The tax-assessed value is what your county believes your home or condo is worth. The county attempts to set their values at a market value. However, they do not evaluate comparables nor do they perform individual market analysis on every home. The county simply values your home according to the area, not the house. Meaning, the value may be too high or two low, depending on the size, location, amenities and condition of your specific home.
When should I receive my TCAD property valuation/assessment and how long do I have to appeal?In 2012, Travis county is mailing valuations in six batches, each of which you will have 30 days to appeal:
- April 13
- May 4
- May 15
- June 1
- June 29
- July 13
If the market value on your travis county home is lower than your tax-assessed value, then you should appeal. If the market value is higher, do nothing. How do you determine your market value? Use the GoodLife Team Market Snapshot to get an online evaluation of your home using real-time data from the Austin MLS. This tool is easy to use and we stand ready to answer any questions you may have regarding the data.
How do I appeal for Travis County/City of Austin?Travis County has a protest form. However, you can type up or handwrite your protest and fax or mail it in. If you are going to write up your protest, be sure to include the following:
- Identify yourself as the homeowner
- Include the property address
- Indicate that you are dissatisfied with the decision made by the appraisal district
- Request the evidence packet for how they came up with your valuation – these are the comparable sales they are using for valuation purposes.
After you have filed, it can take several months for the Travis County Appraisal District to schedule your informal hearing.
Prepare to Present to TCADThe purpose of the informal hearing is for you to present your evidence and facts to support your claim that they have over-valued your Austin home or condo. We suggest the following as valuable evidence to compile for your hearing:
Comparable Market AnalysisA comparable market analysis looks at Market Value and shows recent sales for homes that are similar to yours in size, age, location and type of construction. Your GoodLife Team Market Snapshot that you used to determine if you should appeal may provide enough evidence to support your hearing. However, we also stand ready to provide you with a more in-depth market analysis prior to your hearing.
Documentation Regarding Your Home’s ConditionDo you have foundation issues? Plumbing problems? Anything that would adversely affect the Market Value of your home should be documented. Take photographs and bring them with you to your hearing.
Documentation Regarding Your Home’s LocationOnce again, anything that would adversely affect the Market Value of your home is evidence that you can use in your appeal. If your home backs up to a busy street, consider printing off a Google map to document your location.
Recently Purchased HomesIf you purchased your home in the last several months, and the purchase price was lower than your appraised value, bring a copy of your settlement statement.
Present Your EvidenceThere are a couple of things to keep in mind for the day of your hearing:
- The Appraisal District is responsible for setting appraised value. They have nothing to do with the tax rate. You are not going to the hearing to protest your tax rate or how much you are paying in taxes. You are only appealing the counties assessed value of your home.
- Be polite and courteous.
- Bring an extra copy of your supporting documentation to leave with the county
If you found this article valuable or have any further questions, please post your thoughts here. We will get back to you right away. And, if you successfully appeal your appraised value, we want to hear about that too.
Thanks! It’s a Good Life!
Reference:Austin Property Taxes – How to appeal property taxes in Austin
Round Rock Property Taxes – How to appeal property taxes in Round Rock
Pflugerville Property Taxes – How to appeal property taxes in Pflugerville
Westlake Property Taxes – How to appeal property taxes in Westlake
Eanes Property Taxes – How to appeal property taxes in Eanes
Neighboring Counties:
Appealing your Property Taxes in Williamson County, including Round Rock, Pflugerville, Cedar Park, Leander, Liberty Hill, Hutto and Taylor
{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
Good to know! Timing is perfect. Thanks!
You’re welcome, Chris! Use the market snapshot tool to do a quick market analysis for your neighborhood. If you need any help let us know.
Providing a “market snapshot” is a great idea because it may help some people realize that the assessment is more accurate than they thought… and not worth the hassle to protest.
How is that “on-line protest system” working out? Any reports?
Doug … Thanks for your thoughts. And yes, we offer the snapshot so that people can get a reasonable idea of the value before spending the time to produce a complete analysis and protest. The Online Protest is brand new…not enough time to formulate an interpretation either way–but looking forward to seeing how it ends up working.
Stay in touch!
It is great to see a firm willing to help folks out, especially at a time when business is slow for you. Keep up the good work! And thanks for your help.
Is June 1st the postmark deadline date? Or delivery deadline?
Maria,
June 1st was the postmark deadline, not delivery. Hopefully you got yours in the mail in time!
