Appraisal Protest Question (Austin: fit in, condo, houses)

[mm57553]

I am protesting my tax appraisal. I just received paperwork back from them saying the there is an Informal Hearing on one date and a formal hearing on another date.

What's the difference between the two? And why are two hearings necessary?

[CptnRn]

My profile has links to websites that may help you understand the protest process and prepare for it.

[llkltk]

You are supposed to go to the informal, if you accept what they say there is no need for the formal. Be aware, they are being really strict this year and not reducing values without proper documentation. They want to see 5 comparables. We got ours reduced but not by much.

[atxcio]

This info is for Travis county, but I suspect others are similar:

Informal is where you sit with a single appraiser in a cubicle, and go over the numbers. They will show you how they came up with the value, and you can provide your documentation as to why it should be lower. If your documentation is decent (haven't been yet this year, so I don't know how strict they are now) they will make you an offer of a lower value. You can accept, or go to the formal hearing. You can also skip the informal and go straight to the formal, but I don't see much benefit in that. You might be happy with the outcome of the informal.

The formal is with 3 board members, and sometimes another person, and it is recorded and public record. They will also show you how they came up with your valuation, but they are more concerned about time and may want to hurry you up. At the end, they take a vote and decide what to do. You can go to the TravisCAD office and request any recordings of the formal appraisals (I think it's $5 for a CD-ROM copy)... so if you wanted to, you could listen to a few in advance and see what techniques are used.

What is the reason for 2? Probably there is some sort of right that you have to protest and be heard by the actual Appraisal Board members. The informal exists, I think, to weed out as many as possible in advance, so the board isn't swamped handling every protest. During the informal hearings, the appraiser you talk to has authority to change the value to a certain extent, and often this is enough for most people.

[woodinvilleguy]

I had my meeting with the williamson county appraiser on friday. One house we got the value reduced by $4k, about half. They still think houses are worth more that they really are. Pretty strict. THe other house I got nowhere on even with an appraisal. They didn't approve of the comps that they used.

[FalconheadWest]

And don't forget the next step if you don't like either of those, Arbitration! It's a lot of fun! I'm an arbitrator for the state of Texas' comptroller's office and I get to arbitrate the cases where people still aren't happy after a formal and informal meeting.

[mm57553]

So, I have about 10 comps that my realtor got for me. These are houses that sold in the last 12 months - same age, same approximate size, all in our section or neighboring sections of Steiner. Will that be enough? Also, there is a house that is the same age and same floorplan as ours in a neighboring section, only it has more upgrades than ours does (3-car garage, Corian counters, etc.). It was listed for $25,000 less than the TCAD says ours is worth. It has not closed yet, so our Realtor can't get the actual price paid, but I have the printout of the listing info. And I sincerely doubt it sold for more than the asking price. What else do I need?

[antonini]

Just bought brand new condo in February and my appraisal came in $10000 higher than the purchase price. What are my chances of getting the appraisal dropped to the purchase price? Thanks.

[paul6835]

Is price per square foot of 5 homes sold on your street in the past 2 years enough to make an argument or will they look for more information?

[austin-steve]

What's the difference between the two? And why are two hearings necessary?

atxcio outlined it well.

I'll add that it's similar to a plea bargain. If you don't take the informal offer, it's off the table and you could end up doing worse in the formal.

The best strategy is to be prepared and be polite, but don't roll over and let them abuse you either. At 2.2% for most of Austin, they are stealing $220 for every $10K you are over valued. I've been doing a lot of free CMA's for protesters and some are $30K to $50K above market value, so it's worth going in and fighting.

Steve