TAD - Fighting taxes - Garage now being valued?

[IHaveAMustang]

I am contesting my taxes this year because my 1971 sqft house in Keller is being valued at 306,000 when my neighbor next door has 8700 sqft more land (she is on .5 acres and I am on .3) and a slightly larger house, but is being valued at $295,000

When they sent me their comp report, something caught my eye:

Actual Area 1971
Land Value $70,000.00
Garage Value $17,767.00
Pool Value $0.00
Outbuilding Value $0.00
Other Feature Value $0.00
Effective Year $0.00

Since when does non-habitable space get valued and taxed? Or am I reading too much into this?

Also, any tips for in-person hearings that will help me get back down to my requested value of $290,000?

[Craizie]

The whole thing seems arbitrary and a racket.

[Gasser64]

The whole thing seems arbitrary and a racket.

The whole thing is arbitrary and a racket. The only way to beat these scum is to move to an area that has low-very low taxes.

I'll be doing that soon enough.

Keep in mind guys it's for the schools! It's for the children!! (not the teachers and a big over bloated beaurocracy)

[bubbaearl]

you may be in for a surprize on taxes in rural texas . really depends on the county . some are high as hell especially the school taxes . if not for ag exemption i would be getting raped . some of these little school districts are ran by big city throwaways .

[JV106]

Texas property taxes are way the fuck out of hand. California for the love of god does a better job at them than our leaders. We need to band together like BLM and go ape shit over it.

Take pictures of every single crack in your foundation, rotten wood, chipped paint, busted driveway, etc. If you have a realtor friend have them do a comp. analysis. Take all of that down there with you when you appeal.

[IHaveAMustang]

Texas property taxes are way the fuck out of hand. California for the love of god does a better job at them than our leaders. We need to band together like BLM and go ape shit over it.

Take pictures of every single crack in your foundation, rotten wood, chipped paint, busted driveway, etc. If you have a realtor friend have them do a comp. analysis. Take all of that down there with you when you appeal.

I plan on documenting all the damage around the house.

Believe it or not, their comps they provided against me are going to help me. Several houses that are bigger, that are valued at just a little bit more than mine.

And they only had 3 past sales in the document and they can't be compared, 500-1000 sqft more, no comparison.

[TX_92_Notch]

Texas property taxes are way the fuck out of hand. California for the love of god does a better job at them than our leaders. We need to band together like BLM and go ape shit over it.

Take pictures of every single crack in your foundation, rotten wood, chipped paint, busted driveway, etc. If you have a realtor friend have them do a comp. analysis. Take all of that down there with you when you appeal.

The state is going to get their money one way or another. No state income tax? That's fine and dandy but grab the anal ease and bend over on property taxes.

[JV106]

The state is going to get their money one way or another. No state income tax? That's fine and dandy but grab the anal ease and bend over on property taxes.

It’s the influx of ppl from other states. They just sold a house for a million somewhere else and buy 5x the house here for $500k cash. No sweat off their nuts. But if you been here your whole life your income hasn’t increased at the same rate that the taxes are increasing. It’s absurd.

[kingjason]

They didn't even negotiate for 5 minutes. I took mine to the ARB board, bunch of older folks like a grand jury, asked for 50k off, got 30k off. Wiped out their gains for two years.

School taxes have absolutely gotten absurd.

[bubbaearl]

less than 1% protest their taxes . they depend on this so you have a good chance of getting some relief if you file. fucking bean counters strike again . my tax accountant told me he was on a first name basis with them . when you live in the sticks it's hard for them to come up with comps .

[IHaveAMustang]

They didn't even negotiate for 5 minutes. I took mine to the ARB board, bunch of older folks like a grand jury, asked for 50k off, got 30k off. Wiped out their gains for two years.

School taxes have absolutely gotten absurd.

I did this about 5 years ago but I had a lot more damage that I hadn't fixed ( this house was a foreclosure)

Now I'm going to be picking on very little things but I hope they do the same for me.

Im just shocked they are assessing a value to SQFT that is NOT habitable. I've always assumed some day I could build my dream garage and as long as it's not heated/cooled it couldn't be taxed.

Im asking it to be lowered from $313,000 to $295,000 - so it shouldn't be a hard ask

[Gasser64]

you may be in for a surprise on taxes in rural texas.

I'm sure that happens with the way these parasites operate, but it seems unlikely that it would be the norm. For example:

It may not sound very high to some of you here, but mine are roughly $3.5k per year. My grandparents live 15 minutes away and theirs are $800 per year. They live outside of city limits, and it's on something like 2.5 acres iirc. They have a nice average sized house and and a pool and a detached garage and a couple of big storage buildings. It's a decent place.

[bubbaearl]

Tax rate freezes at 65 so your grandparents tax rate is likely very low . County to county varies wildly also .

[JV106]

I'm sure that happens with the way these parasites operate, but it seems unlikely that it would be the norm. For example:

It may not sound very high to some of you here, but mine are roughly $3.5k per year. My grandparents live 15 minutes away and theirs are $800 per year. They live outside of city limits, and it's on something like 2.5 acres iirc. They have a nice average sized house and and a pool and a detached garage and a couple of big storage buildings. It's a decent place.

You can lock your taxes at whatever rate they’re currently at when you turn 65.

[Chili]

Kind of related, but do any of you get taxed on mineral rights? Not that anyone is making money off natural gas these days.

When we sold the house in Euless last year I retained mineral rights. TAD appraises it separately, but mine at least shows an appraised value of $0.00. That said, a 'well' is in place for the neighborhood, so I'm guessing if they ever resume pumping gas out, the county may try to establish a value for it..