Ouch!!! HUGE property tax increase (Austin: real estate, rental, how much)

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

Well, I reckon this is our last year in 'four figure' territory. We were pennies shy of $10K on ours.

Why the heck are you paying that much in property taxes?? That's absurd...homes in Avery Ranch are in the 200 - 400K range. That translates into that much in property taxes. Jeez

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by riaelise

Why the heck are you paying that much in property taxes?? That's absurd...homes in Avery Ranch are in the 200 - 400K range. That translates into that much in property taxes. Jeez

A thousand pardons; but quite a few of the homes in our 'hood are a good bit north of $500K. Some in AR are above $600K; but I didn't spot any for sale in a quick search...couple at 530 and 580 though.

All things considered, $9999.xx on a $420K home isn't out of line with what we expected...NOT that I'm too happy about it. (Would have been closer to $3K back in GA) Now, if we could just MAKE some money so we could 'enjoy' the lack of a state income tax. Funny how things work out.

[ScoPro]

Somebody's got to pay for that $20,000,000 boardwalk and all those "roundabouts".

[Roadking2003]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

Are you a non-escrow payer? Otherwise I don't get the timing of this comment.

Correct. I pay taxes every January.

[verybadgnome]

Originally Posted by Roadking2003

Correct. I pay taxes every January.

Okay. But if you were living in a similar neighborhood in any other major Texas city don't you think your property taxes would be roughly the same?

ScoPro - roundabouts are one of the biggest safety infrastructure improvements we can make:

Roundabouts: A Safer Choice - FHWA Safety Program

[Trainwreck20]

I am still confused - my property tax rate essentially did not change, just my appraised value. Is that your gripe?

We are down to paying property tax in January of one year, and then again in December of the same year. That way we get to claim the standard deduction in the non-tax paying year, and claim a larger amount in the doubled up year. If we paid yearly, we would only get to claim standard every year (now that our interest payments are next to nothing).

[Roadking2003]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

Okay. But if you were living in a similar neighborhood in any other major Texas city don't you think your property taxes would be roughly the same?

I don't know about other neighborhoods, but my appraisal went up 6%. I don't think property values went up 6% last year.

[mark311]

Originally Posted by Roadking2003

Just got my 2013 property tax bill and it's almost $1300 higher than last year.

Since I'm unaware of any major property tax rate increases this year, let's assume that your property tax rate is 2.3%. In that case, my response is, Congratulations!! Your appraised home value increased over $56K in one year!!

My property tax rate is roughly 2.8% where I am in NW Round Rock so my appraised value would have gone up over $46k if my property tax bill increased by $1300. I would be jumping for joy and putting up a for sale sign, or I would have already filed the paperwork to protest the appraisal with the County if I felt it was not accurate.

[mark311]

Originally Posted by Roadking2003

I don't know about other neighborhoods, but my appraisal went up 6%. I don't think property values went up 6% last year.

So a 6% appraisal value increase along with a $1300 actual property tax bill increase puts the value of your home at somewhere between $750K to $930K by my math depending on your property tax rate. If my home had that type of value and I was unhappy with the local government, I would sell now and run away with my equity while the market is still warm to hot in Travis County. Otherwise, it sounds like you really need to file a protest with TCAD.

[Trainwreck20]

I don't think property values went up 6% last year.

Why do you think (or, more accurately, don't think) that? I don't know your neighborhood in much detail (Avery Ranch?), but in our neighborhood, the actual sales prices took off earlier this year (some home prices were rapidly bid up beyond the initial asking price). Most of that is not reflected in the 2012 appraised value (which is based on 2011 data), but it still went up considerably. I suspect that next year will show a >6% increase, unless sales have since fallen off dramatically.

Also, it is possible that your house was under-appraised in the past, so that although your home market value may not have increased 6% last year, you may have been under valued by 6% (or whatever) and this is just a correction. If that is the case, then you have been getting a tax break previously.

In any case, if you think it is incorrect, get a realtor to run some comps for your neighborhood based on actual sales data and take that to TCAD next year (too late for this year). For a home in that value-range (900k or so at 2.38% tax rate that I pay), it is well worth the time and effort to keep the appraised value down.