Hope this article will help give you some information which may assist you, if you decide to protest your property taxes.
The era of cheap housing in Dallas-Fort Worth is over. If you don’t believe it, check your 2017 property tax bill.
Many of you haven’t received it yet. Everyone facing an increase should get one in the mail by early May. Be prepared.
Sticker shock is coming especially hard to Collin County homeowners. For the first time, the average price of a Collin County home will burst through the $300,000 barrier — the first North Texas county to do so. That’s like the 4-minute mile of real estate.
Last year, the average in Collin was $285,000. This year, when everything is final, the average could go as high as $312,000, says Collin County chief appraiser Bo Daffin. That’s an amazing leap in one year.
A decade ago, first-time home buyers could find something in the $150,000 range, Denton County chief appraiser Rudy Durham says. “Now it’s $250,000.”
Last week, I stood near the Collin-Denton county border, between two ongoing corporate construction projections — the new U.S. headquarters of Toyota and Liberty Mutual’s regional operations center. Together, the two are supposed to house 8,000 workers.
State Farm Insurance is building a campus for 8,000 workers. FedEx Office has 1,200 employees in a new complex. The list goes on and on.
These people gotta live somewhere. The ripple effect cascades across the region. There’s not enough housing.
Available housing supplies in some area cities are as low as one month; six months is preferred.
Home prices are jumping. Buyers are hungry. Sellers are in control. It’s a boom like one we’ve never seen.
Psychologically, to me and to others, it ripples from this construction site that soon will office top brass at one of the world’s top car manufacturers. People, we’ve gone big time.
“Yes, that’s exactly right,” agrees Denton’s Durham. Toyota’s 100-acres campus straddles the Collin-Denton line. Both counties benefit, but with the ripples, housing needs stretch in every direction. Now back to those taxes.
The Watchdog has been on a kick the last several years to persuade Texas homeowners to file a protest. Especially now with online protests permitted statewide, it’s easier than ever.
Only about 1 in 10 homeowners protests. But officials this year expect more.
Good. It’s not hard, and I’ll show you how.
Appraisers guess at the value of a home. What would it sell for? Since home sale prices are not public record, they don’t have accurate data.
“Sometimes we’re just wrong,” Durham says. “If a neighborhood has 50 people, and 30 people come in, and we get enough of those, we’ll change it. We just made an error.
“We don’t like everybody coming in for a protest, but we want to fix the problems.”
The two important numbers are the market value (which is an appraiser’s guess at a sale price) and the appraised value, which is what is multiplied by the various taxing governments to get your tax bill.
There’s a 10 percent cap on the annual increase of your house’s taxable appraised (not market) value, but only for those homeowners with a homestead exemption. That’s why many this year will see a 9.9 percent increase. Appraisers want to go higher, but computer software knocks it down to the cap. Love the cap.
How to protest
File a protest 30 days after you receive your appraisal. One popular method is to get comparable sales numbers from a Realtor or from the appraisal district (some will give if you ask). Then show their numbers are out of whack.
If you’re not mathematically inclined, like me, two other ways have worked successfully for me.
Find someone in your neighborhood with the exact same house plan. Check their numbers on the appraisal district’s website. If their numbers are lower, show that in a protest. Bring photos and copies of their tax records (available for free on an appraisal district’s website). You win.
Or if you have house problems like a hail-damaged roof or foundation cracks that need fixing, get estimates and show those to prove your home’s value should be lower.
I’m lucky. I didn’t go up 10 percent this year, only 8 percent. I’m going to hire an outside company to protest for me. I want to see how that works.
Who am I going to hire? A specific Texas property tax company that gets in the most trouble. Of course, I’ll let you know how it goes.
Check out The Watchdog Mondays on NBC5 at 11:20 a.m. talking about matters important to you.
Tell it to legislators
Filing a protest
Texans have a legal right to equal and uniform taxes. But the system is set up so the property owner must appeal to protest an assessed value.
An online protest is the first step. Or write or call your appraisal district to learn more about how to protest.
Deadline to file this year is only 30 days after you receive your appraisal. A hearing follows.
Appraisal notices are mailed in April. Not everyone receives one (only those facing an increase are required to get them), so look yours up online or call the appraisal district. Even if there’s no increase, you can still protest.
Learn more at www.window.state. tx.us/taxinfo/proptax/
County by County
Dallas County: DallasCAD.org
Notices are mailed April 30. The property tax notices use a new style this year, spokeswoman Cheryl Jordan says. Previously, Dallas’ forms were difficult to understand. The district declined to show The Watchdog the new form.
Collin County: CollinCAD.org
Notices are mailed in April. The county’s entire taxable value is expected to jump 10 percent, Chief Appraiser Bo Daffin says.
Denton County: DentonCAD.com
Notices are mailed in April. For the third year, the county will offer a satellite site in Lewisville to handle overflow of protest hearings in June, chief appraiser Rudy Durham says.
Tarrant County: TAD.org
Difficulties continue for chief appraiser Jeff Law, whose department has struggled with computer and software changes that have snarled the appraisal district’s operations in recent years. This year, some complain that the district put the wrong protest deadline date on some tax notices. Law is the only chief appraiser who declined to talk to The Watchdog.
Rockwall County: RockwallCAD.com
“We’re excited the market is increasing even though that does mean an increase in values,” chief appraiser Patricia Davis says.
©The Dallas Morning News Inc. All Rights Reserved.
I have found through friends that protesting in person is better. Take photos of all items that need replacing, upgrading, or are damaged. If you have estimates for these items; that will help support your argument. Do you have major construction going on around you? Are there apartments being built near you, are there any other issues near you that may be affecting your homes value? Hope all this information may help you.