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Property taxes in TX

7 years ago

Tried to contest prop taxes online and was denied access. Customer service rep confirmed i had no online access but wouldnt or couldnt say why. Has anybody experienced this?

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IdaClaire

7 years ago

After posting what I did about waiting almost two months for a response to a property tax issue (it involved paying penalty and interest under "duress", I guess you might say), I received a call today from a rep for the county to let me know that my case is going before a board next week for a final decision and it sounded like we may end up getting that P&I applied to next year's tax bill. I have to say that she was incredibly nice and helpful, and that's something I was not expecting at all.

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Comments (8)

IdaClaire
7 years ago
Which county are you dealing with? I'm waiting on a response from Tarrant on a property tax issue, and have been waiting nearly two months now. In my experience, dealing with these entities is a nightmare at best. Tarrant's system is bogged down in major software glitches, and is the subject of complaint, investigation, and probable litigation. You might try calling again and demanding to speak to a supervisor. If you're still unable to file your protest online, fill out the form and send it in "the old fashioned way." Good luck ... I feel your pain.
bossyvossy
Original Author
7 years ago
last modified: 7 years ago
Ft bend co, it made natl news last yr that crowds demonstrated in front of district. We were THIS CLOSE to joining them, ha
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Thanks for the replies. Lily'smom, that is exactly what was going on. The property with the house had the garage, from another parcel, on its tax bill. The realtor found out that the garage didn't come with the house & the seller had full rights to use our driveway to access the garage. We also found out that there was another lot in front of the house that he was selling with no road frontage, it's blocked by another parcel that does have it. We saw potential future headaches with this setup & decided to pass on this. Within a few hours, we found another country home with no weird tax/property issues that holds some promise. It has been on the market for almost 4 months & was built in 2004. We hope to view this very soon & hope it'll work out. Thanks again folks for the responses.
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I am not sure how frequent reassessment is, but for me this is not germane to the topic because they will come. I have no idea what I can expect to save, but I am on a trajectory to find that out soon. It is certainly not a common goal. Sometimes when you wonder into territory that most people don't, you are trailblazing and other times you are just lost. In this case, I suspect you are very probably lost. The reason this is not a common goal is that the math just doesn't work out for most people. Simply spending less money is a great idea, and so is keeping maintenance and upkeep in mind. However, in the end, if your drive towards ad valorem savings accelerates maintenance, or leads to non-standard material you will probably spend more than the savings themselves are worth. The actual value of a dollar of annual tax savings is something between $9 and $11. So $500 of annual tax savings which is probably about $70,000 of home devaluation in middle Tennessee is worth between $4,500 and $5,500 of cash outlay during the build. Also since the value is only $4,500 to $5,500 almost any accelerated maintenance because of this plan wipes out the savings. ---- My personal advice is build smart, modest, and standard, then the net savings will be better than any tax savings. I am of the opinion that the words, "I have a great idea that you haven't seen before" never go with the words, "and it will save a ton of money." Just my 2 cents...
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amyktexas
7 years ago
I'm in Williamson county. Our online works, but I usually go in for an informal 1:1 in the first 2 weeks. Smooth process for our county. Speedy and usually resolved in 20 minutes.
texanjana
7 years ago
I'm in Travis Co., protested online and got no concession. Our lot value alone went up $100k this year, plus an increase for the house. Austin is out of control.

That's weird that they said you don't have online access. To gain online access, I had to enter the code that was printed on our statement from TCAD. Maybe it's something like that? Good luck!
User
7 years ago
Never even thought to do it online. When our house was reassessed after the remodel/addition we went to the assessor's office to dispute the new tax. He lowered it then and there.
javiwa
7 years ago
bossy: I'm in FB Cty, too! We can protest online now?! o_O Years ago, we had to sit down in person. Yup...got my recent appraisal -- and I thought last year was bad!
bossyvossy
Original Author
7 years ago
Exactly...

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