2024 Property appraisals are out

[Brisketexan 105,057]

47 minutes ago, LCHorn said:

@Brisketexan This might be several years old but didn’t you post something about visiting with a tax protest attorney and they explained process a bit, or maybe said something about land value vs improvement value not important?  
 

I feel like the post made the point that for value purposes, TCAD didn’t really distinguish between land or improvements and kind of moved around the values of each in a way that didn’t always make sense (but also that protesting based on those changes didn’t appear effective).  

It was actually in my informal protest meeting.  TCAD guy explained that the land v. improvement distinction was functionally meaningless.  Stupid, but that's the way it be.

[Gladeite 375]

Doing my part for Travis County.  Market value up 67% for 2024 and Net up exactly 10%.  

[Anastasis 23,458]

TACD Appraised value up 4%, HS assessed value up 10%. Appraised value up 93% since 2000. 

[Dbeasy 15,041]

For Austin homeowners, pay close attention to your overall property value increase or decrease in 2023. I certainly haven’t run comps across the entire city, but most property values should have declined not appreciated in 2023, unless there were special circumstances.  

Austin/Travis County put in extra effort in 2022 to get property values around town much better aligned to true values. They were a bit all over the place in years past. If they did that with your property, then values in 2023 should have declined. 

Note that your taxable value could still be going up, but limited by the 10% cap. I’m talking about overall property value, not taxable value. 

I see a ton of posts with double digit increases in property value, and there really shouldn’t be all that many.   

[jimmyjazz 45,881]

On 4/17/2024 at 5:23 PM, Samson's Wig said:

No one really gave a crap before federal SALT tax deductions were capped in 2017.

Yup.  That was a nice little "how YOU doin'?" for me.

[tokamak 6,391]

What's the website that will run comps, etc for you for a fixed fee. I hate asking my realtor friends to do me a favor. I know someone has posted it here before.

[TexEx15 17,509]

10 hours ago, tokamak said:

What's the website that will run comps, etc for you for a fixed fee. I hate asking my realtor friends to do me a favor. I know someone has posted it here before.

Protestingpropertytaxes.com

[UTexasFight 9,428]

On 4/12/2024 at 1:12 PM, CooterBrown said:

Mine went up 15.1%. WTF.  I guess the two new constructions on my street that went for $2.1M in the past year fucked up everyone's valuations.

My improvements increased almost 50%.  There have been no improvements.

Hopefully Pro Tax can fix it.

This is me…except no new construction on my street. (University Hills)

20% increase. Wtf.

improvements increased 40% (no changes to land). There have been no improvements. 

 

[Anastasis 23,458]

On 4/19/2024 at 3:46 PM, Dbeasy said:

For Austin homeowners, pay close attention to your overall property value increase or decrease in 2023. I certainly haven’t run comps across the entire city, but most property values should have declined not appreciated in 2023, unless there were special circumstances.  

Austin/Travis County put in extra effort in 2022 to get property values around town much better aligned to true values. They were a bit all over the place in years past. If they did that with your property, then values in 2023 should have declined. 

Note that your taxable value could still be going up, but limited by the 10% cap. I’m talking about overall property value, not taxable value. 

I see a ton of posts with double digit increases in property value, and there really shouldn’t be all that many.   

Checks out. 2023 appraised went down marginally from 2022, 2024 is still below 2022. 2021 to 2022 is where the pain is.  

[Grimas 669]

I'm not sure Protestingpropertytaxes.com is still alive - I just put in my address and it just spins...  (And I had paid for a yearly report but haven't gotten one this year...

[tokamak 6,391]

1 hour ago, Grimas said:

I'm not sure Protestingpropertytaxes.com is still alive - I just put in my address and it just spins...  (And I had paid for a yearly report but haven't gotten one this year...

Through Google I found jubally.com which seems to be offering a similar service. Not an endorsement, I haven't used them.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21,872]

2 hours ago, Grimas said:

I'm not sure Protestingpropertytaxes.com is still alive - I just put in my address and it just spins...  (And I had paid for a yearly report but haven't gotten one this year...

I went to protestingproprtytaxes.com and the site said it couldn’t locate my address.  I emailed them and they responded that they had located my address and gave me a link to verify my HCAD information and request a free assessment.  I requested the free assessment and a few days later got an email that said they could support about a 10% reduction based on 10 comps in my neighborhood that they showed on a map.

