You were over the moon when you first bought your home and moved in. Your new address is a beautiful place for you and your family to live; every time you look at it, it makes your heart skip a beat. Over time, however, that feeling may change—especially if your property tax assessment starts to get expensive! If this happens to you, don’t give up hope just yet. There are steps you can take to reduce your tax burden.
Steps To Challenge A Property Tax Assessment
Do Your Homework
When you’re looking to challenge your property taxes, first make sure the value of your home is not overassessed.
Overassessment occurs when a property is assessed at a higher value than its worth. This could be because the municipality has simply not updated its assessment methods.
If you think your property might be overassessed, there are a few things you can do to find out:
- Ask yourself how much similar homes in your area sell for and compare them against what’s on record as being sold recently in your neighborhood. If they’re significantly higher than what’s been paid for them recently (within 2-3 years), ask yourself if it makes sense that yours could be worth significantly more than theirs based on age or condition alone.
- Check out recent sales data from real estate websites like Zillow or Redfin to see how many homes similar in size, location and condition have sold within the past year—or even two years—and use those numbers as benchmarks to set realistic expectations about what yours should be valued at by tax assessors (if anything).
Gather Documents
To challenge your assessment, you need to get the facts. The first step is to obtain a copy of your current tax assessment. You can do this either by visiting your local tax assessor’s office or by contacting them through the mail.
Work with an appraiser if possible and ask them what documents they need from you. Some of these include:
● A copy of the deed or title document for the property;
● Property tax bills from previous years;
● Photos of inside and outside of the house (if available);
● Any permits or other paperwork related to renovations;
● Statements from contractors who worked on the house (if applicable).
Get Comps
Once you have this information in hand, it’s time to compare it with other similar homes in your area.
As you prepare to challenge your property tax assessment, collecting all documents demonstrating your home’s value is important. Your assessor will be looking at comparable properties in the area, so it’s vital to have comparable sales data on your side.
To determine the value of your home, you need to figure out how much similar homes are selling for in the area. This is known as a comparable sale. Your goal is to find at least three homes that are very similar to yours and see what they sold for.
The best way to do this is by searching online for properties that have sold recently in your neighborhood (or within 25 miles). You can use websites like Zillow or Trulia, but other sites can help, like Hotpads or Homesnap.
Once you have found some homes that look like yours, check out the sales price by clicking on “sold prices” next to each listing on those sites. Then add up all of the sale prices from these three houses and compare them with the assessed value of your home (look under Taxable Value). The difference between these numbers represents how much tax relief you may be able to get if you challenge a property tax assessment based on these sales figures!
Hiring A Tax Reduction Expert To Handle The Process For You Is The Best Course Of Action
Why? You’ll save time and money. An expert will handle the entire process from start to finish. You won’t have to spend time researching, organizing materials, or negotiating with officials.
Tax reduction experts have years of experience in this area and can help guide you through the process. They’ll also help ensure that everything is done according to the law. There are many advantages to hiring an expert:
● It saves you time and money – Hiring a professional will save you hours (if not days) of research time, as well as thousands of dollars in legal fees down the road from getting things wrong
● It gives peace of mind – You’ll have someone who knows what they’re doing by your side during every step
An expert can also help you understand your options and decide how best to challenge your assessment.
Is it better for me to accept my current assessment? Do I need legal counsel during this process? What chances of success if I hire an attorney? How much will it cost me in legal fees and court costs if we lose this case?
When dealing with property tax assessments, it’s important to know your rights and how to challenge them. This process can be difficult if you don’t have the right knowledge or experience. A professional will help you navigate through this process to get back what is rightfully yours.
TXTPR Can Reduce Your Tax Bill
Texas Property Tax Reductions (TXTPR) can help you reduce your tax burden. We have a proven track record of success. We have successfully reduced property tax values for over 97.6% of our clients, with an average reduction of $42,302 and an average tax savings of just over $1,184.
Contact us here to see how we can help you save.