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How to Minimize the Property Tax Assessments set by the Harris County Appraisal District

Harris County Appraisal District estimatesassessed value established by the Harris
the market value for 1.6 million parcels ofCounty  Appraisal  District  each  year:
real estate with a staff of about 150
appraisers. That's an average of over 10,000
parcels per appraiser per year! While they
value a large number of properties annually,1. The prior years value set an "anchor
you can focus intense attention on reducingvalue" for the current year's property tax
the  value  of  your  property.protest. If your value was $200,000 last year
and the current year's proposed value is
You can minimize your property taxes with$220,000, there is a tendency to set the
simple  steps:value at or slightly above last year's value.
In the case, a typical result might be
- File a protest by May 31st for market value$200,000 to $210,000. However, if they had
and  unequal  appraisalappealed at the Harris County Appraisal
District the prior year and reduced the value
- Obtain the Harris County Appraisal Districtto $185,000, a typical settlement might be
evidence two weeks before the hearing. This$185,000 - $195,000. Property tax appeals at
information is sometimes referred to as theHarris County Appraisal District are an
House Bill 201 package or the 41.461 package.iterative  process.
It typically contains evidence regarding the
subject property, market value and unequal2. Most appeals at Harris County Appraisal
appraisal.District are successful. About 75-80% of the
property tax appeals conducted by O'Connor
- Review evidence for both unequal appraisal& Associates at Harris County Appraisal
and market value. Unequal appraisal is whenDistrict result in lower property
your property is taxed/assessed at a highertaxes.Experience shows that when property
rate than comparable properties. For a marketowners appeal, prepare for the Harris County
value appeal, provided evidence that theAppraisal District hearings and attend the
appraisal district's value exceeds markethearing(s),  they will usually be successful.
value. This could include information such as
an error in the size of your property andProperty tax consultants are willing to
deferred  maintenance  at  your  property.handle the property tax protest process at
Harris County Appraisal District for a
- Attend the informal and/or appraisal reviewportion of the property tax savings. While
board (ARB) hearing at the Harris Countythere is a cost when hiring a property tax
Appraisal District. In many cases, you canconsultant, you realize property tax savings.
attend a hearing prior to the scheduled date.The property tax savings versus the cost of a
HCAD prefers to have hearings prior to ratherproperty tax consultant are more significant
than  after  the  scheduled  hearing  date.when considering the iterative nature of the
property  tax  appeal  process.
- Repeat these steps annually.Property owners
often ask, "I appealed my property taxes atReal estate decision makers need timely
the Harris County Appraisal District lastmarket data to make informed decisions. It
year and obtained a reduction. Harris Countyprovides insights regarding construction,
Appraisal District did not increase myproposed projects, absorption, and occupancy
assessed value. Should I protest my propertyand rental rate trends. O'Connor and
taxes  again  this  year?"Associates has been providing real estate
data since 1988. Both internal and external
The answer is, "Yes, you should protest."clients regularly use our real estate market
There are 2 reasons you should protest theresearch.



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