Home address: 7024 Corsicana St
2021 Tax Assessment: $163,165
Recent Sales Price: $90,000 – Over-taxed by 81%
Most homeowners who do not appeal annually pay excess property taxes. Protest market value, get a few comparable sales as evidence and you are very likely to reduce your property taxes. Check the unequal appraisal box on the protest form, or your unequal appraisal appeal will be ignored. Winning a property tax protest is easy. Getting property owners to appeal is hard. Only 10% of Texan homeowners appeal their property taxes.
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. Appraisal districts use the cost approach to value houses. It is generally considered the least reliable method of appraisal. 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. 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.
