Travis County Property Tax Question

Austin, Texas
Austin Real Estate Forum
9yFollow

Travis County Property Tax Question

Account Closed
Austin, TX · Member since 2017 · 79 posts · 59 votes

Hi everyone - have a property tax question for you. Doing my first protest this year and had a strange experience at informal hearing this morning.

Sales comps provided by the county (which I requested) clearly suggest that my house is overvalued by close to 100k (I'm in a mid-200k neighborhood) - I can explain why if helpful but that's essentially the situation. The problem is the guy I spoke with at the informal hearing this morning said that the county "did not profile my neighborhood this year" and thus he can't take sales comps into consideration - only equity comps. The equity comps also show highly inflated adjustments, but then to that he said "there is nothing on the computer I can edit for equity". He then told me that if I go to the formal hearing with ARB, they will tell me the same thing. None of this makes sense to me, given that the TCAD site states things such as "The evidence presented for an over-market valuation protest may be sale prices of comparable properties in the area...." and, in regards to ARB hearing, "In value and unequal appraisal protests, the chief appraiser has the burden of proving the property’s value by a preponderance of the evidence presented at the ARB hearing. 344 If the chief appraiser fails to meet this burden of proof, the ARB must decide in the property owner’s favor. 345"

So basically this morning I was given no reason for why my property was valued so high - the guy even told me he agreed the property value was too high but there was nothing he could do and I would be told the same at the ARB hearing - he even got up to go ask someone else. I don't think he has worked there long, is he just wrong? Or am I missing something here? His response for why he could not change anything today was "there is nothing to change in the computer for your property" and he could not consider sales comps again due to "the county did not profile your neighborhood this year" - that does not seem like evidence to me, and regardless of what the county did this year sales comps are quite relevant to my property's value. He said the only thing I can submit for evidence this year is repairs - again maybe I am missing something but I don't understand how that would be the case. For quick reference, two of the five sales comps had a 200k positive adjustment for extra square footage alone, when the sales data shows the highest adjustment I think I could hope for is 40k, were I trying to sell - again this is a mid-200k neighborhood.

Has anyone run into this? I did a lot of research and never saw anyone mention something like this. Thanks in advance.

edit: by the way I'll be going to ARB hearing, but wondering if I need to adjust my strategy or something

0Reply
14 views

Most Popular Reply

Stephen Stokes
Rental Property Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2016 · 317 posts · 257 votes
9y

In my humble opinion, your time can be better spent on other activities. Let the pro's do this work for you. I use Texas ProTax (https://www.texasprotax.com/) but there are others out there I just believe they are the best and your results and ROI will not beat them. Had an uncle in this industry for years, was even on the appraisal board then had an independent tax consulting firm. Sold his business to TexasProTax and even lets them do his personal property protests now!

4Reply
See this reply in the discussion

8 Replies

Jump to latestLatest
  • Austin Stowell
    Developer and Real Estate Broker/ Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2015 · 22 posts · 8 votes
    9y

    I have not heard of them only using the Equity grid and refusing to use the sales grid.  I had a similarly frustrating experience on one protest where they only would use a very specific sub neighborhood for comps.  That has never happened before.  Previously informal would allow me to bring comps from a similar neighborhood.  ie. this is in Cherry Creek off of Westgate and they used to allow any Cherry Creek comp and now they would only consider within about 12 streets of the subject property.  I was still able to get a reduction but not near as much as I expected.

    0Reply
  • Shawn C.
    Investor · Cedar Park, TX · Member since 2014 · 317 posts · 74 votes
    9y

    I would contact the Texas State comptrollers Property Tax Division. They may be able to give you some insight. If nothing else, they can explain the arbitration process better. I do not believe the person you were talking to was correct.

    Years ago (before the charged for arbitration) my house was fully gutted because of a mold issue. I took pictures in and the employee I dealt with told me he used to own a construction company and I only had 10K worth of damage. I told him that's probably why he doesn't own a construction company any more because I had way more than 10K worth of damage (I probably should not have told him that). He also told me that if went to the arbitration board (which is supposed to be independent of the taxing authority). This is why there is a $450.00 fee (they may have raised the fee) to file. The arbitration board is paid out of this fee.

