Tax Appraisals

This is the time of year we receive our property tax appraisals.  It's a huge scam.  The politicians always claim how they have not given us a tax increase so they can get re-elected.  Yet they manage to increase the amount of tax dollars they receive.  I believe they manipulate the property appraisals to accomplish this.  

There have been reports of significant increases of property values this year with the recent appraisals.  Ours increased by 15K which while significant, isn't near as bad as some I have read about or as bad as it's been before.  One area of town that has some relatively low income housing, averaging 50K per house, was hit very hard.  There has been a significant amount of development in the area with new housing that is averaging 150K.  Not sure how much that will affect the existing housing.  

They claim they use comparable housing sales to determine much of how they arrive at their appraisals.  Price per square foot is the biggest tool they use.  They find a house similar in size that has sold recently (in the area) as a guide to determine the market rate per square foot of your house.  They pretty much ignore the actual construction materials that may have been used or style or age of the house.  You have two houses that are the same size, yet one used a cheaper siding, roofing materials and is 30 years old.  The other being a brand new house that sold recently.  They will have a very similar appraisal due to the price per square foot of the new house that sold.  

How do I know this?  I have protested my appraisal at least 4 times.  This was one of the issues with mine.  BTW, that is not a pleasant or easy process.  Especially if you have to deal with an appraiser that feels like you are attacking him personally when you dispute your appraisal.  They can get very defensive/offended and they have the upper hand.  An appeal to his ruling is the only recourse if he denies your protest.  The first time I won since I had in hand that actual cost I paid for building of the house and how much I paid for the land.  It was significantly lower than any houses sold and the prices they had gotten.  This kept my appraisal down for a couple years.  After that all bets were off.

In the area we live we are under two appraisal districts.  One for the county we live in, and a school district from another county overlaps us.  They get to appraise us also.  Until they passed a law requiring appraisals like this to match up, we got wildly varying appraisals.  I tried to use one appraisal against the other during one of my protests.  They just ignored that, even with a very significant difference.  If I remember right, it was as much at 50K difference.  That will affect your tax burden a bit.

No, I won't protest this one.  Having a professional appraiser come out to provide you with an accurate one is more costly than how much my taxes would raise.  Plus they can easily reject that appraisal if they don't like it.  Yes, I have seen that happen too.

They say you can't fight city hall.  You can, but the deck is stacked...very high.

Happy Trails