Appealing Property Taxes For Your Home The Basics

Just like going to a medical doctor's office the first thing that you need to do is to gather the necessary information with which to do the paperwork. The primary sources for that information is the homeowner's property record card obtained at the assessor's office and comparable home sales. Most homeowners armed with one or both of these information items get their assessment reduced the majority of the time without going beyond their local tax assessor's office.

Property owners have the option of requesting a notice of assessed value for their property annually. Section 25.19g of the Texas Property Tax Code provides the owner the option to request a written notice of the assessed value from the chief appraiser. Owners benefit from requesting and receiving a written notice of assessed value for each property because it ensures they have an opportunity to review the assessed value. This notice should be sent on an annual basis. The appraisal district does not have to send a notice of assessed value if the value increases by less than $1,000. However, if an owner was not satisfied with a prior year's value and the value remained the same, the appraisal district probably will not send a notice of the assessed value for the current year. In this situation, the owner might forget to protest since a notice of assessed value for the property was not received.

After hearing the evidence, the ARB members will confer and make a decision. This decision is not subject to negotiation and they will not revise the decision if further evidence is presented. When this decision is announced, the hearing is effectively over. The ARB will send a letter two to four weeks later summarizing their decision and notifying the owner of a 45 day limitation from the date receipt of the ARB decision to either request binding arbitration or file a judicial appeal.

An appraisal may be appropriate to support the value conclusion. Comparable sales are given strong consideration at the hearing because they are an indication of market value. Data from sales of comparable properties for the past year or two should be collected and reviewed. Assessment comparables are given strong consideration at some appraisal districts but not considered at others. Pictures of competing properties that are assessed for less than your property can be an effective tool for cutting your property taxes. Prepare a table summarizing your property and the assessment comparables

There are different reasons for paying your taxes right away, every situation is different. There may be reasons for waiting until the following year. Deciding when to pay your taxes may be determined by giving consideration to your current tax situation and liability.
If you are in a higher tax bracket in 2008 than you are in 2007, you may want to wait and pay your property taxes in January of 2008. This will help lower your total tax liability in 2008. If you are in a higher tax bracket for 2007 and expect to drop into a lower tax bracket in 2008.

If mortgage providers do not include property taxes in the home loan borrowers must pay taxes directly to their tax collection office. When homeowners fail to pay assessed property tax, mortgage providers may consider the loan to be in default and can initiate foreclosure proceedings. The real estate can be sold to pay tax debts.

Paying your property taxes. As a real estate beginner, you want to be sure that you are paying the taxes on your property. There are a number of ways to do this, including paying to the tax commission quarterly or yearly. However, the simplest way to pay your taxes is to have them integrated into your home loan. They can be added to your monthly mortgage payment, making it a relatively hassle-free way to make sure everything is taken care of.

There are also people that have low income even if not retired. For those with a low income there are also tax relief solutions. Just like with senior citizens, people with low income cannot afford high taxes since they need their income to cope with other expenses. Recognizing this fact, the government provides reductions on property tax for those who can show proof of a low income that wouldn't otherwise let them afford the full tax returns.

How exactly does your city come up with your property tax value? Are you concerned that your property taxes might be unfairly high and want to see if you are eligible for a property tax reduction? That is what we discuss here. First of all, no matter how confusing your property tax statement is, with all of the various terms, ratios, millage rates, etc calculating property tax really boils down to only a few factors: the market value of your property, your cities assessment ratio and the tax rate.

Most appraisers of real estate based their assessments on comparative sales report of other properties in the locality. Normally, a six month window is used to make the comparison. Other factors considered by appraisers include the historical value of the property and the potential income that can be generated from it.