Protesting Property Tax Increase

[Josh McAuliffe]

The dreaded day has arrived... Travis CAD released assessments for 2022 and I almost fainted when I saw the newly appraised value of the duplex I just closed on in March. The county raised my appraised value by 173% YOY and determined the market value to be quite a bit higher than the appraisal I received during closing. I had initially planned to protest on my own but I am looking into professional consultants as it may be worth the cost to save myself the headache... As I am doing my research I am trying to compare the fees associated with each consultant. Below is what I have gathered thus far;

Texas Pro Tax: 

• The taxable reduction fee is based off of 40% of actual tax dollar savings.
• For properties with exemptions (EX: Homestead), there is a market value reduction fee calculated IF the market value is reduced but doesn’t beat the capped value ($2.50/$1k value reduction).
• The minimum fee is $50/parcel.

Texas Property Tax Reduction: $199 one time fee (refundable if no reduction in market value)

Home Tax Shield: $30 membership fee, 30% of tax savings 

Property Tax Protest: 1% of market value reduction 

Texas Tax Protest: Couldn't find pricing on their website 


Anyone have experience with any of these consultants, or others I am missing, and can provide any recommendations? My next step is to create an excel table to estimate the fees associated with each consultant based on a hypothetical market value reduction.

[Josh McAuliffe]

Update since I just completed my informal hearing with the Appraisal Review Board (ARB). I ended up submitting the protest on my own and did not use a third party due to the fact that I just bought this property and have my closing documents and a fresh appraisal. I uploaded these supporting documents to the web portal. I closed on my property at the end of March so the ARB took my purchase price and included a time adjustment which resulted in the new appraised value coming in at 4% below my purchase price. Altogether they reduced my appraised value by 14%.