Property Tax Fighters

[LonghornHotspur]

Originally Posted by sonic0boom

All i know from my experience with them (and i imagine it is the same or similar with all the rest), is that they gather the evidence, which is going to be the comps and historical assessments, file the protest, and do any follow up after that. If you have additional evidence you want them to submit, then it is incumbent on you to gather than and submit it to the service. They won't come to inspect your property or anything like that.

They take 50% of any savings. No charge if there is no change in the assessment.

You may tell yourself, well, i can do all that! I agree, but it's a small price for having my time not spent on this headache And you would be surprised at how many people don't even both protesting at all.

Edit: i would also add that you would probably be best served by contact them directly if you have specific questions on how they handle the process and appeals.

Appealpropertytax.com's fee is 40% of savings. https://appealpropertytax.com/qa.html

But they don't take into account homestead exemptions, and they use the prior year's rates, so if your rates are dropping (i.e. like in a MUD that is being paid down) it could be slightly more than 40% of current-year savings.

[Hopeful for Life]

Originally Posted by LonghornHotspur

Appealpropertytax.com's fee is 40% of savings. https://appealpropertytax.com/qa.html

But they don't take into account homestead exemptions, and they use the prior year's rates, so if your rates are dropping (i.e. like in a MUD that is being paid down) it could be slightly more than 40% of current-year savings.

What makes me unsure about this is their site says that they are competitive because they are an “internet-based” company. Do other companies conduct on-site inspections to determine if the “improvement” portion of the appraisal is accurate? What concerns me is that my land cost went up by 5.5%, but my Improvements portion almost doubled!! This is my first home. Every friend or relative that I ask has never disputed their property tax appraisal or their appraisals just don’t waver that much. In fact, my mother’s decreased!
Any replies to this post would be appreciated.

[PinkLadyK]

Originally Posted by Hopelesscause

So, if I mail the Property tax protest by May 15, then they set a “court date” later on? Will they let me know by mail which date it is? Does the tax protesting company do a physical inspection of the home itself to view if it’s in good shape or not? What is startling to me about my appraisal is that the IMPROVEMENT part nearly doubled!! The land itself increased by a more modest $30,000. Imo, I feel like my 100-yr old home is in disrepair in some respects. Thanks for the suggestion.

Their site doesn’t tell me the %age of the savings that they would take. Is that normal?

They have never told me when "my" court date is and I frankly don't care. I am willing to put about 0% of effort into this; if they reduce my value, then yay, money saved. If they don't, I just can't get myself all fired up over a few hundred bucks. They will send me something in September (I think?) telling me the results and included with that is an invoice for 40% of my tax savings. So I do pay them their portion before I pay my property taxes in December. That doesn't bother me though.

They have also never come out to inspect my house, though they do ask you to send any information that you think they should include. The first year I just mentioned the super duper old plumbing and that was it. I'm sure you could spend more time and send more information, but I'm not sure you'd do any better. I assume they have boilerplate language and a good knowledge of the age of neighborhoods to be able to work the system. Good luck.

[Hopeful for Life]

Originally Posted by PinkLadyK

They have never told me when "my" court date is and I frankly don't care. I am willing to put about 0% of effort into this; if they reduce my value, then yay, money saved. If they don't, I just can't get myself all fired up over a few hundred bucks. They will send me something in September (I think?) telling me the results and included with that is an invoice for 40% of my tax savings. So I do pay them their portion before I pay my property taxes in December. That doesn't bother me though.

They have also never come out to inspect my house, though they do ask you to send any information that you think they should include. The first year I just mentioned the super duper old plumbing and that was it. I'm sure you could spend more time and send more information, but I'm not sure you'd do any better. I assume they have boilerplate language and a good knowledge of the age of neighborhoods to be able to work the system. Good luck.

Thanks. I submitted my contract today along with a $9,250 foundation estimate and some other things that need repair. I hope that it works. I’ll let the forum know. What surprises me is that Zillow estimates in my hood seem to be very lowball compared to some of the selling prices of new offerings. I’ve also been reading that it’s a buyer’s market lately. Maybe those lead to a lower appraised value? I’ll find out soon enough.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by Hopelesscause

Thanks. I submitted my contract today along with a $9,250 foundation estimate and some other things that need repair. I hope that it works. I’ll let the forum know. What surprises me is that Zillow estimates in my hood seem to be very lowball compared to some of the selling prices of new offerings. I’ve also been reading that it’s a buyer’s market lately. Maybe those lead to a lower appraised value? I’ll find out soon enough.

