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2019 Property Tax Values are Out

Texas Jeff

By Texas Jeff
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NeverMarryAStripper

NeverMarryAStripper 21999

Posted
Posted

Fuck all taxing authorities. I did a refi on my house once that required an appraisal. I think the appraisal was within a month of the 1/1 tax valuation date. My tax valuation was significantly higher than the appraised value. When I protested my tax valuation I took the appraisal to the meeting and the agent told me the tax valuation had nothing to do with the appraised value. Fuck them all.

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MAUFRAIS

MAUFRAIS 6669

Posted
Posted
I looked into my tax appraisal a bit more and the increase is from an ADU that’s now showing up this year. It’s a structure built years ago that actually houses all the pool equipment with a sun deck on top.

So now this is showing up for 2020 and I’m on the hook for a significant amount more in taxes.

Question to the group is have you seen a structure like this classified as an ADU on the tax rolls before?

How did they decide to put this on their this year? Are they walking the neighborhoods and saw this and figured is what a garage apartment?

If it’s a mistake I suppose ProTax will be able to have it taken off however that means I will owe them for the tax savings when it was a literal mistake not the good work of being down actual appraised rates.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


Similar situation and I caught the guy peeking down my driveway. He had on a Tcad shirt. He asked me if the adu back there was complete and I said “no time for love doctor jones” and went in the garage.

Will stick with protax just because they’ve done good work in the past.
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ftf82

ftf82 486

Posted
Posted (edited)
9 hours ago, Burt Macklin said:

So basically if I wasn’t paying attention to any of this until now and my appraised and assessed value stayed the exact same as 2019, then ProTax billed me $150 in February for doing absolutely nothing this year and they knew that would be the case ahead of time?
 

Anyone had success canceling and getting their money back? I’m guessing since ProTax knew, they provided for no refunds in the agreement. Either way, that’s total bullshit, and I’ll be cancelling and switching to a different company for next year. 

Are you sure about that? I had to "opt in" to the new payment system and send them a check for $150. It was crystal clear from the email and mailing I received that if you wanted to cancel your contract you just didn't send them $150. 

In fact, here's the email I received that required you to sign a new agreement. Did you sign a new agreement AND send them a $150 payment and now you want a refund?

Spoiler

Dear ftf82,

 

You are currently a client of Texas Protax Austin, Inc, and we appreciate your continued business and trust in our company.  As we begin the protest process for 2020 we are making several changes.  We ask that you please take the time to carefully read the information detailed below.

 

Your Texas Protax team has taken a look back at the 2019 year with careful consideration and come to the conclusion that in order to provide the level of service that our clients have become accustomed to, we can no longer operate under our current fee structure.

 

We have always prided ourselves on transparency and the reality is over the last few years the property tax protest process has changed dramatically.  Appraisal Districts are under unprecedented pressure from taxing entities and the legislature in relation to protest timelines, and other appraisal district day to day operations.  As the legislature enacts new law and appraisal districts continue to change their practices, we must also adapt our business model to better serve our clients.

 

In order to meet the new growing demands of the appraisal districts, we have had to increase our internal resources to assure that your protest is being researched and presented in a manner that will deliver the maximum successful outcome for you. Beginning in 2020, in conjunction with your current performance based fee, Texas Protax will begin charging an Advanced Administrative Fee of $150 per parcel per year.  This Advanced Administrative Fee will be credited towards (or deducted from) the performance based fee at the conclusion of the protest process.  

 

Additionally, for properties with a homestead exemption or an agricultural appraisal we will be charging a smaller performance based fee for value reductions that do not affect the taxable liability (i.e. reductions on capped properties or properties with special valuation). 

 

We will be sending out new agreements over the next few weeks through our DocuSign system reflecting the revised pricing structure. 

 

For further explanation and examples, please visit our interactive link.

 

Protesting values each year is a proactive solution to help protect your value from unfair and unsupported increases, and is what we do best.  However, we are unable to appropriately represent a large number of contingency appeals when there is the possibility of limited taxable value reductions.   

 

Your patronage and loyalty are very important to us and we want to make sure that we make you fully aware of the coming changes. 

 

We understand that change is difficult. Unfortunately, we have been put in a position in which this change is necessary to maintain a viable business model, inspired associates, and most importantly – happy clients!

 

We look forward to continuing to serve you!

 

Sincerely

 

 

Your Texas Protax Team

 

Edited by ftf82
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Burt Macklin

Burt Macklin 19054

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, ftf82 said:

Are you sure about that? I had to "opt in" to the new payment system and send them a check for $150. It was crystal clear from the email and mailing I received that if you wanted to cancel your contract you just didn't send them $150. 

