2018 Tax Appraised Values

[Hellraiser97 181]

Mine went up about 5% (Circle C area).  I'm going to protest it, but really its not that far off from the sales I've seen in this area.

As for protesting, unless there is something really weird about your property, or just not a lot of comparables, you're wasting money using those services.  Takes less than an hour of your time typically.

1) Request the hearing (done online) and go for the absolute latest.  You want everyone else to do the majority of the work first.

2) Find comps, use redfin or similar, that justify the price you're trying to get down to.

3) Go to the informal hearing, have them re-run the matrix.  You get the benefit of everyone else that has already protested their taxes and gotten them lowered. Chances are that will be as low as you're going to get if there's any type of robust market in your area.  If not, present your comps.  They may accept them, they may not and you have to go to the formal hearing.  I've never had to do that though.

4) No profit, but you'll need slightly less lube at the end of the day.

[FTWLOL 6]

Protip: Skip the informal hearing/e-file (or whatever it's called now) and request to go the formal hearing. They will try to strong-arm you into settling before you reach the hearing (even in the lobby before your scheduled appt) but tell them to eat shit. If your case is reasonable (not some bullshit where you're gonna try to convince them the prop it's really worth $1/sq.ft.) you will get a "fair" valuation and then your assessed value will be locked in for the next 2 years.

Source: I used to be that guy you would talk to during the informal hearing. 

[Anastasis 23469]

Just now, Kringelbert Fishtybuns said:

I've had ProTax for the past 3 years and my average increase in 78731 has been 2.3%.  I am currently sitting about 25% lower than other similar houses on the same block.  

New appraised valuation is up 18%.  Typical pre-appeal increases have been in the same ball park (15-20%). 

I was only half joking when I said that the appeal folks and the appraisal district give the appearance of running a scam.  They AD has the rolls of people who have designated agents. They know that they are going to appeal every year and the values will get knocked back down, and they have no real incentive to produce a good valuation that avoids an appeal. It is in the companies like FiveStone and Protax's best interest for the initial assessment to be as high as possible, especially in cases such as the gap year in the HS exemption when they will get hte to bill based on the full savings.  Nobody involved has an incentive to keep the initial assessment tight. 

[HOOKEM4 5037]

I am the rare case of a glitch in the system. 4 years ago my valuation went down around 40%. I was an anomaly, nobody in my hood saw that and I was wayy out of whack with everyone else.  Of course I didn't say a gd thing. Next year I will be back to a "fair" valuation relative to my neighbors. I was worried they would fix the glitch somehow before the actual bill went out. Thankfully they didn't.

[jimmyjazz 45957]

Sorry if this has been brought up, but I believe 2018 IRS rules cap the amount of property tax that can be deducted to $10K.  That pretty much means a large percentage of Austin homeowners are going to see their income taxes go up.  I'll guess that's ~ $450K house valuation and above.

Fight your valuation as much as possible.

[Kringelbert Fishtybuns 943]

7 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

I was only half joking when I said that the appeal folks and the appraisal district give the appearance of running a scam.  They AD has the rolls of people who have designated agents. They know that they are going to appeal every year and the values will get knocked back down, and they have no real incentive to produce a good valuation that avoids an appeal. It is in the companies like FiveStone and Protax's best interest for the initial assessment to be as high as possible, especially in cases such as the gap year in the HS exemption when they will get hte to bill based on the full savings.  Nobody involved has an incentive to keep the initial assessment tight. 

I have simply come to expect that I will hit the HS cap for the next several years on the initial assessment - especially since I'm much lower than my neighbors.  Therefore, the high end benchmark for the tax companies will be set for a while.     

I haven't been able to find lower comps in the area the past several years, so I just say fuck it - do your thing ProTax.

 

[phdhorn 6224]

The guy who did my appraisal review last year was a fucking Sooner.  They want to make life as miserable as they can for self-protesters.

Oh, and that 2018 cap applies to a combination of property + sales taxes.  Usually I've gotten about $12K alone on even the standard (non-itemized) sales tax deduction.  So yeah, that's gonna suck.

[Newdoc 3440]

11 minutes ago, phdhorn said:

The guy who did my appraisal review last year was a fucking Sooner.  They want to make life as miserable as they can for self-protesters.

Oh, and that 2018 cap applies to a combination of property + sales taxes.  Usually I've gotten about $12K alone on even the standard (non-itemized) sales tax deduction.  So yeah, that's gonna suck.

I feel you on that one. Still waiting for the 3 inch pipe right up mine. I waited too long last year, only had formal hearing and got envy denied by the "impartial panel". I'm going with professionals this year.

[FTWLOL 6]

Here's how Protax works on the other end - The guy comes in with 2 gigantic stacks of paper (i.e., clients) and basically says "if we just completely forget about stack A would you be willing to work with me on stack B?". At this point the appraiser is so fucking beat-down from listening to people explain how their house is a huge piece of shit and barely standing (without any pics or documentation lol) that they will jump at the chance to "auto close" a huge chunk of their docket without ever looking at it. So basically there is a good chance that your hearing never took place (at which point I assume the agent will still tell you how hard he/she worked for you) unless you were one of the slam dunk protests that had a significant discrepancy between assessed and market. 