I just went to Jubally.com and got an assessment.  They responded in just a few minutes.  They also said they had 10 comps, but didn't give any specifics.  Their reduction based on the comps was only 4%.

Edited May 1 by NeverMarryAStripper

[sidis 9,823]

i pulled my house and all 37 of my neighboring properties within a radius of 700 feet of my house.

every single property had precisely the same land value 2023 to 2024.

36 of the 37 properties that neighbor me went down on improvements by anywhere from 9% to 60% with a mean of 33% and a median of 39% and a stdev of 10%. the one that did not undertook a major renovation and increased their sqft by 1,000 sqft.  It went up 3.9%.

mine went up 6%.  I did no major updates, renovations, anything.  i got a variance to do some retention walls in the setbacks.  that's it.

i uploaded the spreadsheet that is overwhelmingly demonstrative of the bullshit take by tcad to support not equitable to neighbors and i get a list of two houses that are on lots three times bigger that are over a mile a way from me and a settlement offer of my noticed amount.

i suspect my informal protest will not go well by the time i am done ranting to those cocksuckers as to what a bunch of fucking morons they are.  i suspect my formal protest won't go well because armybrat's granddad is going to be asleep after his tcad provided lubys.  so on to court.

[Nonbryan 173]

by any chance do we have any Centex residentail appraiser experts on Surly?  

[Firemans4Horn 18,034]

On 4/19/2024 at 3:31 PM, Anastasis said:

Appraised value up 93% since 2000. 

That’s not bad. IRR of 2.78% a year. 

[Anastasis 23,458]

11 minutes ago, Firemans4Horn said:

That’s not bad. IRR of 2.78% a year. 

My bad. Since 2020, not 2000. 

[Firemans4Horn 18,034]

40 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

My bad. Since 2020, not 2000. 

Makes way more sense. 🤘🏼

[bluto 4,912]

Appealed my home in tarrant co, got immediate offer for 10% cut but declined. Submitted notes on their comps and a couple pics, got another 5% off. Ended up 5% lower than my purchase price. 
 

minutes after signing off on the offer I got a letter from those bitches at ownwell saying they could have gotten 5% off of the initial value. Eat shit. 

[Tonesky 932]

I have an informal scheduled for Tuesday morning.  We are fairly new construction.  I successfully protested value during the build which straddled 1/1/22, but HCAD still has us at about 350SF larger than actual.  I obtained a SF only appraisal that confirms our correct SF.  The plan was pretty much to just argue for a prorata reduction in the improvements value based on the incorrect SF.  But, within days of filing my protest, I got an offer for a 4% reduction on the incorrect SF appraisal.  So, I got an "appraisal contestation report" from protestingpropertytaxes.com to have comparable sales data based on the correct SF.  I am cautiously optimistic for a good result.

One note about protestingpropertytaxes.com.  They factor in only land and house SF.  They do not include or factor in garage and/or porch SF, both of which HCAD includes as individual factors in valuation for the improvements.  I assume that is standard - that other CADs do so too.  I've now compiled those numbers from HCAD, and the protestingpropertytax.com comps have garages ranging from 432 to 805 SF, and porches ranging from 68 to 572 SF.  I'll be pissed if HCAD points that out as reason my comps are not true comps, or that the adjusted value of my comps are not accurate and reliable....   

[FTWLOL 6]

On 5/1/2024 at 10:14 PM, Nonbryan said:

by any chance do we have any Centex residentail appraiser experts on Surly?  

I'm certified res in the Austin MSA. I also got my RPA doing appraisal district work for 6 years (4yrs res, 2yrs commercial).

[Tonesky 932]

On 5/3/2024 at 4:22 PM, Tonesky said:

I have an informal scheduled for Tuesday morning.  We are fairly new construction.  I successfully protested value during the build which straddled 1/1/22, but HCAD still has us at about 350SF larger than actual.  I obtained a SF only appraisal that confirms our correct SF.  The plan was pretty much to just argue for a prorata reduction in the improvements value based on the incorrect SF.  But, within days of filing my protest, I got an offer for a 4% reduction on the incorrect SF appraisal.  So, I got an "appraisal contestation report" from protestingpropertytaxes.com to have comparable sales data based on the correct SF.  I am cautiously optimistic for a good result.

