Is it a good idea to protest property tax appraisal? (Denton: sale, countertops)

[xlinked]

our appraisal value went up significantly due to a complete remodeling last year. we are not sure whether to use those attorney company to protest or not before May.31...

shouldn't a higher appraisal allow one to sell the house at a higher value? so the saved tax money is really small when one compare the sale price difference?


Any input would be greatly appreciated!

[stephwin]

Originally Posted by xlinked

shouldn't a higher appraisal allow one to sell the house at a higher value?

No. Not sure what county you are in, but Denton County (where I live) seems to arbitrarily assign values. All of my neighbor's homes went up 8%, but mine magically went up 11%. Right... I'm headed there today to meet with someone informally and get them to drop it.

What kind of reno did you have? Is it exterior? If it's interior, they wouldn't know about it (or shouldn't). They don't go into your home and have no idea if your home is up to date or is covered in crazy 70s wall paper and carpet. Unless you have one of those renovation signs in your front yard from the company that did the work.

From what I understand you have until May 31st to file your protest, not go in person and speak with someone about the protest. I filed my protest a few weeks ago, but my official meeting with the ARB isn't until early June. I'm going today to meet with someone informally.

I wouldn't pay a company to do the protest for me because I know I will do a better job at fighting to get the value down and because I have the flexibility at work to take some time and go up there myself. Some people don't have that luxury.

[jcl_cls02]

Won't the CAD know about reno's based on building permit requests for the work? That's my best guess how they increased your appraisal.

[stephwin]

The permits are maintained at the city level, so CAD would have to manually look up permits (could be multiple per reno) for every house. There are probably dozens of cities in each county, and some of the smaller ones won't have the issued permits online. There could an automated way to feed all the permit information to the counties, but I seriously doubt there is.

Even if they did have the permit information, it's usually very vague. So if the owner put in countertops, the CAD has no way of knowing if it was $1500 countertops or $30,000 countertops.

[Pete53FR]

You can hire someone to help and if your valuation is out of line with neighbors than a good idea to appeal. If you watch any of the home improvement shows a remodel does not always add that much value to homes If you added a/c square footage probably not much anyone can do.

Most residential tax help firms charge a percentage of estimated tax savings. Also bear in mind that if your home is home steaded the raise in value should be capped.

[MckinneyOwnr]

If you're planning on staying in the home for several years, then yes, you should protest. If you're planning on selling in the next year or so, then I'd keep the higher value. It doesn't guarantee that you'll be able to get more for your home, but if someone is comparing your home with another home with equal sq footage, lot size, etc... You may have a bit more bargaining room compared to a home valued lower.

[smorales7165]

Call your favorite realtor and ask them to run comps (for similar sized homes with same bedrooms, baths etc) from your neighborhood from last year. Realtors are happy to help our clients and friends by pulling up the homes that have sold in the area so that you know how yours stacks up in terms of value. Then use those values to determine if your home is being fairly taxed...or not.

[styron]

Yes! Protest every year, no matter what. Texas state law caps taxable assessments at 10% a year so long as there has been an appraisal, but it can roll over for the state - so if you don't contest it one year, the next year they can raise your assessment 20% and the next year 30%! If you protest each year, even if you lose, it keeps the cap at 10% raise.