Can I trust Zillow's #s for Houston tax history? (sales, real estate)

[mpghouse]

Hey, noob here. I'm considering relocating for work and I use zillow.com to research homes. This normally gives me really good information on what i can do in my budget in the area around the job, but Houston zillow pages are throwing me for a loop. Zillow is giving real wacky #'s for property tax.

I don't know if it's cause of the HCAD everyone on the board seems to be in a fight with or if Zillow is getting bad data, but it seems like Houston property tax bills vary WIDELY from year to year. Some examples:

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/72...336_zpid/]7207 Shaman Ln, Houston, TX 77083 - Zillow
Year Property taxes Change Tax assessment Change
fewer
2011 $1,730 -51.1% $110,390 --
2010 $3,539 66.9% $110,390 -9.4%
2009 $2,120 103% $121,908 -13.9%
2008 $1,042 -- $141,591 --
2007 $1,042 -- $141,591 --

6506 Whimsey Ct, Houston, TX 77084 - Zillow
Year Property taxes Change Tax assessment Change
fewer
2011 $3,877 4.3% $105,774 --
2010 $3,717 -13.3% $105,774 --
2009 $4,288 397% $105,774 -14.8%
2008 $862 -- $124,079 --
2007 $862 -73.3% $124,079 --
2006 $3,230 -- $124,079 --

4444 Victory Dr UNIT 2, Houston, TX 77088 - Zillow
Year Property taxes Change Tax assessment Change
fewer
2011 $1,706 0.7% $103,989 --
2010 $1,694 -- $103,989 --
2009 $1,694 84.8% $103,989 -24.1%
2008 $916 -- $137,018 -4.9%
2007 $916 -79.1% $144,123 3.2%
2006 $4,385 23.7% $139,700 5.1%
2005 $3,544 -14.5% $132,863 -14.8%
2004 $4,144 -- $156,000 -


Does anyone know why these values are so out of wack? Which end of the scale would you expect the property taxes of these kinds of homes to be at for the foreseeable future? Do you have these variances on your properties?

[ToyYot]

Don't use Zillow for researching housing in Houston, it's Houston figures are complete fiction. Use HAR.com, the map search feature is great and the beta version will overlay the school zones (wish I had that when I moved here!).

Houston map search and Houston real estate map

Har.com will list the accurate tax assessment for the previous year and the tax rate. Be conservative and use a realistic purchase price to estimate your taxes after purchase. Your assessment will hopefully be lower and homesteading will result in a savings too.

If you want to check the tax assessment on a particular property just go to HCAD and do an address lookup, it'll list the taxes for the previous 5 years.

Harris County Appraisal District

Generally once you're in the house the maximum your tax bill will rise is 10% per year unless you make some substantial improvements. Usually it's less - but not lately!

[EasilyAmused]

I pay no attention to Zillow. It's horrible. It can be 100s of thousands off on houses in big cities.

Har.com has a link to HCAD for each property,if you want to check tax value.

[AK123]

Originally Posted by mpghouse

Hey, noob here. I'm considering relocating for work and I use zillow.com to research homes. This normally gives me really good information on what i can do in my budget in the area around the job, but Houston zillow pages are throwing me for a loop. Zillow is giving real wacky #'s for property tax.

Short answer, NO.

Zillow can be way off in Texas, especially the Houston area.

Use the county appraisal district site for tax info. But remember, tax appraisal value can often be way off from market value, especially if the owner has ever protested.

[cheryjohns]

Zillow might be good for smaller towns that don't have anything like HAR. Here, it's worse than useless - it's wrong.

[mpghouse]

Hey guys, thanks.

[fnh]

I love Zillow, but in TX the property sales price data are controlled by business interests so it doesn't work well here. It works great in other places.