Warning:  My protestingpropertytaxes.com contestation report was rejected by HCAD because 8 of the 10 sales comps they used to calculate my market value are out of my market area.  And, the two that are in my market area were not particularly helpful....  This was a complete waste of $179.

HCAD accepted my measure only appraisal, permanently reduced their record of the SF of my house and garage, and, after a bit of back and forth, we settled on a 7% reduction.  The measure only appraisal was well worth its $200 price.

Edited May 7 by Tonesky
spelling

[tokamak 6,391]

Harris County here. They hit me with a 10.5% increase. I uploaded some comps and photos showing that the house will need foundation work eventually and they just came back with an online offer of 2.6% increase.

Y'all think I should take that? Honestly I think we should be flat or even down a little bit given the market in the neighborhood, but I doubt they'll see it that way. I'm leaning toward taking it.

[SydneyCarton 48,054]

1 hour ago, tokamak said:

Harris County here. They hit me with a 10.5% increase. I uploaded some comps and photos showing that the house will need foundation work eventually and they just came back with an online offer of 2.6% increase.

Y'all think I should take that? Honestly I think we should be flat or even down a little bit given the market in the neighborhood, but I doubt they'll see it that way. I'm leaning toward taking it.

I got hit with a 15% increase. I'd take 2.6% personally...

[Tonesky 932]

On 5/8/2024 at 7:43 AM, tokamak said:

Harris County here. They hit me with a 10.5% increase. I uploaded some comps and photos showing that the house will need foundation work eventually and they just came back with an online offer of 2.6% increase.

Y'all think I should take that? Honestly I think we should be flat or even down a little bit given the market in the neighborhood, but I doubt they'll see it that way. I'm leaning toward taking it.

I'd take the offer and reload for next year.  Most of HCAD's comps for sales since 1/1 were adjusted to be higher value on 1/1.  And, the market is still in decline, with no interest rate relief in sight.  I think next year may be the time to drive the value down.

[Dbeasy 15,041]

I’m sure this has been covered before, but can someone explain to me the value of contesting value, when the taxed value remains significantly below the appraised value due to the 10% yearly tax increase cap in Texas?

For example, here are some real numbers. 

1. 2024 appraised value - $698k

2. Comp range $675-750k. Thus theoretically, you might be able to knock off $23k of appraised value  

3. Taxed Value Due to 10% Cap - $560k.

“Winning” your challenge doesn’t save you any money, doesn’t really help you much for the future.  And the process exposes you to a potential higher appraisal in the review.  Why are so many people doing this? Especially given that services now charge a fee.  

 

[LCHorn 2,612]

In case anyone is curious about process, I FINALLY had my arbitration hearing on the 2023 valuation (Travis County) and had it successfully reduced to what I paid for the property in 12/21.

There's definitely a learning curve with it--on ours, TCAD claimed a land value far in excess of what they could support, but that doesn't matter in arbitration--there is not (this was news to me) a burden of proof on the county at the arbitration hearing. 

One thing I knew was true coming off the ARB hearing but was reiterated by the arbitrator--you need to not just undermine the county's value, you've got to articulate what you think the actual value should be (I didn't do great at that, probably partially because I'm not an appraiser). 

Anyway, if someone has a question I'll try to answer it. 

18 hours ago, Dbeasy said:

I’m sure this has been covered before, but can someone explain to me the value of contesting value, when the taxed value remains significantly below the appraised value due to the 10% yearly tax increase cap in Texas?

For example, here are some real numbers. 

1. 2024 appraised value - $698k

2. Comp range $675-750k. Thus theoretically, you might be able to knock off $23k of appraised value  

3. Taxed Value Due to 10% Cap - $560k.

“Winning” your challenge doesn’t save you any money, doesn’t really help you much for the future.  And the process exposes you to a potential higher appraisal in the review.  Why are so many people doing this? Especially given that services now charge a fee.  

I think winning does make it harder to support value increases in the future, i.e., "you're telling me the value of my property rose 15%, albeit held down by the HE, but my two neighbors only rose 8%?"

[Shaggy3.0 1,695]

i submitted my online protest for a property in hays at 11AM.  the hayscad portal is 1980s-like garbage--but whatever.  it gets the job done.

their valuation was 429K.  i suggested 415K.  

by 1PM they offered 407K.  i took it, done deal.

hayscad NEVER counters below my protest value. 

good times.

