This post was originally published on April 26, 2014 and was updated most recently June 17, 2020.
Thinking of filing a property tax protest in Houston, Harris County? The deadline for filing your property protest appeal is May 15th, unless that day is a holiday or weekend then the next business day, or 30 days after the date your notice of appraised value was mailed, whichever is the later date. There can be circ*mstances where you can file your appeal later than that too.
COVID-19 Property Tax Protest Update
(UPDATE April 2, 2020:The tax appeal process discussed below does not assume a COVID-19 global pandemic. Both the informal appraisal hearing and the Appraisal Review Board are usually things that happen in person at the Harris County Appraisal District. Those offices are currently closed to the public.
I spoke to an HCAD spokesperson and as of this date, this is what they know:
1. Appeal date is still May 15th because this is set by Texas law;
2. They are strongly encouraging people to use iFile online/use iSettle versus mailing it in;
3. They have not currently determined how the informal process and ARB is going to work if people will not be meeting in person. When they know, they will let us know.
4. The valuation of your property is set by state law and is the value as of January 1. Even if the economic conditions of Houston and the globe have drastically changed. Those changes would be reflected in the next year’s property valuation.)
(UPDATE June 17, 2020: This year, I protested my taxes because they are substantially over the market value. I tried to use iSettle, and my claim could not be resolved this way. The notice I received said I should wait for meeting date for an appraiser.
Today, I received a notice showing the meeting date with an appraiser at the beginning of July. It notes if “I choose not to attend, or if the protest cannot be resolved, the Appraisal Review Board of Harris County will schedule your protest for a formal hearing.”
Remarkably, nothing in the notice mentions that we are in a global pandemic and that meeting with strangers in an indoor setting is discouraged by medical professionals and the government. Not one bit.
To know how to protect yourself and get a fair assessment of your property, you need to look at the HCAD website for further guidance. If you want a remote informal hearing and then formal ARB hearing if that is necessary, instead of an in-person hearing, you have to call them.
And most importantly know to call them. Here is the HCAD websitelink.
Please read that page for details.
Interestingly, the website notes, “Property owners will be able to submit evidence documents for either the remote or in person meetings no later than 3 days before the scheduled meeting, or they can bring evidence with them for an on-site meeting.”
So that means if you have a remote meeting scheduled, you have to make sure to submit the evidence to them no later than 3 days before the scheduled meeting? I don’t know. But if you are going to schedule a remote meeting, I would try to find this out for sure).
I am not a property tax protestexpert. Just a homeowner who believes the computerized tax assessments on my home value are always off-base. Over the years, I’ve found the most helpful information in protesting my taxes was talking to friends about what has worked for them.
Blog posts are often used as resources, and I wanted to use this blog post as a forum to share my (non-legal advice) experiences, and ask for you to add any practical, helpful advice that you have in the comments below.
(UPDATE July 18, 2016:I do not handle tax protests as a part of my practice, so please do not email me to help you or ask my advice. I put this together because I can and to be a generally helpful person in my community).
Practicalhelp to win your property tax protest.
First some basics.
1. File your protest.
On the list of things that you might forget, this can be an expensive one. You can use the HCAD website to file it, so you don’t even need a stamp.This is a particularly important year not to forget this given the rise in values.
It’s not enough just to file your protest. You need to remember to show up to the hearing as well unless you get a i-Settle resolution. This is obvious but is a pain to do every year to say the same thing to get the same result.
2. Should you get professional help to protest?
Personally, no. Easy for me to say because I’m a lawyer.
But many people have positive results without getting tax agent help. At least one study suggestsindividuals get better results than experts. For residential properties 41% better.
Why is that so?
Tax agent companies might suggest they tend to have harder casesthan the people who feel like they can protest it on their own.
Perhaps it is a matter of motivation and familiarity. A homeowner is very motivated to reduce their tax valuation. They can focus their time on only one property, and knows its problems better than anyone.
I don’t want to pay anybody for things that I’m capable of doing myself and likely do better. Have that view regarding restaurant food too, which is why I often order the fish and skip things easier to cook at home.
3.Spend some time exploringthe HCAD website.
TheHCADwebsitecontains the logistical procedures of what to expect, what information they consider. They go into a lot more detail than I can reasonably do here.
After you file your protest tax protest and receive an informal hearing date, the website will show youwhat properties their computerized models are using to compare to yours.
That information won’t be on the site until15-20 days before your hearing date. It will give a list of comparable properties with basic information about them.
You have to log-in and click around a bit to find this information.(UPDATE July 18, 2016: Commenters/emailers have been asking where to find that info. I always end up forgetting where I found it the last time and have to look for it. HCAD currently doesn’t make it obvious that it exists or where to find it. In fairness to them, there’s a lot of stuff on their site. Fortunately, commenter “Kbum”was helpful and answered this below: “Once you log in herehttps://owners.hcad.org(and set up a user name/password) Navigate to the “Manage Your Property Accounts” page. You will find it at the bottom left of this page under “View HCAD Hearing Evidence.””)
You maywant to actually see those properties in person and photographthe outsideto distinguish them from your property. It’s been my experience that the properties that their computerized system used to compare to mine weren’t terribly similar.
4. Should you do i-Settle?
If you don’t use i-Settle, then your filing goes to an informal hearing appraiser and then if isn’t resolved then, to the entire appraisal review board.If you useHCAD i-Settle process, you may get a reduction in your home value such that you feel fine taking it without going to HCAD.
