Question about protesting tax increase (sales, home sales, neighborhood) - Houston - Texas (TX) - City-Data Forum

Topaz · 10-05-2011, 08:49 PM

So insane Fort Bend County thinks my home has increased in value by 10% and wants to raise my taxes by that much. I wish my home increased in value over the last year, but it definitely hasn't.

I protested online, and they declined my protest and provided comps to justify the increase. The homes in the comps have pools, my home does not. Aren't homes with pools more valuable than homes without pools?

In the column labeled Pools, there is a number. Is that the value of the pool? Most are around 9000.

Also, I was given the opportunity to request a hearing and I did so. How long might it be before a date is set?

Thanks!

cheryjohns · 10-05-2011, 08:58 PM

PM me and I will give you comps to take with you.

Mustang1 · 10-06-2011, 07:59 AM

You just need to get home sales from your neighborhood in the past year that shows proce per square foot.

d2mini · 10-06-2011, 08:13 AM

I just use Oconnor and Associates.
They protest it every year for me and I only pay them a small percentage of the savings.
And no time lost for me. I don't lift a finger other than to write them a small check.
Totally worth it.

piyf · 10-06-2011, 08:16 AM

Pools don't add value here (me thinks). And you better win. No way it increased 10% in this crap market. In fact I hope everyone protests if they get an increase. I can say with a fact that those people who work in that department laugh when they get their tax bill.

chris_ut · 10-06-2011, 08:40 AM

O'Connor & Assoc. has a bad rep and got sued and lost for failing to represent clients so I would avoid them. I protested mine this year, only one house sold on my street for an inflated price so they jacked everyone on the street by 20% to match that 1 comp, the other 2 comps they used were houses in a more expensive neighborhood. After the protest they cut mine to 9%, but since the max they can raise the taxable on homestead in a year here is 10% I really only saved 1% but I guess every little bit helps. One thing I did which may help you is I printed a Google map of my neighborhood and I showed where my house was in comparison to the far flung comps which, you may want to consider that as it makes things a lot easier on the board I think.

testmo · 10-06-2011, 01:14 PM

i protested mine in Harris County. I shot myself in the foot because I could have got the value put a lot lower than I was even asking. maybe the older gentleman thought i was cute but he had the "committee" totally on my side. i took pictures of every little chip and crack. i brought my inspection report and went over issues in it that i never fixed. i showed how the school system was bad and how my house was so different than the others in the comps.

afterwards he complemented me on my organized and professional presentation. i did everything the night before and Cheryjohns helped with my comps

easy peasy

maybe Ft bend is different

d2mini · 10-06-2011, 03:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chris_ut

O'Connor & Assoc. has a bad rep and got sued and lost for failing to represent clients so I would avoid them.

FWIW, I haven't had a lick of trouble, and like i mentioned above we have had only positive results. Did I get every dollar possible? Who knows. What I do know is my current appraisal is no where near what we can actually sell the house for.

I also used O'Connor for a home appraisal last month and we were very happy with that. The work was performed in a timely manner, at a fair price, and the research put into it as well as the resulting report from the appraiser were very good.

RCH99 · 10-06-2011, 03:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by d2mini

FWIW, I haven't had a lick of trouble, and like i mentioned above we have had only positive results. Did I get every dollar possible? Who knows. What I do know is my current appraisal is no where near what we can actually sell the house for.

I also used O'Connor for a home appraisal last month and we were very happy with that. The work was performed in a timely manner, at a fair price, and the research put into it as well as the resulting report from the appraiser were very good.

It's to be expected that they would make an effort to improve their service. chris_ut is right....they went years and years jacking people around and being sloppy, if not flat out incompetent. It is a shame that it takes being sued to the extent they were in order for them to correct those issues. They don't add any real value to a process that can be done by anybody, with simple research.

d2mini · 10-07-2011, 07:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RCH99

They don't add any real value to a process that can be done by anybody, with simple research.

Understood and true.

In my case, the value is TIME AND EFFORT SAVED.
I have other things I'd rather be doing with my precious free time.