s3mh Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Oh, the tax man is going for it this year. I had a successful protest last year and had my improvement value reduced by $60k. This year, my improvement value went up by $71k. Lot value went from $396k to $429k. General trend I noticed was that if you had a successful protest recently, HCAD took it back and then some. Otherwise, improvement values seem to go up by around 10-15%. I am in 77008 in an original bungalow on a 6600 sq ft lot. Comps are pretty much non-existent. I had success with a fair and equitable protest because a bunch of similar properties got big reductions before I did my protest. I may have to go with the house falling apart approach this year. Of course, if the legislature caps increases at 2.5%, it may not be worth the effort to protest as I would have to hit it out of the ball park to beat the cap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 I thought the current cap was 10% if it's a homestead. Even if the legislature acts, I doubt that would affect this year since they're already doing appraisals as of Jan 1. You might have to fight it again. I haven't gotten mine yet, but I end up filing a protest every four or five years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reefmonkey Posted March 20, 2019 Share Posted March 20, 2019 Last year was a good year for me tax wise because I'm in a neighborhood that flooded (my street was the southernmost street in the neighborhood that didn't flood). Between properties around me being distressed (to put it mildly) and the district being so overworked they didn't have the time to put into a rebuttal to an unequal appraisal argument, and the fact that most property sales in my neighborhood were teardowns for land value, John Osenbaugh was really able to get me a major reduction. It'll be interesting though to see how the value of all the new two-story mcmansions built in my neighborhood will affect the valuation of my 1965 1-story ranch in the years to come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angostura Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 Neighborhood 8304: Our land value stayed the same, but the improvement value actually went down by about 10%. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilcal Posted March 21, 2019 Share Posted March 21, 2019 Relatives place in Kingwood went down by about 10% (non-flooded part). Land stayed the same and it was the improvement that dropped. No increase from 17 to 18 and now it has dropped to right at 16. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonMidtown Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 Just got my iSettle offer - they accepted my argument and lowered my value by $40K to what I suggested. ....they had initially raised it by 10% from last year EDIT: I orginally typed iProtest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avossos Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 1 hour ago, HoustonMidtown said: Just got my iProtest offer - they accepted my argument and lowered my value by $40K to what I suggested. ....they had initially raised it by 10% from last year what is iProtest? That seems like an online or app? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonMidtown Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 I misspoke (mistyped)...it's called iSettle It's the online protest with HCAD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avossos Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 Just now, HoustonMidtown said: It's the online protest with HCAD I assume you had to document and prove your reasons. I have done it in person... Is it the same process, just have to upload all this information? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonMidtown Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 1 minute ago, Avossos said: I assume you had to document and prove your reasons. I have done it in person... Is it the same process, just have to upload all this information? My situation was probably easier than most - there is an identical house in my development with a much lower value - I just said I thought my house should be valued the same as the identical house that sits 20 feet from my house.....took about 5 minutes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Houston19514 Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 32 minutes ago, HoustonMidtown said: My situation was probably easier than most - there is an identical house in my development with a much lower value - I just said I thought my house should be valued the same as the identical house that sits 20 feet from my house.....took about 5 minutes Interesting. Do you have any idea how the identical house got its lower valuation? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HoustonMidtown Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 I don't - the owners live out of town and rent it to some of their family members, so I have never had a chance to visit with them It's had a very low valuation for several years - way below the rest of the homes in our small development Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
august948 Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 33 minutes ago, HoustonMidtown said: I don't - the owners live out of town and rent it to some of their family members, so I have never had a chance to visit with them It's had a very low valuation for several years - way below the rest of the homes in our small development If it's a fairly new development you may be able to see the valuation history back to it's original purchase. If so, does it appear that it was sold at a discount compared to the others? I'd also guess that the owners were aggressive in fighting the valuation each year. I know HCAD adjusters are very narrow geographically in what they allow for comparative homes, but if you are in a really tiny development, they may have allowed comparisons with adjacent homes not in the development. Also check the condition code. Maybe they got it rated as a B or C for some reason to get the valuation down. On a side note, you might want to get as many others as you can in your development to protest using the lower valued house. That way you'll have an easier time in subsequent years if all or some of the houses also have a lowered value. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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