Home address: 4222 Leighann Lane Dr
2021 Tax Assessment: $234,535
Recent Sales Price: $131,000 – Over-taxed by 79%
Texas property owners can avoid paying excess property taxes by taking several basic steps. Protesting the appraisal district’s market value usually reduces your property taxes. Check the unequal appraisal box on the protest form, or your unequal appraisal appeal will be ignored. The Texas Comptroller reports that 80% of 2019 property tax appeals by homeowners were successful.
Owners are sometimes reluctant to protest property taxes due to a concern their value might be raised. This can’t and does not happen. Since 2019, neither the appraisal district or the appraisal review board can increase a property tax assessment during a protest. One reason it is difficult for appraisal districts to correctly value homes is they are not homogenous. Some have been remodeled and some haven’t. 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 owners who appeal annually rarely pay more than their fair share.
