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HCAD Appraised Values 2015


s3mh

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Here we go again.  It looks like this year, HCAD is putting a substantial bump on improvement value while only modestly bumping land.  I will just be trying to stop the tide as all the comp sales around me have been well over HCADs assessment of my 2015 market value.  My only shot will be to bring in estimates for my beat up foundation and AC unit.  But I need to get them to come down over 90k to touch the appraised value.  I am looking at hitting the cap for at least the next three years. 

 

Of course, I will be happy with the equity when I go to do an addition in a few years.  But, in the meantime, can we get some new playground equipment at Love park with all the piles of taxes we are paying?

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 It looks like this year, HCAD is putting a substantial bump on improvement value while only modestly bumping land.

 

Not sure what part of the Heights you live in, but my land value went up 19% as did all of the others on my block and blocks south, north, east and west of me.  We are now at $50/sqft, up from $42 last year and $37 in 2013.

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Interesting...for at least the fifth year in a row, no increases on our block (land or improvements).  Our land price is holding steady at $3/sf.  

 

Earlier in the 2000's we were capped at the 10% increase for several years in a row (3 or 4?)

 

Strange that development keeps moving closer and closer, but appraisals not reflecting it.  I'm not complaining, mind you.  But it does seem curious.

 

I think right around the time our land gets to $50/sf from its current $3/sf will be time for me to cash out and retire.   :)

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Of course, I will be happy with the equity when I go to do an addition in a few years.  But, in the meantime, can we get some new playground equipment at Love park with all the piles of taxes we are paying?

 

Are you referring to a home equity loan or something else less risky I'm not thinking of? 

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Not sure what part of the Heights you live in, but my land value went up 19% as did all of the others on my block and blocks south, north, east and west of me.  We are now at $50/sqft, up from $42 last year and $37 in 2013.

 

Land is at $50.  Last year, jump in land price was way bigger than improvements.  This year, jump in improvements is way bigger than land.  But, everything is jumping.  At least when improvement value goes up, you have a fighting chance in a protest.  HCAD will not budge on land.

 

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My rental property (admittedly a tear down structure on a 6600sqft lot in the west historic district), with zero improvements made in the last 6 years magically had the improvement value jump $3600, while the land jumped $33,000...land is now $50/ft....Tough to protest the land, but I think I could argue the house has negative value, as nobody would ever keep it....its a non-historic home that would easily get approval to demolish.

 

We have had the property since 2009 and the appreciation alone is 221% according to HCAD....however, looking at compareable sales we are actually approaching around 275%

 

Sucks to be a renter in the Heights....we have only ever adjusted the rent to cover the new taxes. 

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This is not a Heights only issue

 

If you look at the map linked on HCAD's main page (http://gis.hcad.org/2014/Percent_Change.aspx) they are showing some pretty massive average changes across the board

 

The one that sticks out to me is River Oaks (24% increase from $1.664 million to $2.087 million).  Spring Branch and Oak Forest had the highest increases at 28% and 27%, respectively

 

Many areas saw 20%+.  West U/Rice/Bellaire areas were "only" up 18% (lucky us) on average

 

The maps they have available suggest all of the assessments are done, so I take it they are just staging in those of us still "Pending" in order to prevent a deluge of protests.  They are going to have a busy year

 

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I think most of the homes that are still "pending" are pending for a reason...Either the house was remodeled, is a new home, had a pool, or some other upgrade installed, etc.  Basically if you pulled a permit this year to do anything at all, they are going to look at it much closer. 

 

My house is pending, but it's b/c it was not finished on Jan 1...it was only about 60% complete.

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Old Braeswood, Southgate, and West U all still show up as pending for whatever reason.  I think you are right for areas that have had the appraisals released, but for whatever reason certain areas/neighborhoods aren't yet out there

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I just got mine and it's a full $60K more than the best of two real estate appraisals I had done ten months ago, the other would make it $80K more. Of course, that value is supposed to be the Jan 1st value, but that would be even worse, meaning my house shot up astronomically in just 7 months if hcad is to be believed. I can't help but think they are running the prices up while they can for a possible if not inevitable decline next year if oil prices stay low. Admittedly, this is anecdotal but I know from at least two friends who live in other parts of the city they have HCAD market values exceeding what the real market is doing. I won't claim to be a professional, but my perception watching har for Heights homes in the general category of mine is that stuff isn't moving this spring, certainly not like the last few years, but in a lot of cases not even the 4-6 weeks it should in a normal market. The only odd thing I’ve seen so far is few sellers seem willing to come off their original price.

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I feel like I'm going to need a good attorney on my side.  I bought my house in August last year.  My account is still pending, but they increased my sq footage by 580 sq ft, and the house is the same sq footage as the day it was built in 1963.  Anybody have any ideas for good representation?  That's just an insane money grab in a time where appraised values are already going through the roof.

