question about property value & taxes (car insurance, house, purchase) - Texas (TX) - Page 5 - City-Data Forum

momof2dfw · 09-18-2006, 04:55 PM

It was to answer the question at the end of your post that I quoted.

"Any ideas out there?? What do YOU think Texas can do to relieve the tax burden from the property owners?"

So sorry for any misunderstanding.

Let me find the info on the state website where it says that neighboring properties are taxed accordingly.

momof2dfw · 09-18-2006, 05:02 PM

Here is some more info on how property taxes are raised from our county tax office:

You raised my value more than 10%. How can you? I thought it was limited.

The appraised value of a residence homestead can be limited to a 10%, 20%, or 30% increase. The Texas Property Tax Code states that a residential homestead is limited to a 10% increase per year since it was last reappraised. In other words, if we haven’t reappraised your home in the last three years (i.e. your value hasn’t changed in three years), then your increase limit would be 30%, 2 years would be 20%, and 1 year would be 10%. Also, keep in mind:

Limitations take affect one year after you receive your homestead exemption. This means anyone who purchased a property after January 1, during 2004 would not be eligible for a limitation in 2005 as they are not eligible for homestead exemption until January 1, 2005. Your homestead exemption must be in place for a period of one year to be eligible. Rental properties and/or properties that do not have a homestead exemption are not eligible for the limitation amount.
Limitations do not apply to new improvements added in that tax year such as pools, room additions, any new construction, etc.
Limitations are removed when a property changes ownership.
Limitations will be shown on the Notice of Appraised Value as “Capped Value”.
All granted exemptions are subtracted from the Capped Value instead of the Market Value
Capped Value minus applicable exemptions equals taxable value.
If a property qualifies for a Capped Value, the District will also maintain a Market Value as well. If you disagree with the Market Value but are in agreement with the Capped Value, you should still protest the Market Value.
The Capped Value will recalculate at 10% per year until it eventually equals the Market Value of the property.

texasdreamin · 09-18-2006, 05:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by writergrrrl

Land is not taxed if it is used for agriculture in 5 out of 7 years, but she did not explain if this included the residence or just the land.

I read something last night that had to do with ag exempt properties. I wrote an earlier post pertaining to if chickens would suffice. Well, I read that "agricultural" is defined as land used for plant and animal, to include poultry and fish.

I think the residence is taxed, separately, under what they call an "A" property. The land is taxed under "D1". I may have gotten the coding wrong, but it's something like that. Wish I had bookmarked the page, but I just read and go, sometimes.

momof2dfw · 09-18-2006, 05:07 PM

Here is THE best place to go to find out about propert taxes and ALL taxes in Texas. Another good place to look is on your local county tax apprasials website.

http://www.window.state.tx.us/taxes/

This is the website for the State Comptroller (that one tough "granny"). There is a wealth of info on here to find out about ag exemptions and everything.

momof2dfw · 09-18-2006, 05:23 PM

Another thing to keep in mind on comparing properties w/in an immediate area like a subdivision. In real estate and w/ the taxes the larger the home generally the lower the price per square foot. So your home could be 2500 sq ft w/ all of the typical "improvements" for your neighborhood and area (by "improvements" it is bases solely on what the tax office calls "improvement" and that includes the actual dwelling). They have a certain class number they also use to classify each type of home. True top of the line custom homes are one number while low end tract homes are another. Metal commercial buildings are one, masonary commercial buildings another and storage facilities have their own class code. It is called the "Building Class" on the properties info on the Dallas County Tax Appraisal (www.dallascad.org) (broken link). So they KNOW if your building/house is better built than your neighbors and will classify it as such. The condition of the "improvement" is also taken into consideration. If you have a house w/ major structural problems like foundation problems all you need do is take pictures of the damage, take in written estimates for the cost to repair, etc and you CAN get the "condition" of your property lowered. Sad thing is there is NO WAY they can check up on any of this. But you really don't want your condition put down bad if you are going to resell. So ALL of this is taken into account when they try to determine the appraised value of your home to tax you on. They take into account recent sales (and I have been told as of JANUARY 1ST and not May so if the market slips by May it don't matter. What was it worth on Jan. 1) w/in the last 6 months at the longest a year. Pools are also an added "improvement" that can be taxed. The morons tried to tell me one year that "pools go up in value that is why yours went from $25K to $45K". NO LIE