    I went to the board and won my case. They reduced my property tax at that time by 80K. I had pictures that were dated before the first of the year and taken and dated right before my hearing. They stated to me I won because thy look at the condition and value of the property as it sits on January 1.

    I think all clerks are trained to discourage people from going through the arbitration process because that is more money for the taxing authority.

    I understand your situation is not that same as mine was but it is my hope this will give you and others more insight in making a decision on if it is worth while going forward with trying to get a property tax reduction.

    0Reply
  • Stephen Stokes
    Rental Property Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2016 · 317 posts · 257 votes
    9y

    In my humble opinion, your time can be better spent on other activities. Let the pro's do this work for you. I use Texas ProTax (https://www.texasprotax.com/) but there are others out there I just believe they are the best and your results and ROI will not beat them. Had an uncle in this industry for years, was even on the appraisal board then had an independent tax consulting firm. Sold his business to TexasProTax and even lets them do his personal property protests now!

    4Reply
  • Account Closed
    OP
    Austin, TX · Member since 2017 · 79 posts · 59 votes
    9y

    @Austin Stowell Did you end up taking this to the ARB hearing and if so did they tell you the same thing? This guy first said the ARB may do things he can't and then later said they would not.

    @Shawn C. Lol on the construction comment - yes I believe the fee might even be a bit more now, figured I'd explore that if the times comes. I am also thinking I should get an 80k or so reduction which is why I'm sticking with it, either way it is clearly over what the value should be. I think I will call up there after more research.

    @Stephen Stokes In general I might agree but a) I'm new to RE and this has been great practice/experience and b) I should be getting taxes lowered quite a bit, so the % fee of those companies is a little steep for me at the moment - interesting your uncle trusts them though.

    0Reply
  • Shawn C.
    Investor · Cedar Park, TX · Member since 2014 · 317 posts · 74 votes
    9y

    @Account Closed  Yes, I took the ARB hearing and won. That is how I received a 80K price reduction in my property taxes. Good luck and I hope it goes well for you.

    0Reply
  • Jarrod Weaver
    Broker/Investor · Georgetown, TX · Member since 2011 · 249 posts · 146 votes
    9y

    This is one on the most maddening issues ever. The assessor's method of valuation doesn't follow logic. I fought my assessment when it spiked a couple of years ago and found that there are 2 suspect metrics in their algorithm that they can't explain. Other than that they exist. My comps were good, recent, solid sales that (should have) proved my argument. Instead, when they used my comps, which would have lowered the valuation ~$50K, the assessment went UP instead of down. The county's comps weren't even close to my type of house and some weren't even in the same neighborhood.

    I spent half a day getting my numbers and preparing my argument. Then the better part of the next morning at the arb meeting. After the meeting I needed the rest of the day to get my blood pressure back into its normally above average range and to replace my rage with run of the mill anger. The lesson I learned is that fighting the county on your own is rarely worth it. My assessment didn't budge and my life is likely a couple years shorter now.

    If you do fight the man, please use a firm like @Stephen Stokes mentioned above. Their service is well worth the expense, but be prepared to do so every year forevermore.

    0Reply
  • Stephen Stokes
    Rental Property Investor · Austin, TX · Member since 2016 · 317 posts · 257 votes
    9y

    @Jarrod Weaver exactly! This year I did absolutely nothing because I have TPT signed up to automatically fight my taxes on all my properties. My SFH rental in North Austin came in at $288K and I got a notice that they got it down to $251K.

    FYI - My primary agent told me he just sold one few hundred sqft less around the block for $285K!

    I will gladly pay the pro's for those kind of results. 

    0Reply
  • Account Closed
    OP
    Austin, TX · Member since 2017 · 79 posts · 59 votes
    9y

    Thanks everyone for your input - and yes I'm not opposed to having a firm do it, I had actually looked into it beforehand, but they all seem to have mixed reviews and could be hit or miss. Perhaps though it is not worth getting further into the minutiae of the process, especially if they pull another rabbit out of the hat at ARB hearing that I haven't prepared for - and I assume if I get further into REI I would likely have a firm do this anyway. Will update with whatever the action/result ends up being.

    0Reply
Join the conversationCreate a free account to reply, vote on answers and follow this thread.
Log InJoin for Free