Harris County Appraisal District assesses property and that value sets your property tax amount. Reducing your property taxes is relatively simple but requires a modest commitment of time. Your other option is to hire a property tax consultant. Basic steps to reducing the property tax assessment set by Harris County Appraisal District include appealing both market value and unequal appraisal annually, obtaining the Harris County Appraisal District evidence, preparing for the hearing(s) and attending the informal and/or appraisal review board hearing. Few property owners are aware of the option to obtain the HCAD evidence. Sometimes referred to as the House Bill 201 package or 41.461 package, this information in invaluable in preparing for your property tax hearing. This article focuses on the hearing process. There are two options for the “administrative” hearing process at Harris County Appraisal District: 1) the informal hearing and 2) the appraisal review board (ARB) hearing. Neither the property owner nor Harris County Appraisal District is required to attend the informal hearing. About 80% of property tax protests are resolved by agreement between the property owner/property tax consultant and the Harris County Appraisal District appraiser. The second option, which typically occurs if you are not able to reach agreement with the Harris County Appraisal District appraiser, is the ARB hearing. The property owners often receive some property tax relief at the ARB hearing. Harris County Appraisal District appraisers seldom reduce the assessed value for a home by $100,000 or more. If you are seeking a reduction of more than $100,000 for a home, you should probably skip the informal hearing with the Harris County Appraisal District appraiser. There are several reasons for skipping the informal hearing at HCAD if you are seeking an increase of $100,000 or more. It will likely be a waste of your time. Further, you spend your time helping the HCAD appraiser to prepare their file for the ARB hearing.Make sure you arrive early for the hearing and try to project a cheerful, cordial and relaxed attitude, even if you are nervous. After you check in with the Harris County Appraisal District clerk, you will likely wait for 30 – 60 minutes. Bring a book, newspaper or work to pass the time. Greet the Harris County Appraisal District appraiser cheerfully and enthusiastically. His goal is similar to yours; reach a compromise quickly. At Harris County Appraisal District, the appraisers are encouraged to make changes if there is evidence to support the change. The exception is unequal appraisal. Most Harris County Appraisal District appraisers are reluctant to make changes on unequal appraisal evidence. HCAD’s approach on unequal appraisal is in flux. However, if your appeal is on unequal appraisal, you will likely need to attend the ARB hearing.After you exchange and discuss evidence with the Harris County Appraisal District appraiser, he will likely make you an offer to settle the property tax protest. You can accept the offer or continue the appeal with the ARB hearing. In most cases the value offered informally will also be suggested by the Harris County Appraisal District appraiser at the ARB hearing. Property owners are often reluctant to attend the appraisal review board (ARB) hearing because they think they are wasting their time with such a small property. This is not the case. Harris County ARB members are courteous, respectful and want the property owner to feel good about the ARB hearing. Players at the ARB hearings include the 3 ARB members, property owner (or property tax consultant) and the Harris County Appraisal District appraiser. After introductions and a brief explanation of the process:



Property owner presents evidence

Questions from ARB members

Harris County Appraisal District appraiser presents their evidence

Questions from the ARB

Property owner rebuttal

Questions from the ARB

ARB panel deliberates and announces a decision In most cases, property owners believe the decision was reasonable. The decision is not subject to negotiation. Thank the ARB members for their time and service. If you are not satisfied with the decision, you can pursue binding arbitration or a judicial appeal.

With the current economic climate in America, now might be a good time to re-evaluate your property taxes. Lowering your property taxes could lead to some extra savings that you can set aside to complete your debt settlement program quicker. Below are a few tips to make sure your property tax value is current.

Global Insight, a company that analyzes and forecasts economic trends, states that U.S. home prices fell at a fast pace during the end of 2008, according to a study entitled, “Home Prices in America.” Because of the rapidly declining prices of homes, the housing market is now undervalued. This data may not be a positive step for the economy, but consumers who live in areas that have been affected by the housing crisis may be able to reduce their property taxes. Below are some steps to take if you want to question the value of your home.

