5 tips to protest property tax in Harris county appraisal district

5 Tips to Protest property taxes in Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD) If you own a property in Harris County, should have received your property appraised from the HCAD in the mail by now. There has definitely been arise in values in Texas cities, but that doesn’t mean the value the county appraisal district has for your property is correct. Those who are interested in reducing their property taxes ought to discover what is involved in property tax protest. Here are a few tips on how to win your property tax protest.

HCAD Property tax protest: Property owners must file a protest against property tax increases. It’s not enough just to file your protest, you need to remember to show up to the hearing. The Harris County Appraisal District may offer property owners the chance to settle their case before the hearing. It can be tempting to accept the offer, especially if the taxing unit is willing to reduce the property value.

However, it is much better to attend the hearing and present the entire case, since property owners may receive an even lower valuation.

Get helpfrom property tax consultant: Approach a property tax consultant with the experience of attending thousands of hearing.They can help you make these types of difficult decisions.Since the process of appealing property taxes(property tax appeal) involves a great deal of preparation and expertise, property owners may benefit from hiring professional assistance to reduce property taxes.

Perform online investigation: The HCAD property tax protest site contains the logistical procedures of what to expect, what data they consider. You can file a protest on HCAD's website and opt to get a settlement without ever having to appear in person. After you file your protest for property tax and receive an informal hearing date, the website will show you what properties their computerized models are used to compare to yours.

It will give a list of similar properties with basic data about them. Make sure the information they have for your home is accurate. You have to log-in and click around a bit to find this information. The Harris County Appraisal District also offers free advice on how to file a successful protest. You can find all of this information at HCAD.org Be on-time for hearings: You appearon the HCAD building and wait for your name to be called. When you go to this hearing, bring all the documentation that supports your perspective of the market estimation of your home. Lots of quality images of defects with your home that adversely strike market value are crucial.The HCAD representative makes their response mostly based on the similar properties. So if you give specifics of why those similar properties are inaccurate and perhaps show better ones, it is hard for an HCAD employee who just picked up the file to disprove you.If

they don’t have any additional evidence beyond the comparable to disprove your point.They consider the information, and you get a final determination from them at the end of the hearing.

In the event, if you don’t get a reduction in property tax 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 property tax assessment, so sometimes it may be worth it to take the informal appraisal reduction for the certainty involved.

Justify your points: Presenting a valid case requires concrete evidence that the Appraisal Review Board representatives can examine for themselves. You may want to actually see those properties in person and photograph the outside to distinguish them from your property. One of the best ways to get exact information is to check the online tools that helps to get realistic valuation.

Meet your Neighbors Normally, in order to demonstrate that the taxing unit has overvalued the property, owners must be extremely familiar with their property and the properties of their neighbors.You know your property. Your neighbors know your neighborhood. Sometimes they may know gossip that can help you collect helpful valuation information.Talking to your neighbors can sometimes give you a sense of what works and doesn’t work in doing their property tax protest.