Harris County Appraisal District - Your Options for Appealing your Property Taxes
prepared and presented by O'Connor & Associates
Harris County Appraisal District values 1.6 million parcels of real estate. You can focus on disputing the accuracy and/or fairness of just one property. The two primary options for appealing your property taxes at Harris County Appraisal District are market value and unequal appraisal.
If you are appealing property taxes for your home, make sure you have a homestead exemption. You qualify if you owned your home on January 1st and it was your primary residence. Homestead exemptions often reduce property taxes by 20%.
Market value is the amount of money for which you could sell your real estate assuming an adequate marketing time and that both buyer and seller are knowledgeable about the property (including potential uses and defects) and neither is under duress to act. Market value also assumes an arms' length sale (versus a sale between family members or an inter-company transfer). Factors that affect market value include land area, building size, quality of construction, condition, location, amenities and many other factors.
Unequal appraisal occurs when Harris County Appraisal District sets the market value for property taxes at a higher level for one property compared to similar properties. Consider an example where 10 identical houses on a street are all worth $100,000. Nine are assessed for $90,000 and the 10th is assessed for $100,000. Even if the property (which is assessed at $100,000) was just purchased for $100,000, the property owner (or his property tax consultant) has an excellent basis for appeal with unequal appraisal.
When you protest your Harris County Appraisal District assessment, O'Connor & Associates suggests you file a property tax protest for 1) market value or excessive value and 2) unequal appraisal. The property tax protest should be mailed to the Harris County Appraisal Review Board by May 31st each year. At the same time you send your property tax protest to the Harris County ARB, send a letter to Harris County Appraisal District requesting "any evidence including data, schedules, formulas and all information the Harris County Appraisal District chief appraiser plans to introduce at the hearing to establish any matter at issue."
If you request this information, Harris County Appraisal District is required to provide it to you 14 days before the hearing or they may not use it at the hearing. You can typically print the information by accessing the "I-file" for your property on the Harris County Appraisal District's web site www.hcad.org. The Harris County Appraisal District information includes data that supports a lower assessed value in many cases.
Property owners should annually protest the value Harris County Appraisal District determines for their property based on both market value and unequal appraisal. Protesting annually will reduce their property tax burden.
Property Tax Tip #1: Appealing Property Taxes for Your Home
Property Tax Tip #2: Preparing for Your Property Tax Hearing
Property Tax Tip #3: The Hearing Process
Hire O'Connor & Associates to appeal high property taxes. You pay NOTHING unless we save you money!
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