Home address: 608 S Austin St

2021 Taxable Value: $142,934        

Recent Sales Price: $100,500 – Over-taxed by 42%

Texas property owners can avoid paying excess property taxes by taking several basic steps. Market value property tax appeals save home owners an average of $500, according to Texas Comptroller Glen Hager, for 2019. An unequal appraisal appeal is easy to prepare.  Just find neighborhood homes with a lower level of assessment (per square foot). Summarize the data in a table. The Texas Comptroller reports 80% of 2019 property tax appeals by homeowners were successful.

Some homeowners do not appeal property taxes because they are not aware of this right. You can and should protest both market value and unequal appraisal annually. It is difficult for appraisal districts to accurately value houses due to limited staff. Tax protests are resolved at the informal hearing since the result is within a “reasonable range of value”. Appraisal is not an exact science and valuations are only an educated opinion of value, not a fact. Protesting your property taxes annually is analogous to regularly changing the oil in your car.  Preventative maintenance avoids serious problems.