Investor · Dallas/Fort Worth, TX · Member since 2016 · 14 posts · 2 votes
Please post any successful strategies disputing my 2016 taxes back to a reasonable rate. Bought my home in August of 2015 and the taxes appraisal increased $50K in one year!
Investor · Plano, TX · Member since 2016 · 61 posts · 48 votes
9y
Interior/exterior photos of items in need of repair (cracks, etc) are good to try and get the condition of your property permanently lowered.
I must say though it appears your value is already well below market. Yes, it sucks it went up $50k in 2016 but from 2012 to 2015 it went up only $22k in 4 years (12% increase). It's still below the sales price from 2 years ago and the homestead exemption softens the financial effects of the increase.
Without repair photos I am not sure you are going to have much success to negotiate.
Rental Property Investor · Dallas/Fort Worth, TX · Member since 2017 · 64 posts · 59 votes
9y
Hi @John Van der Kieft, TAD has simplified the property tax protest process this year as you can complete the whole process online. When you received your property tax statement, it should have included your account number and a PIN number to create an online account for the property on the TAD website via eAccess. After creating your account, you can then see what comps TAD used for the property valuation. There is a market valuation and an appraisal valuation (which is the taxable amount), which may not be the same amount given the high appreciation of home values. You can dispute the appraisal valuation online and if acceptable to TAD, you will receive an immediate response from TAD via email regarding acceptance or denial of your proposed valuation. Or, TAD may request additional documentation from you to support your valuation. You can also do the longer route of filing a written notice of protest and wait for a scheduled hearing to appear before TAD to protest in person. It took just a couple of minutes online and we reduced the taxable appraisal values on multiple properties.
Investor · Dallas/Fort Worth, TX · Member since 2016 · 14 posts · 2 votes
9y
@Mark Buskuhl Thanks Mark. Too bad we don't have a "Save Our Homes" initiative like in Florida. It restricts the percentage increase of taxes on primary residences.
Real Estate Agent · Keller, TX · Member since 2017 · 850 posts · 825 votes
9y
John, all of my rentals and personal residence are in Tarrant County. So I know TAD and the protest process very well and have a 100% success rate disputing my property taxes on all my properties. Send me a PM with your e-mail and I will foward you my strategy and links to pull public data to help support your argument.
It goes into effect the 2nd year after the homestead has been applied and caps the value increase at 10% from preceding year. Only good for your primary residence. You may see market value, appraised value, assessed value (depending on county).
They got you last year because they could with a 25% increase but if you notice for 2017 your value went up almost 9%, just under the 10% cap. I think you meant to say you are protesting your 2017 value as 2016 is over and was due by January 31st of this year.
I ran a quick CMA and they still have you around $30k under market value. There are no comps to support a reduction. Even the lowest PSF comp still puts it over what they appraised you at. Just my opinion.
Investor · Dallas/Fort Worth, TX · Member since 2016 · 14 posts · 2 votes
9y
@Mark Buskuhl Thanks Mark. I understand what you say. However, will still make a try for reduction. Did not know about the Homestead rule you mentioned. Thank you for that info. Makes the tax history previous a bit more understandable. It seemed to hold stable for the years preceding my purchase. I could not figure out the reason.
Investor · Dallas/Fort Worth, TX · Member since 2016 · 14 posts · 2 votes
9y
@Cary O. I seem to not understand how to get my profile setup on that site. It's help feature is unable to provide me needed information. Thank you for your information though.