But since you don't pay if they don't produce then you might as well let it ride if you just don't feel like fucking with it. If your property is in stack A then there was probably not that much extra meat on the bone anyway so you are probably sitting pretty decent. There are always ways to get a little extra knocked off but it just depends on how much extra time you want to spend on it. 

[UTPhil2006 3807]

Soooo.. Who wants to sell? 

[smokebomb 357]

Serious question - what do you do if you believe TCAD made a serious mistake in their appraisal? I live in Clarksville and everyone’s appraisals went up 50% in our condo group. The last comp we have was from December 2016 and it was inline with last year’s appraisals. Do we all have to go through the protest process?

If I felt I could get the new appraised value, I’d sell tomorrow. 

Edited March 30, 2018 by smokebomb

[GottaB 594]

2.5% decrease in derkaville

[Iowa Horn 55]

13.5% increase in 78757

[Both Tacos 1806]

i dont want to know...

Exactly

[Longhorn Al 440]

Just sent an email to ProTax.  Hoping they can help.  I'm coming up on owning my home (my first) for 4 years this Fall.  I've never protested before.  It's been going up each year.

[Longhorn Al 440]

Double post. Weird.

Edited March 30, 2018 by Longhorn Al

[bluto 4929]

PROTEST EVERY YEAR unless there is a major error in your favor

[SW Horn 7]

New homeowner here. How does the Homestead exemption factor in this? Thought it capped appraisal increases at 10%. 

[bluto 4929]

5 minutes ago, SW Horn said:

New homeowner here. How does the Homestead exemption factor in this? Thought it capped appraisal increases at 10%. 

not the first year after you purchase, that first year they get a 'free shot' at you. 

 

[The University 851]

land alone has gone up 500% in the past three years. improvements has gone done 10% during the same timeframe. protax wasn't able to do anything last year, so i'm not that optimistic for this year. fuck fuck fuck

i'd sell but the kids looove their school and it's really hard to beat our small no-hoa neighborhood close to 2222/360. our house is on the smaller end for the neighborhood, so there's no doubt that the next buyer will probably tear it down and rebuild. sucks because one of my favorite things to do every now and then is to check out the house and neighborhood where i lived as a kid. where i jumped from 2nd floor windows. where i buried my first pet. where i jacked up my knees doing stupid shit with a go-cart. where my friend's older brother introduced me to music that blew my mind. etc, etc, etc. sadly, i don't think my kids will be able to enjoy that same experience. only memories.

[smokebomb 357]

On 3/29/2018 at 10:29 PM, SW Horn said:

New homeowner here. How does the Homestead exemption factor in this? Thought it capped appraisal increases at 10%. 

Like Bluto said, the first year after you buy, they will re-adjust the value and they usually do this by looking up how big of a mortgage you took out on the property. If that isn't available, they look at comps in the area.

But the 10% Homestead exemption is just the cap of how much you have to pay in taxes each year, not the appraised value. So if they raise your appraised value 20%, your first year's tax payment will be capped at 10% over your previous year's taxes. The kicker is that in the 2nd year, the 10% cap only covers the previous year, so you tax bill will again increase to finish covering the 20% appraised value. And that is assuming they don't re-adjust the appraised value the 2nd year, which is a poor assumption. 

Edited April 3, 2018 by smokebomb

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

Huh, my structure value decreased by $30K, but my land value went up $75K.  Weird.

[The University 851]

7 minutes ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

Huh, my structure value decreased by $30K, but my land value went up $75K.  Weird.

welcome to the club. tcad has no qualms with this bullshit.

[Kringelbert Fishtybuns 943]

43 minutes ago, Judge Roybeanbag said:

Huh, my structure value decreased by $30K, but my land value went up $75K.  Weird.

Is this really that weird from the appraisal districts POV?  I figure that it is much easier to contest the structure value with pictures showing it is falling apart.  How do you argue against the relative valuation of the land compared the lots around you barring something defective?  

[Anastasis 23469]

Judge, don't try to make sense of the trends in the improvement vs. land.  I had a property where TCAD transferred 100k from the improvement side to the land side over a two year period.  They don't care about anything other than the final number making sense.  

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

9 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

Judge, don't try to make sense of the trends in the improvement vs. land.  I had a property where TCAD transferred 100k from the improvement side to the land side over a two year period.  They don't care about anything other than the final number making sense.  

Yeah I checked all the other lots in my neighborhood, and they all jumped from $50K to $125K as well.

[texhorn 351]

$77k last year, $516k this year (Williamson). New construction so I was expecting no lube on that one.

Edited April 3, 2018 by texhorn

[chitwood 155]

78731.  Appraised went up 14.3%.  Used Protax last three years and they've done fine with me.  Very easy, and the compounding effect makes it worth to protest always.

