The bill has come and the tears have been shed – now what? Make time to protest your tax valuation. Protesting your taxes may only save a small increment on your taxes every year, but continually keeping your tax valuation low will be off over time exponentially. Statistics show only 1 in 7 owners will file a protest, but the process can be easy it just takes a little time and strategy.
You can begin the protest process online and you must file by the deadline typically May 31st.
There are two ways to generally protest the value given to your home. The first is based on “Incorrect Appraised (Market) Value”. This is simply that the appraiser put a higher price on the valuation of the home than what it could be sold for. This is the easiest way to protest and was a hands down winner in past years, but not anymore. With recent market values rising 10% or more the past few years the incorrect value method is harder to prove. Our team can provide you the market valuation numbers you need to see if this method will work for you. There are other ways to show your home is not as high in value as the appraisal office thinks. Be sure to check the information on appraisal district website – is your square footage correct? Are the other details correct? Do you have repairs that need to be made on your home? Do you need exterior paint? New Flooring? These types of needed repairs will affect the valuation on your home. Photos are a great way to demonstrate your home is below the current valuation.
The second and less commonly known way to protest your taxes is “Value is Unequal Compared with Other Properties”. This means that the tax assessor has valued your home higher than other similar homes in the neighborhood or area. This take a little work to find similar homes for comparisons so you can review the appraisal district website to see if the homes are equally valued. If yours is higher than others you have grounds to protest. If you need help finding similar homes for comparison, please let us know and we can help provide those addresses for you to look up.
The Marr Team is happy to discuss strategies and answer questions as you move forward with the process – we are also always happy to hear of your successes or ways homeowners could improve to help lower values next time so we can all improve together. We wish you luck as you work to try to save you some of your hard earned money this year and maybe we will see you at the appraisal office!
