Property tax suggestion...

[Truckman]

When I still had my business, I always got the annual property tax appraisal on my home from the county and never had the time to go protest it when it went up each year...I just bit the bullet and paid the bill at the end of the year...This is my first year of retirement and while passing their office this week, I realized I hadn't got the annual appraisal...I turned around and went in to check on it...

The lady at the front desk looked it up and said I didn't get a notice because it hadn't changed...When I mentioned I still thought it was high, she said I could sign in on the protest sheet and have it re-appraised...Having nothing better to do, I did so and in a few minutes I was sitting in the office of an appraiser...He looked up recent sales of homes nearby, fed the info into his computer and it lowered the evaluation by over $50,000.00, saving me a bundle in tax at the end of the year...

I had always thought this was a lengthy, drawn out process in which the county fought tooth and nail for the tax money...I was in and out in less than an hour with a considerable savings...If you haven't done it recently, I recommend you do so, after all it's your money not theirs...I think June 1 is the deadline...

The appraiser told me I can do it every year and said if I don't like their new appraisal, I don't have to accept it...If you haven't done it, do it...Ben

[kenw]

Amen. We decided to protest ours last year (pre-Ike). We did tons of research, reviewed the neighbors' evaluations, charted $/sf and all the poop. We lowered our valuation (in our opinion) by about 15k, sent in our protest.

they didn't buy it so arranged a sit-down review. OK, now we take photos of repairs needed and all sorts of stuff; we were loaded for bear....

We got there, sat down and the guy immediately launched into reviewing the data we brought, their data (which ours was based on) and the pics).

He then lowered it another 5k lower than ours....

yes. do it. by all means.

[Bella]

I agree. We've protested our taxes every year since we bought our house. Every year, they decrease the valuation at protest time from what it was when the letter originally went out.

Cindy

[Cajungaltx]

So that I don't get myself in trouble for getting all political about the whole appraisal process issue in the state of Texas, I'll post two links:

www.CLOUTTEXAS.org

This was created by some folks who KNOW how to argue appraisals. ;-) I think Edd Hendee (Taste of Texas) created it. Don't quote me on that. ;-)

http://www.clouttexas.com/docs/clout...platefinal.xls