How much does a swimming pool affect property tax appraisal? (Post: houses, prices)

[Mamiamjo]

We are building a house and would like a swimming pool, but I'm wondering how much that will affect the appraised value and thus the property taxes. Is there any kind of rule of thumb on how they determine the amount it affects the appraised value!

[texas7]

I didn't think a pool affected appraisal at all.

[EasilyAmused]

I remember once I was told 1200 onto the houses value when I went in for a protest years ago. Old or new, no matter the repairs needed or condition.

[mikeyyc]

Fort Bend County uses $9,000 added. Regardless of cost.

[TexasCatherine]

Originally Posted by mikeyyc

Fort Bend County uses $9,000 added. Regardless of cost.

Ft Bend added $38,770 to our appraisal for our pool.

[kreeyax]

My neighbors with the same floor plan as me have a pool and they are appraised around $30K higher. This is in Cypress (HCAD). $1200 or even $9000 more sounds like a steal.

[pdouglas]

I just checked my pool tax asessed value (Ft. Bend). it is $25,390.

[PedroMartinez]

Posts 3 and 4 had me real happy, since I just had a pool installed last year.

The next few posts made me sad.

[mikeyyc]

Originally Posted by TexasCatherine

Ft Bend added $38,770 to our appraisal for our pool.

When you add something like a pool it's their opportunity to get around Homestead tax rules. A major change allows them to re-evaluate the entire home, so if prices have been rocketing up, but homestead only lets you get a 10% bump, when you add a pool, they adjust the whole property up. All of the tax rolls I've seen value the pool at a flat $9000.

Totally true that the entire appraisal could jump though the first year.

[TexasCatherine]

The pool was built when our house was built in 2008, so it isn't new. When I open the "improvements segments" on our account at FBCAD, it shows a line item for our pool ($38,770) and another line item for our spa ($10,120).