 

 

[FTWLOL 6]

23 hours ago, Dbeasy said:

I’m sure this has been covered before, but can someone explain to me the value of contesting value, when the taxed value remains significantly below the appraised value due to the 10% yearly tax increase cap in Texas?

In your example, there is none - especially if you're paying a PTC to file for you every year. That was the one thing I had the most problem explaining to people after I dropped their appraised value but the amount they owed in taxes didn't drop. I'd say "just ignore the appraised value. The only number that matters is the assessed value because that's how your taxes are calculated". Some understood but most thought I was trying to pull some type of scam or fuck them over somehow. You'd be surprised how many people genuinely thought that I got paid more based on how high their taxes were. 

12 minutes ago, Shaggy3.0 said:

i submitted my online protest for a property in hays at 11AM.  the hayscad portal is 1980s-like garbage--but whatever.  it gets the job done.

their valuation was 429K.  i suggested 415K.  

by 1PM they offered 407K.  i took it, done deal.

hayscad NEVER counters below my protest value. 

good times.

99.9% of the time these offers are automated. I know some people think the district over-values on purpose so they can have some wiggle room to reduce during appeals but that's not true. The comptroller does a biennial property value study to make sure districts are at 100% of market value; being over value is just as bad as being under value. What ususally happens in this case is that the protest packets started coming in and the district was able to mine sales data and then update their valuation model, which then auto-updates the property values. Districts don't (legally) have access to MLS services, so the sales data they do have is usually from the previous appeals season or the previous property value study. 

[Shaggy3.0 1,695]

6 minutes ago, FTWLOL said:

99.9% of the time these offers are automated. I know some people think the district over-values on purpose so they can have some wiggle room to reduce during appeals but that's not true. The comptroller does a biennial property value study to make sure districts are at 100% of market value; being over value is just as bad as being under value. What ususally happens in this case is that the protest packets started coming in and the district was able to mine sales data and then update their valuation model, which then auto-updates the property values. Districts don't (legally) have access to MLS services, so the sales data they do have is usually from the previous appeals season or the previous property value study. 

 

understood.  my post was to update others on the downward valuation trend.

good luck to everyone!

protest every year.

 

[jimmyjazz 45,881]

57 minutes ago, Shaggy3.0 said:

their valuation was 429K.  i suggested 415K.  

by 1PM they offered 407K. 

So, Aggies?

[HOOKEM4 5,036]

On 4/3/2024 at 1:19 PM, Samson's Wig said:

Some folks just can't help themselves from spending other people's money.  I'm all for community college and agree with the general notion that an educated populace is a benefit to everyone, but Austin property owners are already being robbed blind to fund white suburban jesus districts across the state at the expense of our own public school children.  When is enough, enough?  I'm not convinced we're really getting a return on our investment with ACC.  Maybe the new nursing degree program will provide some community benefit, but free tuition for all from a city school with a 100 fucking percent acceptance rate is pointless unless we're firing 90% of the administrative roles.  If they can manage to truly limit this to local high school graduates who don't really attend UT and use ACC for free basic requirements, it might not be too expensive.  I'd like to see a serious tuition hike for nonresidents who come here just to attend ACC (yes that happens and we'll be flooded with them if they can find a loophole to get the free tuition), as well as non-full time students, i.e. UT and Texas State kids getting cheap credits.

tl/dr The Austin community would be better served shuttering ACC completely and finding a way to funnel those funds into AISD.  

As someone who has hired multiple ACC graduates, I disagree. They are a crucial pipeline for CAD drafters that flat don't exist without them. I can't find drafters that are worth a shit without my ACC pipeline.

[jimmyjazz 45,881]

25 minutes ago, HOOKEM4 said:

As someone who has hired multiple ACC graduates, I disagree. They are a crucial pipeline for CAD drafters that flat don't exist without them. I can't find drafters that are worth a shit without my ACC pipeline.

Architectural?  Engineering?

[HOOKEM4 5,036]

2 hours ago, jimmyjazz said:

Architectural?  Engineering?

Engineering. I have 8 ACC drafters in my group on payroll right now. 3 are too new to know, 3 are hopefully about to turn the corner, 1 has become a top designer and Rockstar in 3 years and 1 is on the payroll bc they show up and work hard. They don't all hit and a bunch get trained up and go take 20k more then they are worth. I pride myself on starting their careers. If they can get someone to pay wayy too much, I love it. The good ones I lock up. We opened a new office several years ago and one of the office managers is an ACC grad I taught and placed there. Company wide we may have 20+ ACC people. Everyone needs a chance.

