2022 Property Tax Values are out

[Jiggy-Z 3432]

It is insane;

Home went up 62% this year.

I also own a construction yard/office in east Austin which is reasonably appraised, but I am getting calls every other month from investors to buy at double TCAD, which is not unheard of even in normal times.  The weird part is that the lot is 100% in the 25 year flood plain as of 5 years ago.  One of these days COA is going to wise up and get the flood situation figured out and by spending a few million $ they will increase the tax base enough to pay for that in less than 5 years.  Yes, I know COA and county are different and what i said makes no sense.  Rant over.

[swonie 71]

Hays Co just came out today and I’m up 72% on a 2020 build in NW Buda


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[swonie 71]

Stupid Tapa

[MrBig 5398]

Anybody who owns 2 properties in Travis County is almost a millionaire. 

[boilerhorn 1381]

Couple of comments based on what I have learned over the years. 

I have appealed darn near every year since 2008.  Out of principal AND it requires the CAD to give you the comps and methodology used for the appraisal.  One year, I called one of the tax reduction aggregators and asked to pay for 1 hour of his time.  He said he would make more money just processing more appeals, then proceeded to talk to me for 30 mins.  He was friendly and informative.

First, many of the tax appeal aggregators have worked for the CAD in the past.  They make money on volume.  I have seen these guys roll in to the TCAD office with a dolly and 4 filing boxes full of properties to appeal.  They are chummy with the folks in the office.

Second, the land value is not arbitrary.  I forget the EXACT methodology, but it is loosely this.  They subtract the old land value from the new appraised value to determine a possible "new" improvement valuation.  If that new value is 25% (? cannot recall the number ?) higher than replacement value for the improvement/structure across a neighborhood, it triggers a re-appraisal of the land values in the area.

Third, commercial property valuations have always lagged in Travis County.  In 2013, the Driskill Hotel and related adjacent properties were purchased by Hilton for $85mm.  Hilton proceeded to add $8mm in improvements.  The 2014 and 2015 TCAD valuations were less than $40mm.  This is after a VERY public disclosure of the purchase price.  Today, I see commercial property being slightly depressed, given we really do not know what is going to happen with "return to work."   

Last, the formal appeals process is problematic.  After you deal with an uninterested and angry member of TCAD, you can appeal to a volunteer panel.  This volunteer panel is composed of 3 retired folks from the community, with little or no expertise in property valuations.  In one of my appeals, I showed data to support my claim, noted functional obsolescence in part of my property, etc.  One of the panel members said, "I do not understand what Mr. Boilerhorn was trying to say, so I will side with the appraisal office."  No attempt to understand, etc.  It did not impede my case, as the other 2 members understood.  Incidentally, the CAD used "he appeals every year" to kick off their defense of their appraisal.  Uh, that should not matter.

 

[crash_davis 23113]

question. have our county and city services improved relative to crazy increases in property taxes? 

what are the salary increases of the assholes in the appraisal district? where is all of this fucking money going, besides to bike lanes, homeless, and a rail system that is double the cost projections?

[Anastasis 23471]

12 minutes ago, boilerhorn said:

I have appealed darn near every year since 2008.  Out of principal AND it requires the CAD to give you the comps and methodology used for the appraisal. 

Myself as well.  I just don't see the value in doing yourself vs one of the services unless we are talking very specific situations where the contingency fee is going to be very high (e.g. when you purchase the house as the assessed amount is disconnected from your closing price, or when they try to fuck you by not applying your HS cap, or if the appeals needs a very specific and attentive advocate).

What was your average success rate in terms of percent reduction?  Do you feel that under normal circumstances (i.e., not this year) your time and energy was worth it relative to what farming it out would have achieved?

[boilerhorn 1381]

2 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Myself as well.  I just don't see the value in doing yourself vs one of the services unless we are talking very specific situations where the contingency fee is going to be very high (e.g. when you purchase the house as the assessed amount is disconnected from your closing price, or when they try to fuck you by not applying your HS cap, or if the appeals needs a very specific and attentive advocate).

What was your average success rate in terms of percent reduction?  Do you feel that under normal circumstances (i.e., not this year) your time and energy was worth it relative to what farming it out would have achieved?