[Godzillatron 292]

I think TCAD just used Zillow. Both my properties came in valued within $1k of Zillow’s market value. 

[orange dream 1252]

or maybe zillow used TCAD?

 

[GottaB 594]

Jollyvile house up 2.5%

[Paper_jam 831]

Appraised value up 6.5% in 78754 (NE Austin)

 

 

[ChickenSandwich 9836]

yikes, jumped $75K, but somehow Code Next will make Austin have affordable housing, not reducing the insane property taxes...got to have those artists on the engineering projects!

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

Well if they stopped giving unnecessary tax abatements to businesses that don’t need it and actually kept rates down for employees that work there, long term things might work out better.  But that horse is out of the barn unless some federal legislation steps in.  Businesses will move where the best employees and logistics are without tax incentives. 

Edited April 3, 2018 by Judge Roybeanbag

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

To me it feels similar to a sports stadium/arena only in slow motion, and the voters have less say over it.  

[Eskimohorn 5635]

yikes, jumped $75K, but somehow Code Next will make Austin have affordable housing, not reducing the insane property taxes...got to have those artists on the engineering projects!

The number one driver of real estate values in austin/san antonio is tourism and global interest in this area. The AirBnB’s let more people from around the world lease space at seasonal hikes for longer period of times whether they live here or not.

I’d say it doubles price increases based on what I’ve seen in Austin and San Antonio with annual values increasing about 20%.

CodeNext changes will make it a more efficient market giving investors higher margins in a more streamlined regulatory environment.

[bschoolprof 6254]

I'm going to protest. I plan on taking a shotgun and a copy of the constitution. Is there anything else I should bring?

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

14 minutes ago, Eskimohorn said:

 

The number one driver of real estate values in austin/san antonio is tourism and global interest in this area. The AirBnB’s let more people from around the world lease space at seasonal hikes for longer period of times whether they live here or not.

I’d say it doubles price increases based on what I’ve seen in Austin and San Antonio with annual values increasing about 20%.

CodeNext changes will make it a more efficient market giving investors higher margins in a more streamlined regulatory environment.

 

Can you quantify that please, with good examples?  What is your definitions of “good investors”?  Does that mean residents who have lived there for years?  I’d be happy to stay here and pay taxes if Code Next would let me convert from a huge house to a four plex, live in one and rent out the other four.  Density.   They won’t do that though.   I’ll have to move out, and my old house will be taken from someone subsidized by government.    Is that what you really want?   

[GottaB 594]

I'm going to protest. I plan on taking a shotgun and a copy of the constitution. Is there anything else I should bring?

Crates of tea and a feather

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

5 minutes ago, GottaB said:

Crates of tea and a feather

A tomahawk some rubbers and some mayonnaise.   Cause theyll fuck you with that.  

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

8 minutes ago, GottaB said:

Crates of tea and a feather

Oh and you might have misunderstood.  I don’t have a problem with AirAbnbes or whatever.   It’s our elected officials that do.  I mean I don’t want some family renting out for a party every weekend.  But there has to be some compromise 

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

Dumbass city put the worse compromise on the table, and got their hand slapped.  

[crash_davis 23113]

tcad prop search isn't working right now.  i guess all the riches made on screwing people aint going to web hosting.

[Eskimohorn 5635]

Can you quantify that please, with good examples?  What is your definitions of “good investors”?  Does that mean residents who have lived there for years?  I’d be happy to stay here and pay taxes if Code Next would let me convert from a huge house to a four plex, live in one and rent out the other four.  Density.   They won’t do that though.   I’ll have to move out, and my old house will be taken from someone subsidized by government.    Is that what you really want?   

I’m telling you what’s driving real estate prices.

[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

For the record I meant a threeplex for what I was renting out.  But the point remains, there will be no density in the near downtown neighborhoods until the organizations get ripped apart.  

[Hefeweizen 5323]

My protest got settled in one day. The exact amount I requested since I just gave them my Alta.

Next year I'm sure they'll break it off.

[Hellraiser97 181]

The number one thing driving our real estate prices is people moving here, tourism (AirBnB, etc) has a marginal effect. We have had roughly 30k people moving here year for over a decade which means we need roughly 15k new housing units each year to keep equilibrium. The best we’ve done is 13,500. It’s basic supply and demand. Code Next was supposed to help address that imbalance but of course the NIMBY crowd has gutted it


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[Judge Roybeanbag 11819]

Oh, now,  let’s run a train to manor.  

[dutchmaster 0]

Tax man blessed me with no changes 

[staboner 4971]

78723 checking in, and its weird

my market appraisal is actually down 5%. first time in 10 years here. $298k to $280k  (rough numbers)

my HS value (what i am taxed at) is up 10% doe. 255k to 280k. 

i guess shows how ridiculous my 2017 market appraisal was/is

also, my house value is down 35% and my land value is up 40%. WTF. why are they doing that? Is some kind of correction math or some shit?