Home address: 570 Westwood/Cr 614

2021 Taxable Value: $323,830

Recent Sales Price: $218,000 – Over-taxed by 49%

Brazoria County home owners are often unaware of the factors that cause them to pay extra taxes. A market value appeal is based on the assessor’s value exceeding the market value of your home. An unequal appraisal appeal is easy to prepare.  Just find neighborhood homes with a lower level of assessment (per square foot).  Summarize the data in a table. The majority who appeal their Texas property taxes are successful.

Property owners are sometimes reluctant to protest their property taxes because they believe the appeal process is difficult.  It is not difficult and 60 to 80% of owners who appeal are successful. Appraisal districts use mass appraisal to value property, basically a math model.  Overall results are OK.  However, many homes are too high or low. Tax protests are resolved at the informal hearing since the result is within a “reasonable range of value”.  Appraisal is not an exact science and valuations are only an educated opinion of value, not a fact. Property owners who appeal annually rarely pay more than their fair share.