Home address: 13370 Orleans St
2021 Tax Assessment: $138,763
Recent Sales Price: $77,000 – Over-taxed by 80%
While most Texas homeowners pay extra property taxes, there are several simple steps you can take to limit your tax bill. Appraisal districts are flexible on market value appeals given a large number of houses they value and that are protested. 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. Winning a property tax protest is easy. Getting property owners to appeal is hard. Only 10% of Texan homeowners appeal their property taxes.
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. Appraisal districts use a mass appraisal to value property, basically a math model. Overall results are OK. However, many homes are too high or low. Appraisal districts settle appeals at the informal level to avoid the time-consuming and expensive appraisal review board hearings. 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.
