Don't forget to protest your property taxes.

[Preacher Man]

And if you know what your neighbors property is assessed for, and assuming its lower, you can use that too. This tactic doesn't involve comps of properties that have sold. It just uses their own valuations against them. That's why your neighbors need to be protesting also.

Their counter argument for doing this, will be that your neighbors values will be going up as well. The counter to their counter is that your neighbors tax value hasn't been determined yet (neither has yours).

Throw down some pictures of cracks in the driveway and old worn out paint or whatever else might be wrong with your house, and you've got a chance.

[Hoggslayer]

So what do you have to do to protest yourself? Provide market comps or appraisal comps or?????


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Now that we have covid, its all online here in Brazoria County. Take pictures of your home. Stuff like cracked bric, peeling paint, anything that you can use to justify a decrease.

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[M16]

Now that we have covid, its all online here in Brazoria County. Take pictures of your home. Stuff like cracked bric, peeling paint, anything that you can use to justify a decrease.

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It doesn’t necessarily have to be your home. Find some pictures with mold in them etc. You can take pictures anywhere and use them. They can’t come in your house yet to verify. Fight dirty. They do.

[Mike D]

When you can find comps that prove a lower value, that's great. Under our current market conditions, that may be difficult.



Another trick I've seen work is to take pictures of anything wrong with your property and show them.

Yeah lower comps is going to be a problem.

And the house is less than 2 years old.


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[Wits_End]

I'll give a bit of experience from the last few years of protesting.
You are comparing your house as of Jan 1, not a day before or a day after.

Here is the process in short:
1. File online or in person protest with county.
Prepare your stance as best as possible, which I will talk about below. Do not have high expectations for this step. In person is likely to be more successful as you can talk out the differences. They typically give you a small percentage online just to try to satisfy you. This process is majorly flawed as there are no repercussions for them be unwilling to budge. They are there to satisfy their boss, not you.

2. ARB hearing
If you are unsatisfied with the protest directly with the county, you can file for ARB protest. Ill be general here, but the ARB consists of 3-5 retired members of the county who have gone through some training and may have some background of real estate. They have no stake in the tax revenue generated and simply are required to be fair, that is the concept at least. An appointment will be scheduled for in-person protesting with this group while you present your evidence and the county must be there to prove their value. As long as you do a little work preparing your case, this is very easy and can be very rewarding.

3. Binding Arbitration
Lastly, in general, if you are still unhappy with the ARB decision, you can fill out a form take the argument to Binding Arbitration, and pay $500. At this point a 3rd party state arbitrator is assigned to your protest. Your form shows what you think the value is. In the end if the result is closer to your value you get refunded $500, if county is closer, you lose the $500. A hearing will be schedule to talk it out with the arbitrator, they listen and make final decision, which is binding. Only other recourse after this is lawsuits... I can update later on this process, my 2021 taxes must be protested with county by May17th, but my 2020 binding arbitration is not scheduled until June.

As far as preparation.
Ask the county for the comps used in determination of your property value. They will provide 10 or so recently sold properties that are suppose to be similar to your property. Dig through these properties and do everything possible to find errors in your property, bad comparisons, etc. Just google the property address and it will bring up pictures from real estate websites. Concentrate on a few of these and compare every detail. Since these were recently sold they likely have the most updated features. Better countertops, updated bathrooms, best flooring, etc. These items add up quick.
Compare:
size and condition of storage buildings
size and condition of pools
style and size of patios
concrete drive vs not - damaged or not
Towering trees vs bare land
fence style and condition
Compare your direct neighbors and the differences in the neighborhood vs the comps. Are you an alley away from houses valued much less, while the comp is in a highly desired gated area?
Does your house have a view of the dump or dumpy looking neighbors, or a walmart.
Is your house close to a very busy road with heavy traffic noise while the comp is next to a greenbelt, lake, etc.

Defects
Picture and document every issue you can find with your house. You will not get far with trying to argue items that were simply a failure to upkeep your house, such as interior or exterior paint issues. Focus on items that would make a buyer think twice about buying your house compared to others.
Document the following items:
old, failing, poor condition AC units
wood rot
plumbing issues
creek washing away your yard
flooding
walk around the outside and look for any cracks in the foundation
bad flooring
sheetrock damage
lesser quality countertops
manual vs automated garage door
damaged fencing
fogged/cracked/very old windows
low quality or damaged doors
outdated showers, bathtubs, bathrooms


The absolute best approach is to document each issue and the price to update or fix each one of these items, especially by getting a actual quote. It is a bit of work, but well worth it. If you have made updates since Jan 1, show the actual price paid.



