Homeowners: The official "b**** about your property appraisal" thread

OK, so if you never get it appraised for tax purposes, then that means your property taxes will never go up unless there is a blanket property tax increase, correct??

If that's the case, then the risk of getting your house appraised in hopes of getting your property taxes lowered doesn't seem to be worth it...Unless there is some law that states you are required to get a property appraisal, which makes my statements irrevelant in the first place...

I'm curious because I might consider buying a house in the next year or so if things go right at work....

 

We're in Austin and our Home was appraised for $50 k over our purchase price, now 2 years later, the appraisal dropped by the same amount.

 

The county takes care of the appraisal for tax purposes. The owner really isn't involved in that. The county has their own appraisers. You don't get to pick who appraisers your house.

 

ohhhh...I thought you just went up to the appraisal office and said, "OK, tell me how much my house is worth!"

 

In Harris County, you have 90 days from the date on your most recent appraisal.

 

If it is a recent purchase, then yes they will probably adjust to the sales price.

I filed a protest on my new house. It's going to be complicated though because it is a new construction plus a closed-market transaction (a father-to-son sale) in a neighborhood (3rd Ward) that hasn't had any recent sales of new construction houses. So, we can't really even do a market comparison (nothing to compare to) nor a sales price (because it wasn't open market). I have to show them construction costs and curbside appeal (I'm going to take pictures of the local drug dealers and prostitutes ). I hope to get about $60,000 knocked off the appraisal (about $1,400 in tax). Wish me luck.

 

I'm also in the Heights and mine went up from 138 to 160. I've protested once before and kept it at the 10% increase. This time I'm hoping to keep it from going up at all. I just got a $10,000 estimate to replace some wood and repaint.

Guess I need to go post in that contractor thread also.

 

Just so you know, or have any question: The tax appraisal has NOTHING to do with fair market value of you house.

 

We just bought a house. It was undervalued before. They have just increased the rate by 50%,!!! which is about 10K more more than we paid for it.

Somewhat has told me that the 10% rule doesn't apply if you didn't homestead it last calendar year. Does anyone know about this?

 

You should probably contest this one.

 

Texas Tax Code

§ 23.23. Limitation on Appraised Value of Residence Homestead


(a) The appraised value of a residence homestead for a tax year may not exceed the lesser of:

(1) the market value of the property; or

(2) the sum of:

(A) 10 percent of the appraised value of the property for the last
year in which the property was appraised for taxation times the
number of years since the property was last appraised;

(B) the appraised value of the property for the last year in which
the property was appraised; and

(C) the market value of all new improvements to the property.

(b) When appraising a residence homestead, the chief appraiser shall:

(1) appraise the property at its market value; and

(2) include in the appraisal records both the market value of the
property and the amount computed under Subsection (a)(2).

(c) The limitation provided by Subsection (a) takes effect as to a residence homestead on January 1 of the tax year following the first tax year the owner qualifies the property for an exemption under Section 11.13. The limitation expires on January 1 of the first tax year that neither the owner of the property when the limitation took effect nor the owner's spouse or surviving spouse qualifies for an exemption under Section 11.13.

(d) This section does not apply to property appraised under Subchapter C, D, E, F, or G.

(e) In this section, "new improvement" means an improvement to a residence homestead that is made after the appraisal of the property for the preceding year and that increases the market value of the property. The term does not include ordinary maintenance of an existing structure or the grounds or another feature of the property.

 

Behad,

our value more than doubled after we were here for year, nothing we can do about it, probably had more to do with being undervalued to start with.

Smeg

 

That's what I thought. In Massachusetts, there is an assessed value which is determined by the city and then there is the appraisal which is determined by an appraiser sent by the bank. The assessed value is used for taxes and the appraisal is used by the bank for loan approval and should reflect the fair market value of the house.

Here, the assessed value for taxes is much lower than the fair market value of the house.

 

Please don't revive a thread from 05-08-03 on 08-05-03. I'm messed up enough already.

Here I'm thinking 'i've read this before....no, i haven't, it's today's date...but i'm sure i have...except it's todays date...but i know i have....

So your tax goes up $350 and you're feeling good. Funny how that is.

Congrats.

 

Behad - we had a valuation done as part of getting out loan topped up to do a pile of renovations, our property value went up 50,000 in 2 years, a bank valuation tend to very conservative, another valuer said to add another 20,000 to that.