In fact, here's the email I received that required you to sign a new agreement. Did you sign a new agreement AND send them a $150 payment and now you want a refund?

  Reveal hidden contents

Dear ftf82,

 

You are currently a client of Texas Protax Austin, Inc, and we appreciate your continued business and trust in our company.  As we begin the protest process for 2020 we are making several changes.  We ask that you please take the time to carefully read the information detailed below.

 

Your Texas Protax team has taken a look back at the 2019 year with careful consideration and come to the conclusion that in order to provide the level of service that our clients have become accustomed to, we can no longer operate under our current fee structure.

 

We have always prided ourselves on transparency and the reality is over the last few years the property tax protest process has changed dramatically.  Appraisal Districts are under unprecedented pressure from taxing entities and the legislature in relation to protest timelines, and other appraisal district day to day operations.  As the legislature enacts new law and appraisal districts continue to change their practices, we must also adapt our business model to better serve our clients.

 

In order to meet the new growing demands of the appraisal districts, we have had to increase our internal resources to assure that your protest is being researched and presented in a manner that will deliver the maximum successful outcome for you. Beginning in 2020, in conjunction with your current performance based fee, Texas Protax will begin charging an Advanced Administrative Fee of $150 per parcel per year.  This Advanced Administrative Fee will be credited towards (or deducted from) the performance based fee at the conclusion of the protest process.  

 

Additionally, for properties with a homestead exemption or an agricultural appraisal we will be charging a smaller performance based fee for value reductions that do not affect the taxable liability (i.e. reductions on capped properties or properties with special valuation). 

 

We will be sending out new agreements over the next few weeks through our DocuSign system reflecting the revised pricing structure. 

 

For further explanation and examples, please visit our interactive link.

 

Protesting values each year is a proactive solution to help protect your value from unfair and unsupported increases, and is what we do best.  However, we are unable to appropriately represent a large number of contingency appeals when there is the possibility of limited taxable value reductions.   

 

Your patronage and loyalty are very important to us and we want to make sure that we make you fully aware of the coming changes. 

 

We understand that change is difficult. Unfortunately, we have been put in a position in which this change is necessary to maintain a viable business model, inspired associates, and most importantly – happy clients!

 

We look forward to continuing to serve you!

 

Sincerely

 

 

Your Texas Protax Team

 

I get that part. It was the part about TCAD not having access to MLS so TaxPro knew to switch its payment model so it would get paid for doing nothing that’s bullshit. 

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bluto

bluto 4945

Posted
Posted

If standard residential property and neighbors got treated the same, the total value is all that comes into play generally. Never know if a board member has forgotten their meds and rules in favor of a land value reduction, but unless it’s totally egregious you won’t have much traction.

Caveat, I am no expert on residential appeals but that’s my experience.

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Dnaguy

Dnaguy 12181

Posted
Posted

Fort Bend just sent out their appraisals yesterday.. (or at least that’s when I got mine)

Dude. DUDE.

nothing like seeing your ‘Market price’ $93,000 more than your 2019 appraised Price.

At least the homestead increase cap keeping me at an appraised price ~ 50k less than their ‘market’ but damn.

I was livid. My refinance appraisal was 30k lower than the county! This is insane. I wish I had this to show my appraiser when he was cane. Would have saved me PMI on my new loan.

The kicker is now they want everyone to do an online protest bc of Covid.

Nice try you crooks. Fuck you. You’re going to have to risk your life defending this grotesquely inflated appraisal by doing this in person because I refuse to let you steal 1000 more from me in 2020.

Yep, my tax bill would increase $1000.

Im so beyond angry.

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Judge Roybeanbag

Judge Roybeanbag 11821

Posted
Posted
On 4/13/2020 at 11:32 AM, Bevo Num1 said:

Got my appraisal for Hays county. Land up 44% and improvements went down a few hundred. Overall increase of 4.17%. Does it make sense to protest a land value increase?

Wow, the ag market value of my land in hays went up from 287k to 588k.  WTF?  Taxes are still low but that’s a helluva increase.  

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bluto

bluto 4945

Posted
Posted
Oddly enough HCAD won’t let me file a protest on their website. Not sure what that means. I have been using something like pro tax the last few years with good results so maybe they already filed. Normally I am able to click the link and see documents though. 

Worst case mail an appeal certified. Doesn’t have to be on an official form... free hand letter works. Just identify the property, ownership, that you appeal both on the basis property is overvalued and on the basis of fair/equal, and that you are requesting evidence ahead of the hearing.
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boilerhorn

boilerhorn 1414

Posted
Posted

Couple of comments on this thread.