Zillow has bad values in Texas because there's no mandatory public disclosure of sales prices, unlike every other state.

[Hopeful for Life]

Originally Posted by WRM20

Zillow has bad values in Texas because there's no mandatory public disclosure of sales prices, unlike every other state.

Property tax appeal.com is pretty disappointing so far. The ONLY communication that they have sent me is an email confirming that they received and filed the Agent Appointment and filed the protest. I have sent invoice repair estimates whose receipt has not been confirmed. On HCAD website, there was an entry for a recent INFORMAL HEARING, but no entry for. FORMAL HEARING like my neighbor has. I’m wondering if these clowns even showed up for the hearing? The ONLY thing that I noticed is that the IMPROVEMENTS portion of the appraisal decreased by $19k. The land value increase portion went unchanged. My neighbors have lesser increases than I do, although the next door neighbor’s is in shambles. But, they each have lived there for a very long time. With my house! all that I can think is that the HCAD FINALLY took notice of the “improvements” that previous owner made because they were advertised when he sold the home. I suppose that he kept it a secret before that? Doing it myself would not have been easy either, but I would not recommend propertytaxappeal.com or whatever they call themselves. I feel like they have not helped a whole lot.

[PinkLadyK]

Originally Posted by Hopelesscause

Property tax appeal.com is pretty disappointing so far. The ONLY communication that they have sent me is an email confirming that they received and filed the Agent Appointment and filed the protest. I have sent invoice repair estimates whose receipt has not been confirmed. On HCAD website, there was an entry for a recent INFORMAL HEARING, but no entry for. FORMAL HEARING like my neighbor has. I’m wondering if these clowns even showed up for the hearing? The ONLY thing that I noticed is that the IMPROVEMENTS portion of the appraisal decreased by $19k. The land value increase portion went unchanged. My neighbors have lesser increases than I do, although the next door neighbor’s is in shambles. But, they each have lived there for a very long time. With my house! all that I can think is that the HCAD FINALLY took notice of the “improvements” that previous owner made because they were advertised when he sold the home. I suppose that he kept it a secret before that? Doing it myself would not have been easy either, but I would not recommend propertytaxappeal.com or whatever they call themselves. I feel like they have not helped a whole lot.

Sorry to hear your experience is not good. Like I said earlier, I have never really followed along or kept up with what they are doing. I wait for the notice that they send me with the results and just say "yay" or "oh well." One thing though - I'm not sure that they are righting the land value . . . I could definitely be wrong about that though. But my understanding is that they are pretty much only fighting the value of your home. (Anyone is welcome to correct me here.). Remember, they only get paid if they get your value down, so they want to get you the biggest reduction they can.

I'll report back on my results when I get them too, to hopefully help others as well.

[Hopeful for Life]

Originally Posted by PinkLadyK

Sorry to hear your experience is not good. Like I said earlier, I have never really followed along or kept up with what they are doing. I wait for the notice that they send me with the results and just say "yay" or "oh well." One thing though - I'm not sure that they are righting the land value . . . I could definitely be wrong about that though. But my understanding is that they are pretty much only fighting the value of your home. (Anyone is welcome to correct me here.). Remember, they only get paid if they get your value down, so they want to get you the biggest reduction they can.

I'll report back on my results when I get them too, to hopefully help others as well.

I don’t understand how the HCAD comes up with the IMPROVEMENTS portion? Honestly, they are not required to ITEMIZE how they come up with their figures?! The longtime neighbor residents’ IMPROVEMENTS portion is practically NOTHING- like $100,000 less than mine!! The only thing that I can think of is that the previous owner of my home listed the amenities of the house when he disclosed what he was selling and they take that at face value. He got away with paying no taxes for those “improvements “ that he made years ago. Then the sheet fell on me. I feel like setting the house on fire and start the crooked IMPROVEMENTS evaluation all over again.

[WRM20]

Improvements is the total value minus the land value. HCAD determines the market value first, then the land, then makes the improvements the amount necessary to add up to the total.

[Fight Red Light]

They also use Google map now to check if you have any addition to your house, a pool, for example. That's how they found mine...