I found value in doing it myself, but I might be the exception.  First, I have a couple of friends in the real estate business who pulled comps for me.  Second, my property has a couple of unique characteristics (largely relative to the rest of the neighborhood) that would be more difficult for an aggregator to handle.  Third, I wanted to understand how the sausage was made.

In many cases, I got some sort of reduction.  Two times, I cited the CAD's own data to get a reduction - when they showed their comps, their numbers were wrong.  Two times, I showed nearby comps to get about 5-10% reductions.  Two other times, I got around 15% reductions.  One was because of a market pull-back and insufficient comp data.  Another was because of a functional obsolescence.  Fwiw, the functional obsolescence was dropped because "people will buy anything right now" which was hard to disagree with.

I found value in it, but I treated it like a short-term hobby.  It's not the best choice for everyone.

[CooterBrown 18014]

1 hour ago, boilerhorn said:

I found value in doing it myself, but I might be the exception. 

The risk of doing it yourself is that they are free to raise your valuation during the appeal. 

I've never heard of an appraisal increase happening to someone if it was handled by a third party company.  

[huge 3793]

21 hours ago, Kringelbert Fishtybuns said:

Maybe, but I think it’s about $200k too high from some others that have bought recently.  Now at $525/sqft.

It was a 66% increase from last year and more than doubled from 2020.  

 

$525 a foot is a lot.  

[Anastasis 23471]

54 minutes ago, CooterBrown said:

The risk of doing it yourself is that they are free to raise your valuation during the appeal. 

I've never heard of an appraisal increase happening to someone if it was handled by a third party company.  

I think that that is only if you go all the way to the ARB. When I did a few protests in person years ago, we always reached an acceptable number at the informal step. 

[Brisketexan 105145]

1 hour ago, Anastasis said:

I think that that is only if you go all the way to the ARB. When I did a few protests in person years ago, we always reached an acceptable number at the informal step. 

I last did the informal process 3-4 years ago.  And that year, they weren't budging.  Their only answer, to everyone I talked to, was "Nope."  It was clearly an instruction they were following.

I use a firm to protest now, and even they don't make much headway.

[jimmyjazz 45958]

I think I'm done with appeals.  I've used ProTax for years, and they often have moderate success, but at this point my appraised value is 63% higher than my "net appraised" value.  I'll never catch up in my time left in this house (surely less than 5 years).

[Murfdogg21 4412]

We should start protesting the tax rates in such numbers and with such passion as we appeal the appraisal values that are typically below market values. 

[ChickenSandwich 9836]

Change Homestead exemption to 25% instead of 25,000 (I'm sure there will be unintended consequences, but also some positives)

[ZB'Tejas 593]

13 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

I think I'm done with appeals.  I've used ProTax for years, and they often have moderate success, but at this point my appraised value is 63% higher than my "net appraised" value.  I'll never catch up in my time left in this house (surely less than 5 years).

Same, and with the new model for how they charge you will be paying money but not saving any.

[ZB'Tejas 593]

1 minute ago, ChickenSandwich said:

Change Homestead exemption to 25% instead of 25,000 (I'm sure there will be unintended consequences, but also some positives)

Or a progressive tax rate. I once was a fan of the property tax model but I could see a time coming that the taxes are so high on my unrealized gains I need to leave.

[DanRydell 799]

Change Homestead exemption to 25% instead of 25,000 (I'm sure there will be unintended consequences, but also some positives)

If anything that would make housing prices go up even more/faster.

[Shaggy3.0 1695]

A friend in Hays County has lived on the same property for 21 years.  He's enjoyed the homestead exemption for 20 years.  This year, Hays sent a letter to say he didn't qualify for HE.  They sent forms to claim HE again.  Why would that happen?  Any guesses?  Same guy.  Same land and improvement.  Nothing has changed.  Is Hays on crack?

[Da Fino 2783]

On 4/18/2022 at 12:50 PM, sidis said:

Well, feeling a bit better about mine after seeing this one from a friend in my neighborhood. 

Is this real?

[sidis 9828]

1 minute ago, Da Fino said:

Is this real?

it is.  i will pm you the address.

[fattyflattie 4639]

Humblest of brags. 