  • TCAD's rolling its values YOY is a huge long-term boon for them.
    • No need to apply resources on appraisers or researchers for the past 12 months.
    • No need to apply resources on protests
    • Tax rolls will increase due to "assessed value" increases
    • Most protest aggregators will be put out of business (as noted earlier)
  • TCAD (and other appraisal districts) will change land/improvement value when the improvement valuation exceeds cost to replace the structure by a certain amount.  If I recall correctly, it was 1.2x in Travis a few years ago.  It typically is revisited based on the status for an entire entire neighborhood.

TCAD has a fairly decent search feature and, with it, you can download CSV files based on your search criteria.  The CSV can be read into Excel or parsed using some fairly straightforward code.  I downloaded information from 2018, 2019, and 2020 for 2 zip codes in Travis county and found the following:

  • 2018 -> 2019 valuation changes for all homes
    • 16.5% decreased
    • 3.7% no change
    • 79.9% increase
    • 13.5% increase by more than 10%
    • Over 7% turnover on ownership
  • 2019 -> 2020 valuation changes for all homes
    • 0.4% decreased
    • 92.8% no change
    • 2.8% increase
    • 0.8% increase by more than 10%
    • Over 5% turnover on ownership

My homestead was one that increased by more than 10%.  My home was the only home in the neighborhood to change value and 3 homes sold in 2019.  In fact, one of them sold for 20% more than 2019 valuation and retained its 2019 valuation.

I called TCAD and an appraiser called me back.  He told me that a functional obsolescence factor (agreed to in a 2015 formal hearing) had been removed from my valuation.  This was capricious and indefensible, but it is up to me to defend, of course.   Sigh....

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fattyflattie

fattyflattie 4639

Posted
Posted
On 4/14/2020 at 12:30 PM, Dnaguy said:

Fort Bend just sent out their appraisals yesterday.. (or at least that’s when I got mine)

Dude. DUDE.

nothing like seeing your ‘Market price’ $93,000 more than your 2019 appraised Price.

At least the homestead increase cap keeping me at an appraised price ~ 50k less than their ‘market’ but damn.

I was livid. My refinance appraisal was 30k lower than the county! This is insane. I wish I had this to show my appraiser when he was cane. Would have saved me PMI on my new loan.

The kicker is now they want everyone to do an online protest bc of Covid.

Nice try you crooks. Fuck you. You’re going to have to risk your life defending this grotesquely inflated appraisal by doing this in person because I refuse to let you steal 1000 more from me in 2020.

Yep, my tax bill would increase $1000.

Im so beyond angry.

Fort Bend here, first time in 7 years we didn't get absolutely holed.  Went up about half a percent.    I'd take what they have me appraised at in a split second.  

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Both Tacos

Both Tacos 1806

Posted
Posted (edited)

Get a load of this shit. We put a pool in at the end of last year so I was expecting my value to automatically go up.

Market Value - Structure/Buildings went from $283,490 to $331,200 = +$47,710 (15% increase)

Market Value - Land went from $58,860 to $411,760= +$352,900 (700% increase) What the hell is that all about????

Total Market Value went from $342,350 to $742,960.

Appraised Value - $342,350 to $705,004 (they show on the CAD site that there is a $37,956 Homestead Cap reduction from the Market Value of $742,960)

Homestead Cap Value went from $293,840 to $365,644 = +$71,804 (20% increase)

They have my taxes based off the $705,004 for everything except the ISD, where I get a $25,000 exemption amount.

1. Shouldn't I be paying taxes on my Homestead Cap Value?

2. I thought values couldn't go up more than 10% if you have a homestead? 

Edited by Both Tacos
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bluto

bluto 4945

Posted
Posted
Get a load of this shit. We put a pool in at the end of last year so I was expecting my value to automatically go up.
Market Value - Structure/Buildings went from $283,490 to $331,200 = +$47,710 (15% increase)
Market Value - Land went from $58,860 to $411,760= +$352,900 (700% increase) What the hell is that all about????
Total Market Value went from $342,350 to $742,960.
Appraised Value - $342,350 to $705,004 (they show on the CAD site that there is a $37,956 Homestead Cap reduction from the Market Value of $742,960)
Homestead Cap Value went from $293,840 to $365,644 = +$71,804 (20% increase)
They have my taxes based off the $705,004 for everything except the ISD, where I get a $25,000 exemption amount.
1. Shouldn't I be paying taxes on my Homestead Cap Value?
2. I thought values couldn't go up more than 10% if you have a homestead? 

