Helpful Tips When Protesting Your 2010 HCAD Value.

Knowledge is power!  Before you come to a settlement with HCAD on your 2010 preliminary value, I would like to make you aware of a couple of changes that were made to the Property Tax Code laws in 2009:

Fact about Foreclosures being included in the evidence:

Section 23.01
HB 1038 adds subsection (c) to provide that a chief appraiser, in appraising a residence homestead, may not exclude from consideration other property in the neighborhood that sold at foreclosure in any of the three years preceding the tax year and was comparable at the time of sale, or declined in value because of the economy.

Effective Jan. 1, 2010.

Time Frame on the sales comparables used in the evidence:

Section 23.013 SB 771
amends subsection (a) and adds subsections (b), (c) and (d) to provide that a sale may not be considered a comparable sale unless it occurred within 24 months of the appraisal date. An exception may be granted if enough comparable properties were not sold during that period to constitute a representative sample. The bill provides that comparable sales must be appropriately time-adjusted and that comparability must be determined based on similarities in location, square footage of the lot and improvements, property age, property condition, property access, amenities, views, income, operating expenses, occupancy and the existence of easements, deed restrictions or other legal burdens affecting marketability.

Effective Jan. 1, 2010.

Hope this information assists you in a successful protest of your 2010 HCAD value of your home.  As Homeowners, it's our money, and we have a right to keep it!