Recent Dallas Appraisal (Early, Howe: for sale, real estate, lenders)

[GuestDallas]

I recently received my Dallas Appraisal value for my home in Lakewood Heights. The value was appraised at 9.6% higher than the prior year, which of course is completely unreasonable in my opinion, especially given that values in Dallas have dropped an average of 5% over last year (according to Dallas Appraisal District). I understand that's just an average and appraisals are location specific, however no houses were sold in my area at a higher dollar/sq ft rate over last year, and most dropped quite a bit.

Anyways, I'm looking for some guidance on people who have gone through the protest process. Were you successful or not, and if so, what is the best approach based on your experience. Thanks !

[getmeoutofhere]

Just bring in comps to show what houses are selling for. That's the easiest and most direct method, and I've had success with it.

[momof2dfw]

GO EARLY!!! Go now while you can do the informal review. You do NOT want the formal protest AT ALL!!!!!!!! Go early in the mornings as well as there is less of a wait. You can keep going for an informal review as many times as you want till you get what you are wanting. I've gone many MANY times to protest our values for our residence and commercial properties. Done the formal review ONCE and KNEW we were in trouble the second the people on it walked in the room. One year for the informal review on our house I went THREE TIMES and the 3rd time the person FINALLY lowered it to an acceptable amount.

Get comps. Make sure they are GOOD comps as they WILL throw some out if they don't believe them to be a good comp for your property. If you have a friend that is a realtor and knows your area then you can get the comps from them. Even if you don't have any comps or they are not good ones for you to use (you CAN pick which comps you want to use ) you don't need them. Have as many as you can but be prepared to only give them the top 2-3 you want them to use. Make sure they are equivalent in age, size, lot size, condition, etc.

Go to the DCAD website and pull up your neighbors houses. See how they did and you CAN use those for comps as well even though they did not sell or were even listed for sale. See if they did an across the board increase for your neighborhood. It might have been a re-evaluation year for your house/neighborhood. Which is why you would have the big increase. After scoping out the neighborhood values on DCAD you will have a better idea of what they are doing. If you know of which houses in the neighborhood are similiar to yours pull those up and see how DCAD did for them this year. If they are lower than your appraised value and the size is close as is lot size, check the "condition" they have it listed for and make sure it is comparable to yours. If all adds up and DCAD has their house lower than yours you can use that as a "comp". Another way to get it lowered is if you feel the condition they have your house listed as (poor, fair, good, average, etc) is higher than it should be then take pictuers of things that are in need of repair that cost $$$ and take an estimate of repairs (BIG ESTIMATES in this case ). This could be things like foundation repairs needed, interior cracks, old wiring/plumbing, etc.

Most of the time they are pretty reasonable and you can get it lowered if you have info to back up that it should be. The time I had to go 3 times I got a newbie that was green behind the ears that just didn't know how to do anything on the 1st trip. Second trip I got a jerk of a supervisor that wanted to talk about kids and skirt around the entire issue and even commenting on my shoes (and not really in a great way even though they were VERY NICE sandals) and FINALLY the 3rd time I got someone that was super easy to deal with that actually seemed to be on top of his game and was a LOT MORE intune w/ the market. I mean, he is the one that should have not wanted to lower my value, lol.

You can also get an appraisal done to show your property is really valued lower. HOWEVER, DCAD goes off of what your property was worth on January 1st. If the market was great and strong in your area at that time and has since taken a dive.......... not good.

It IS an experience.

Oh, if it is really busy you will sign in downstairs and be given a number. Then have a sit and wait. Take a magazine or go over your notes or play games on your phone. Then someone will come down and call out the next 10 numbers to go upstairs. Then you will wait again until your turn for the appraiser. They will come out and call your name from the list that you signed in on. If it is not that busy then you will go on upstairs to the residential department and sign in there and then get called by the appraiser.

Good luck

[GuestDallas]

Thanks for the great feedback !!

[bayareaguru]

Why unhappy when homes appreciate .

I have a question, which is more accurate Uniform Residential Appraisal Report (URAR) done by Lenders or the appraisal done by City?

[LQQKOUT]

bayareaguru-

because our property tax increase, as we don't pay state tax in Texas.

[momof2dfw]

The appraised value the from the Real Estate appraiser is more accurate. We all fight tooth and nail to get a lower rate on the county side for benefits of a lower tax bill.

[nsumner]

Originally Posted by bayareaguru

Why unhappy when homes appreciate .

I have a question, which is more accurate Uniform Residential Appraisal Report (URAR) done by Lenders or the appraisal done by City?

The URAR is more accurate. The appraiser actually enters the home and determines value based on condition, upgrades, negatives and compare it to recent comparable comps etc. vs. the city that does not even do a drive by anymore.

If tax assessed values actually reflected actual market value, appraisers would be out of business and our life "Realtors" would be so much easier because we wouldn't have to help owners price a home or help buyers determine an offer price.

Naima

[FalconheadWest]

If your tax value went up, yet you're still below actual market value, good luck getting your value reduced. Even though the market didn't necessarily go up, your tax value/assessed value still can. I'm an arbitrator for the Comptroller's office, where people go after they don't like what the final result is. More often than not, the home owner is wrong. You need to go with actual facts, not hear say. None of the, "well, my neighbor said this and two years ago this..." You need FACTS!

[Lakewooder]

Guest Dallas - what is the land value vs. the improvements value? Lakewood Heights got reclassified because of the new construction. Most if not all of the value is in the land in many cases, especially the original homes. Unfortunately they've also done it to Junius Heights Historic District where it's nearly impossible to tear down an exisiting structure -- yet try to tell that to DCAD --

If your improvements are just say, 10% of the value, it's very difficult to get your overall appraisal lowered, even if you bring in pictures and estimates for a house that you will claim is falling down. Now if you can find a lot where the house has been torn down and it isn't selling or sold very low, you may have a case.