Edited May 10 by HOOKEM4
ousux

[jimmyjazz 45,881]

4 minutes ago, HOOKEM4 said:

Engineering 

Good to know.  We've hired out a lot of our mechanical design and it can get pricey with local shops.  I imagine a contract or full-time designer could be much more cost effective.

[sidis 9,823]

lol, formal ARB hearing was as stupid as the informal hearing. i completely pantsed the tcad guy with a bunch of mistakes in their numbers and that fixing them would reduce it by $450K and the two of the three person panel of morons declared umm, based on the evidence, i guess we will drop it $40K from the tcad noticed value.

off to arbitration...

Edited June 6 by sidis

[Anastasis 23,458]

1 hour ago, sidis said:

lol, formal ARB hearing was as stupid as the informal hearing. i completely pantsed the tcad guy with a bunch of mistakes in their numbers and that fixing them would reduce it by $450K and the two of the three person panel of morons declared umm, based on the evidence, i guess we will drop it $40K from the tcad noticed value.

off to arbitration...

I admire the stamina and commitment to the cause. Goodsoeed sidis. Godspeed. 

[sidis 9,823]

19 hours ago, Anastasis said:

I admire the stamina and commitment to the cause. Goodsoeed sidis. Godspeed. 

longcat warning.

well, you see anastasis, i am a little irritated as this one actually matters. i am no longer subject to inconsequential changes due to the 10% cap because they've been screwing me so long. i am well past that now so each dollar matters. yesterday's hearing was the biggest joke i have ever experienced. i respectfully presented 20 straight minutes of compelling evidence (see below) as to why the CAD appraisal and presentation was insanely flawed and downright erroneous. one of the three panel members absolutely saw what i was saying and grilled the CAD rep who just repeated a line of "i would need to look into that" sheepishly without admitting their shit was busted. at the end, the one panel member said this is overwhelming evidence and we need to take this into account. at that point, the fucking lead ARB panel member who had said nothing for the whole 20 mins says "i move that we vote on the value at [number that was like a 0.5% drop] and the other guy (who also had not said a word) says "second."  both immediately just said "aye" and the third guy who had actually paid attention was like "hold on guys, i don't think that is accurate" to which the main guy's response was "that is a nay, 2-1 pass, value set at [absurd number]." shocked, i just said "can you please explain what the predicate for that value is? how did you arrive at it?" response: "we considered all the evidence." question: "well you came up with a very specific number, can you please explain the calculation and how you got there to me because it appears you are simply ignoring my evidence and presentation." response: "no, we are considering all the evidence and consider this matter closed." me: "you fucking useless idiots, i will see you at arbitration."

as soon as i get my letter, i will absolutely be filing with the special arbitration through the comptroller. i previously sued them in district court with success but was not able to recover attys fees. in the arbitration, i have to pay a $1,500 deposit to do it but if the arbitrator comes to a number that is closer to my value than their value, traviscad has to reimburse me the full amount for which i want to stand there and watch those fucking cocksuckers write the check.

so here are just a few things i presented...a lot of the good stuff is hard to present here without doxxing myself but here are just a few items that don't.

to start, on inequitable treatment, i live in west lake and while the houses aren't homogenous by any stretch, there is enough value consistency that i think this is pretty compelling.  i took every single house within 500 feet of mine and put them in a spreadsheet measuring yoy change from 2023 to 2024 in total value and improvement value (because everyone's land stayed the same). here below is a comparison of the YOY change % with my property being the one in red.

first one is mine. no changes to my house in any way last year. no renovations, etc... the second observation is a property in the middle of a tear down and rebuild. the third property undertook a major renovation that added over 1k sqft to their house. the rest? seems.....inequitable.

next, i dug into their "comps grid" on both the sales side and the equity treatment side and discovered that the gross appraised values being used in the grids (particularly on the sale side) were grossly overstated relative to the CAD's OWN FUCKING APPRAISALS of those properties for 2024.  here are just a handful of examples showing their gross grid value (before adjusting to my property) and their own fucking gross appraisal values.

this is one of their comps with a gross appraised value of $2,257,500 - and here is that comp's actual fucking gross appraisal:

 

It sure seems to me that $1,814,532 is not the fucking same as $2,257,500. and lest you think..."but sidis, surely that is because that owner went in and fought it and got it reduced in the interim," i know the owner of that house and they did no such thing...the problem is they are using a sales value from three transactions ago back when rates were such that money was free for mortgages. seems problematic. how about another one?

