Collin County Tax Protest Informal Review

[Robert Steele]

A heads up for anyone going to McKinney to talk to the appraisers concerning your tax notice. They are in rare form this year, really trying to screw residents out of every last penny they can.

They are using comps from early 2018 even though their own rules say the effective date is Jan 1st 2019.

I showed them comps from November through January of bigger houses (+400-600 sq. ft.) in my neighborhood selling for less ($20-$30K). There were no houses smaller that sold recently. They wouldn't accept that. They are fixated on the square foot matching because it allowed them to go back a year to use comps.

This happened with multiple properties across multiple appraisers.

I'd say things like; "All things being equal a larger house is going to sell for more than a smaller house" and would get told "Smaller houses in your neighborhood must be in more demand; that's why the price is higher".

I'd say things like; "Here is a house that is the same square footage in the same subdivision going to the same schools and it sold for much less" and would get told "But it's in the older part of the subdivision" when the year built was only 2 years older than mine!

I'd says things like; "You are fixated on square footage determining if a house is comparable but you are comparing single story houses to my two story and single stories cost more to build and typically sell for more than two stories of equal square footage" and would get told "if you don't like it go to the review board".

What's the bet that next year when we try to use comps from early 2019 when the market has been soft they won't accept them if the market has gotten stronger towards year end.