HCAD appraisal values out for most people (Mart: leasing, townhouse)

[ToyYot]

Originally Posted by astrohip

I protested my house last year even though it was accurately appraised (actually, probably slightly low). My protest was based on my house being 30% higher (per sqft) than every other house on the block but one. That is considered an acceptable reason to protest by HCAD.

I ended up getting a little knocked off, and took it. I got bumped 10% this year, and will run the street comparison again. If it's still off, I'll fight it again.

I don't care if it's high or low, I just don't want to be higher than neighbors.

I'm in the middle of the pack there, so I really have nothing to go on if I tried to protest. I guess if I wanted to pay less taxes I should've bought a cheaper house!

[trbstang]

Originally Posted by ToyYot

I'm in the middle of the pack there, so I really have nothing to go on if I tried to protest. I guess if I wanted to pay less taxes I should've bought a cheaper house!

That is when it can pay to have someone protest it for you. If they save you some money, they get their cut. If not, you pay nothing. After I did the easy protest on mine, due to them having the wrong floorplan on file (and inflating my sqft by about 250), I've had the same guy do mine for 4 or 5 years and he's kept it down, even got it reduced over $10K the past couple of years. Only cost me a small amount and now I'm in better shape than if I did not protest. A neighbor with a 700 sqft smaller home has almost the exact same value as mine, and they've never protested that I can see. IMO if you use a company, you have nothing to lose and only a tax saving to gain!

[MIBS98]

Per the separate post I (stupidly) made a short while ago, 16.5% up (market value and appraised value equal) and 8.5% above what I paid in April to buy the house.

So here is a question: how did my appraised value increase by more than the 10% cap?

[ToyYot]

I'll quote myself, hopefully I'm answering the right question this time! Anyway, see the second part of my below. Going forward you will get the benefit of the cap.

Originally Posted by ToyYot

Ok, maybe I didn't understand the question but here's what I was referring to:

The year you buy your house you will have to pay the taxes for that year but you would have been credited for the time you didn't own the house during closing by the seller. You do get the benefit of the sellers homestead exemption and their (likely) low legacy HCAD appraisal.

For the year following your purchase your appraised value will be 're-aligned' by HCAD to market value as a result of a buy/sell transaction and it will likely be significantly above the previous appraised value. So you will pay tax on the new value but, assuming you filed for your exemption in time, you do get the homestead reduction as well.

Perhaps I was answering the wrong question!

[dosto]

Originally Posted by MIBS98

Per the separate post I (stupidly) made a short while ago, 16.5% up (market value and appraised value equal) and 8.5% above what I paid in April to buy the house.

So here is a question: how did my appraised value increase by more than the 10% cap?

Ours is 18.5% above what we paid less than 2 years ago
34% up (market value) since 2013, 11% up (appraised value) since 2013

[trbstang]

Originally Posted by MIBS98

Per the separate post I (stupidly) made a short while ago, 16.5% up (market value and appraised value equal) and 8.5% above what I paid in April to buy the house.

So here is a question: how did my appraised value increase by more than the 10% cap?

I assume it has a homestead exemption as that determines the cap. Otherwise, if you've improved the house any, like pulled any permits for work, or done any visible work, then they can increase it more than the 10% cap. I'm not sure if they can do anything else to increase it more than the cap since the property sold since the last appraisal, but I would certainly protest it. If you do it yourself, I would shoot to reduce it down below the 10% increase amount by other factors such as the sales price and comparable appraisals in your area before bringing up the 10% cap. If you mention the cap first, I bet they would just drop it to the cap amount and say that is good.

Good luck!

[JohnStein]

Looks like HCAD went nuts on this one... i bought it in late 2013 and my appraisal went up 40% from a year ago. About 50k more than what i paid for the house. What a great way to limit consumer spending and helping businesses.

Sounded like we see an average of 15% increase this year for the existing homes. And for the new builts, i saw an empty lot by midtown used to appraise at 300k, now at 1.2M, that's 22k extra cash based on a 2.5% rate. I seriously question those people who did the appraisal and what kind of assumptions put into it.

What I really want to know is what they're going to do with the the extra $$ they collect? Are the teachers and public workers (and mayor) all going to get a raise?

[Danny King]

I just bought my first house last August and have a question about protesting. I paid $168,000 for the home and the purchase appraisal we had on the house in the process of buying it was $169,000. I also filed for the homestead exemption at the beginning of this year.

HCAD Market for 2013: $156,871
HCAD Appraisal for 2013: $156,871

HCAD Market for 2014: $179,978
HCAD Appraisal for 2014: $179,978

Now I saw a few pages back that the easiest way to win a protest is bringing in your closing paperwork from the previous year. It is my understanding that you pay tax off of the HCAD appraisal price and not the HCAD market price. I also read that you can only protest the HCAD market value and not the HCAD appraisal value.

So if I protested with my closing paperwork showing we bought the house for $168,000 last August then they would just lower the HCAD market portion down to $168,000 and leave the HCAD appraisal the same at $179,978? If this is the case then what good does this do me if I am still going to be taxed off the HCAD appraisal of $179,978 and not the adjusted HCAD market of $168,000?

Thanks in advance to anyone that can help out here.

[jwtomt2day]

Danny King

It appears to me that homebuyers who purchased in 2013 are getting the worst of this because they don't have the cap.

[trbstang]

Originally Posted by Danny King

I just bought my first house last August and have a question about protesting. I paid $168,000 for the home and the purchase appraisal we had on the house in the process of buying it was $169,000. I also filed for the homestead exemption at the beginning of this year.

HCAD Market for 2013: $156,871
HCAD Appraisal for 2013: $156,871

HCAD Market for 2014: $179,978
HCAD Appraisal for 2014: $179,978

Now I saw a few pages back that the easiest way to win a protest is bringing in your closing paperwork from the previous year. It is my understanding that you pay tax off of the HCAD appraisal price and not the HCAD market price. I also read that you can only protest the HCAD market value and not the HCAD appraisal value.

So if I protested with my closing paperwork showing we bought the house for $168,000 last August then they would just lower the HCAD market portion down to $168,000 and leave the HCAD appraisal the same at $179,978? If this is the case then what good does this do me if I am still going to be taxed off the HCAD appraisal of $179,978 and not the adjusted HCAD market of $168,000?

Thanks in advance to anyone that can help out here.

The reason for the different amounts, Market and Appraisal, is because of the 10% Homestead cap. The Appraisal value can not be MORE than the Market value, but it can be less than it due to the cap. For instance on your house, if you had the homestead on it in 2013, they could have only raised your Appraisal value to $172,558 ($156,871 + 10% = $172,558) and then your Market value would still be $179,978. That way your taxes would only increase by 10% this year.

I would still protest anyway. If you get it reduced, then you have a lower starting point for the 10% cap next year. And they will reduce both the Market and Appraisal values if they are the same number if you win an appeal and they lower your value, or if the new value is lower than both numbers. They just won't lower the Appraisal value if it is not the same as Market value and if it is still lower than the new Market value.