Geographic Relevance Notice: This article is most relevant to property owners in Texas, during the 2023 property appraisal season. However, some property owners outside the state may still find this article useful when your local county reappraises the value of your home or land.

Are you a land owner in Texas? If so, you may have been (or soon will be) contacted by your local County Appraisal District (CAD) about proposed increases to the appraised value to your property. In almost all cases, the appraised value is increasing… oftentimes dramatically.

I recently received a proposed appraisal from the county I own land in, and would like to share my experience while protesting the appraisal/tax hike.

Why is this happening?

The CAD periodically reassesses property values over the years to ensure it’s being taxed correctly. However, there appears to be a mad-rush to reappraise properties before Texas Senate Bill 3 takes effect. The Bill raises the homestead exemption from $40,000 to $100,000. The Bill also caps the maximum increase in appraised value at 5%, for all property types.

In addition to the rush to reappraise real estate before the Bill takes effect, it seems many counties are prioritizing high-value properties or those over 1 acre in size. Even more heinous, is the hike in appraised value is oftentimes absurd and not based on real market value.

Why is it important?

Property value is the basis of how the county raises funds (taxes) to pay for public services and infrastructure… and the wages of government employees.

Background

I recently received a “Notice of Appraised Value” in the mail from the CAD my property resides. It was alarming to see the proposed appraised value of my land was increasing from $38,000 to $100,000.

Surely, there was a mistake because that’s over 2.5 times the current value!

Nothing in that sleepy rural town moves fast! Heck, the local internet service provider still thinks dialup is “high-speed.” Property values can’t possibly have nearly TRIPLED in a year.

I promptly filled out the provided “Notice of Protest” and sent it back to the county.

I received a response within a couple weeks in the form of a “Notice of Protest Hearing” for “incorrect appraised/market value.” The hearing was set for a little over a month into the future, so I got a head start on preparing for the hearing. I did preliminary research into the state property tax remedies and the county’s rules regarding protesting the appraisal hike. I also went through my files to locate recent letters from developers offering to buy the property.

The Day of the Hearing

The county graciously offered an informal conference with the appraisal office before the protest hearing. Normal rules of civil procedure in Texas dictate a schedule be ordered and adhered to by all parties. I figured I’d receive another notice informing me the scheduled conference would take place sometime before the hearing, like maybe a week or a day prior to the hearing.

It turns out the informal meeting happens right before the hearing.

The informal conference is the first point of human contact the property owner has with a government worker, who has everything already up on the computer screen to reject your protest outright. The worker used HAR.com (Houston Area Realtors) to appraise the property value, and claimed I was fortunate because the property should be appraised much higher than it already is.

Just like a car salesman, the employee offered to speak with his manager to see if there’s anything they could do to help me out with the final cost. He left me in the office to stew over my situation, and returned with an offer to reduce the appraised value by 20%. It was a take it or leave it offer that would disappear if I requested a hearing.

That was still too high of an appraisal for my property, so I requested the hearing.

As I sat waiting for the hearing to start, I kept thinking of how the conference was only offered to convince the property owner their protest is invalid, or to settle at an unfair price. I soon learned the informal meeting was also a tactic to get more information out of me, so the CAD representatives can be better prepared for my arguments during the hearing.

The Hearing

The hearing was very standoffish, and similar to a corporate disciplinary meeting. I was led into a large conference room to face a team of people empaneled against the property owner and the sole defender. They used their combined computerized resources and brainpower to overwhelm and counter any reasoned protest presented at the hearing.

The CAD had 3 people on their team, one person serving as the recordkeeper, and 2 active representatives. They were well prepared and opened with information acquired during the informal conference. They used a combination of county plat records and HAR.com to validate the proposed value of my property. All of the County’s evidence was projected onto a screen behind the property owner.

(The property owner is only afforded the paper evidence brought into the hearing.)

The CAD did not utilize any true governmental resource or service to appraise the property. Instead, they used data from a 3^rd-party website, HAR.com, to display how much neighboring properties sold as evidence to support their claim.

A major deviation to typical civil procedure was that I was not able to examine the evidence presented before the hearing to verify the accuracy, authenticity, or if the data was stale with age. Property owners are forced to examine and address the CAD’s evidence as presented, which is impossible given the homeowner cannot bring a laptop to the hearing and objectively review the data.

The Panel

The Panel was comprised of 3 individuals of retirement age, who volunteered to serve. I was told the panel was not employed by the CAD, nor do they have any stake in the property or outcome of the hearing.

After the CAD and I completed our final statements, the panel deliberated among themselves and only paused to ask clarifying questions. They were unbiased and seemed to be interested only in the facts related to the property being appraised.

After considering a couple more points, the panel ultimately reduced the proposed appraisal to $60,000.

My Take After the Hearing

The CAD employees used HAR.com to compare my property alongside others in the area, most of which were very different to mine. A few properties presented by the County were fully developed with livable homes, and the differences were obvious since my property is completely undeveloped and landlocked.

The few acreages the County presented as evidence were different as well, in both size and location.

• One such lot was approximately 1/3 acre and located right off a major highway, and was near businesses. Such a property could realistically be sold at the listed price as commercial property, but only time will tell.
• Another acreage the CAD presented was about 10 acres and listed at $1.2 million. It’s a huge property located next to an after-school private education center. A developer could buy that land to build a small neighborhood for rich families.

The County used these properties to claim my property was probably undervalued and should be appraised higher. But what the County didn’t show the board, was the additional data available on HAR.com, which indicates the property values being presented make no sense. If the homeowner was allowed to fairly evaluate the evidence used during the hearing, it would bring into question the CAD’s appraisal process.

For example, the 10-acre lot next to the private school is listed at $1.2 million. A review of the historic value indicates the listed price doesn’t make sense. Just last year, that acreage was worth about $80,000!

How does the CAD justify comparing my property to another that’s “listed” at $1.2 million, but valued 15 times less last year?!

They can’t. Which is why the property owner isn’t allowed a fair evaluation of the evidence presented. The County has no clue how much that property will sell for, but they want to compare mine with something that’s been on the market for nearly half a year and probably won’t sell at that pie-in-the-sky price.

***

I have mixed feelings about the outcome of my protest hearing. Despite my property value increasing by another $20k, I’m generally happy at being able to curtail this heavy-handed tax hike. However, I’m a bit leery about the County’s use of seemingly unreliable tools to evaluate the value of my property.

The protest hearing is legally binding and the homeowner is presented with an “Order” based on the hearing’s outcome. So, I’m deeply troubled at how the process doesn’t match typical rules of civil procedure, and how homeowners aren’t allowed to adequately defend themselves.

This was definitely a learning experience and I have a better understanding of how tricky the County can be. I’ll use this experience to better prepare for the next time I receive a “Notice of Appraised Value.”