verratti4 Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 (edited) I bought my first house july 2007 i paid 93,000, my lot was valued at 3500 as was the whole neighborhood, i got my 2008 appraised value in the mail and the lot went up to 20,000 so now the total value- market and appraised is 114,840 my neighbors all have homested exep, so they have caps so everyone here is paying taxes on appraised value of like 80,000-100,000 i went to my county website and checked the whole block. most of the homes values were like mine except when they put the cap on the tax value dropped, so im going to pay like 500-600 more taxes because this is the first year i owned my home, can i protest this? i will try if i can fight the cap appraised value i mean my home value will always be higher, im being punished beacuse i didnt have a home to homestead last year. i could afford a 93,000 house not a 114,840 house in the same year, i am clueless to what i can do, any help would be much appreciated. thanks to all in advance. EmilyBefore i figured out i could add to this i added to this at the bottom. thanks all Emily Edited May 17, 2008 by verratti4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm1fd Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 I bought my first house july 2007 i paid 93,000, my lot was valued at 3500 as was the whole neighborhood, i got my 2008 appraised value in the mail and the lot went up to 20,000 so now the total value- market and appraised is 114,840 my neighbors all have homested exep, so they have caps so everyone here is paying taxes on appraised value of like 80,000-100,000 i went to my county website and checked the whole block. most of the homes values were like mine except when they put the cap on the tax value dropped, so im going to pay like 500-600 more taxes because this is the first year i owned my home, can i protest this? i will try if i can fight the cap appraised value i mean my home value will always be higher, im being punished beacuse i didnt have a home to homestead last year. i could afford a 93,000 house not a 114,840 house in the same year, i am clueless to what i can do, any help would be much appreciated. thanks to all in advance. EmilyBoo hoo. You didn't file a homestead. You shall suffer the consequences. The taxes of your neighbors will catch up to be equal to yours in a few years anyways. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porchman Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 im being punished beacuse i didnt have a home to homestead last year.Whether you had a homestead last year is unrelated to your taxes this year. You have missed the deadline to file for this year (April 30). However, I would recommend you file for homestead for this year as soon as possible. You have missed the deadline to effect the property value reduction for this year's taxes, but you may be able to get a rebate on your 2008 taxes in the future. ("May" because I'm not Paul Bettencourt...and I don't play him on TV).By the way, do you pay the taxes outright or are you escrowing? Either way the hit's delayed at least until January of 2009. Prepare for it.Welcome to the Forum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 she has til june 2 2008 according to this Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 It is NOT too late to protest, and it is NOT too late to file for a homestead exemption for 2008 taxes.BTW, you did not NOT get screwed out of your 2007 homestead exemption either. You are not entitled to the homestead exemption if you did not own the house on January 1 of last year.Go to www.hcad.org for more info on tax protests, and go to this site for info on the homestead exemption. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
20thStDad Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 I was under the same impression, but I bought in February of last year so I got to latch on to the previous owner's homestead. That worked out nicely. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porchman Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 It is NOT too late to protest, and it is NOT too late to file for a homestead exemption for 2008 taxes.To clarify, she needs to affirm the exemption as part of the protest and file in order for it to be effected this year, correct?I was under the same impression, but I bought in February of last year so I got to latch on to the previous owner's homestead. That worked out nicely.Careful that bit us the butt. I even notified them that the over-65 was still on the house, and they told me the previous owner had to move it. I figured it would shake out eventually, but imagine my surprise when another $1,000 of taxes appeared after December 27 and after my escrow had settled the previously asessed taxes. Had I not been checking to make sure mortgage company paid the taxes, I would not have caught this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
