If you have not looked yours up yet, you should...

Its pretty out there. If by chance you happen to own some property that doesnt fall under the homestead exemption, hold on to your hat. I am getting hit with a 90+% increase on our old hose which is being used by my elderly parents.


Here's how you can look up your state representatives:  https://wrm.capitol.texas.gov/home

Governor: https://gov.texas.gov/contact

You should write them a letter once you see your new property tax assessment.

Using ChatGPT, I came up with a simple letter you can use if you like...

Thanks for taking the time to do this!

OP,,,Complete waste of time. Our reps DO NOT CARE about you OR your issues. Don't have a half million and free trips? Don't waste your time.

I hear you. I'm still gonna do it, just to say that I did.

There are some who do and who are responsive. They may be in the minority, but the State reps from several districts around mine still give a s&$t about their neighbors. Doesn’t mean 8 agree with them on everything, but if you don’t communicate about what you think is the correct way to think about an issue, you can be sure that the rats are communicating about the wrong way.

I'm in Travis County...  just about the worst place in the state for property taxes.  The assessor's office cries about how they can only raise assessments 10% a year for homestead exempted properties and how that isn't nearly enough to cover the county and Austin's wasteful spending.

What needs to be done is that assessments, regardless of homestead exemptions should not be allowed to be raised more than the official federal government cost of living increases.  Homestead exempted properties should be limited to 1/2 that increase.  Over 65 and veterans should be capped like they are.  When a propety is sold if the new owners are eligible for homestead they shouldn't see an increase above what it would be for the prior owner --  no 97% increases just because someone bought a property.  And over 65/veteran should be capped at prior rate.

What needs to happen is that cities/counties/school districts should LIVE WITH THE BUDGET.  Like all the rest of us have to.  If you're only collecting x$, then your budget shouldn't be more than x$.  Prioritize on the things we really need.  Forget the feel good crap.  Roads, law enforcement, schools.  First things first.

Got mine today....I'd like to go to the office and shove it straight up the Appraisers ass...

It's not his fault... it's the state, city legislatures and the school board...

Excuse me? Who is coming up with the new appraisal numbers?

But fine they should all have appraisals shoved up their asses...not like contacting them does any good...

Just doing his job didn't work at Nuremburg...

Its not quite the same as trying to exterminate an entire race of people, but I dont disagree about the ass shoving...

Honestly, Im pretty sure that its computer generated...

This is what I got from my representative... It looks like they are planning to do something similar to what they did in CA for property taxes...

Have you had luck fighting the appraisal via one of the robo mail/call tax lawyers?

Spooky

I've had moderate luck, not as much as I and my attorney hoped for.  The taxable value was reduced just under 10% and total property tax bills were reduced from a 14%+ increase to a 10% increase.  The 2022 market value appraisal had gone up nearly 40% from the previous year, and the taxable value increase was close to 15%....you gotta compare what the increase was from the previous year and/or the previous appraisal, if you don't protest it you'll be stuck with it.

With the new (2023) (estimate..my property is appraised on even years) the market value has not changed, taxable value went up $10K.  City and county estimated tax liability went up 9.9% each, school district went up 14.5%...total liability went up 11.3%.  

Currently deciding on this year's protest.  The appraisal district is not supposed to use commercial properties for comparison, every house that has sold in my neighborhood over the last 2 years has been bought by an LLC or Corp. with the intention of being a rental property...discovered that during a review for comps.  But DCAD appears to ignore such things.

mm

43.5% increase as of today.

I didn't mean to be tacky. I've see first hand the corruption in Austin,,both parties,,all over,,,it's bad.

Until Idiot Americans stop electing idiots like John Cornhole, it will continue.

The Governor and our "conservative" leadership are the ones who have done this, writing them will result in a laugh and a snicker.

Two years ago Abbott signed a budget of $248 billion, now Abbott will sign a budget of $302.6 billion.  They brag of record revenue rolling into the state coffers and passing property tax "relief" while spending like drunk sailors.

Hking

273% here.
I have an appointment with the county appraiser next week.

This will be a bit wordy,,,

I have fought the property tax issues for literally decades in Texas. Personally. I never used a "service". I've had good success in getting my valuations reduced which obviously reduces the $ amount I have to pay.

