Help...My property tax hearing agent cheated me (Mason: sales, house)

[sat45]

I have a problem and wondering if anyone can help!

Quick facts: I bought a home early this year from a builder. During closing my builder made me sign a document saying that builder will appoint a company to do the protest on my property tax. Before the protest date I contacted o'connor and associates (tax agent) and they assured everything is in place for them to protest.

I got a mail recently saying that no one attended the protest and hence it was dismissed. Now the blame game started. I contacted builder and she contacted O'connor and told me that my case was dismissed because it had “had too many accounts under dispute”.

I dont understand who to trust here. Builder says that she did all she can and HCAD says that no one attended and Builder/oconnor says that they attended but were not allowed.


Frankly, I think my builder has a part in this fiasco and she is just manipulating the information from O'connor. The home is valued by more than $35000 than the price I paid for. SO I have a pay additional tax on this $35000.

[ZeroTX]

What is your annual tax rate? If you're around 3%, then you're going to pay just over $1,000 extra because of that 35k value. Will it cost more than $1,000 to sue the builder? Probably. You can protest against YOURSELF next year. It's probably your only recourse other than perhaps to demand that $1000 from the builder to cover your costs this year.

[oceangaia]

Contact O'Connor and get their version of the story, don't accept the builder's word for it. I don't think there is a limit to number of accounts they can handle.

But ultimately, your only hope is to contact HCAD and explain everything and see if there is any way to appeal or re-schedule. I doubt you have a legal claim against the builder because your claim of $35K excess appraisal is conjecture.

Lesson learned, don't rely solely on others to handle your affairs that can easily be handled yourself. I used O'Connor one year and my feeling is that they just go through the motions and make their money on volume. Their ads make it sound like they are going to do research and go in there Perry Mason style and fight for every nickel but they'll never work as hard for you as you would for yourself.

[sat45]

Thank you ZeroTX and DiverTodd62.

Can I protest next year about this at all. I assume I cannot!

[oceangaia]

You can protest next year and perhaps use your sales price as a base for any change in valuation going forward but you can't apply a lowered appraisal value retroactively.

[usc619]

The sad thing is now you have to start 35k over the value of your home and try work it down(if you can) next year. HCAD Blows

[predatorprey]

In Harris County you can protest using the iSettle system. I was able to reduce my taxable amount with out ever leaving my home.

Worked like a charm for me.

[oceangaia]

Maybe you can, maybe you can't. Depends on your reasons and the type of evidence you have to show. But I would think an issue like with the OP would be eligible.

[Supermac34]

Usually they just bump the appraisal to whatever the selling price is if its protested within a year. Why did the building make you use O'Conner? They must have a deal. They know they will set the price at the closing price and O'Conner gets a cut and probably kicks back to the builder.

Why they didn't show up just sounds kind of lame. When I protested I noticed they had a appraisers set aside to only deal with the protest agents who would bring briefcases full of cases.

[ZeroTX]

Actually I don't think they have a choice. They have to go with the selling price, if it's lower. When I bought my house years ago I only had to bring them the closing statement. Case closed.

But yes, you can protest every single year... it's just a matter of how difficult it might by. You can go by recent sales/comps in your area, etc. But you are responsible for all of the research.