HCAD protest (Point: closing, price, appraisal)

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by crone

Every elected official in this state is aware that the system is wrong and/or illegal.

We keep electing people who are unwilling to fix it. Live with it.

Actually, the major hold up for getting property tax relief is with Joe Straus. The Senate is pushing for fixes while the House is focused on sales tax and ignoring property tax issues.

[colcat]

I thought appraised value and resale valie are two different things. Yes? No?

[crone]

Originally Posted by PedroMartinez

Actually, the major hold up for getting property tax relief is with Joe Straus. The Senate is pushing for fixes while the House is focused on sales tax and ignoring property tax issues.

The Governor and Joe Straus, vs the Senate.

Tax relief is one thing. How it is done is another. Reducing the rate won't change anything but the amount. What needs changing is the way they calculate it. Robinhood is BS. We may as well have a state school property tax since they dictate exactly how much schools can tax and what schools can do with the money in several different ways.

I prefer reduced property tax. We pay about the same in sales and property tax. People have control over what they spend, property tax, not so much.

[dkag]

Hi y'all need some help on the property protest. We purchased a house in 2014 and pulled remodeling permits for $10,000. They have our sales price but appraised our house 125,000 (hello?) over our purchase price citing "time adjustment" and "new construction". Do you think that they should lower both market and appraisal to the sales price if I show our closing documents as evidence at the informal meeting with the appraiser?

[Spartacus713]

Originally Posted by dkag

Hi y'all need some help on the property protest. We purchased a house in 2014 and pulled remodeling permits for $10,000. They have our sales price but appraised our house 125,000 (hello?) over our purchase price citing "time adjustment" and "new construction". Do you think that they should lower both market and appraisal to the sales price if I show our closing documents as evidence at the informal meeting with the appraiser?

It won't be nearly that simple. You either need to learn more about how they calculated your value and what the rules are that they go by, or you need to engage someone to represent you in making your case to them.

Also, I could be mistaken, but I believe it is probably past the deadline for when you can file to protest this year.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by dkag

Hi y'all need some help on the property protest. We purchased a house in 2014 and pulled remodeling permits for $10,000. They have our sales price but appraised our house 125,000 (hello?) over our purchase price citing "time adjustment" and "new construction". Do you think that they should lower both market and appraisal to the sales price if I show our closing documents as evidence at the informal meeting with the appraiser?

Market is market, and it's set by the market. If the houses in your area support that market price, there is little you can do about it.

[Spartacus713]

Originally Posted by PedroMartinez

Market is market, and it's set by the market. If the houses in your area support that market price, there is little you can do about it.

However, the market price and the HCAD appraised price are not the same thing. You do have room to negotiate your appraised value based on whether it is "uniform and equal" with other similar properties in your area. It is a good way to effectively lower your HCAD appraised value in many cases.

Now, that being said, market values are a huge factor in all of that. But they are not the only factor. And HCAD does routinely get the "uniform and equal" component wrong.

[PedroMartinez]

Originally Posted by Spartacus713

However, the market price and the HCAD appraised price are not the same thing. You do have room to negotiate your appraised value based on whether it is "uniform and equal" with other similar properties in your area. It is a good way to effectively lower your HCAD appraised value in many cases.

Now, that being said, market values are a huge factor in all of that. But they are not the only factor. And HCAD does routinely get the "uniform and equal" component wrong.

Correct, market value and appraisal value are not always the same on homestead properties due to the appraisal caps. However, the appraisal value is always seeking to equal market value. The fact that you may pay less than market value doesn't necessarily mean that you'll be able to reduce HCAD's market value for the property.

[txdemo]

I recently protested at the informal hearing and had a good outcome. I bought the Jubally packet for $69 because I didn't have the time to do all the research. That's where I got the comps. I brought photos of issues in our home. I also downloaded their evidence packet from iFile and did a compare and contrast with each respective property to my home. I printed out a PowerPoint that I made with photos of their comps and the differences between their comps and my house. I got photos of the inside of their comps homes from HAR sold section. They lowered my market below the appraised.

[dkag]

Originally Posted by Spartacus713

It won't be nearly that simple. You either need to learn more about how they calculated your value and what the rules are that they go by, or you need to engage someone to represent you in making your case to them.

Also, I could be mistaken, but I believe it is probably past the deadline for when you can file to protest this year.

Yep I downloaded their evidence packet. Our general area was noticed late this year (July) and we have 30 days after the notice date to file.