Home address: 802 Rosedale Dr

2021 Tax Assessment: $160,100

Recent Sales Price: $125,000 – Over-taxed by 28%

Texas property owners can avoid paying excess property taxes by taking several basic steps. Either comparable sales or condition issues at your home are useful for a market value appeal of property taxes. 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. Appraisal districts are generally very receptive to settling tax appeals at the informal hearing.

Property owners are sometimes reluctant to protest their property taxes because the believe the appeal process is difficult. It is not difficult and 60 to 80% of owners who appeal are successful. Mass appraisal models make it impossible for appraisal districts to accurately value most houses. Tax protests are resolved at the informal hearing since the result is within a “reasonable range of value”. An appraisal is not an exact science and valuations are only an educated opinion of value, not a fact. Property taxes are the largest tax most Texans face. But it is a stealth tax hidden in the mortgage payment, disguising the size of property taxes paid.