Recession cuts into appraisals in Bexar County (Bowie: apartments, rent)

[smitty12]

Originally Posted by dakotamidnight

what really irks me is that I pay $1000 a year for NEISD which my child will NEVER be able to use. They have already refused to take her based on her medical conditions {severe airborne food allergies}, and advised me to look into online schooling for her or hire a in home teacher.

I really detest paying that portion of my taxes - wish I could contest that!

Actually I don't think you should be exempted from paying your taxes, but the school district should help offset alternative education. I'm a little surprised they didn't just offer that since I'm not sure they can just refuse a special needs person.

You might want to consult with the special education department. It would seem that your child is at least entitled to the average dollars per student that NEISD spends at a minimum (which is much more than $1000). Typically they spend way more than average on special needs kids....

A lawyer who specializes in these types of things might be useful if you can't get anywhere.

[jules07]

Originally Posted by firstclassflyer

You probably won't use the Texas prison system either...but you're paying for it. Sorry, doesn't work that way.

True dat. And a lot of us will prolly never use the University Health System, and maybe not even the Alamo Community Colleges, but we pay for those as well.

EVERYWHERE, in every state/city/whatever, people who will never use them pay for public schools (as well as a plethora of other public "services") thru their taxes. We just see the breakdown of where our property taxes go here.

On topic ~ our appraised value went down! Woo hoo!!! (Now it's about where it SHOULD have been last year!)

[mmac12]

Originally Posted by banker

How would it hurt me to show the actual selling price if it is dramatically lower than their value? I have got to think that I am better off with the actual value than their WAG.

I bought my house in the beginning of May 08 , at closing I was told my taxes would be about 3800. I never received the actual appraisal so when the taxes were due my tax was based on a value of 120,000 over what I paid for my house!! I went down to the tax office and they told me there was nothing I could do but to file next year. I was further advised that I should of appealed it in May etc. I went online and found out how to file an appeal and did so even after the quoted appeal time was long over. They contacted me by mail and I called them back. I was able to fax my sales contract to them and they adjusted my tax based on the sales price amount... Now for 2009 taxes my appraisal came in 20,000 less than my purchase price --ie my taxes went down !!
So I know you are definitely not locked in to a set amount and can fax your documents to them.. good luck

[CelesteDF]

Hi all - I have a couple questions for the group.

• Did people living inside 410 (areas supposedly maintaining/increasing in value) see significant change in appraisal values? Generally up? Or down?
• And when I checked my values, I noticed that it does not list a homestead exemption for me, although my realtor told me he filed that paperwork when I bought the house last year. Does anyone know if I file an exemption now, will it be retroactive and applied for the 2009 tax year? (yes, I was a resident in the house on January 1).

[djw]

Originally Posted by CelesteDF

Hi all - I have a couple questions for the group.

• Did people living inside 410 (areas supposedly maintaining/increasing in value) see significant change in appraisal values? Generally up? Or down?
• And when I checked my values, I noticed that it does not list a homestead exemption for me, although my realtor told me he filed that paperwork when I bought the house last year. Does anyone know if I file an exemption now, will it be retroactive and applied for the 2009 tax year? (yes, I was a resident in the house on January 1).

Do it quick! The deadline is April 30th!!! (read the small print on the back of the form)
http://www.bcad.org/PDFs/HOMESTEAD20APPL-2000.pdf

[ged_782]

Originally Posted by CelesteDF

Hi all - I have a couple questions for the group.

• Did people living inside 410 (areas supposedly maintaining/increasing in value) see significant change in appraisal values? Generally up? Or down?

I'm inside 410, and my appraised value dropped just a little over 2%, and it looks like the properties surrounding mine dropped about the same percentage, but I know at least some of the appraisals in the Terrell Heights (not Terrell Hills) neighborhood skyrocketed. My sister's house is there, and it jumped nearly 15%! Other homes on her street also had appraisals that skyrocketed, in some cases well over 20%.

The BCAD website is currently down, so I can't check how widespread this trend is.

[scuba steve]

Originally Posted by sapphire

Are they all 4 sides brick like yours?

rofl


The BCAD site is dead at the moment, otherwise I'd have my info. I don't go to work on Friday this week, so I'm devoting that day to go do this 'fight the appraisal' thing unless it's somehow below what I paid for the place last year.

[Living Near Shamu]

Am I the only one who is sad that their appraisal value went down? lol. There's a reason for me wanting it to go up though. As of 4/30, it will be the 5th anniversary of us owning our home and I was really looking forward to a small increase to help push us over the 20% loan-to-value ratio so I could get the dreaded PMI off of our account. Now it looks like I might have to wait a couple more years since most likely this will happen again next year.

[sinsativ]

anybody that plans on protesting, I highly recommend, getting the Evidence Packet.

You can ask BCAD for a copy of the "EVIDENCE PACKET" that will show all of the sales data, etc. used to figure your property appraisal. There are quite a few other factors but their spreadsheets used all of that to give you your new magic figure.

[banker]

Originally Posted by sinsativ

anybody that plans on protesting, I highly recommend, getting the Evidence Packet.

Thanks for the advice. I will do that.