If you have the time to prepare, feel comfortable in presenting your data, and have the time to attend the scheduled protest, then you may want to go it alone. But before you decide which way to go, you need to know how to dispute your real estate taxes. The comptroller’s office for the state of Texas has put together a slide show presentation titled “How to Present Your Case at an Appraisal Review Board Hearing“.  The presentation does an excellent job of explaining the tax protest process. 

You can be successful in protesting your real estate taxes on your own.  For the last several years, I have handled the protest myself and have successfully reduced my Spring Texas real estate taxes.  This year, a property tax reduction firm will be handling my protest.  Why would I want to pay someone for something I can do myself?  After a preliminary review of the tax assessed value of my house, I determined the Harris County Appraisal District’s number to be pretty accurate and it’s not worth my time to protest.  But it is worth me hiring a property tax reduction firm. Especially since I do NOT incur a cost unless they are able to reduce my taxes. 

There is another bonus to having O’Connor and Associates protest my taxes.  If they are unable to lower my real estate taxes, I receive a FREE $50 American Express gift card.  Either way I win!

If you haven’t received your 2010 property valuation from the Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD) yet, you will soon.  As HCAD is projecting to have them in the mail during the month of April. 

According to HCAD, 30% of the homes in Harris County received a decrease in their property valuations for 2010.  While a mere 1% of the homes received an increased in their valuation.   

If the value of your Spring Texas home decreased in 2010, don’t jump to the conclusion that you don’t need to protest the value.  The value HCAD placed on your home for real estate tax purposes may be more than market value or may be more than the assessed value of your neighbors.  If either one of these is the situation, you will want to protest your real estate taxes. 

How to dispute your Spring Texas real estate taxes:

1.  Determine if your property’s tax valuation accurately reflects the market value of your home as of January 1, 2009. 

How do you determine if your value is accurate? 

Contact a Spring Texas Real Estate Agent and ask her to provide you with the sales price of homes in your neighborhood. If homes are selling for more than the market value of your home, don’t dispute your valuation based on market value.  But if

But before you decide not to dispute your valuation, determine if your property value is unequal compared with other properties.  According to O’Conner & Associates, a property tax advisor, the majority of successful property tax disputes are those based upon unequal assessment.

How do you determine if your property’s tax value has been unequaled assessed?  Go to HCAD and look up the tax assessed value of your neighbor’s home.  Is their home similar to yours but their home is being assessed at a lower property valuation?  If the answer is yes, then protest the valuation of your Spring Texas home based upon unequal assessment. 

 2.  Determine if you want to dispute the value yourself or if you want to solicit the help of a property tax advisor. 

3.  If you decide to dispute the property valuation yourself, you can file your protest online at the Harris County Appraisal District’s website.  HCAD will notify you of the date and time your protest has been scheduled.  On the day of your appointment, you should arrive on time, be armed with data to present that supports your valuation, and be friendly to the assessor. 

4.  If you decide to solicit the help of a property tax advisor, you can contact either O’Conner & Associates or Bettencourt Tax Advisors.  O’Conner & Associates and Bettencourt both require you to sign a service agreement. 

If O’Conner & Associates (www.cutmytaxes.com)  is successful in reducing your property tax valuation, they charge you 50% of the tax savings.  For example, if your property’s tax valuation is $150,000 and O’Conner & Associates was successful in reducing your property’s tax valuation to $140,000 their fee is $10,000 * your tax rate.  If your tax rate is 3.0%, their fee would be $10,000 * 3.0% *50% equaling $150.00.

Bettencourt Tax Advisors (www.paulbettencourt.com) is a property tax consultant firm formed by Paul Bettencourt. Paul Bettencourt was the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector for many years before resigning in 2008.  Their firm’s fee is 40% of the tax savings.  If they are unsuccessful in reducing your real estate taxes, they will charge you their minimum fee of $75.00

You have until May31st or 30 days after the date your property tax notice was mailed whichever was later to protest your property tax valuation.  If you decide to dispute your property tax valuation, Good Luck and remember you never get anything unless you try.

Read also:

• How to save money on your Spring Texas real estate taxes
• What is the value of the over 65 exemption?
• The difference between tax assessed value and market value

Unlike the homestead exemption that comes with restrictions on when you can apply for and receive it, the over 65 exemption has only one restriction and that is you have to wait until you reach the age of 65.  

What you really want to know is what’s the value of the over 65 exemption?  How much will your Spring Texas real estate taxes reduce? I dig numbers and I don’t know any better way to show you the money than through the use of a spreadsheet / chart.  Click on the chart to get a larger image and a better view. 

Since the over 65 exemption varies based upon county (Harris County is $160,000 and Montgomery County is $35,000), school district (Klein School District is $23,330 and Spring School District is $30,000), and MUD, I had to use some assumptions to calculate the savings in real estate taxes. 

