Homeowners should be receiving their county property appraisals now (I got mine a week or so ago). If you feel your home valuation is too high, here are some tips for Protesting Your Tax Appraisal, and a link to the process: Appraisal Protests & Appeals. Or, you can simply call one of the many tax protest companies and have them handle the protest for you. They only charge if they are able to save you on your tax bill and even then, their fee is a portion of what they save you on your property tax bill. If they don't save you any money, you don't pay. I currently use Texas Tax Protest for my rental properties and home. Even as a Realtor with access to all the data needed to protest my taxes, I felt that my time is best spent helping my clients vs. dealing with all that is required to save some tax money. Another company you can use is O'Connor Tax Reduction. Don’t forget: You have a limited time (usually the middle of May) to submit a protest! Speaking of taxes, a common complaint in Texas is our high property taxes. However, when you consider the fact that we don’t have a state personal income tax (1 of only7 states) and look at the overall tax burden to citizens by state, Texas fares well at #40: 2020’s Tax Burden by State
Get ready for a shock with your appraisal when you get it (Homeowners to see tax payment surge, and Hays County homeowners see taxable values jump for 2021). I own properties in Williamson county and my new appraisals averaged a 17-23% increase over last year! I met with clients the other day who received theirs and it went up by 34%. While this is high, keep in mind that many homeowners got little or no increase last year due to Covid-19 so this is really 2-year’s worth. Still, this will have ripple-down effects on affordability of existing homeowners as their payments go up and also for tenants. One of my rent houses will have the property taxes go up by $126 when the bill comes out at the end of the year, so this would need to be passed along to the tenant just to remain even from where I am now. This will happen with apartment complexes, too, so buckle up and start saving ahead for the inevitable shock!
(512) 853-0110 or robert@AustinTxHomeSales.com
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