 

Do Your Homework

 

Appealing your home’s value may require you to spend time doing some research. It may be worth the effort because the National Taxpayers Union estimates that as many as 60% of all homes are over-assessed and not in line with their actual value. Despite this fact, only one in 50 homeowners tries to appeal assessments. You can begin your research by obtaining a copy of your assessment records from your local assessor’s office. The American Homeowner’s Association (AHA) reminds homeowners that The Freedom of Information Act entitles homeowners to have access to all documents regarding their property. You may be asked to show proof of ownership to view the records. Try visiting the web site for your local community. Some counties and municipalities offer online databases of property records.

 

Verify your home’s description

 

Once you obtain a copy of your property assessment, ensure that all of the information is correct. According to AHA, many property tax assessment errors are clerical. Appraisers are usually on strict deadlines to assess many homes in a short amount of time and they also do not go inside of your home. So, simple mistakes can happen. For example, make sure your assessment lists the correct number of bedrooms, square footage, and age of the home. Misrepresentation of these factors can affect the value of your home.

 

File an appeal

 

If your assessment does not contain any errors, you can still dispute the value of your home. Inquire at the assessor’s office about how to appeal a property tax assessment. The process may vary among local communities. In most cases, you will have to do more research, which may involve gathering data on comparable properties in your area. According to Consumer Affairs.com, it may help you to seek the advice of a real estate agent or attorney to obtain the evidence that you need.

 

Harris County Appraisal District estimates the market value for 1.6 million parcels of real estate with a staff of about 150 appraisers. That’s an average of over 10,000 parcels per appraiser per year! While they value a large number of properties annually, you can focus intense attention on reducing the value of your property. You can minimize your property taxes with simple steps:



File a protest by May 31st for market value and unequal appraisal

Obtain the Harris County Appraisal District evidence?two weeks before the hearing. This information is sometimes referred to as the House Bill 201 package or the 41.461 package. It typically contains evidence regarding the subject property, market value and unequal appraisal.

Review evidence for both unequal appraisal and market value. Unequal appraisal is when your property is taxed/assessed at a higher rate than comparable properties. For a market value appeal, provided evidence that the appraisal district’s value exceeds market value. This could include information such as an error in the size of your property and deferred maintenance at your property.

Attend the informal and/or appraisal review board (ARB) hearing at the Harris County Appraisal District. In many cases, you can attend a hearing prior to the scheduled date. HCAD prefers to have hearings prior to rather than after the scheduled hearing date.

Repeat these steps annually.Property owners often ask, “I appealed my property taxes at the Harris County Appraisal District last year and obtained a reduction. Harris County Appraisal District did not increase my assessed value. Should I protest my property taxes again this year?” The answer is, “Yes, you should protest.” There are 2 reasons you should protest the assessed value established by the Harris County Appraisal District each year:



The prior years value set an “anchor value” for the current year’s property tax protest. If your value was $200,000 last year and the current year’s proposed value is $220,000, there is a tendency to set the value at or slightly above last year’s value. In the case, a typical result might be $200,000 to $210,000. However, if they had appealed at the Harris County Appraisal District the prior year and reduced the value to $185,000, a typical settlement might be $185,000 – $195,000. Property tax appeals at Harris County Appraisal District are an iterative process.

Most appeals at Harris County Appraisal District are successful. About 75-80% of the property tax appeals conducted by O’Connor & Associates at Harris County Appraisal District result in lower property taxes.Experience shows that when property owners appeal, prepare for the Harris County Appraisal District hearings and attend the hearing(s), they will usually be successful. Property tax consultants are willing to handle the property tax protest process at Harris County Appraisal District for a portion of the property tax savings. While there is a cost when hiring a property tax consultant, you realize property tax savings. The property tax savings versus the cost of a property tax consultant are more significant when considering the iterative nature of the property tax appeal process.