 

 

another sales comp (on a lot that is 6.7 times as big as mine). they list the gross appraised value as $3.2 million, actual appraised is more than $250K less. oops!! another?

 

 

oops.

 

 

oops.

 

 

oops. i tediously went through each of these and demonstrated that the impact to my house was an overstatement of $450k and that such an adjustment would result in my valuation being right in line with the rest of those 30 neighbors i provided the graph for above.  response from TCAD rep: "i would have to look into that."  response from TCAD ARB Kangaroo bullshit that steel shank apparently would like me to respect? "0.5% reduction."

as i said, i look forward to the arbitration.

[Ted Lange 16,083]

I wish you could tell these asshole, ok that’s your appraised value, then buy it from me for that amount.

[NeverMarryAStripper 21,872]

8 minutes ago, Ted Lange said:

I wish you could tell these asshole, ok that’s your appraised value, then buy it from me for that amount.

That's exactly how I would fix this problem.  Let everyone set their own value, but if anyone offers to buy your property at a price greater than your value plus 10%, you owe a penalty tax.

[Anastasis 23,458]

Property tax on homestead is Anti American. We fucked yo the British for taxing our tea but these motherfuckers have us all on treadmills just to live under a shelter. 

[jimmyjazz 45,881]

27 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

but these motherfuckers have us all on treadmills 

. . . which brings to mind a question

[NAVY 6,740]

This year, I looked up my property at Travis county CAD dot gov. They had our square footage several hundred feet too high. This isn’t information on the yearly mailing. Anyhow, we’ve been over taxed since the mid aughts when we bought. 

Expecting a very nice cumulative refund this month. 
 

Ya’ll might want to go review your details…

[TexEx15 17,509]

Protested on the basis that our pool has ASR and has to be completely ripped out and replaced. Quoted $185k. To make things easy I simply found comps without pools. Not the most scientific but as good as any other shot in the dark. I asked for about $75k off based on that research. Get my informal offer… $5k off. Fuck you Hays CAD.

[TexEx15 17,509]

On 6/7/2024 at 7:42 PM, TexEx15 said:

Protested on the basis that our pool has ASR and has to be completely ripped out and replaced. Quoted $185k. To make things easy I simply found comps without pools. Not the most scientific but as good as any other shot in the dark. I asked for about $75k off based on that research. Get my informal offer… $5k off. Fuck you Hays CAD.

Had my ARB hearing yesterday. County presented first then me. County countered offering to take off $12k which is 50% of the line item value of the pool in my appraisal. I explained politely that is not nearly the true financial impact of what I am dealing with. Reiterated my position. Board ultimately ruled in my favor taking of the full $77,000 I asked for based on my research.

[sidis 9,823]

56 minutes ago, TexEx15 said:

Had my ARB hearing yesterday. County presented first then me. County countered offering to take off $12k which is 50% of the line item value of the pool in my appraisal. I explained politely that is not nearly the true financial impact of what I am dealing with. Reiterated my position. Board ultimately ruled in my favor taking of the full $77,000 I asked for based on my research.

are you in travis county? there was an arb panel that wasn't too fucking stupid to breathe? that's incredible!

[TexEx15 17,509]

29 minutes ago, sidis said:

are you in travis county? there was an arb panel that wasn't too fucking stupid to breathe? that's incredible!

Hays County

[royiv 9,247]

Got a $90k reduction in Harris County. Was pleased with the result, especially since most of the comps probably supported the original number.

[mdmost 42,999]

I'm a little weirded out that I let Propertytax.io take care of my appeal and there's been nothing from them about it and we're into almost July. I remember when I would do the online protest for Dallas CAD, it was pretty quick. It says they've had informal negotiations but I guess that didn't work and now it's onto the hearing. 

[Paper_jam 831]

I saw an article about tax increases for Travis Co. and City of Austin, which got me looking at projected taxes using this link: https://travis.trueprodigy-taxtransparency.com/taxTransparency/propertySearch

I searched my own address and compared my projected tax amounts it to some similar homes around me. I noticed something odd with one home close to mine, very similar in construction, age, and market value. Their projected taxes were much lower than mine, and I wondered how that is.  I have the standard homestead exemption and that's it. Travis CAD shows their house as having "HS, OTHER" for exemptions.  I don't know what the "OTHER" exemption is but I think it may be the over-65 one because one of them (married) turned 65 recently.

