Property taxes

[kingjason]

It's total bullshit that they don't lower your appraised value when the market drops unless you protest it, but when it raises they automatically get every penny out of you they can.

My wife handles this shit for us. She contacted someone at the TAD office through email a few years ago, and has been going through this same person every year. She got ours lowered drastically by sending in proof for renovations and repairs we had done to the house ($100k worth). The guy worked with her mostly through email for the whole process. Since they can only raise your appraised value by 10%/year, we are still under what market value is. I think she got lucky by getting ahold of this guy. I'll get his email address from her when I can.

Ellis County lowered them after the crash believe it or not. I think Dallas did to it just took longer. I protested mine last year and barely got any off. It was like a fucking time share meeting and they come prepared. My house has almost doubled in value in 5 years so I am not going to fight it this year. It does absolutely piss me off my taxes have doubled but I get it kind of. The wife and I are tempted to sell right now and rent for a while to see if the market collapses again. Then we would pay cash for a house. We just like our house and neighborhood so much it would be a hard decision.

[BP]

I hired these guys this year https://propertytaxlock.com/

Looks like a very new company with no reviews but I figure for $75 (after discount code) it's worth it not to have to go to my hearing. Especially since I'll be in San Diego the next two months and won't be able to make it.

I'll post results if I remember.

[Chili]

Ellis County lowered them after the crash believe it or not. I think Dallas did to it just took longer...

Tarrant County did too, but yeah, it lagged a bit.

[Chili]

It wasn't a very expensive house when we bought it, but I'm glad to see it gaining some value.



see attached

Dang, you did good. Mine only indicates a 62% increase since 2012..

[03mustangdude]

up 1k since last year on a 100k house worth 140k now

[8mpg]

That sucks. I will protest every year. Blanket valuations aren't right IMHO. Land value is affected by a ton of factors..

You're telling me...that why I hit you up last year asking about your property price. They were trying to get me for $230k/acre

[black2002ls]

Please go into greater detail on how to go about fighting it. Or hell even contesting the current taxes. I think property taxes are mere extortion and I wish they'd carried out the people who implemented that, and hanged them in public.

Go to the website for your appraisal district. Google X County appraisal district. They should have all of the information that you need right there. Here is what I do each year.

The first year I did it all online with zero issue. The second year, I started online, did not get the result that I was looking for and then paid a local, well known realtor $150, IIRC, to handle my protest from that point, which wasted my money because it came back, exactly where I had it contested at.

Once you receive your appraisal/tax estimation for the year, compare it to last years. Make sure they are within the maximum allowed increase, if applicable. If you just purchased your home, if the appraised value is more than what you paid, present them with the settlement statement from title. The property, in reality, is only worth what someone is willing to pay. The first year, I used this method, and got it adjusted almost 10K. It was still $5K over what I paid, but I didn't have time to attend a hearing, so I took what I got.
If you didn't just purchase the home, begin compiling a list of "large" home repairs that are needed. Does your lot need graded for drainage? Is there a vacant/condemned house in the neighborhood/next door? Does your foundation need repair? Fence replaced? HVAC replaced? Need a new roof? Any major repairs that you can show estimates for on the order of $1000's may help you out. What you are trying to do is to de-value the property in the eyes of the appraisal district.

My local appraisal district has an online terminal to handle the initial dispute. If I cannot come to an agreeable resolution, then I am given a hearing date and must appear to plead my case.

For anyone who has used estimates to devalue your property, be sure to get new ones if you were planning on using the same ones from last year. There has been significant increases in cost of materials, as well as labor rates over the last 12-18 months, which should increase your estimates and give you a larger number to show for devalue

[Rick Modena]

Welp, I went to the CCAD last week to turn in my property taxes paperwork, I don't trust them postal monkeys. And yesterday I get a call from the CCAD office and they said there was a mistake on my exemptions for last year. I wonder if they are going to mail me a check or adjust my escrow.
If I was late or I fucked up, I'm assuming I would have to go up there with a check or they would auction my shit on the Collin County Court House steps...

[quikag]

You're telling me...that why I hit you up last year asking about your property price. They were trying to get me for $230k/acre

Yeah, I remember. They are trying to screw us both. No fun for sure. Gets my blood pressure up when I see the envelope with the proposed appraised value.

[TX_92_Notch]

Holy crap. I just got the docs in the mail today for our two properties. My rental has gone up 30% in the last 5 years and the new place we bought last year jumped over 100k in value in 12 months. I'll be arguing for sure this time around. These scoundrels are hitting us for an estimated $18,400 in taxes!!!

[David]

My appraisal went down.

[mustang1200]

My appraisal value went from $66,000 to $657,192. Ugh.

[Silverback]

They tried to give us a 17.8% increase on our house, but instead gave us the max allowed 10%... :/

[fordracing19]

Just looked at mine. With no improvements it went up $107487 in value.

[Big A]

Yeah, fubared appraisals aside, the market is nucking futs in DFW right now. I was hoping to move back from Cali and upgrade, looks like I'll going to have to get a second job instead.

Paying more taxes blows, but the upside is you'll cash in if when you ever sell, and move to a different locale.