[TexEx15 17534]

On 4/5/2022 at 4:50 PM, AUS-97HORN said:

no need. 

you can still fill out the informal appeal.   and in the case of a purchased home with a HUD-1 that completed before Dec 31 last year they have to accept the price on the HUD-1 as that very clearly was the actual value of the house at the end of the year.

I did that back in 2011, 

you should be able to do it easily and no need to pay anyone else to challenge it this year. 

 

On 4/6/2022 at 9:32 AM, crash_davis said:

 

Yes. It's an easy contest to set the 2021 value to what you paid. I had to do this. Just set a review and show them your closing papers. And then as Pato said, you have to apply for homestead to implement the 10% cap.

Then you need to find a Prop Tax service to contest your value EVERY year. My 2015 built house at 2400 sq feet is valued less than my neighbor's 1960s build 1900 sq ft house across the street. Difference is I've been contesting my Prop Tax every year since buying the home. He's never contested. He was pissed when I told him what I was paying.

 

On 4/6/2022 at 11:34 AM, TexasEd said:

Repeating advice above in case you missed it.

You bought in 2021 so your tax appraisal should be capped at the actual purchase price.  No need to hire someone for that because it is a slam dunk guaranteed cap.  Just submit the protest with the HUD-1.

Similar boat here in SW Austin near Near Dripping in Hays County. Closed in April of 2021 for 709K. Appraisal now showing 957K. I filed HS paperwork this year and know the cap will kick in next year. As far as this year and this 35% increase is it as simple as filing the informal appeal online and scanning a copy of my HUD-1 from last year showing what I paid less than 1 year ago? Can't they come back and say that does not matter as it relates to the current market value? Just want to make sure I include any appropriate language in my appeal.

I also have neighbor who lives across the street in the same floorpan with the same observable exterior characteristics - pool, deck, covered patio, outdoor fireplace and built in BBQ and his homesite was almost 31K less than mine. A closer look shows they added "Outdoor Living Area" to mine and added another 31K to the homesite value. I am going to point that out as well.

[Longhorn Al 440]

My house in Kyle went up 57%. 

 

My parents plot of land on South Congress has stayed the same for 5 years.  Actually, it went down $4,000 this year because they finally noticed there's no longer any improvements on the property (it's now at 0).

[TexEx15 17534]

On 4/21/2022 at 1:16 PM, TexEx15 said:

 

 

Similar boat here in SW Austin near Near Dripping in Hays County. Closed in April of 2021 for 709K. Appraisal now showing 957K. I filed HS paperwork this year and know the cap will kick in next year. As far as this year and this 35% increase is it as simple as filing the informal appeal online and scanning a copy of my HUD-1 from last year showing what I paid less than 1 year ago? Can't they come back and say that does not matter as it relates to the current market value? Just want to make sure I include any appropriate language in my appeal.

I also have neighbor who lives across the street in the same floorpan with the same observable exterior characteristics - pool, deck, covered patio, outdoor fireplace and built in BBQ and his homesite was almost 31K less than mine. A closer look shows they added "Outdoor Living Area" to mine and added another 31K to the homesite value. I am going to point that out as well.

Any advice on the appeal language in this situation? Sorry for the bump. Looking to do the online appeal soon.

[Chopper 17235]

On 4/21/2022 at 12:16 PM, TexEx15 said:

 

 

Similar boat here in SW Austin near Near Dripping in Hays County. Closed in April of 2021 for 709K. Appraisal now showing 957K.

My experience in Travis County was that the sales price was the appraised price in the year after closing. It wasn't automatic and I had to appeal in person but once I mentioned the purchase price, the appraiser made the adjustment in my favor. 

[MAUFRAIS 6629]

So can my wife and I just sell our house back and forth to each other each year for $250,000 and claim that’s the value?

[Shaggy3.0 1695]

42 minutes ago, MAUFRAIS said:

So can my wife and I just sell our house back and forth to each other each year for $250,000 and claim that’s the value?

No.  I learned the county appraisal office will FU whenever the deed changes. It's considered a sale/transaction.  You will lose the HE and get jacked with current market value.  You'll need to re-apply for HE.