! I almost feel over of course AFTER I asked him to call my mother that is a Realtor so that all realtors would know that. LOL!!! So here you have your 2500 sq ft house in a nice neighborhood w/ no pool and they put your value at $250 for $100 a sq ft. Your neighbor has a 3200 sq ft house no pool and they put their house at $294,400 which comes to $92 a sq ft. This is just the way the market is when it comes to real estate selling/purchasing and taxing.

texasdreamin · 09-18-2006, 05:27 PM

30%

. That is just soooooo wrong. I know Texans are fighters, so I just don't understand why a huge stance is not being taken on this issue. 30% would eat someone alive! I pay 1%, per year. 30% for a 3 year period could wipe a person out, if their home was worth a high amount. So, so wrong.

momof2dfw · 09-18-2006, 05:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by texasdreamin

30%

. That is just soooooo wrong. I know Texans are fighters, so I just don't understand why a huge stance is not being taken on this issue. 30% would eat someone alive! I pay 1%, per year. 30% for a 3 year period could wipe a person out, if their home was worth a high amount. So, so wrong.

Oh, mine went up MORE than 30% the first year we owned it. They raised it to what we PAID for the house. LOL!!! We fought like the dickens but to no avail. We kept getting "if it was not worth that then why did you pay that?". You would've thought that they would have also raised all of the other houses in the neighborhood accordingly, lol, isn't that what they want in the first place? But noooo. Just us. The next year we got it down. Then every year they try to jack ours back up and we go fight. This year they lowered almost EVERY house in the neighborhood except for 14 of which 9 of those got a new pool. Mine was one that went up but up over $26K. The average for the ones that did go up was only around $9K. LOL!!! There was only one other house that went up more than ours and they jumped his up over $38K. While some went down over $50K. WHAT!?!?!?!?!?!?! Made no sense at all. I went in the last time and just said, "Can ya tell me what flower I planted in the yard that was worth $26K"? LOL!!!

texasdreamin · 09-18-2006, 06:24 PM

Oh no, no, no. That is just so not right. I plan on relocating to Texas and you can bet that I will make such a noise about this, to the powers that be. I will write legislators, news media and anybody else I can think of. I may even send a few emails from here. This is so injust that I would not be able to keep my mouth shut. I may be this little person...but I can make big noise, if I need to. I am usually quiet and very easy going, but my feathers ruffle at injustice.

Zhang Fei · 10-18-2006, 12:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by momof2dfw

Oh, mine went up MORE than 30% the first year we owned it. They raised it to what we PAID for the house. LOL!!! We fought like the dickens but to no avail.

Correct me if I'm wrong - you seem to be saying that assessed value - for property tax purposes - is not the same as prevailing market value. In fact - it can be substantially lower. In other words, if I buy a property for $100,000, the assessed value for tax purposes might only be $75,000. Am I reading this right?

Steel Man · 10-18-2006, 01:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zhang Fei

Correct me if I'm wrong - you seem to be saying that assessed value - for property tax purposes - is not the same as prevailing market value. In fact - it can be substantially lower. In other words, if I buy a property for $100,000, the assessed value for tax purposes might only be $75,000. Am I reading this right?

Normally, houses are sold for more than the current tax appraisal. However, many tax appraisers will look at what the house sold for and re-appraise it at that value the following year. It's hard to argue what the house value is when you paid that amount. You can look at similar houses in your area and see what they are appraised for and file a protest if your house is appraised higher (you can plead that you didn't know house values in that area when you bought the house).