How to Minimize the Property Tax Assessments set by the Harris County Appraisal District

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Author: Patrick OConnor

Article source: http://www.articlesfactory.com/. Used with author's permission.

Harris County Appraisal District estimates the market value for 1.6 million parcels of real estate with a staff of about 150 appraisers. That's an average of over 10,000 parcels per appraiser per year! While they value a large number of properties annually, you can focus intense attention on reducing the value of your property.

• File a protest by May 31st for market value and unequal appraisal
• Obtain the Harris County Appraisal District evidence two weeks before the hearing. This information is sometimes referred to as the House Bill 201 package or the 41.461 package. It typically contains evidence regarding the subject property, market value and unequal appraisal.
• Review evidence for both unequal appraisal and market value. Unequal appraisal is when your property is taxed/assessed at a higher rate than comparable properties. For a market value appeal, provided evidence that the appraisal district's value exceeds market value. This could include information such as an error in the size of your property and deferred maintenance at your property.
• Attend the informal and/or appraisal review board (ARB) hearing at the Harris County Appraisal District. In many cases, you can attend a hearing prior to the scheduled date. HCAD prefers to have hearings prior to rather than after the scheduled hearing date.
• Repeat these steps annually.

1. The prior years value set an "anchor value" for the current year's property tax protest. If your value was $200,000 last year and the current year's proposed value is $220,000, there is a tendency to set the value at or slightly above last year's value. In the case, a typical result might be $200,000 to $210,000. However, if they had appealed at the Harris County Appraisal District the prior year and reduced the value to $185,000, a typical settlement might be $185,000 - $195,000. Property tax appeals at Harris County Appraisal District are an iterative process.
2. Most appeals at Harris County Appraisal District are successful. About 75-80% of the property tax appeals conducted by O'Connor & Associates at Harris County Appraisal District result in lower property taxes.

Experience shows that when property owners appeal, prepare for the Harris County Appraisal District hearings and attend the hearing(s), they will usually be successful. Property tax consultants are willing to handle the property tax protest process at Harris County Appraisal District for a portion of the property tax savings. While there is a cost when hiring a property tax consultant, you realize property tax savings. The property tax savings versus the cost of a property tax consultant are more significant when considering the iterative nature of the property tax appeal process.

Lenders, appraisers, developers, investors, tenants and real estate brokers are just some of the real estate professionals who regularly need real estate market data. They seek timely raw data and summary statistics regarding the market and submarkets. O'Connor & Associates has been providing this information since 1988. Regularly updated primary market data is the basis for quality real estate market data. It provides the basis for market analysis including absorption, rental rate trends and occupancy rate trends. O'Connor & Associates has provided timely real estate market research since 1988. The data is used by our appraisers, real estate consultants, property tax consultants and clients.

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This capacity to research, analyze and interpret market trends and the impact of specific transactions is a major reason for why developers and acquisition experts rely on O'Connor & Associates for property tax, market research, highest and best use analysis, commercial real estate appraisal, project design guidance, property performance evaluation and lease audits. O'Connor & Associates is an acknowledged source of trends in real estate investing and market activity.