Had my ARB hearing yesterday. After increasing 750k in last two years I decided I would put the system on trial. 😂
After looking at the comps the district was using in arriving at my value, I noticed that for some reason my house was in a "class" that was 6-8 levels above almost every house in my neighborhood. The resulting "class adjustment" applied to my house when comparing it to the comps, results in hundreds of thousands being added to arrive at my value in most cases. Showed this to the ARB, the district's appraiser, who was in the hearing, said the "classes are decided when the houses are built, and the criteria are somewhat subjective" Out of approximately 160 houses in my neighborhood (custom homes built 35 years ago), somehow mine is one of the 7 highest classed houses in the neighborhood. I like my place and it is a nice house in a nice hood, but it is not anything that stands out from the rest. Both the appraiser and the ARB members acknowledged my argument but said they don't have the ability to consider that a property might be mis-classified in the hearing. Appraiser made a note for my property to looked at for a "class assessment" in the future. I was able to get around an 8% decrease in value, but it should have been about a 16% drop in my opinion.
Side note, the guy immediately before me had a ranch / home that had been hit by a tornado in April 2022 (repaired in July/August 2022) and then hit by a 2nd tornado in December 2022. Thankfully, they did give that guy a break of around 35%