??Quote:
Originally Posted by sammm
Yes.Quote:
Originally Posted by 865
No.Quote:
Originally Posted by POS Racing
Maybe he was the wienerQuote:
Originally Posted by POS Racing
Just filed to protest on Monday. I don't expect to win but if nothing else I'll waste as much of their time as possible.
BTW. The protest deadline of May 2 printed on the notice they sent is crap. The lady I spoke to told me the state mandated deadline is really May 31, they just wanted to get as many protests filed early as they could so they'd know how many to expect....::Rant::
Any advice you have for successfully arguing my case or wasting even more of their time is greatly appreciated...
The value is based off of current sales in your neighborhood/area. I was basing my protest off of homes for sale (price per sq. ft.), but they ignored that for the most part.Quote:
Originally Posted by Keifersmith
They bring you into this dingy little room with 5 people in it. I think I was keeping at least 2 of them awake with my 4-minute (that's what they give you) case....very surreal experience.
You can pull your neighborhood's appraisal and market values off www.tad.org. My appraisal went up 10% (the max with a homestead exemption) and my "market value" went up about 50% in one year. Yeah right. I pulled my entire neighborhood's appraisals and then started calculating. Every single house went up 10%. There isn't much way to argue mine's unfair when everybody's went up the same percent and they have the whole neighborhood (city? county?) appraised well under "market."
TAD had software issues and under-appraised for a couple of years, so they're catching up. Gotta get those tax dollars rollin' in.
My market value went up 36% but the appraisal was limited to the annual 10% increase limit. If the new market value stands then I can expect my appraised value will continue to go up 10% annually over the next few years. My goal isn't to argue that my market value shouldn't go up, just that it shouldn't go up that much. I'm willing to agree that my previous appraised value was below market value.
I definitely need to get recent sales data from my area for comparison purposes. I'd like to then adjust my valuation down from those since we'd need to update the kitchen/bathrooms and a few other odds and ends to sell for a comparable price (all renovations are on hold for at least another year or so until we're not paying two college tuitions). My guess is that argument won't go anywhere and I'd at least need some form of official appraisal (costing $$$) to try to pull that angle off though.
You can also go on TAD and pull numbers for homes that sold in your area. I just found that out yesterday, but they never told me during my 'hearing'. You'll need to sign-in, and there's a PIN on the appraisal letter from them.
Definitely try to find some recently sold comps that favor your $/sq.ft. valuation goal. Its less about the specific upgrades than it is the selling prices you can document. Trying to argue that the recently sold homes are all nicer than yours isn't too effective, as they will tend to assume your house could sell for similar prices. Anything within a mile or so (closer is better) and sold in the last 6-12 months will be considered the best evidence. I'm not even sure a paid appraisal woudl be as effective, since most appraisers are willing to appraise to a target value, within reason.
Get contractors to give you bids for repairs your property needs. Document failings of your property, bad drainage, old fencing, old roof, water damage, rot, cracked slabs or brickwork, older windows and kitchen. If you recently bought the house and got a loan, you got a professional appraisal, and an inspection that should have pointed out all sorts of bad things. And your realtor should have found comps. Use those. If there are easements, power lines, or sewer that run through your property, document them, particularly if they don't run through everyone else's property. Document curb delivery mail boxes (rather than boxes on the house) and curb pickup trash (rather than alley pickup). Make sure the comps they chose really are comps, and not just nearby property.