Home address: 1719 Hodge Lake Ln

2021 Taxable Value: $508,960

Recent Sales Price: $400,000 – Over-taxed by 27%

Property tax assessments not carefully reviewed lead to paying more than your share of property taxes. A market value appeal is based on the assessor’s value exceeding the market value of your home. The lower value stands when appealing market value and unequal appraisal. Appeal both every year. Winning a property tax protest is easy. Getting property owners to appeal is hard. Only 10% of Texan home owners appeal their property taxes.

Some homeowners do not appeal property taxes because they are not aware of this right. You can and should protest both market value and unequal appraisal annually. One reason it is difficult for appraisal districts to correctly value homes is they are not homogenous. Some have been remodeled and some haven’t. Most tax protests are settled at the informal level so appraisers can return to measuring and valuing new construction. Protesting your property taxes annually is analogous to regularly changing the oil in your car. Preventative maintenance avoids serious problems.