So, the appraisal came in the mail yesterday and I am not happy about the increase. I understand how to file the protest and the process involved, but am looking for how to build my argument. I'm sure lots of you regularly do this so I was wondering what evidence/arguments that I should use. My house needs foundation repair and I have a quote for that...will that help? Looking for reasons to use to argue that the appraisal should be lower... Rep for any help! Many thanks
How you protest will vary from local government but I think the best way to start is to get a professional inspection and assessment of your property. That will cost you money though so you have to decide if that is less than what you pay in increase in property taxes. The other thing you could do is look up the property value of your neighbors. Many counties provide that information online for free. You could also check realtor based property values on sites like http://www.zillow.com/
I did property tax consulting right after graduating from college (low hours, good pay) for a short while. Your argument will need to revolve around sales in your neighborhood in 2012. Sales on your street hold more merit. I forgot what the sheet is called, but we used to get 3-5 of the most comparable sales. Most appraisers would take the average of the three lowest sales. Usually, you need to provide at least 2 examples but 3 is ideal (average adjusted sales price of the 3). I used to be cool with a few appraisers..some of them were so nonchalant that they would match the lowest adjusted sales price...just one, which meant I was getting bigger cuts than what really should have been given. If that didn't work out in my favor, I would go through all of the sales in the neighborhood and cherry pick. You can look at HCAD's site (if that's your county) for sales. The problem is that you need to know how to adjust the value of the homes that were sold since the grade, square footage, etc are different. If you get a nice appraiser at your hearing, they will do the math for you. Also, you can report any issues such as noise pollution, foundation problems that aren't accounted for by the appraisal district. Pictures help in these cases. Don't be a douche. They can always raise the value if they have proof that it could actually be higher. If you're not happy with with your initial hearing, you can send the case to the board for a second and final hearing.
