Common Myths about Protesting Property Taxes

Myth #1

One of the biggest myths is that a Homeowner won’t be able to sell their home for more than what the Appraisal District tax rolls reflect as the assessed value. This is NOT true. When a homeowner lists their home for sale, their real estate agent will perform a comparative market analysis of the homes currently active on the market, under contract and that have sold (usually, within the past 6 months, prior to the listing). The same is true when the appraiser from the mortgage company performs the appraisal. The assessed value on the Appraisal District tax rolls is used for taxing purposes only, which is why a prudent Homeowner would like this value to be as low as possible. Homeowners should evaluate their assessed value with IProtestMyValue.com annually; regardless of whether the real estate market is up or down. Homeowners should only pay their fair share of taxes, based on comparable sales and uniform and equal to comparable properties within their immediate neighborhood.

Myth #2

The market is flat or down and the assessed value of my home did not go up from last year; therefore, there is no need to protest my value. This is NOT true in most cases. Our evaluation of your property is risk free; so log-on and let us evaluate your property annually. If we don’t think we can save you money, we won’t recommend a protest. If no protest is recommended, we are still going to provide you with the detailed report free of charge; we hope the information is beneficial to you.

Myth #3

The deadline to file a residential protest in Harris County is April 30th. This is a misconception. April 30th is deadline for “early filing of your residential protest”. The Texas Property Tax Code reflects the following regarding the protest filing deadline (this applies to both residential as well as commercial properties): A protest must be filed by May 31, or no later than 30 days after the Appraisal District delivers a Notice of Appraised Value to you, whichever is later. However if the protest deadline falls on a weekend or holiday, then the protest deadline is the first business day after that date. The deadline to file a written protest for the 2012 Tax Year is May 31st.

Myth #4

There are Homeowners that believe that they can show up at the Appraisal District hearing for their tax protest (whether it is the informal hearing or the formal hearing before the Appraisal Review Board) without any hard facts or evidence and that they will be successful in getting their value lowered. This is NOT true in most cases. The Appraisal District has evidence that they base the property’s assessed value on and it is up to the Homeowner to present their case otherwise. Providing verbal hearsay about sales, etc. is not going to work. If the protest is based on comparable sales within the neighborhood, then the Homeowner must provide the evidence regarding the sales (addresses, sales prices, closing dates, etc.). If the protest is based on uniform and equal comparables on homes located within their immediate neighborhood, again, the Homeowner must provide the evidence (address, square footage, year built, condition, grade, updates, etc).

Myth #5

There are Homeowners that believe that they can be in successful in having their assessed value lowered by resorting to anger/intimidation toward the Appraisal District representative or the Appraisal Review Board; or the opposite, by playing on their heart strings by crying or begging. This is NOT true in most cases. As in most situations in life, you will get more by asserting kindness and rationale, vs either of the other emotions noted above. Homeowners need to provide the evidence that their assessment is too high, based on facts.