Protest on Equal Appraisal
Not to long past a law was passed to allow protesting based on other appraised values, this can be huge for you. Go online to the CAD website, pull up the aerial view showing property IDs and start click on houses around you. Find houses that are nearly equivalent in size, location, and amenities. The closer the house is to yours, the better. Concentrate on the two parts of the CAD website, the Property Improvement-Buildings section and the Land Homesite Value separately. Show that these houses have a lesser appraised value than yours, remove the cost of differences from the property and then concentrate on $/sqft. Show that your property is assessed higher and is equivalent in size/condition or show that your is assessed equally and is much less of a house, has less amenities, etc. To compare lot value, find recently sold lots in the area and calculate a $/sqft number. Show that your lot is overvalued.
Add it all up and show how the overall assessed value needs to be reduced.


Few other items to consider:

Make sure you have Homestead, if possible.

If you have land next to a first of kin, there is a law that they should value the land as if it was sold as one large piece. Helpful if you have a small piece next to large acreage.



Lawyers:
I have had 1 good experience with a lawyer and 1 bad experience with the same lawyer. If you are just not feeling the urge to stick it to the county or it is simply not worth your time, the $300 or so price of a law firm is likely worth it. They will protest with the county and get a mediocre decrease, likely worth the $300. You will still need to provide them with pictures and quotes, otherwise they don't have much to go on. I see it as you having to do the slightly lower amount of work and they basically show up for you. They will not be as passionate in argument. Last year the protests skyrocketed and I think law firms and the county were swamped. The law firms simply didnt have the time to battle each protest. My guess is they sat down with the county and a list of properties and gave a common percentage reduction to each, not individualizing the properties.


For each stage or method, have a final value and be prepare to explain by $ reduction how you exactly reached that value.

[topshot]

Built our house last year and the tax appraisal came in lower than the bank appraised value so I cant complain...its still a lot to pay in taxes for no benefits other than a few elections offered to us folks outside the city limits.

[sasqy]

They are Snakes !
Went from $7,000 an acre to $14,000 this year, they can eat dirt too.
My neighbors are only at $6,000 - $10,000 steady. Guess they think the new guy is dumb and will just pay whatever they say, they are wrong.
Not going to get stuck at that rate by any chance. Will be there and straighten them out soon.

[Hoggslayer]

I just got off the phone with my appraisal district. Took about 5 minutes and I was done. They emailed me the paperwork to accept my protest settlement, I signed it and sent it back.

If I would have paid someone to do it for me, It would have cost me $250 based off of the amount it was decreased.

She event dropped it below what I accepted last year.

[deep n the heat]

Can anyone recommend a protest company that services Brazos County?

[Mudslinger]

Did the walk in deal in Bell County this morning and they lowered my original appraised value to what we paid for the house in Jan 2020, which was the asking price. Saved me over $100,000 in appraised value so my taxes should be the same. I am happy.. Next year might be a different story.

[easttxbowbender]

Question on homestead exemption, I've got two pieces of property side by side. 1st 11.89 acres with my house, shop etc., 2nd 3.00 acres of just woods. I applied this year for homestead exemption on the 11.89 because that's where my house is. I recieved a letter saying it was not eligible but the 3.00acres was. Does that sound right? I plan on going g to my tax office once I get out of the hospital....

[Mudslinger]

Question on homestead exemption, I've got two pieces of property side by side. 1st 11.89 acres with my house, shop etc., 2nd 3.00 acres of just woods. I applied this year for homestead exemption on the 11.89 because that's where my house is. I recieved a letter saying it was not eligible but the 3.00acres was. Does that sound right? I plan on going g to my tax office once I get out of the hospital....

Almost identical to mine. I was told that I could do the homestead exemption on 1 acre of mine where my house and garage sit, nothing more. The 2.05 on my east side was not eligible. I have a total of 6.46 acres. The ones that told you this are nuts!

[Throwin Darts]

Question on homestead exemption, I've got two pieces of property side by side. 1st 11.89 acres with my house, shop etc., 2nd 3.00 acres of just woods. I applied this year for homestead exemption on the 11.89 because that's where my house is. I recieved a letter saying it was not eligible but the 3.00acres was. Does that sound right? I plan on going g to my tax office once I get out of the hospital....

April 30th is the last day to file a homestead in many counties.

[WildMatt84]

Got me for 28k$, would have been 14k$ on top of that if I wasn't homesteaded. Have my protest filed already

[M16]

Do your homestead on 1 acre nothing more. You will pay a higher value if you do more than that.