However, you may want to continue with the hearing if you feel it is necessary to seek a judgment for money owed.

I currenntly have 5 properties and am needing to cut down on tax liabilities for this year.

Those people could be private money investors, or investors that can bring you deals! 

If you buy high and sell low you will lose money.

There are ways to do this to not spend money like you are flipping the place. 

I found some properties in Myrtle Beach that were priced very reasonably, and the property taxes are way lower here compared to Austin. 

On top of the 'commonly used' investor filters like 2+ years back taxes, recently inherited, etc- I loved some additional possible/ unique filters like number of structures on a parcel, min/max land sq ft, initial purchase price, and ability to narrow down to very specific areas on a map.

Should I still protest property taxes and use the lower taxes it as an added "benefit" to the new buyer?

Sure you can go to higher loan to value but you will pay more in fees and have a higher rate for a relatively small amount of money.

New York on the other hand has some higher taxes so it can make the cash flow a little harder.I have been seeing some good deals a little further North in and around Lowell, Dracut, Nashua even up in North Conway, which is a great STR location.