If I appeal based on the house’s inferior conditions (e.g., plumbing problems), will it become part of the official records and affect my house’s resale value (even after the problems are fixed)?
Wendy,
This is a great question that brings up an even more fundamental question as well: Does the property tax valuation (which includes the inferior conditions) affect the resale value of the home?
In short, No. The value of your home in today’s market is determined by what a willing buyer will pay for the home. At The GoodLife Team, we use recent comparable sales to help us measure or estimate what a buyer will pay for the home, and never rely on the tax records to help valuate the home.
Also, the details of the home’s inferior status is not even shared online with the public, and is kept in the records at TCAD (Travis Central Appraisal District).
So, not to worry. Protest away, and let us know if we can help.
Garry
I successfully appealed my appraisal in 2009 by getting the appraisal district to use the average price per square foot for the 71 sales they used to determine the value of my home. As a result, I got them to lower my appraisal from where they wanted to set it in 2009 by $17,000 at the informal hearing. This year, however, I was not so lucky, and now I have to go to the formal hearing. The appraiser and her boss refused to agree with my argument that TCAD should use the average price per square foot for all the home sales in their database. I told them since that’s what they did last year, they had established a precedent and should value my home at no more than the average price per square foot. They kept saying “the smaller the home, the higher the price per square foot. That’s just the way it is.”
If I also lose at the full appraisal board hearing, is it worth it to sue TCAD in district court to get my value lowered? I would think that as long as I could show they used the average price per square foot in 2009 to determine the appraised value of my home, the court would agree that they should use the same method to determine my appraised value for 2010.
My entire back yard is also xeriscaped with pea gravel and trees and shrubs, with no grass. So I think that would reduce the marketability of my home since most people, especially those with kids, want a back yard with grass so their kids and pets can play there.
Joey,
Thank you for this very thoughtful and provoking post. Let me address a few points that you bring forth:
TCAD appraisers said, “the smaller the home, the higher the price per square foot. That’s just the way it is.”
As a general rule, this is very true. The reason this holds true is that there is a value placed on the land in the neighborhood (most lots of similar size in a neighborhood are assessed equally) and then the value of the home is added to this number. For argument’s sake, let’s pretend the land is worth $200,000 and a home is 3,000 square feet and is worth $300,000. The total value of the property is $500,000 and $166/square foot. Now, let’s take a neighbor’s home that is 1,500 square feet and worth $150,000. The total property value is $350,000 and $233 per square foot. Therefore, in this instance, the value of each home cannot be determined by price per square foot alone.
“If I also lose at the full appraisal board hearing, is it worth it to sue TCAD in district court to get my value lowered?”
Fortunately, I have never had to pursue this action and would highly recommend that you speak with one of our preferred real estate attorneys to get an assessment.
Unfortunately, each appraiser has the latitude to make an assessed value of your property based on the information they have and what you provide them. Clearly, from your experience, they are not using a standardized process for the valuations, and I think that is something that should be discussed.
I hope this explanation helps, and am happy to discuss further. Additionally, if you would like very detailed analyses of your neighborhood and our professional assessment of value, please call us at 512.892.9473 and we are happy to help.
Hi, Joey.. thank you for the valuable insight great information! I am in the process of either buying a home or building a custom home and have a couple of questions on how the taxes would be assessed..
How does TCAD determine appraised value on new construction properties?
Also, if you purchase a property that is appraised for say, $750K but you pay $1M will your new appraised value reset to $1M once the sale is recorded?
Thanks !
SO
Scott,
TCAD bases their assessment for the year on the current status of the property when they make the assessment. In other words, if the property is a lot or under construction, it will be assessed at that value for the entire year. Only when the home is complete will it be assessed at the improved value.
If you purchase a property that is appraised below the sales price, it is likely that the assessed value will be reset at the sales price…assuming that TCAD is given the data from either you or someone in the neighborhood protesting their taxes.
I hope this helps, and if you have specific requests for help, please give us a call at 512.892.9473.
This is a great idea! Good post. Too many people assume that there taxes are always right….
Steve — We agree … there are way too many people who just assume their tax appraisal is correct. Sadly, what we find is that a majority of the people we meet have over valued tax appraisals which means they have paid too much in taxes–many times resulting in 1000s of dollars. Really, everyone needs to protest their taxes in order to keep tax appraisals honest and in line with the current market value (which is lower today than in the past many years).