[Fudge Nuggets 19190]

I guess The Woodlands is now the ghetto because my shit only went up 8.5%.  I thought there was a law or something that it couldn’t go up more than 10% in a year. These reports of 60-70% appreciations sounds fucked up.

[TexEx15 17534]

1 hour ago, Chopper said:

My experience in Travis County was that the sales price was the appraised price in the year after closing. It wasn't automatic and I had to appeal in person but once I mentioned the purchase price, the appraiser made the adjustment in my favor. 

Is going person necessary for this situation? Any pros or cons vs submitting online?

[Texas Jeff 1945]

I guess The Woodlands is now the ghetto because my shit only went up 8.5%.  I thought there was a law or something that it couldn’t go up more than 10% in a year. These reports of 60-70% appreciations sounds fucked up.

the appraisal can go up or down by whatever. If you have homestead exemption, they will only raise the amount of the appraised value that you are taxed on by 10% per year.

For example, if your house was worth $100,000 last year, they can raise the appraised value to $200,000 or higher. But you will only pay taxes on $110,000 this year, then around $121,000 next year, and so on.

Without the exemption you take the full hit.

[Fudge Nuggets 19190]

Guess I’m still confused how one area is going up 70% in one year while another one is only 8.5% with somewhat similar demographics. I can see different markets being 30% vs 10% or similar but 70% vs 9% is dumb.

[CleverNickname 1311]

22 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

Guess I’m still confused how one area is going up 70% in one year while another one is only 8.5% with somewhat similar demographics. I can see different markets being 30% vs 10% or similar but 70% vs 9% is dumb.

Go to realtor.com or your favorite local website and cruise for similar houses in your neighborhood.  Shouldn't take more than 5 mins to verify general accuracy of countu appraisal. 

[MrBig 5398]

Question about homestead exemptions. If you apply for an exemption by the April 30 deadline, will it change the 2022 property tax amount you pay for this year? I know the exemption caps the amount of increase in the tax you pay while not changing the overall value of the appraisal.

For example, my son owns two properties in Travis county. He has a homestead on his “primary” residence, but really spends most of his time between properties because he travels a lot. So he does Airbnb for both.

He kept the homestead exemption on the property that was more valuable and had the potential to increase higher, but when the 2022 values came out, the property with the homestead increased by just 25% while his other property without the homestead skyrocketed over 89% and is now much more valuable.

We did the math, and even if the cap was removed from the first property, there would still be significant savings due to the cap being placed on the other property with a homestead exemption.

Is it too late to change the homestead on which house he’s claiming as the primary residence? 

[Murfdogg21 4412]

On 4/22/2022 at 3:01 PM, TexEx15 said:

Any advice on the appeal language in this situation? Sorry for the bump. Looking to do the online appeal soon.

 

22 hours ago, TexEx15 said:

Is going person necessary for this situation? Any pros or cons vs submitting online?

I bought houses in Travis county in 2011 and 2018, and both times I did an informal protest in 2012 and 2019 and checked the reason as incorrect market value and used my closing documents as evidence. I didn’t know to do this when I went in for the informal in 2012, but the TCAD agent told me they honor purchase price as the accurate value for 18 months. I have no idea if TCAD still has this policy after the exponential appreciation from 2020-present. 

[chitwood 155]

On 4/20/2022 at 8:15 AM, crash_davis said:

question. have our county and city services improved relative to crazy increases in property taxes? 

what are the salary increases of the assholes in the appraisal district? where is all of this fucking money going, besides to bike lanes, homeless, and a rail system that is double the cost projections?

Don’t forget over half of your taxes goes to the school district (or close to it). Until the state is willing to properly fund schools it will fall to local districts. 

[HRSchenker 2268]

On 4/17/2022 at 7:25 PM, HRSchenker said:

My rental properties in Kaufman County just posted. 150k increase. Not sure if this is a statewide thing but I've noticed in certain editions the land price is all the same regardless of lot size. A 30k sqft lot has the same value as a 9k sqft lot. KCAD won't let you fight it.

Very interesting that the local mayor saw her land market value dropping for 2022. My rental lots are valued at $10.70 to $13.95/sqft and hers is $0.60/sqft. Cronyism at its finest.