Over the years I benefitted greatly by establishing a personal relationship with the chief appraiser in the local tax office. We owned a large building/business which put me at the "chief" level in our county. Even as a simple homeowner you can do what I did IF IF IF you have a personal relationship with any one of the staff appraisers. Here's how this works.

All of the appraisers ( even the chief in our case) have a "caseload" of many many PIDs or Property Identifiers. Hundreds of them. The goal of the appraisal district is to drive the valuations of all the property in the county up as much as possible. This is directly against YOUR goal of driving the valuation of your asset down as much as possible. The caseload is a tough deal as more and more people are using a service or themselves to fight the valuations. Some folks simply file a protest valuation and "hope" fro a reduction. Some folks do nothing and simply absorb the yearly increases. Some use a service to help. ALL of the properties WILL be valued at some point as the Chief appraiser has a time cut off to correct and submit all the PIDs as correct and ready to be taxed for the fiscal year.

Individual staff appraisers are human. Treat them as such. Call EARLY and ask for an appointment to discuss your PID. This is KEY as the number of appointments for a personal visit are LIMITED by the time constraints. Every appraiser hopes that NO ONE protests any PID as they then have nothing to do but twiddle their thumbs. In the real world that doesn't happen. What DOES happen is that in the last few days of the period for protesting the value of your PID the vast majority of protestors come in or call doing 400 knots with their hair on fire DEMANDING a reduction. Good luck.

I always was literally first in line for an appointment and came into the meeting WELL prepared. Here's where you win. The appraisers are LOOKING for easily justifiable to their Boss cases of small reductions that don't add up to much relative the the total for the County but to YOU over time it IS a big number. Assuming you were the appraiser would you rather have a reasonable well prepared client in your office on an appointment basis OR the last minute 400 knots hair on fire guy that's lost his mind over his tax bill?

Here's where YOU win. Let's say your PID is valued at $500K. You come into the appointment with pictures of a cracked foundation, crooked doors, unmowed lawn next door or one of hundreds of legitimate negative conditions of your PID. Now you spring the trap. You don't ask for a reduction that will MANDATE prior approval by the Chief appraiser. You come in with a request for reduction that is within the STAFF appraisers authority to grant the reduction. Ex. They send you a "Notice of Appraised Value"  for $500K and you come in with your requested valuation of $488,350 or some other arbitrary number that THIS appraiser can grant ON THE SPOT while you're in their office. Do not shoot for some unreasonable reduction as that will end up with you in front of the protest "board" where NO ONE EVER WINS.

Several things have now happened. 1) appraiser has just knocked one PID off his list in just a very few minutes. 2) appraiser KNOWS that the idiots that don't protest will MORE than make up for the small reduction he just allowed 3) you have a new relationship based on TRUST AND THE EVIDENCE YOU BROUGHT TO THE MEETING.

Next year you can again employ the same method for ANOTHER reasonable reduction with the SAME appraiser submitting a new valuation of say,,,$477,500. Rinse and repeat year after year  with your goal being to keep the check you have to write appx. the same as the year before. Over years this will save you tons of money. It does require a bit of work on your part but I've been doing this since the mid '80s and I promise you I've saved a pile on taxes.

EVIDENCE to support your claim is critical. If you have to drive by a junky yard on the way to your home take pictures of the junky place and USE them. A true MAI Appraisal would. A true MAI appraisal WILL AND SHOULD include any negatives that impact the potential sales price of your asset. Loud train twice a day? Use it. Live near a quarry that blasts once a week? Use it. I suspect that any of you reading this can come up with at least a dozen factors that may lower your property value in the staff appraisers eyes.
The End

My most recent "victory" with my home involved a methhead that live about  a mile up my from our home. Junk cars, threats, scabs all over. BAD BAD BAD. I took pics and essentially explained to the appraiser that if they didn't lower my value I'd sue due to the county NOT enforcing the nuisance laws on the books. I also explained to him that two realtors had declined to list our home because of the image the meth head portrayed with respect to my PID. I encouraged him to go LOOK FOR HIMSELF which he actually did. I also explained to him that I'd make ALL the property owners aware of the nuisance laws that were not being enforced all around the county and impacting their actual values while all the time they would be paying more in taxes if they as well didn't protest the $ amount of their PID. He ( appraiser) caved in just one day. My value was SUBSTANTIALLY reduced and has remained that way as the duplex that housed the methhead ( we got him evicted) is still there. Even though the meth head is gone and there are two teachers in it now with a clean and nice appearance the duplex price point for rent is one of the lowest cost rentals in the area. I still protest every year anyway as it
is just smart business to try and cut my costs where I can. YOU CAN TOO!!!

