2016 Property Tax Appraisal - O'Connor Associates? Other Firms?

I've used O'connors for our place in Galveston while we've been living in Canada. They've done OK. If you can't go to protest yourself (or if it isn't economically feasible), it's certainly worth a shot. They only charge something like half of what they save you, but those benefits of a lower appraised value keep giving once you stop using them.

 

I've used them for a few years now, I'm in ft bend also. Cheaper than O'Connor.
Some years they'll able to reduce, some not.

http://www.appealpropertytax.com/

 

As a former lead in the company, I'd tell you to go to another service. Pat's a good man and this is the staple of the business, but he's let it get beyond being beneficial to the clients.

 

How so?

 

If you have a single-family, do something else, if you have multiple properties, then O'Connor is great.

 

I do not know anything about the various companies, I use Novotny but have no relative opinion...

I do think it is important to protest every year, 1. the money it costs is only half the money saved 2. Appraisal increases are limited to 10% each year, so every little bit you can knock it down saves you something in every subsequent year.

I have no illusions that the entire effort is nothing more than just showing up so that the appraiser makes some little concession.

 

they are harris counties number 1 protester. to combat this, harris schedules all their protests on one day so that there isn't adequate representation from oca. They are also using very base levels of research to determine property values. their volume eliminates the ability to do true property specific research meaning you can generally get lowered values if you do the work yourself or work with a smaller group.

 

I've been successful suppressing my appraised value according to HCAD for two years in a row simply using their IFile system.

 

I swear last year when I attended my informal hearing, they had the heat turned on so high that they basically sweat you out of there to keep the meeting short and have you concede quicker.

 

I just filed my protests last night, but I have no plan on how I will protest.

 

Is that the one that links directly from the HCAD website? Do you have to go in or can you do everything online?

 

If you really disagree with your assessment then take the time necessary to go down yourself. Otherwise you may or may not get a reduction and if you do it won't be as big as you like.

 

You can do it all online.

hcad.org/ifile

I have a friend in real estate and they got me a comparable in my neighborhood that sold for way less than market value. I'm using that as the basis for my protest, same as I have for two years now. They send you an offer back electronically through their isettle program. You can either accept it, counter offer or go to a hearing. The settlement has been acceptable to me thus far.

 

Did anyone need license/verification info for contractors on repair estimates? I have an official hearing soon (not the cubicle one).

The arbitrator mentioned it to me, but I've never had anything like that in the past required of me. Also, contractors don't always need a license.

 

I would stay far away from O"Connor. They didn't listen when I tried to tell them HCAD has my house listed as over 1,000 sqf larger than it really is, and they failed to get a penny's worth of reduction. I made sure a couple years ago to no longer authorize them to represent me, and THIS year they sent me a bill for services they were not authorized to perform - can't WAIT to have that conversation with them. Does not seem to be a very well run business.

That said, HCAD is a den of thieves, and I hope the whole place falls into a sinkhole.

 

Alright, so... The iFile last year got me concessions on my house and condo. This year, they said no and I'm scheduled for a meeting with the appraiser. I tried to punt to a tax protest company but because I filed myself, they won't pick it up. So, I guess I have to do it myself after all and looking for advice. I've done it once before and had success, but that was 15 years ago and involved a lot of prep. What is the easiest laziest way I can do the bare minimum but still bring in enough data to get a little concession?

 

I recall getting comp data from my realtor. Is there a public source of this data, or do I need to go back to a realtor for comps?

 

https://www.amazon.com/Sexual-Lubricants/b?ie=UTF8&node=10786421

 

They only took like $2K off of my market value, and $0 off of my appraised value, so I'm going to go in I think.

When I log in, they actually have a link called "View HCAD Hearing Evidence" and it has a lot of comparable sales. For me, they don't make sense because they're all different neighborhoods with different school districts, HOA's, etc. Plus, all those sales are of updated properties.

The thing that gets me is, a person directly across the street from me is about $36K lower in their MARKET value and their house is completely redone (wood/laminate floors, updated counter and cabinets, etc.). And, that house was recently listed, so pictures of the inside were readily available. I'm going to try to basically show pictures of theirs VS pictures of mine and ask how can they be appraised so much lower?