The assumptions used were:

• House is located in Harris County, Klein School District, and MUD 104
• Tax assessed value of property is $165,000

Based upon these assumptions, your annual real estate taxes for your Spring Texas home with no exemptions is $4,532. 

Qualifying and receiving the homestead exemption, will reduce your taxes to $4,114.  A savings of $418.

Qualifying and receiving the homestead exemption and the over 65 exemption, will reduce your taxes to $2,712.  A combined savings of $1,820 or a 40% reduction in your real estate taxes.  Dependent upon the county you reside in, you will either need to fill out and the over 65 exemption form for Harris County or the over 65 exemption form for Montgomery County.

Plus the over 65 exemption, freezes the school tax portion of your real estate taxes. The school tax portion will not increase with rate increases in the school tax nor with increases in the value of your Spring Texas home.  But it will increase if you make substantial improvements to your home through the addition of a pool or another room.

These days we are all looking for ways to save money whether it be on our grocery bill or our real estate tax bill.  The easiest way to save money on your Spring Texas real estate taxes is by filing for the general homestead exemption.

And it is as easy as cutting coupons out of the Sunday newspaper.  The big advantage filing for the homestead exemption is …. you only have to file for it once to receive the money saving benefit of it year after year.

But beware and do not fall for the marketing scam that is prevalent during filing season. Because you do not have to pay a filing fee of $35 to $50 in order to receive a general homestead exemption on your home.  You can file for the homestead exemption yourself. The form is only a single page and the instructions are easily understandable. And if you need help filing out the form, give us a call. We will be happy to help for free.  

What do you have to do to qualify for the general homestead exemption?

In order to qualify for the homestead exemption, you have to meet three simple requirements:  1) You must own your home on January 1st of the tax year and 2) You must use the home as your primary residence and 3) you or your spouse have not claimed a general homestead exemption on another home.

So how much money do you save on your Spring Texas real estate taxes with a general homestead exemption?

 The general homestead exemption will reduce the tax assessed value of your home by

• 20% of the Harris county portion or 0% of the Montgomery county portion because Montgomery county does not offer a homestead exemption.  If you live in Montgomery county you still want to file for a homestead exemption because you are still eligible for a reduction in the school distrtict portion of your real estate taxes and the MUD portion if your MUD offers a homestead exemption.
• a minimum of $15,000 for the school district portion. Conroe, Klein, and Spring school districts all provide the state mandated minimum of the $15,000 reduction in the tax assessed value of your home.
• And potentially up to 20% of the MUD portion. Only some and NOT all MUDs offer a general homestead exemption.

Are there any oh by the ways …. that you should know about?

Yes. There are two things to remember:  1) You do NOT automatically receive the general homestead exemption just because you meet the qualifications and own a home. To receive the exemption you MUST file for it. If you do not file, you will not receive the exemption and 2) You can ONLY file for the general homestead exemption between January 1st and April 30th of the tax year.

So if filing and receiving the general homestead exemption is so easy,  why do only 50% of Houstonians that qualify for the exemption receive it?  That’s a real good question. And I believe the answer is because homeowners either a) thought they automatically receive the exemption or b) thought they filed for the exemption when they closed on their home or c) just do not know the homestead exemption exists.

The form you need to complete and mail can be located by clicking on this link for Harris county general homestead exemption or this link for the Montgomery county general homestead exemption.

 Read also:

• Why are Texas property taxes so HIGH?

Partially right because Montgomery county real estate taxes are lower than Harris county real estate taxes if you DO NOT take into consideration the 20% residential homestead exemption available to Harris county homeowners. 

Montgomery county on the other hand does not offer its homeowners a residential homestead exemption.    

Maybe the question should be reworded to ”Who has lower real estate taxes Montgomery county or Harris county after the homestead exemption?” 

The answer and bragging rights would go to Harris county.  After the homestead exemption the difference between the two counties real estate taxes is a minuscule difference.  A difference not significant enough to base an entire home purchase decision on but a difference none the less.

There are lots of things to base your home purchase decision on such as commute time to work, community amenities, school district, floor plan, and overall tax rate.  As a homebuyer don’t limit your home search to only homes in Montgomery county because a co-worker told you Montgomery county real estate taxes are less.  Although your co-worker had good intentions, he was only partially right.   

If you click on the charts, you will receive a larger more eye friendly version of the charts.

Read also:

• How to file for the homestead exemption and reduce your Spring Texas real estate taxes
• Why are Texas real estate taxes so high?

The Harris County real estate taxes chart is for homes located in the Windrose subdivision while the Montgomery County real estate taxes chart is for homes located in the Spring Trails subdivision.

According to HCAD, 45% of the residential properties in Harris County received a decrease in their property valuations for 2009.  While 39% of the residential property values remained the same and a mere 16% of the homes received an increased in their valuation.   