This is a question we received via email that I am copying our response here:
Question:
When you buy a house (new or used), how does the taxing authority learn of the purchase price? I have a neighbor that bought a fully remodeled house & put a lot of cash down ‘to avoid increasing the house’s tax value.’ I just assumed Travis county had access to all home sales. Is that not the case?
Answer:
The taxing authority uses several ways to determine appraisal value. Comparable sales is one appraisal technique that is used frequently, and the county does have access to MLS data for generating and looking at comparables. In cases where comparables are not available, they use land value plus construction cost as a method for appraisal.
You can request the comparables that TCAD used to determine market value prior to our informal hearing; this is useful in building your case. If they are using comparables with significantly different construction techniques, condition, or that are geographically not valid (not in your area) you can use that to contest your appraised value.
I hope that helps!
Jack Miller
GoodLife Sales Consultant
I am about to close on a house and I feel that I am paying a little more than the market value based on area comps. Im doing so willingly because the house is unique, and I want it. However, I dont mind overpaying once for the house, but dont want to overpay taxes year after year. Is there any way to suppress the sales data from being sent to MLS so that TCAD does not have access? From what I understand, we are a nondisclosure state…how do I exercise my rights?
And if I do pay over market – are you guys successful in arguing the price down to comparable sales level? I assume they can argue that the fair market price is whatever I paid and therefore the value..since I paid it…
JOhn:
While TCAD does not admit to having access to the MLS, I have never been able to get a straight answer from anyone there about this. It makes much more sense that they do have access to the MLS given that their assessments are quite often accurate to the penny of the sales price of homes….but they have never admitted to me that they research the prices on the MLS.
If you do pay over market value on a home, you can argue that the true market value compared to other homes is less than what you paid. Some ways to accomplish this are:
1. Provide an appraisal of the home that shows a 3rd party assessment of less than the sales price amount.
2. Provide comparable sales information verifying that you paid too much
Please let us know if we can help you, as we have specialists here to help.
My home suffered hail damaged to the roof 2009- I filed a claim with insurance company, was unable to get the roof repaired at the time due to family emergency. I am getting my roof repair hopeful early fall this year. I protested my 2010 tax , tax was reduced $13,000, this year 2011 my home tax increased $14,000.
I went to the informal hearing , the apprasier was will to reduced it $5,000, I disagreed, requested to proceed to the formal hearing. I was told my the apprasier, If i choose not to repair the roof , that is on me. The market value states that is what the house is worth. My thoughts since the roof has not been replaced at the time the property was accessed my home, the property value should not have increased .
Betty,
This is a great question which I have never been posed with before. However, here is my experience with roofs and insurance payments:
I have had numerous clients receive insurance checks, they cashed the checks, and never repaired the roof. When they went to sell the house, the inspector found issues with the roof and the buyer requested repairs/replacement. Since the seller had already filed a claim on the property, they were obligated to complete the repairs/replacement per their agreement with the insurance company. Failure to do so has brought negative consequences to my clients in the past.
With respect to TCAD and their assessment: did you inform them that you had already received the money from the insurance agency? If so, I can understand why they would consider the home to either have a new/repaired roof or is in process of being completed since you have already been compensated by the insurance company for said roof.
Either way, it seems like my argument would have been more focused around market value and the fact that the current market has not improved since their last assessment….meaning “how can they increase the assessed value by $14,000 if the market has not improved at all?”
Please let me know if there is more to the story and how else we can help.
Garry Wise
The GoodLife Team
512.892.9473
We put in an offer on a house that is significantly lower that the assessed value for 2011. The difference is roughly $146,000. The current owner has already filed a protest, but the hearing has not yet been scheduled. We plan to close early September. What can we do to ensure we get this corrected for 2011? Will they lower the assessment to match the purchase price? Previous to our offer, the home was on the market 250 days. Any info or guidance you can give will be appreciated!!
Melissa,
Thank you for the great question above. If I were you, I would request that the current owner take a copy of your contract with them to their hearing in an effort to reduce the appraised amount, thereby reducing the amount of taxes owed by both them and you. If you also have a copy of the appraisal for the loan that validates the sales price, send that to the seller and request they present that information to the appraisal district as well. This is your best and only chance of paying a lower tax for 2011…otherwise you will need to wait to protest your taxes in 2012.
I hope this was helpful, and as always, for any real estate advice or representation in any sale, give us a call at The GoodLife Team.
Garry Wise
The GoodLife Team
512.892.9473