20thStDad Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 Careful that bit us the butt. I even notified them that the over-65 was still on the house, and they told me the previous owner had to move it. I figured it would shake out eventually, but imagine my surprise when another $1,000 of taxes appeared after December 27 and after my escrow had settled the previously asessed taxes. Had I not been checking to make sure mortgage company paid the taxes, I would not have caught this.I definitely re-filed for the exemption for 2008, I was just saying I am glad I got to keep it for the 07 taxes. Stupid question - since I've now filed for us living here, do I need to file again for 09 when it comes around? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Porchman Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 I definitely re-filed for the exemption for 2008, I was just saying I am glad I got to keep it for the 07 taxes. Stupid question - since I've now filed for us living here, do I need to file again for 09 when it comes around?No need to refile. Your only job now is to know what your house is worth, so you know when to protest.BTW, they may come back on the '07 taxes. That surprise I mentioned happened at the endo of '06 for '05 taxes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted May 16, 2008 Share Posted May 16, 2008 To clarify, she needs to affirm the exemption as part of the protest and file in order for it to be effected this year, correct?Actually, the exemption is merely a one page form that is filed. No need to protest it at all. I suppose if she is protesting anyway, she could or should bring it up, in case she missed something, but under her scenario, it sounds like all she really needs to do is file the form. If she plans on protesting the fact that she does not get a 10% homestead cap, she is wasting her time. That is the rule statewide, and has been in place for years. Perhaps protesting in Austin would help, but not likely.Emily, if it makes you feel any better, your 2008 tax bill will probably be lower than your 2007 bill, even with the higher appraised value. The homestead exemption takes tens of thousands of dollars off of the appraised value before multiplying by the tax rate. So, while you paid taxes on $93,000 for 2007, in 2008, you will only pay taxes on $76,872 in HISD (20% plus $15,000 exemption), and on $91,872 in Houston and Harris County (20% homestead exemption). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
verratti4 Posted May 17, 2008 Author Share Posted May 17, 2008 (edited) Thanks to all who answered. I did file a homestead as soon as i bought the house july 2007 , the previous owner did not have a homestead on this house, I am getting the homestead exemption this year but since i have no homestead cap i pay the full taxes on the 114,000 that my home now apprasies for. but all my other neighbors will only pay taxes on their cap 10 percent value, everyones value went up, but im guessing its like everyones got market value which is like mine at 114,000 then they have assessed value because of their cap so they are only paying taxes on like 80,000-100,000 . my assessed and market value are the same since i had no cap. what i dont know is can i fight the fact that i am paying taxes on 114000 when everyone is paying taxes on lower values or is that just how it goes? when i called and talked to the appraisel office she said my cap would be effective next year so my taxes wouldnt go up over the 10 percent, but my cap will be at 114000 when everyone else is at 80-100000. since my appraised and market value are the same can i appeal on the basis of unequal compared with others. since technically the value that i am paying my taxes on compared to theirs is unequal. I have no problem paying my taxes but since i just paid 93000 for this house, i thought a 21000 price increase was kinda harsh, there is no way i would get that if i sold the house tomorrow. again i truly appreciate all who answered, these posts are extremely helpful. Emily Edited May 17, 2008 by verratti4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm1fd Posted May 17, 2008 Share Posted May 17, 2008 (edited) Thanks to all who answered. I did file a homestead as soon as i bought the house july 2007 , the previous owner did not have a homestead on this house, I am getting the homestead exemption this year but since i have no homestead cap i pay the full taxes on the 114,000 that my home now apprasies for. but all my other neighbors will only pay taxes on their cap 10 percent value, everyones value went up, but im guessing its like everyones got market value which is like mine at 114,000 then they have assessed value because of their cap so they are only paying taxes on like 80,000-100,000 . my assessed and market value are the same since i had no cap. what i dont know is can i fight the fact that i am paying taxes on 114000 when everyone is paying taxes on lower values or is that just how it goes? when i called and talked to the appraisel office she said my cap would be effective next year so my taxes wouldnt go up over the 10 percent, but my cap will be at 114000 when everyone else is at 80-100000. since my appraised and market value are the same can i appeal on the basis of unequal compared with others. since technically the value that i am paying my taxes on compared to theirs is unequal. I have no problem paying my taxes but since i just paid 93000 for this house, i thought a 21000 price increase was kinda harsh, there is no way i would get that if i sold the house tomorrow. again i truly appreciate all who answered, these posts are extremely helpful. EmilyIf you only paid $93k and they have it on for $114k then by all means protest. Should be easy...all you'll have to do is show documentation of what you paid, and they should bring it down to what you paid, or slightly more.The argument about they're capped and I'm not so I'm paying more won't hold water. If their market value, and your market value are equitable, then you don't have a leg to stand on as far as unequal appraisal goes. Edited May 17, 2008 by jm1fd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmsry Posted May 19, 2008 Share Posted May 19, 2008 It may have changed since the 1980s, but when I realized we hadn't filed a homestead exemption, I was allowed to file for back homestead exemptions (the amount of time I owned the property). And always, always protest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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