Our property tax appraisal stayed about the same for the last 3 or 4 years.  Then "BAM",  a +30% increase this year.

Paladin

Filed my appeal. Apparently the value of my house went up nearly 100% this year, according to my local tax office.

I suppose California politics are already taking hold here.

It's Abbott's fault for turning a blind eye and allowing this to happen. Taxman gonna tax and tax at insane levels if allowed to go unchecked. If this is the extent of his actual leadership and disregard of the commoners, it's telling.

Don't just complain the taxes are too high. You need to suggest other areas they can tax instead of property or government services they could cut. Something has to give if you lower property taxes. Offer solutions.

How about the cap .gov spending at 3%  make the locals actually run a budget instead aucking up increases in peorpety values



I still maintain, that if we're going to fund everything with property taxes, we should move to a per sq ft and per acre system.  No more valuations and force local taxing entities to actually be accountable for thier spending.  If they want more money they can raise tax rates instead if hiding behind the Cads.  

MFers were nice enough to leave the home(stead) alone, but raised my acreage $9500 an acre...yeah, you read that right.

I suggest an almost 100% raise in value in one year is absurd. No one is claiming they are upset because there wasn't a tax cut this year, which never happens regardless. As far as what else they can tax, good luck. Everything in TX is already taxed. Meanwhile, every time a squirrel farts, my power goes out. Better question is, where are the tax dollars going now.

In-laws and I went in together on a beautiful little country property 15 years ago where we’ve enjoyed shooting, fishing, weekend get aways etc. 15 acres no restrictions 900 sf cabin, simple pole barn, pond. Taxes went from 137k last year to 413k for 2023. It will be going up for sale soon……

QFT

That seems to be the ultimate goal in my opinion is to force sales of property because that is the logical outcome.

My home 50 miles out if Houston is ag and wildlife mgmt exempt for the most part. The land values went up 60%. The home, not exempt went up the max 10%. My land near Big Bend went 800%!.A lot valued at 18k last year is now 72k. Must be due to its desirabilty to migrants traipsing through. .

They reviewed my submittal and offered a 33% increase (value) instead of 83% to avoid the hearing. Not sure I should accept. Still would like to hold out until I get cleared for homestead status, either way.

1st, call it what it is - a wealth tax. 2nd, they don't care. ended up in a screaming match with my state rep. he wanted to argue over the technicalities of the previous law and if my house had truly gone up in appraised value more than 10%. ended up authoring, with a dem, mileage tracking/taxation program bill. they all need to be replaced.

does not work. i've brought in appraisals that were a week old showing a 50-100k difference. was told the appraisal was too old and to sue them. I've brought in 3 diff RE methods showing a property hadn't increased in value only to be told i could sue them, as they were using the 4th method (which isn't ethical). Brought back the 4th method the next year only to be told to sue them they were using a different one this year. My county has, in the past, been caught raising property values for everyone but their friends and family homes. They're highly corrupt and need to be completely abolished.

It’s fucking insane how high the taxes are and how fast they’re increasing.

Are rental houses considered businesses?


mm

for property tax purposes, they don't have a business classification.  however since you can't homestead it, your property tax is no longer capped at a max 10% increase per year.  so if you have a rental property and they decide the value increased 25% from one year to another, your property tax will go up around the same 25% whereas if it was your primary home, the value may go up the same 25% but the property tax will be based on a 10% max increase.

Thanks, in my neighborhood most of the houses sold since 2019 have been bought by LLCs, Corps, oir groups of individuals and are rented out.  On my street there are approx. 50 houses and only about a dozen of us are owner/resident.  During the protest, all the comps DCAD presented were rentals.

ETA - When I mentioned they were rentals, the DCAD people got pissed off.

Thanks again,

mm