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According to HCAD FAQ..appraised value is lesser of

  • the market value (what the property would sell for on the open market); or
  • the preceding year's appraised value
  • + 10%
  • + the value of any improvements added since the last re-appraisal.

So.. if the appraisal value all of a sudden catches up to and equals market value.. that means those two bullet points are equal (or the second bullet point is higher than market value)

So.. the "value of any improvements added since last...."      Is that essentially their fudge factor to get home sells a boost ? Do they actually mean "improvements" as in only remodel/addition.   How would they know that?

One does not need a permit for just an interior remodel.

 

In my case, I bought the house in november and I had to report a garage conversion that the previous owner/flipper did(which benefited us greatly in getting that SF taken out)...   

2014 my appraised value was 20k less than market value...

2015 they are both equal with a 30k jump in apprasied value and 10k in market.  (market value would have gone up 40k had I not reported the SF decrease)

 

So my question is.. Had they not known of that 'improvement' would that line item be zero and therefore the LESSER would only be the 10% capped increase ????  Because I reported that change.. did that clue them in and give them a blank check to add some value to that line item which in turn allowed them to go over the 10% cap..

OR.

Do they always come out when a home changes ownership and re-appraise?   Even-so...  I did not and would not have invited them in..  And from the outside, there's no major sign of improvement..   so how would they know of any improvements?

 

So again.. my real question..

the "value of any improvements added since the last re-appraisal...."      Is that essentially their fudge factor to give homes that change ownership a boost?

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Your homestead cap is the lower of 1) last year's market value or 2) The sum of last years appraised value + 10% of last years appraised value + the market value of all new improvements to the property.

 

In general the new improvements must be something that adds to the market value of the property but does not include repairs or ordinary maintenance.  So the value attributable to the property of adding a pool, or value attributable to renovating the property, or value attributable to adding an addition is not subject the cap, but is instead added in on top of last years market+10%.

 

In general the "last reappraisal" is always last year.

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Also, if you bought the house in November 2014, then the first time you will qualify for a residential homestead is January 1 2015 (it must be your principle residence on January 1 of the tax year you apply).  Your appraised value for 2015 will be equal to the market value in that case, because you did not have the exemption in 2014. (You will get the other benefits of the exemption in certain taxing jurisdictions on your tax bill though for 2015, just not the 10% appraisal cap).

 

To state it another way,  the new owner does not benefit from the old owner's homestead exemption.  In general, a new owner's appraised value will be equal to the total market value (which should be pretty close to what you actually paid) in the first full year that they own the property.  Then in the second full year they will be capped at 10% increases.

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Your homestead cap is the lower of 1) last year's market value or 2) The sum of last years market value + 10% of last years market value + the market value of all new improvements to the property.

 

In general the new improvements must be something that adds to the market value of the property but does not include repairs or ordinary maintenance.  So the value attributable to the property of adding a pool, or value attributable to renovating the property, or value attributable to adding an addition is not subject the cap, but is instead added in on top of last years market+10%.

 

In general the "last reappraisal" is always last year.

 

Right.

But how do they know if there is an improvement or what it entails?

Something exterior-wise that required a permit.. sure. Makes sense.

 

But for interior finishes remodeling..That reuiqres no permit. Nobody is going to willingly report that to HCAD.

Without details of know what was done inside, how could they begin to quantify an improvement value?

 

If they dont know of any improvements then

 1) last year's market value or 2) The sum of last years market value + 10% of last years market value +  ((( the market value of all new improvements to the property.  .... this part equals 0 )))

So it would only be vs last yr's apprasial value (not market) plus up to 10%

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Also, if you bought the house in November 2014, then the first time you will qualify for a residential homestead is January 1 2015 (it must be your principle residence on January 1 of the tax year you apply).  Your appraised value for 2015 will be equal to the market value in that case, because you did not have the exemption in 2014. (You will get the other benefits of the exemption in certain taxing jurisdictions on your tax bill though for 2015, just not the 10% appraisal cap)

 

The previous owner had the homestead exemption as well.. and I only had to pay taxes for less than a month and half of 2014.. no not worried bout 2014.

 

"Your appraised value for 2015 will be equal to the market value in that case"

 

Why? What ?

The appraised value is never just equal to market value.. and that difference has no bearing on whether you have the exemption.

You get the exemption on the appraised value.. doesnt matter if your market value is 100k more or 100k less.

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To state it another way,  the new owner does not benefit from the old owner's homestead exemption.  In general, a new owner's appraised value will be equal to the total market value (which should be pretty close to what you actually paid) in the first full year that they own the property.  Then in the second full year they will be capped at 10% increases.

 

Why is this?

Texas is a closed record state, right?

I didnt report my sale value.  And as my real estate agent and lawyer warned me..  when I turned over documents to HCAD to get the property in my name or fight a SF issue.. i was careful to always cross out any sale or loan values.

So why does a new owner's appraised value equal the market value ?

 

I don't see how homestead exemptions are any part of market vs apprasied value.. that's just muddying the water.

 

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