Property Tax Appraisals 2007 (West, Howe, Lott: countertops, good schools, square footage)

[sapphire]

Yeah, it does sort of seem unfair--we have only one child going to public school, yet we pay the same as another family living in a similarly valued home that may have 3 or 4 kids in public school. But, no one said life was fair! I guess it's best not to dwell on it, since there is nothing you can do about it anyway, except go live under the bridge.

[jules07]

Originally Posted by winst0n

and besides, i am the one who is supposed to feel bad by paying too much on property tax since i am single and does not send any kid to school... i help others' kids be in school

most of you here probably have kids in school, so you are actually using the tax you are paying for... which is 1.6% of the more or less 3% total property tax

The "I don't have any kids in public school, so me paying taxes to support them isn't fair" arguement has always bothered me. When I lived in Phoenix, it drove me crazy that all these senior citizens that lived in Sun City were thrilled that they didn't have to pay taxes for public schools. Who do they think paid taxes for THEIR kids to go to school???!!! And for those who don't have kids in public school (including me, since most of mine are homeschooled), who paid taxes for YOU to go to public school. Yea, it would be great if every parent would pay for their own children to go to school, but it hasn't been that way since the days of Mann and Dewey!

[jules07]

Originally Posted by winst0n

question? why do you want your house appraised lower than what you paid for? is it because of the property tax? i know that the market price is different than the appraised price, but the market price is more or less comes close to the appraisal, so when you have a higher appraisal, your house can be sold higher, which is what we all like isn't?

Well, not exactly. The county appraisal district uses "sold" prices in their appraisal process, but their appraisal really has no influence on what your property could actually sell for. For instance, my house has been "appraised" by bcad for about $8,000 more than what it could sell for right now (yeah, I'm gonna fight it!! ). Wouldn't help me one bit if I tried to sell right now. My next door neighbor's house, on the other hand, is appraised at about $25,000 less than what they could sell for. Difference is that we purchased our home about 2 years ago, they've been in theirs for about 9 years. Ours had a more recent "sold" price, so adjusted more in line with the market value. I think maybe the word "appraisal" throws people off. It sounds very technical. But in actuality, it has no effect on the market value, but reflects it. It's just the amount that bcad determines the value of your property to be so they can assess taxes on that amount. So, my bcad "appraisal" at $8,000 over market value does not mean that it's worth that amount to a buyer, just as my neighbor's bcad appraisal at $25,000 under market does not mean that's all they could sell for either.

[mexicomike]

Hi:
This has been a fascinating thread with a lot of good info. My wife and I have been thinking of moving to SAT should we need to move from Guadalajara.
I have asked another individual some questions "privately" but, perhaps I should ask them publicly so everyone can see the answers.
By way of background, I own some lots/vacant property in Maryland. The assessment last year QUADRUPLED!!! The new assessment is phased-in so that the actual tax I paid was "only" doubled!! Each year, however, I can expect the phasing-in to increase my taxes---until the next assessment. Needless to say, I will be selling the property as soon as possible.
At what level are the San Antonio assessments made---in Maryland, for example, they are done by a State office?
How often are properties (re)assessed?
Are the assessments supposed to be 100%, 90%, 80% of "market" or what?
Thanking you in advance for your help, I remain.....

Yours truly,

"Mike"

[ShaneSA]

The Bexar County Appraisal District issues new appraisials each year at this time.
The values used to be a percentage of the market value. Now the county has been able to link to the court house and gets the sales price of properties as the sale is registered for the deed.. This will trigger an automatic appraial at the "market" value. The selling price.
BCAD now has a policy that,eventually all properties will be apprased at the market value.

[bigbill]

I am preparing to fight my property tax appraisal and thought I had seen somewhere on this thread a URL where one could go to look at how much homes were selling for in one's neighborhood. As I looked through here, I did not see it. Would anyone happen to know if there is such a site? Thanks.

[smuboy86]

You can't Texas is a state that doesn't require release of that information. You can go on the listing price of homes for sale in the area, but there really isn't a very good way to find the actually selling price with out asking the person who sold it or bought it.

[ShaneSA]

A realtor can give you a print out of comparables homes in the area and the actual selling price with the "asking price".
Unortunatly, a realtor is the only person I know who can get that info from the MLS.

[cjw]

I just looked at my house on bcad.org and the appr value has gone up 81% since 2002 and it capped out in 2006 and 2007 - Crazy! It only increased 13% total in the 10 years prior to that.

[SoCal transplant]

Not sure whether I should fight our appraisal, even though it went up 27%. Even at this obscene adjustment, our home is still appraised slightly less than what we paid for it last year (new). We put a big down, and the appraisal for last year seemed to reflect the amount we mortgaged.

The appraisal amount now seems to be in line with everyother home in our cul-de-sac, however our $ per sft is $8 over everyone else.

Not sure that the sales will help me out, as homes in our general area have been selling for more than what we paid, and we are also next door to a community with homes selling for +$450k.