For me, though Iasked to use i-Settle in the past, I’ve always received this email back after they considered it:
Thank you for signing up for ouriSettle™program. Unfortunately, after reviewing the information we have available, we cannot propose an online settlement for your 2012 protest. Since sales disclosure is not mandatory in Texas, we acknowledge that our market information may not be complete and that you may have evidence unique to your property that may support a reduction in your property’s market value. To be sure you have an adequate opportunity to have it reviewed, we will be setting you up for appointments with one of our appraisers and for a hearing with the Appraisal Review Board. The Appraisal Review Board will set a hearing for your protest and notify you of the time, date and place of the hearing by standard USPS mail.
Perhaps it works better for smaller reductions than what I requested. I ended up getting a informal appraisal hearing and approving their offer after i-Settle gave me no offer.
This detailed property tax protest Examiner blog post from a few years ago called “Appealing Houston Property Taxes 101: Taking on HCAD and winning”advisesnot using i-Settle at all.
5. What to expect from the informal appraisal hearing?
You show up at the HCAD building and wait for your name to be called. An appraiser brings you to his cubical.
When you go to this, bring all the documentation that supports your view of the market value of your home. Lots of quality pictures of defectswith your homethat adversely affect market valueare crucial.
One year, the detailed info that I brought to the appraiser demonstrated that some of the information they had in their computer about my home was inaccurate, and he changed it in their system.
At one meeting I had with an appraiser, he told me that the most that they have authority to reduce with homeowners is $100,000. I do not know if it is true or not.
In my limited dealings with the informal process, they were reasonable and gave me what I thought was a fair offer worth not going the next step to the appraisal review board.
6. What to expect from the appraisal review board (ARB) hearing?
The panel is comprised of threecitizens not employed by HCAD to hear your case.
There is also an HCAD employee who represents HCAD that argues against your point view.
When I did this, I put together a packet of material for me, each of the representatives,and the HCAD employee.
One section was reasons why house should have lower value than what the computerized system suggested due to problems with the property. This section had many clear color pictures of problems withthe house.
Another section was details on the properties HCAD in its online materials said were the comparables, and why my property was worth substantially less. To do that, I looked both online with the information contained there, but also went to those properties and took pictures.
Then I flipped through the packet of materials, using it as a visual aid to discuss with the ARB panel. It was fancy looking packet with a cover sheet, good quality color photos to try to showI gave the proceedingsome thought, respect and time.
Having everything in a packet is also helpful if you feel shy about talking in front of a group of people. You can just walk them through the packet.
The HCAD employee makes herresponse mostly based on the comparables. Soif you give specifics of why those comparables are inaccurate and perhaps show better ones, it is hard for an HCAD employee who just picked up the file to refute you.
You just killed all her evidence and she doesn’t have any additional evidence beyond the comparables to refute your point.
They consider the information, and you get a final determination from them at the end of the hearing.
7. Be nice, be prepared. Get them to want to help you.
Remember, this process is not really about doing a “property tax protest” and more about discussingthe information that justifies what the market value for your house is. Market value being what it would sell on the open market.
The informal appraiser and the appraiser review board folks are human beings. Ones who have a lot of control. So you want to politely and logically state your position, with so much support and in such a friendly way they want to help you.
Under no circ*mstances should you complain about the tax burden to the informal appraiser or to the ARB panel. Because it ain’t their doing. In fact, one of thefirst things on the HCAD siteis this statement:
“If you’re concerned about tax levels, you should take those concerns to local government officials.”
I am certain they know what you think about the rising taxes. They have heard it a million times. Likely from bat-bleep crazy people who said it in bat-bleep crazy ways.
But if you want the human beings who control your tax appraisal to help you, you help them by providing good reasons supported by data.
And being the nice sort of person they feel good abouthelping.
(This is good advice in dealing with most service providers who have control over something you want them to do–making them feel good to want to go the extra mile for you. They just want to do their job, get paid, get off work, maybe go to Applebees, get some beers. You can try to bulldoze service providers into doing good stuff for you, but that is not a high percentage situation when they have more power and control in the situation).
If you win on the ARB level, you’ve beaten HCAD until next year, when the computer spits out the same old wrong valuation and you make many of the same arguments year after year. (So save your documents).
If you don’t get a reduction at the ARB level, then your next choice is district court, which for most homeowners won’t be worth the time and money. There is no guarantee you and the ARB panel will agree with your assessment, so sometimes it may be worth it to take the informal appraisal reduction for the certainty involved.
7. Talk to your neighbors.
You know your property. Your neighbors know your neighborhood. Sometimes they may know gossip that can help you gather helpful valuation information.
One year, one of my neighbors put a spreadsheet in localmailboxes demonstrating the rise of land values on our street relative to nearby streets, showing an improper valuation issue. That connection wouldn’t have occurred to me until I saw that flyer.
Talking to your neighbors can sometimes give you a sense of what works and doesn’t work in doing their property tax protest.
Also, I’ve found that my Realtor friends can also provide helpful information and ideas, assuming you already have a good relationship with one.
8. Storm Damage.
Hurricane Harvey damage and other storm damage can radically change the value of your property. Even a property that was fixed after the storm can have a downward assessment. The Harris County Appraisal District offered an app, email and phone line to provide damage information right after the storm. [pdf link] If you failed to report damage, you can still do so in your appeal this year, showing pictures of what the property looks like as of January 1st of the taxing year. Even if you repaired the damage, you can still provide information on what damaged houses are now selling for in your neighborhood.
9. Leave a comment here.
As I said, I am no expert in this. What I’d like to do is to start adialogue about this topic. Where people share their ideas of what works and what they have experienced.
As a Houston homeowner who knows I will be doing this fight every year, I’d like to receivewhatever help I can get.
