Every time another home in your neighborhood goes on the market and sells at top dollar, it's not good for your tax bill.
Homeowners who paid $350,000 for a house 10 years ago are finding their tax bills doubled as those same houses are selling for much more in 2018.
Realtor Chandler Crouch said he's been able to figure out a way to lower his tax bill without a hearing and you can do the same.
"They are trying to tax you based on the value, but when you go to protest they use a different set of numbers as their evidence to back up the valuation," said Crouch.
He said you have to ask for two numbers, the sales indicated value and the equity indicated value.
He said the tax district will give them to you if you ask and in Tarrant County, you can pull them up online on your own, by logging into your account.
Once you get those numbers, pick the lower of the two and then drop it by three percent and chances are the tax district will take your offer no questions asked.
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"It's not a given, it's not 100 percent, but odds are you're going to win," said Crouch.
He's saved homeowners thousands of dollars depending on their situation, just by taking the time to protest.
He's not the only one urging you to protest.
"In Denton County, more than 80 percent of the people who protested got something taken off," said Dave Lieber, Dallas Morning News Consumer Watchdog. "The housing market has just exploded. We are now big-time housing, we're not the little guy everybody forgot. We're paying big, big prices for housing."
If you don't want to try Crouch's method, and you want to protest more, you'll need to gather comps and receipts and paperwork to show why your house is worth less money.
You need to file that you're protesting the value and get that postmarked by the May 15.
You'll have until your hearing date to get all the paperwork to back up your case.
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Tips: Where to File Property Tax Protests
If you disagree with the county appraisal district on the valuation of your property, you can file a protest but you must do so by the deadline. Many, but not all, appraisal districts allow protests to be filed online. Collin County - Collin Central Appraisal District - The Collin Central Appraisal District said Notices of Appraised Value were mailed out by April 13 and that the protest deadline in is May 15. To protest online, property owners will need to use Collin's eFile system. Dallas County - Dallas Central Appraisal District - The deadline for property owners to file a protest is May 15. To protest online, property owners will need to use Dallas' uFile system at dallascad.org. Search for your property, and then select the uFile Online Protest option. Denton County - Denton Central Appraisal District - For most property owners, the deadline for filing an appraisal protest is May 18. Protests may be filed online at appeals.dentoncad.com. Tarrant County - Tarrant Appraisal District - Property owners must file a protest within 30 days of the notice being sent. For many people that date is May 15, but propety owners who received their notice after April 15 will still have 30 days to file their protest with the review board. To protest an appraisal online, visit tad.org and click on My Account. From there you can review and submit a protest.
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