This year the property value of our Spring Texas home was apprasied for the same value as last year and even though the valuation remained the same it does not automatically mean that I won’t dispute the valuation.

How to dispute your Spring Texas property tax value:

1.  Determine if your property’s tax valuation accurately reflects the market value of your home as of January 1, 2009.  How do you determine if your value is accurate? 

Contact a Spring Texas Real Estate Agent and ask her to provide you with the sales price of homes in your neighborhood. If homes are selling for more than the market value of your home, don’t dispute your valuation based on market value. 

But before you decide not to dispute your valuation, determine if your property value is unequal compared with other properties.  According to O’Conner & Associates, a property tax advisor, the majority of successful property tax disputes are those based upon unequal assessment.

How do you determine if your property’s tax value has been unequaled assessed?  Go to HCAD and look up the tax assessed value of your neighbor’s home.  Is their home similar to yours but their home is being assessed at a lower property valuation?  If the answer is yes, then protest your Spring Texas property valuation based upon unequal assessment. 

2.  Determine if you want to dispute the value yourself or if you want to solicit the help of a property tax advisor. 

3.  If you decide to dispute the property valuation yourself, you can file your protest online at the Harris County Appraisal District’s website.  HCAD will notify you of the date and time your protest has been scheduled.  On the day of your appointment, you should arrive on time, be armed with data to present that supports your valuation, and be friendly to the assessor. 

4.  If you decide to solicit the help of a property tax advisor, you can contact either O’Conner & Associates or Bettencourt Tax Advisors.  O’Conner & Associates and Bettencourt both require you to sign a service agreement. 

O’Conner & Associates (www.cutmytaxes.com) is currently offering a $50 Shell Gift Card if they are unsuccessful in reducing your property tax valuation.  If O’Conner & Associates is successful in reducing your property tax valuation, they charge you 50% of the tax savings.  For example, if your property’s tax valuation is $150,000 and O’Conner & Associates was successful in reducing your property’s tax valuation to $140,000 their fee is $10,000 * your tax rate.  If your tax rate is 3.0%, their fee would be $10,000 * 3.0% *50% equaling $150.00.

Bettencourt Tax Advisors (www.paulbettencourt.com) is a property tax consultant firm formed by Paul Bettencourt. Paul Bettencourt was the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector for many years before resigning in 2008.  Their firm’s fee is 40% of the tax savings.  If they are unsuccessful in reducing your real estate taxes, they will charge you their minimum fee of $75.00

You have until June 1 or 30 days after the date your property tax notice was mailed whichever was later to protest your property tax valuation.  If you decide to dispute your property tax valuation, Good Luck and remember you never get anything unless you try.

If you have individual tactics you have found to be useful in disputing your Spring Texas property tax values, please post a comment for all to learn from.

Read Also:

• How to save money on real estate taxes

And it is as easy as cutting coupons out of the Sunday newspaper.  The big advantage filing for the homestead exemption is …. you only have to file for it once to receive the money saving benefit of it year after year.

But beware and do not fall for the marketing scam that is prevalent during filing season. Because you do not have to pay a filing fee of $35 to $50 in order to receive a general homestead exemption on your home.  You can file for the homestead exemption yourself. The form is only a single page and the instructions are easily understandable. And if you need help filing out the form, give us a call. We will be happy to help for free.  

What do you have to do to qualify for the general homestead exemption?

In order to qualify for the homestead exemption, you have to meet three simple requirements:  1) You must own your home on January 1st of the tax year and 2) You must use the home as your primary residence and 3) you or your spouse have not claimed a general homestead exemption on another home.

So how much money do you save on your Spring Texas real estate taxes with a general homestead exemption?

The general homestead exemption will reduce the tax assessed value of your home by

• 20% of the Harris county portion or 0% of the Montgomery county portion because Montgomery county does not offer a homestead exemption.  If you live in Montgomery county you still want to file for a homestead exemption because you are still eligible for a reduction in the school distrtict portion of your real estate taxes and the MUD portion if your MUD offers a homestead exemption.
• a minimum of $15,000 for the school district portion. Conroe, Klein, and Spring school districts all provide the state mandated minimum of the $15,000 reduction in the tax assessed value of your home.
• And potentially up to 20% of the MUD portion. Only some and NOT all MUDs offer a general homestead exemption.

Are there any oh by the ways …. that you should know about?

Yes. There are two things to remember:  1) You do NOT automatically receive the general homestead exemption just because you meet the qualifications and own a home. You MUST file for the exemption. If you do not file, you will not receive the exemption and 2) You must file for the general homestead exemption between January 1st and April 30th of the tax year.