[ZB'Tejas 593]

Guess I’m still confused how one area is going up 70% in one year while another one is only 8.5% with somewhat similar demographics. I can see different markets being 30% vs 10% or similar but 70% vs 9% is dumb.

Central Austin and the Woodlands are not exactly similar


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[bluto 4929]

On 4/20/2022 at 10:04 AM, CooterBrown said:

The risk of doing it yourself is that they are free to raise your valuation during the appeal. 

I've never heard of an appraisal increase happening to someone if it was handled by a third party company.  

Incorrect as of a couple yrs ago, unless there is something material they missed physically on the property they can’t increase your value

[bluto 4929]

On 4/20/2022 at 2:28 PM, Shaggy3.0 said:

A friend in Hays County has lived on the same property for 21 years.  He's enjoyed the homestead exemption for 20 years.  This year, Hays sent a letter to say he didn't qualify for HE.  They sent forms to claim HE again.  Why would that happen?  Any guesses?  Same guy.  Same land and improvement.  Nothing has changed.  Is Hays on crack?

Could just be they have a twenty year trigger for reapplication. Assuming all on the ok then it’s no big deal. They do this with ag exemptions too

[SquishMitten 10408]

Mother of god. Mine went up $530k

[ftf82 485]

Article from Houston Business Journal yesterday that discusses the 3.5% cap on increases in property taxes absent a referendum and two constitutional amendments relating to exemptions (seniors and homestead) on the May ballot.

Spoiler

Harris County property value growth was “unprecedented” this year, according to the Harris County Appraisal District, so many homeowners are understandably concerned about their tax bill come next year. But Texas A&M University’s Texas Real Estate Research Center says there are other factors to consider.

As of Jan. 1, residential property values in Harris County have gone up between 15% and 30%, depending on where they are located, according to HCAD. Over 95% of properties have seen their values increase by more than 20%.

Statewide, the average market value increased by 9% in 2020 and by an average of 3% annually between 2007 and 2019, according to A&M's Texas Real Estate Research Center.

However, the center’s researchers want you to know that, unless your home’s appreciation is exceptionally high, you probably won’t see much of a difference from previous years.

That’s because the appraisal is just the first step of determining your tax bill, said Adam Perdue, research economist at the real estate center.

“The big second step is they send those appraisal values to the local taxing jurisdictions, and then the local taxing jurisdictions set a tax rate,” he said. “And it's going to be the combination of the appraisal value and the tax rate that determines how much your actual tax bill will grow.”

Because of state laws that require taxing jurisdictions to cap revenue growth from property taxes at 3.5%, those seeing an increase of about 20% or less in their property’s value might see no increase on their tax bill, Perdue said.

“If everybody was average, then we would expect the tax bill to roughly stay the same or maybe go up about 3.5%,” he said. “People whose property values went up faster might see their tax bill go up faster than this 3.5%.”

If a taxing authority declines to cut the tax rate enough to meet that cap, this would trigger a referendum.

Also, those nearly 5.7 million Texas homeowners who claim a homestead exemption have their taxable value capped at a 10% annual increase.

State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, a longtime taxpayer advocate, also encourages property owners to protest their appraisal if they feel it’s too high — especially for commercial property.

“For businesses, because they don't have a cap, they definitely need to protest their value in a year like this,” he said. “When you get one of these large increases through, what you don't want to do is have a higher-than-equity result compared to your neighbors or other businesses of a like kind.”

In Harris County, you can file a protest online on the HCAD website. The deadline is May 15.

Bettencourt credits his Texas Property Tax Reform and Transparency Act of 2019 as the reason this year’s huge increase in appraised values won't have a huge impact on many property owners.

He also authored two related constitutional amendments in the 2021 legislative session that will go up for a popular vote on May 7.

Proposition 1 would lower taxes for seniors and disabled property owners, and Proposition 2 raises the homestead exemption to $40,000 from $25,000, which Bettencourt said would lead to $175 in annual savings for the average homeowner.

 

[BillyGoatHill 4312]

On 4/23/2022 at 10:12 AM, Texas Jeff said:

the appraisal can go up or down by whatever. If you have homestead exemption, they will only raise the amount of the appraised value that you are taxed on by 10% per year.