Anyway, the data for their property shows as follows:

               Net Appraised     Taxable Value

City of Austin:   $ 350,230       $ 126,184

Travis County   $ 350,230        $ 143,784

How is their taxable value so low? My taxable value is more than 100k more than theirs despite a very similar net appraised value. Does the Over-65 exemption knock off like an extra 100k of taxable value? No one owning or living in that home has an apparent disability, or is a veteran. The owner has a good income (2X mine) from a professional job and they are healthier than I am. 

Thanks for any insights. Maybe I should look forward to turning 65 if it has this dramatic of an effect.

 

[sidis 9,823]

18 minutes ago, Paper_jam said:

I saw an article about tax increases for Travis Co. and City of Austin, which got me looking at projected taxes using this link: https://travis.trueprodigy-taxtransparency.com/taxTransparency/propertySearch

I searched my own address and compared my projected tax amounts it to some similar homes around me. I noticed something odd with one home close to mine, very similar in construction, age, and market value. Their projected taxes were much lower than mine, and I wondered how that is.  I have the standard homestead exemption and that's it. Travis CAD shows their house as having "HS, OTHER" for exemptions.  I don't know what the "OTHER" exemption is but I think it may be the over-65 one because one of them (married) turned 65 recently.

Anyway, the data for their property shows as follows:

               Net Appraised     Taxable Value

City of Austin:   $ 350,230       $ 126,184

Travis County   $ 350,230        $ 143,784

How is their taxable value so low? My taxable value is more than 100k more than theirs despite a very similar net appraised value. Does the Over-65 exemption knock off like an extra 100k of taxable value? No one owning or living in that home has an apparent disability, or is a veteran. The owner has a good income (2X mine) from a professional job and they are healthier than I am. 

Thanks for any insights. Maybe I should look forward to turning 65 if it has this dramatic of an effect.

 

turning 65 makes one eligible for an "OA" exemption which effectively freezes the total obligation. it is a well-intentioned part of the property tax code so that grandmothers don't have to be kicked out of their homes because they can't afford the property taxes. like anything, clever people routinely abuse it. there are lots of westlakers, lost creekers, etc... that have houses in their parents' name, etc...

timely topic though as i just filed my arbitration with the comptroller's office.

Quote

Your Regular Binding Arbitration (RBA) request #XXXXXXXXXXXX and deposit payment have processed. Please read this entire email carefully because it includes important information.

Your request was routed to your appraisal district to verify property account details. Once notified, they have up to 10 days to review the request for discrepancies that may affect either the deposit amount or a property's eligibility to be included in this request. You will receive an email notification once the appraisal district completes their review. If the appraisal district reports any deposit-related discrepancies, the Property Tax Assistance Division (PTAD) will review your request and notify you of any cures needed or changes to the deposit amount.

If the appraisal district does not report any deposit-related discrepancies, the request enters a 45-day settlement period with the appraisal district as provided by Comptroller Rule. This time can be used to negotiate a settlement with the appraisal district. If you decide to withdraw the request for any reason, including reaching an agreement with the appraisal district, you are required to log into the Property Tax Arbitration System via eSystems and withdraw this request immediately to notify the Comptroller's office and the appraisal district. If you withdraw the request within the 45-day settlement period, you will be refunded your deposit, minus the Comptroller's $50 administrative fee.

Once the 45-day period has passed, the request will go directly to arbitration and the Comptroller's office will appoint an eligible arbitrator. If you choose to withdraw your case after an arbitrator accepts it, you may lose your deposit. If the arbitrator declines the assignment, the Comptroller's office will appoint an eligible substitute arbitrator. The appointed arbitrator is responsible for scheduling and conducting the hearing, preparing and providing written hearing procedures and making an award determination. The Comptroller's office is not involved in the hearing. Comptroller Rule prohibits Comptroller employees from providing advice or direction to you or the appraisal district.

To monitor request status, log into eSystems, navigate to the Property Tax Arbitration System, and select the request number link from the dashboard. For additional RBA information including frequently asked arbitration questions, Comptroller Rules pertaining to RBA and Tax Code Chapter 41A, visit the Comptroller's RBA webpage.