So if filing and receiving the general homestead exemption is so easy,  why do only 50% of Houstonians that qualify for the exemption receive it?  That’s a real good question. And I believe the answer is because homeowners either a) thought they automatically receive the exemption or b) thought they filed for the exemption when they closed on their home or c) just do not know the homestead exemption exists.

The form you need to complete and mail can be located by clicking on this link for Harris county general homestead exemption or this link for the Montgomery county general homestead exemption.

Read also:

• Why are Texas property taxes so HIGH?

In Spring Texas, we have three taxing entities the MUD (Muncipal Utility District), the school district which can either be Conroe, Klein, or Spring, and the County which can either be Harris or Montgomery.

In my case, my MUD is MUD #104, the school district is Klein school district, and the county is Harris County. Each taxing authority sends out its own property tax bill. Receiving three separate bills instead of one combined property tax bill makes me feel like my property taxes are a just a wee bit smaller.

So far I have received my 2008 property tax bill from MUD #104 and the Klein school district. The Harris County property tax bill has not found its way to my mailbox yet.

Since I was an Accountant before I was ever a Realtor, I am a stickler for the details. So when my Spring Texas property tax bills arrive, I carefully review each bill for the following:

• Does the taxable amount/appraised value equal the amount the HCAD (Harris County Appraisal District) assessor and I agreed was the taxable value of my home.

• Do the bills reflect the homestead exemption that I qualified for and applied for?  My MUD does not offer a homestead exemption. But the Klein school district offers a homestead exemption of $15,000 off the assessed value. While Harris County offers a homestead exemption of 20% off the assessed value of my home.

• What is the tax rate for the year?  Did it go up or down? How is it trending? The Klein School District tax rate went up $0.05 per $100 of assessed value for 2008. I was expecting the increase because the Klein school distrct bond was passed. Over the last five years the rate went down approximately 23% which was due to the school property tax reform. The MUD #104 tax decreased by $0.07 per $100 of assessed value. Over the last five years the rate has decreased 21%.

• How will the tax rate increases or decreases affect my escrow balances?  Whether you set up an escrow account or not is a matter of personal choice. I personally like the comfort of knowing that each month included in my payment is an estimated amount for my property taxes.  Based upon the increases and decreases in my property tax rates and the appraised value of my home, I will not need to set an additional amount aside to cover a shortage in my escrow account.

If you have any questions about Spring Texas property taxes or homestead exemptions, give me a call at 281.804.8626. I am more than happy to answer your questions because I know our Spring Texas real estate taxes are frequently misunderstood.

Read also:

• What’s the difference between Appraised vs Market value of Spring Texas real estate

For 18 consecutive years the nonpartisan Tax Foundation has published an estimate of the combined state-local burden of each of the 50 states. And they have just released the State and Local tax burden estimates for 2008 and our big state of Texas came in as the 8th lowest state in state-local tax burden. And this rating of being in the top 10 lowest states in state-local tax burden is not a flux. We have enjoyed this ranking for the last four years.

We, Texans, pay 8.4 percent of our income in state and local taxes, compared to New Jersey at 11.8 percent, New York at 11.7 percent, Connecticut at 11.1 percent and Maryland at 10.8 percent. What’s the national average? The national average state-local tax burden is 9.7 percent.

Would you be able to guess what state enjoys the lowest state-local tax burden? If you guessed, Alaska, you would be correct. Alaska’s state-local tax burden is 6.4 percent. The other states with a lower state-local tax burden than Texas are Nevada, Wyoming, Florida, New Hampshire, South Dakota, and Tennessee. Coming in at #10 is Louisiana with a state-local tax burden of 8.4%.

Just one more reason why we live in Spring Texas. Read our Top 20 reasons to call Spring Texas home. Did you hear the news that Spring Texas homes are #14 for affordability?

If you are thinking about relocating to Spring Texas, please give us a call at 281.300.3141 or 281.804.8626. We will be happy to help you find the right house to call “home” in Spring Texas.

The passing of the bond translates into Spring Texas real estate taxes increasing by 20 cents over the next four years. Twenty cents doesn’t sound like much. But with the median price of Spring Texas homes being $150,000, that mere 20 cents turns into a $300 dollar annual increase in real estate taxes.

Read also: Texas Property Taxes why are they so HIGH?

What do you get for $647 million? Amongst other things an almost complete rebuild of Klein High School and the construction of seven new Klein schools.

Klein residents were not alone in being asked to have their real estate taxes increased in order to support school growth. Residents of Humble school district and Conroe school district amongst others were asked to support school bonds.

Voters passed the Humble and Conroe school district bond requests. Humble home owners real estate taxes will increase 8 cents to pay for a $245 million bond to build three new schools and to buy land for future campuses. Conroe home owners real estate taxes will increase 10 cents to pay for a $527 million bond package to build seven new schools and major additions and renovations to existing campuses.

Read also: How are the schools in Spring Texas

Begin your search of Spring Texas homes for sale