Homestead Exemption (Austin: real estate, 2013, renting)

[hawkpacific]

Hello y'all,
I bought a home in Austin in June. Real estate agent told me owners I bought from had homestead exemption on the house. My question is: When do I need to renew or apply for homestead exemption myself. I saw one post on here that said I get their exemption for the rest of the year, but have to apply in January. Is this true?
Thanks

[TexasHorseLady]

That is correct. You can apply for your homestead exemption yourself for the first year in which you were living in the house on January 1 of that year. You only have to apply once and it carries over from year to year. The current year's exemption has already been applied and goes with the house through December 31.

You say you're in Austin, so Travis County. You can get information on how and when to apply here.

[FalconheadWest]

You don't actually have to apply in January, per se. You have until April 30 of the year you're trying to claim it in. You just print the forms off the CAD, get the documentation you need, get it notarized, and send it in. FREE, but you'll receive many things in the mail asking you to send people money to file for you.

[RogerMurdock]

Aren't there a bunch of counties that don't even give credit for a homestead exemption though? I thought Travis county was one of them.

[Trainwreck20]

Some counties don't apply a reduction, but the city itself does.

[scm53]

Originally Posted by RogerMurdock

Aren't there a bunch of counties that don't even give credit for a homestead exemption though? I thought Travis county was one of them.

Travis County has a $5,000 or 20 % (whichever is greater) exemption.

[FalconheadWest]

Most of the exemption you'll see is on the school tax.

[Spacepup]

I'd like to hop in here with a quick question: how seriously does Travis County take abuse of the homestead exemption? For example the place I'm renting has a homestead exemption applied to it (among many others), yet the owner hasn't lived here for years. I'm guessing they have kept their driver's license showing the current address or something.

I'm just curious really. It seems like something that would be pretty easy for them to catch given the information they have on where to mail the property tax bill and my vehicles registered here, yet they haven't.

[10scoachrick]

Originally Posted by Spacepup

I'd like to hop in here with a quick question: how seriously does Travis County take abuse of the homestead exemption? For example the place I'm renting has a homestead exemption applied to it (among many others), yet the owner hasn't lived here for years. I'm guessing they have kept their driver's license showing the current address or something.

I'm just curious really. It seems like something that would be pretty easy for them to catch given the information they have on where to mail the property tax bill and my vehicles registered here, yet they haven't.

Might be a smidge trickier to track if they don't claim Homestead on another property.

I know every dollar counts(one reason we now pay HALF the property tax we paid before); but the Homestead exemption is a drop in the bucket compared to the overall bill. No reason to throw away money, but it's just not all that much for a given year. Of course, it's a larger percentage on a less expensive property; but someone having a panic attack if they missed the first year's filing on a $500K home strikes me as odd. I KNOW...every dollar counts!!! Just sayin'

[FalconheadWest]

The county only knows the drop the homestead if the home owner claims a homestead on another property. If there is not another claim, the home owners would have to tell the CAD to remove it.

As of last year, it's much harder to get a homestead than it once was, but when it was easy to file, you don't have to file again. It's only made it harder for new claims.