Home address: 101 W Garfield St

 2021 Taxable Value: $108,633

 Recent Sales Price: $67,000   – Over-taxed by 62%

Texas property owners can avoid paying excess property taxes by taking several basic steps. Protest market value, get a few comparable sales as evidence and you are very likely to reduce your property taxes. Unequal appraisal is a powerful tool to reduce property taxes, but many homeowners are not aware of it and don’t use it. The Texas Comptroller reports 80% of 2019 property tax appeals by home owners were successful.

Some homeowners do not appeal property taxes because they are not aware of this right.  You can and should protest both market value and unequal appraisal annually. One reason it is difficult for appraisal districts to correctly value homes is they are not homogenous.  Some have been remodeled and some haven’t. Tax protests are resolved at the informal hearing since the result is within a “reasonable range of value”.  Appraisal is not an exact science and valuations are only an educated opinion of value, not a fact. Not appealing your property taxes annually is the equivalent of volunteering to pay extra property taxes.