How You Can Successfully Protest Your Property Tax Assessment

Northern Texas Real Estate Podcast with Anastasia Riley

Today we’ll take an exhaustive look at how you can successfully protest your property tax assessment.

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I love the opportunity this time of year affords me to hear from many of you regarding your assessed property values. Maybe you feel that you’ve been done an injustice and you’re wondering what recourse you have, and that’s where I can help.

In an earlier video, I covered in great detail how your county assesses the value of your home. You can check it out here if you missed it, but to start, I’ll sum it up again today.

Tax assessors across the country use a so-called “mass appraisal technique” to assess a large group of properties all at once. Such a technique differs greatly from that used by a fee appraiser when you’re purchasing or refinancing a home, which concentrates on a single home for its assessment.

As you can imagine, it’s beyond what is practical for a county assessor to employ this technique for every home in that particular county. Given that this is a blanket method, assessments are not always going to be 100% accurate, and as such, you have the right to protest yours.

If you feel that your county has assessed your home at a higher value than what you can currently sell it for factoring in market conditions, it’s likely that you have a well-founded complaint and can file a protest. Conversely, if you know that you could sell your home for a price that’s in line with the assessment or if it came in even lower, you’d probably fare better from not protesting.

Maybe you feel that you’ve been done an injustice and you’re wondering what recourse you have, and that’s where I can help.

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To be sure, if your neighbor with the same floor plan recently sold their home for $30,000 less than what yours was assessed at, you’d obviously have an argument to make.

The deadline to file a protest this year is May 15 (residents of Denton County have until May 17) or 30 days after you’ve received your home’s estimated assessed value, and most counties will permit you to file a protest online or via phone.

One thing of note: During your initial appeal, the county will request that you give your opinion of your home’s value. It’s possible that both parties can reach an agreement right then and there. If no agreement is reached, you’ll be given an opportunity to schedule a formal appeal, where, armed with evidence, you can bring your case before the board of appraisers.

What kind of evidence should you take with you? Examples might be information on recently sold homes in your neighborhood, your local school district, or listings that have sat on the market for some length of time, which could indicate the current softness of the market.

Should you elect to move forward with an appeal, my best advice is to be kind to those you’ll be dealing with. Let’s face it: No one wants to have to pay more than what is just, but take care in not taking out your frustrations on county employees. As someone who personally knows one of these workers, they dread this time of year due to local residents feeling personally slighted by a potential mistake.

If you have any questions about this process or you need help with gathering evidence for your own property tax assessment protest, please give me a call at 972-984-0511. I’d be glad to help you!

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