The Watchdog looks at the ultraconfusing Texas property tax appraisal system as one big game. Like any game, you gotta play to win.
The deadline for filing this year is May 15. Check your recently arrived appraisal notice for protest filing information.
For more than a decade, I owned a Texas home but didn’t know I could protest to lower my property taxes.
My property tax bill was tucked inside my monthly mortgage check. Almost in hiding. I wasn’t paying attention.
I should have. I overpaid thousands of dollars in property taxes because, if I had known how, I could have provided evidence of needed updates and expensive repairs.
Since then, I have tested every way I could think of to win at this game.
It’s working.
On my appraisal district’s website, I looked at the market values of 45 homes on my street. Of those 45, only three had market values lower than mine. All the rest are higher.
I shouldn’t be surprised, considering all the techniques I’ve tested to win.
Protest history
The first protest I won was the easiest. I showed the appeals board the actual sales documents for my home purchase. Since my numbers were real and theirs were only a guess, they lowered it to my number.
The next year — in what I call “Wheel of Fortune” — the appraisal district’s software asked me what I thought the values were. I answered by email my best guess. I spun the wheel and won again. Voila!
The next year, I won when I showed the panel that an almost exact replica of my home, four doors away, had numbers much lower and more favorable to them than mine.
The next protest I won used a common technique. I proved through photos and invoice charges that certain repairs I needed lowered the value of my house.
The next year, I hired the largest property tax company in the state. It was like a factory. They ran me through with hundreds of thousands of other clients.
The following year, I tried a local company. It also had so many clients that there was no time for individual attention.
The year after that, I hired another tax consultant to represent me. He talked a big game, but forgot about me and missed my scheduled hearing. That year, I saw no improvements.
Frustrated, I filed a complaint with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, which licenses tax consultants. Nothing ever came of it.
The next year, I decided to test binding arbitration. My hearing was scheduled, but close to the date the appraisal district waved the white flag and offered me what I asked for. They wanted to avoid arbitration.
Now I’ve settled in with another local company. I can’t give recommendations. But I call a co-owner “the shark” because his company is a killer. They get down and dirty with appraisal districts and fight for their clients.
Related:Watchdog: Behind the scenes on the new Texas property tax law and your future savings
Protest tax odds and ends
I cover a lot more ground on protests in my previous story which you can find at dallasnews.com/watchdog. I focused on the basics before the May 15 deadline.
Here are some more odds and ends to supplement that information.
Some property owners are complaining that they lost their $100,000 discount because they lost their homestead exemption.
A new state law requires appraisal districts to get property owners to prove their residence is deserving of the exemption. If your driver’s license, for instance, doesn’t match the address of your home, you have to prove residency. This is why all letters you receive from your appraisal district should always be opened.
The good news is you can file to regain some of the overpayments.
If you file a protest before the May 15 deadline, you can always drop out if you don’t feel like going to a hearing. But you might get lucky and be asked to provide your own numbers to the district’s software.
Don’t worry about retribution. An appraisal district cannot raise your appraisal or market values in a hearing. They can only be lowered and kept the same.
Every district has its way of doing things. All appraisal districts run under state rules. But each district has its own policies. For example, some districts allow video hearings while others may require in-person visits for hearings.
Some property owners tell me they don’t want to cut their taxes because they don’t want to cut government services.
Under the Texas Constitution and state laws, filing a protest is what you’re supposed to do. Most homeowners don’t. Surveys I did in past years showed that less than half of all property owners filed protests. That leaves a lot who didn’t.
If everybody filed a protest, the appraisal districts would get jammed up. That wouldn’t be so bad. The districts would then rush through negotiating settlements to avoid hearings. Bad for them, but good for us.
Do you believe property owners should file if they’re over 65? I do. Even with your school taxes frozen, other governments you pay may not have done the same. With city and county taxes frozen, that still leaves an estimated 20% of your tax bill vulnerable to increases.
Some counties allow informal over-the-counter negotiations. That saves the time involved in a hearing. If you don’t like their offer or they don’t like yours, go to your hearing.
Over the years, many people (I call them citizens of my Watchdog Nation) have told me how they used my information to save thousands of dollars in property taxes.
I request that you put part of your savings into keeping your Dallas Morning News subscription. You never know what money-saving tactic The Watchdog is going to come up with next.
Remember: May 15 deadline. Any questions? Contact your appraisal district.
Read part one of this series here.
Dig deeper and checkout The Watchdog’s archives of property tax stories going back 10 years.
By Dave Lieber – The Watchdog