For example, if your house was worth $100,000 last year, they can raise the appraised value to $200,000 or higher. But you will only pay taxes on $110,000 this year, then around $121,000 next year, and so on.

Without the exemption you take the full hit.

This ^^^^. 

Seems many here are looking at the appraised value... Are your/their assessed value the same? That's what the taxes (payed) are based on. My appraisal went up over 62% . HE knocked the ASSESSED value down to a 10% increase. If you don't have an HE now, and or you have owned the  property for a few years, go in to the tax assessor's office and be nice, they can maybe back date (they did for a friend anyway) if your not an A-hole ( so yea, that pretty much knocks most on here out)......Good Luck.

[Anastasis 23471]

On 4/23/2022 at 10:12 AM, Texas Jeff said:

the appraisal can go up or down by whatever. If you have homestead exemption, they will only raise the amount of the appraised value that you are taxed on by 10% per year.

For example, if your house was worth $100,000 last year, they can raise the appraised value to $200,000 or higher. But you will only pay taxes on $110,000 this year, then around $121,000 next year, and so on.

Without the exemption you take the full hit.

I am HS and they increased my assessed value to the appraised value. Probably related to pulling a permit and TCAD being fucking lazy, but still. 

[Steel Shank 9425]

Example: 10% annual increase
Year 1	$        5,000
Year 2	$        5,500
Year 3	$        6,050
Year 4	$        6,655
Year 5	$        7,321
Year 6	$        8,053
Year 7	$        8,858
Year 8	$        9,744

[Anastasis 23471]

51 minutes ago, Steel Shank said:

Example: 10% annual increase
Year 1	$        5,000
Year 2	$        5,500
Year 3	$        6,050
Year 4	$        6,655
Year 5	$        7,321
Year 6	$        8,053
Year 7	$        8,858
Year 8	$        9,744

 

When the tax man decides to lay pipe, he makes even Steel Shank blush. 

[BillyGoatHill 4312]

1 hour ago, Anastasis said:

I am HS and they increased my assessed value to the appraised value. Probably related to pulling a permit and TCAD being fucking lazy, but still. 

Higher than 10% over last years evaluation? 

We have been in our current home since 2011...same thing here, appraised and assessed values were same due to not huge jumps in overall change in property values. Last year and now this coming 2022, Homestead kicked in due to being higher than 10% increase. Last year Homestead Cap lowered it by 57k and this years difference is just over 140k. Your Permit may be something to ask about but definitely ask if above last years eval at above 10%.  

While the HE is statewide, your getting it in the shorts from Travis and just the overall county BS robbing Peter to pay Paul. I'm in Hays and it isn't much better. I filed paperwork a few years ago when mine jumped due to them finally catching up with a pool we had put in. Luckily, I went online through cad and did comps with my neighbors and within a mile or so behind us and I was getting higher taxes then other homes much larger, nicer, and newer than mine. Took a few weeks and I got a phone call from the assessor before having to go in, I told them what I found and we came to a mutual (lower) eval than what it was. No going through the board. She even asked me how I got my info and wasn't aware of some the newer homes (all with pools) that were appraised and assessed lower than me. While I am on 3 acres, our home is just around 1700sf while many I did comps with were above 2000sf or more.

I'm sure that some of my neighbors were caught up in what I told the gal on the phone, but that's how things work. You have to protect yourself and if others don't appeal, well that's on them. Good Luck.

[Anastasis 23471]

Just now, BillyGoatHill said:

Higher than 10% over last years evaluation? 

 

 

They should have increased my value by 10% + market value of some improvements that I pulled a permit on (~20k).  I think that they just increased to market value cause they are lazy (but will not rule out malicious). 

[BillyGoatHill 4312]

12 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

 

 

They should have increased my value by 10% + market value of some improvements that I pulled a permit on (~20k).  I think that they just increased to market value cause they are lazy (but will not rule out malicious). 

Like I said above, fill out some paperwork or at least make some inquiries. Otherwise your for sure stuck with what they think.

[Anastasis 23471]

Just now, BillyGoatHill said:

Like I said above, fill out some paperwork or at least make some inquiries. Otherwise your for sure stuck with what they think.

I am sitting here waiting on some PIN number apparently on the piece of paper they mail me. Because this is like 2005.