Home address: 14951 Pollux Dr

2021 Taxable Value: $448,250

Recent Sales Price: $325,000 – Over-taxed by 38%

Property tax assessments not carefully reviewed lead to paying more than your share of property taxes. One option to reduce your property taxes is to protest the market value. Unequal appraisal appeals are valid when the assessment is below market value. The Texas Comptroller reports 80% of 2019 property tax appeals by home owners were successful.

Property owners are sometimes reluctant to protest their property taxes because the believe the appeal process is difficult. It is not difficult and 60 to 80% of owners who appeal are successful. Appraisal districts use mass appraisal to value property, basically a math model. Overall results are OK. However, many homes are too high or low. Appraisal districts aggressively settle appeals since they have only 65 days to settle most of the appeals. Property taxes are the largest tax most Texans face. But it is a stealth tax hidden in the mortgage payment, disguising the size of property taxes paid.