When did you buy the place? Is it a wild investment infill area?
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HRSchenker

HRSchenker 2275

Posted
Posted
13 hours ago, Both Tacos said:

Get a load of this shit. We put a pool in at the end of last year so I was expecting my value to automatically go up.

Market Value - Structure/Buildings went from $283,490 to $331,200 = +$47,710 (15% increase)

Market Value - Land went from $58,860 to $411,760= +$352,900 (700% increase) What the hell is that all about????

Total Market Value went from $342,350 to $742,960.

Appraised Value - $342,350 to $705,004 (they show on the CAD site that there is a $37,956 Homestead Cap reduction from the Market Value of $742,960)

Homestead Cap Value went from $293,840 to $365,644 = +$71,804 (20% increase)

They have my taxes based off the $705,004 for everything except the ISD, where I get a $25,000 exemption amount.

1. Shouldn't I be paying taxes on my Homestead Cap Value?

2. I thought values couldn't go up more than 10% if you have a homestead? 

Homestead only affects ISD taxes. Everything else you get taxed at appraised value regardless of the exemption.

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bluto

bluto 4945

Posted
Posted
Homestead only affects ISD taxes. Everything else you get taxed at appraised value regardless of the exemption.

Cities and counties can, and many do, opt in for homestead exemptions, it’s not mandatory. And the 10% annual cap applies across all taxing entities.
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bluto

bluto 4945

Posted
Posted

Regarding the residential tax freeze in Travis, gonna be some wild stuff to see how things play out heading into Jan ‘21 with market trends. If Austin picks the appreciation back up from corona stoppage then tcad will be drilling homeowners with 2 years of appreciation next yr. it happened to tarrant about 5 years due to a botched software transition.

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HRSchenker

HRSchenker 2275

Posted
Posted
22 minutes ago, Both Tacos said:
2 hours ago, bluto said:

Cities and counties can, and many do, opt in for homestead exemptions, it’s not mandatory. And the 10% annual cap applies across all taxing entities.

I'm hearing that the 10% is only on home but not land. Can they go up any amount on land?

That has to be the case because my land went up way more than 10%.

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bluto

bluto 4945

Posted
Posted

https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/exemptions/residence-faq.php


What is a homestead?
A homestead can be a separate structure, condominium or a manufactured home located on owned or leased land, as long as the individual living in the home owns it. A homestead can include up to 20 acres, if the land is owned by the homeowner and used for a purpose related to the residential use of the homestead.

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Dnaguy

Dnaguy 12181

Posted
Posted

Zillow and other sites have pulled the MLS pulled sales price data. Called to confirm and they did acknowledged that they did it a week or two ago in Texas.

So now, there’s absolutely nothing a normal person can do to argue their property evaluation / challenge the ‘market’ value of a home. Either pay someone to fight or beg a real estate agent for mls data.

How is the process allowed to continue? This is beyond f’d up.

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bluto

bluto 4945

Posted
Posted
Zillow and other sites have pulled the MLS pulled sales price data. Called to confirm and they did acknowledged that they did it a week or two ago in Texas.
So now, there’s absolutely nothing a normal person can do to argue their property evaluation / challenge the ‘market’ value of a home. Either pay someone to fight or beg a real estate agent for mls data.
How is the process allowed to continue? This is beyond f’d up.

I never trusted their data anyhow with Tx being non disclosure.
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Judge Roybeanbag

Judge Roybeanbag 11821

Posted
Posted (edited)
3 hours ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

Go to an entirely voluntary valuation system.  Each homeowners values their own property for tax purposes.  If someone offers to buy your property for >110% of your valuation amount during the year and you refuse to sell then you owe a penalty.

Opposite George says if a county assesses above your personal evaluation, they have to purchase at that price within 90 days or pay at your personal evaluation.

Edited by Judge Roybeanbag
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Horn of Gabriel

Horn of Gabriel 1856

Posted
Posted
8 hours ago, NeverMarryAStripper said:

Go to an entirely voluntary valuation system.  Each homeowners values their own property for tax purposes.  If someone offers to buy your property for >110% of your valuation amount during the year and you refuse to sell then you owe a penalty.

This would be super interesting to see the cottage industries that would pop up - speculators running hedges funds searching out undervalued homes and offering on them, businesses like ProTax would shift their model to some kind of predictive service to tell you the sweet spot to value your home at where you risk of being offered was low but you're still under market, etc.  That's actually a cool idea, I think though it would need to be more than 110%, probably more like 125, especially in a rapidly appreciating market.

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