HCAD Appraisal & Protest (real estate, foreclosure, houses)

[Houston_2010]

I just received the letter with the 2012 appraisal value...it's almost $45K more than last year and about $14K more than the purchase price in 2010. Since last month there was a thread about this and most of you posted not many changes, I was hoping mine would stay about the same. wow!

In the past I have used appealpropertytax. com site to protest, but they have increased their fee to 40%. Can anyone recommend another GOOD tax appeal office that you've used before and fees are 40% or less?

[cheryjohns]

If you will pm me your address - I will send you the recent solds that match. At least you will know where you really stand.

[jiffener]

We are protesting our appraisal too. Looking at city-data is step 1 in my tax protest research process!

[asonnier]

Do it yourself and don't spend anything except the gas it takes to drive there. Very easy and takes a couple hours max!

[trbstang]

That's an increase! I guess your home is either over $450K, you did major improvements, or you don't have the homestead exemption since the 10% increase limit would come into play otherwise.

I would certainly look at the HCAD website and find several comparable homes in your neighborhood, sqft and features wise to yours, (within 100 sqft or so and same style, 1 or 2 story) and run the calculations on $ per sqft and compare that to yours. That way you know how you stand on the "unequal appraisal" basis for protest. Also you might look at the floorplan of your house on file at the HCAD office. I found out that mine was wrong, adding about 200 sqft to the house that did not exist. Got my appraisal dropped about 10% that year by comparing it to another 4 houses with the same floorplan in my neighborhood. Make sure the description is not wrong either, like listing too many rooms/ bathrooms, etc. If all this fails, then it is time to hire one of the pros to try and get it down for you.

Right now my house is within the range of the others in my neighborhood, and the prior comps are actually higher, so I've had oconnor and appealpropertytax doing it for the past 5+ years. They have saved me a few hundred dollars that I doubt I could have gotten myself as my value has remained unchanged the past 4 years while others have gone up a bit.

[heightsian]

Most of the houses on our street went up $30k+ in value, including ours. We didn't do anything to the house at all. What's interesting is that the largest house on our block actually dropped by about $30k+ and it's the only one that we can see that did drop. Not sure what's going on there. We're planning to appeal, but not sure whether we'll do it in person or go to O'Connor.

[STGlassBlock]

I appealed this by myself and it worked! I took pictures of
Things on our property that needed repairs. I got quotes on repairs (gutters)
Paint etc...I compared all the houses on my street and
was able to bring it down. I felt like I was being punished
for mowing and trying to keep it clean....planning on appealing
again..CRAZY...food gas and other expenses UP...Pay still the same, actually
LESS....

[jiffener]

So for people that have succeeded, how RECENT was your success? It sounds like they are "tightening up" significantly in the last year or two.

Also how different is the situation if you bought a foreclosure way below the assessed value? Do the comps matter as much in that case?

I filed and was hoping to get it accepted online or at least a reasonable counter-offer. But the mailman brought us a nice little note with a scheduled hearing date.

Thanks for any and all advice, including...
*recent experience with protest companies
*recent experience with DIY protest
*recent experience with foreclosure property

[hope this is not considered a thread-jack... I'm still unclear on whether it is preferred to update an existing thread or start a new one]

[crone]

They always tell me to bring pictures. If anything needs to be repaired, take a contractor's estimate.

The year I bought my house, they knew what I paid. I told them that I got film-flammed by a fast talking real estate agent and what was the penalty for my being stupid. They took 25000 off. Don't think that would fly this year.

It looks to me like the people in my neighborhood who hired somebody did better than homeowners. Don't do O'Connor or at least check the contract. It locks you in for the rest of your life.

[HoustonRonnie]

Bettencourt's going for my hearing on Friday. I'll return and report.

Ronnie