AUSTIN, Texas — Time is running out for homeowners in Travis, Williamson and Hays counties to protest their home appraisal.
For most counties in Texas, the property tax protest deadline is Saturday, May 15. In Travis, Williamson and Hays counties, it's Monday, May 17.
County appraisal districts sent notices to homeowners about a month ago to let them know their property was appraised at a higher value and could cost you more in property taxes.
"We have been overwhelmed with questions, concerns from homeowners who are not understanding why their tax values are where they're at," said CEO of Home Tax Shield Craig Hancock.
The Austin metropolitan area is one of the fastest-growing markets in the country. Couple that with lack of housing inventory and a construction supply and worker shortage, and homeowners could be hit with higher property taxes and current house values show it.
"We're seeing homeowners that have on the low end, 8% to 16% year-over-year increases, quite a few of them in the 30% to 40% range, and even some over 100% increases in their value from last year, which is really astounding," said Hancock.
Hancock's firm has seen homeowners protesting more than ever before. You can contact a firm to file for you, or you can go to your county's appraisal district website to file a protest.
"If they want to do this themselves, they can jump online, find their property and file," said Hancock. "After they do that, they're going to have to go get all the data, bring all the data to the County, schedule the hearing, negotiating with the County, possibly even go to the appraisal review board and take their home all the way through the process."
It sounds like a daunting task, but Hancock said these three tips should help.
First, check the appraisal and make sure the County has all of the details correct – the proper square footage, bedrooms and so on.
Next, check the market and see what homes are selling for and compare it to your appraisal.
Lastly, compare your tax appraisal to the homes in your neighborhood – not just the ones selling but all homes. Ask yourself if they line up, and if not, you can work with the City to fix it.
"There's still potentially as much as 80% of homeowners that are not protesting in Texas, which is astounding," said Hancock. "So later this year, when those homeowners received their actual tax bill based on these new values, there's going to be more sticker shock coming in November when those bills hit."
KVUE recently reported that the Travis Central Appraisal District said appraisals are just one part of the process of determining if your property tax will increase. The rest depends on tax rates set by taxing entities, such as Austin ISD or the City of Austin. As those entities' budgets get bigger, so do property tax bills.
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