Home address: 3406 Sinclair Av
2021 Taxable Value: $243,090
Recent Sales Price: $195,000 – Over-taxed by 25%

Texas property owners can avoid paying excess property taxes by taking several basic steps. Either comparable sales or condition issues at your home are useful for a market value appeal of property taxes. Check the unequal appraisal box on the protest form, or your unequal appraisal appeal will be ignored. Winning a property tax protest is easy. Getting property owners to appeal is hard. Only 10% of Texan home owners appeal their property taxes.

Some property owners do not appeal due to a concern the appraisal district will want to inspect their house. However, the appraisal district is MUCH too busy during the appeal season to even think about asking to inspect a property. Assessors do not visit houses because of appeals. Appraisal districts use mass appraisal to value property, basically a math model. Overall results are OK. However, many homes are too high or low. Appraisal districts settle appeals at the informal level to avoid the time consuming and expensive appraisal review board hearings. Protesting your property taxes annually is analogous to regularly changing the oil in your car. Preventative maintenance avoids serious problems.