Home address: Water Bluff Ln
2021 Taxable Value: $81,480
Recent Sales Price: $65,000 – Over-taxed by 25%
Half or more of Texas home owners are paying more than their fair share of property taxes. Appraisal districts are flexible on market value appeals given the large number of houses they value and that are protested. Unequal appraisal appeals are valid when the assessment is below market value. 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.