Protesting Trav Co Appraisal

[AuburnTexas]

Does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to win a protest with Travis County on the value of a house? I think they are about 15k high on mine. I live in a new neighborhood and there are about 10 houses similar to mine. So I checked TravisCad.com and looked up all the appraised values on similar houses in the neighborhood and applied the average appraised dollar per square foot to my house to come up with a fair appraisal value. I think this makes since as all the houses were built within the last 12 months by the same builder. Do I have a valid argument? Any helpful ideas on dealing with Travis County? I meet with them tomorrow. Thanks.

 

[cbs]

You can never ask too far in advance for advice.

The question is not what others in your neighborhood are appraised for (although if you're just higher than everyone else, that's a good start), but what is the market value. If you know any real estate agents, you should have them pull some comps for sales. Second, it will be a real help if the builder is still building in your neighborhood. The basic argument is, "Why do you think my house is worth X, when a new buyer can buy a new house for that amount just down the street?"

 

[swTXSU]

I protested mine last year and got it lowered by about $50 grand. I still had the closing sheet from the bank the year before when we closed out the construction loan and set up the mortgage. One of the things that turned the ordeal in my favor was the amount we had insured the home for. It was way less than their proposed appraisal. The person remarked that the bank wouldn't let us under-insure a newly constructed home so he offerred to set the appraisal at what we had it insured for. I took the offer and declined to go on to the Appraisal Review Board.

Then this year they just upped the value of the lots the house sits on. Kind of made me mad, but hey, they were way undervalued anyway.

 

[AuburnTexas]

Thanks for the replies. Part of my problem is that they appraised my house about 10k LESS than what I paid for it. So I can't really go down that route. So I figured the next best thing would be to compare my appraised value with similar houses in the neighborhood. I just don't see how they can argue with my logic since I'm using their numbers to make my case. I need to get the number as low as possible since this is the first appraisal under my homestead exemption.

So I guess my question is specifically: Will Travis County let me make my case by using THEIR appraisals on similar houses in my neighborhood. It’s not like I’m asking for the lowest $/SF – I’m just asking for the average $/SF. Does my logic make since?

 

[kevwun]

There's more and more rumblings about ending property taxes in favor or raising the sales tax. I wonder if it will happen. It seems a hell of a lot more fair than the current system.