HCAD ARB Hearing

[NTT]

Originally Posted by cheryjohns

No, I have found them to be very nice. However, their goal is to increase revenue by increasing the values of your house, in order to raise taxes. It's your job to keep that from happening or minimizing it.

Last time that I fought one and went all the way - I brought 5 copies of comps, as I noticed that their comps were cherry-picked. They pick the highest and the most upgraded.

Yep! That's the reason why we need to protest.

Originally Posted by cheryjohns

The average owner is not going to have a all of the info. Just ask a realtor to pull them for you. Only takes a few minutes.

In my case, the information that was available for me via HCAD have been more completed than the ones our neighborhood realtor provided. The information I'm talking about are the list of homes that were sold in the neighborhood. This information seemed to be completed when comparing with the realtor's information. I've been successful using HCAD information to determine price per sq.ft. for my home. However, if you need to prove otherwise, then yes, you do need to find the sources elsewhere. ie: My home is near a railroad, I do have to print a map as proof. HCAD normally do not bring out this information, it's up to me to emphasize it. If I have foundation problem, again, it's up to me to bring documents and prove it.

Once, I was explained by an HCAD agent that normally, HCAD increased home values up to 10% (possible max) automatically. They really don't go home to home and set the value. Even if they do, they only appraised the external of your home and usually, front view only. If you have any other problems with your home that would bring property value down, then, you'd need to show proof of it yourself (photos, documents, etc).

[Cottonmather0]

I'll second the information that you need to get a realtor to get "real" data for you. I have heard of people being more successful that way, plus you can surprise the HCAD representative with something he hasn't seen before and doesn't necessarily have a rebuttal for.

That said, get ready for the kangaroo court. I know that many people have been successful before in protesting their taxes there, but my personal experience both times I did it was that no matter how prepared or "polished" I was, the board members were basically there to rubber stamp whatever the HCAD agent sitting behind the computer said. Essentially the board members thumbed through my packet and then listened to whatever gobbledygook the HCAD guy said in justification of their valuation (lots of jargons and acronyms that I had no idea about) and it ended up being my responsibility to rebut him. My "evidence" was basically ignored and at the end the board members literally scribbled on their notepads for 10 seconds and pulled what seemed to be arbitrary numbers out of the air that ended up literally being within fractions of percentage points from the original valuation.

The whole thing basically felt like a farce put on because the law required them to do it, not because it was intended to determine the "fair" value of the property.

And don't get me started on how the ARB can be "independent" when they basically do these things full time with the same HCAD people every day and have offices in the HCAD headquarters and get paid a stipend from HCAD's budget. Right.

Luckily I live in Fort Bend now and don't have to deal with HCAD anymore.

Sorry for the rant, this has been a sore subject with me every since the first time I did it 5 years ago.

[TimBomb]

Originally Posted by TimBomb

Thanks for the timely tips. We got a 10% increase in Alief and doing the first meeting on Wednesday. For some reason they think my house grew 600 sqft and we could not sort that thru iFile

That was easy.

[NTT]

Originally Posted by TimBomb

That was easy.

[Pintail]

I had the same experience as Cottenmather. It is a Kangaroo court. I presented piles of evidence and at the end they wrote on a piece of paper without even using a calculator their opinion. I asked how they could even come up with a number without using a calculator and their response was the hearing is over and we can't say anymore. A joke. I felt like I was in a bad movie. I can't believe 3 people who get paid by the county sit in judgement between the homeowner and the county. We know how the chips are stacked.