The appraisals for commercial office space is insane at the CAD. They are increasing many properties 40-60% even properties that are on the market and not selling. How they came up with these appraisals for commercial office space I cannot even begin to fathom.

agree totally, in a partnership on a commercial property

they will adjust it down to the purchase price

I'm considering a protest and not bothering w an informal meeting/online protest. It's late in the game and if I read the guidance correctly an online protest is an informal meeting, and the deadline for a formal protest is the 15th.

Would be grateful for some advice. Live in Williams Creek which is close to Lick Creek Park. Home built in 2011, no improvements since 2020. They jumped my appraised value 22%.

What advice can you give me for a successful protest? I read the paperwork but other than that I don't know where to start. Without knowing a realtor, how could I go about getting some comps?

Thanks in advance.

I had Ownwell do it; sorry, I see it looks like I did it myself the way I wrote that.

I live in Bryan. My market value went up 60% last year. Used a local company to protest. They came back and said there is nothing to reduce since the appraised (taxable value) was in line.

Market value went up 8% this year. Appraised value went up 2.5%. Something didn't look right with our over 65 year old homestead so we went in to discuss that. We asked a few questions and she said you would need to discuss w an appraiser which she scheduled for same visit.

We waited a bit and an appraiser came out. He apologized for the delay and said he researched before he came and got us. He offered to keep the market value the same as 2024.

Wish I would have talked to them last year instead of hooking up w a company to protest for me.

I used Ownwell last year and they are protesting for me this year.

They did a great job, but the values just jump right back to a level that is not supported by the current market.

happyinBCS said:

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by no means am I taking up for BCAD but there are many many situations where the market value is greater that BCAD's value, so I don't think everyone is stupid

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Sadly not the case in my older neighborhood of 1960's homes.

The new value of my house is $575k and the only house for sale is at $489K and has been on the market for 7 weeks and multiple price drops. It is a gorgeous home that was completely gutted and a 3rd full bath was added.

If they can't get a contract for $489k than my home is overpriced by $86k / 18%.

dubi said:

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I used Ownwell last year and they are protesting for me this year.

They did a great job, but the values just jump right back to a level that is not supported by the current market.

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I was told once that the valuations are not based on the previous year. Basically it is a new calculation each year so if you protest and get your valuation down that has no bearing on what they will appraise your property the next year.

I still haven't gotten mine yet since they are doing multiple rounds. Supposedly mine will be mailed out the end of the month and I will have till the end of June to protest.

happyinBCS said:

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by no means am I taking up for BCAD but there are many many situations where the market value is greater that BCAD's value, so I don't think everyone is stupid

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So what I hear you saying is that they are incompetent on both sides.

My land value went up 20% and house value went up 15%.

Still waiting to hear from Ownwell if they got everything done.

I might have to go file myself today.

maroon barchetta said:

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Still waiting to hear from Ownwell if they got everything done.

I might have to go file myself today.

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How do they work?

Do you pay them a flat rate or do they work like some accountants and you pay a percentage of what they save you?

Percentage.

Stupe said:

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maroon barchetta said:

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Still waiting to hear from Ownwell if they got everything done.

I might have to go file myself today.

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How do they work?

Do you pay them a flat rate or do they work like some accountants and you pay a percentage of what they save you?

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About 20 years ago before I started representing myself
If they save you a 1000.00 in taxes
400.00 was their fee

40 percent of what they saved

Stupe said:

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maroon barchetta said:

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Still waiting to hear from Ownwell if they got everything done.

I might have to go file myself today.

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How do they work?

Do you pay them a flat rate or do they work like some accountants and you pay a percentage of what they save you?

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25% of your savings.

I think it was paramount that was 40percent I guess 25percent is not that bad

What if they don't save you anything?

Stupe said:

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What if they don't save you anything?

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You don't pay them.

I actually dropped my papers off to protest yesterday. I've never done it before. I paid a company last year. Anyhow, she told me that they are currently accepting walk-ins. She said I could go back and talk with someone and they would pull up research right then. So upon talking with the gentleman, he said he could get me back to last years value. Then said one minute…he looked at something else and knocked another $7k off. I noticed the Ownwell letter I received said they though they could get it down to a certain amount. What I got through BCAD and what Ownwell said they thought they might be able to get, was within $10k of each other.

Anyhow, I asked the guy if I had to accept offer right then, and he said no, that they will notate these amounts. He said I could go ahead and file the protest papers and get my date setup. Then I could do my own research to do my protest. He said if I want to accept his offer, then it will have to be done before my protest date.

His overall offer was a little better than I thought they would do, so I am considering just going ahead and taking it unless I can find some really good comps that could be a game changer. He also said, once go in front of the Board or whoever, that they could either lower it more, stay the same, or in some cases can actually go up and you have to then take whatever they decide.

Just some info for those who may not know a whole lot about it.

Just fyi. Never walk out when they just lowered more than you had anticipated

They can and will change their minds

Sorry but you should have signed right then

Last year they were crazy. Went up in assessment by close to $350k ($860k to 1,220k). I went in to argue with a stack of comps and pics. I was so ticked I nearly got emotional. They offered me a drop of $200k on my assesment. I took it (although I argued for $300k drop). Still hit the cap. So valued at 975k and taxed at 955k

This year they argue it is valued at $975k. Same as last year
What? How is the valuation so different from last year?

I'm confused. Should I protest?

maddiedou said:

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Just fyi. Never walk out when they just lowered more than you had anticipated

They can and will change their minds

Sorry but you should have signed right then

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I'm not so sure. He notated the amounts in the account, and said they will be there for me up until the day of protest. Once the day of protest is here, then he said all things are on the table because the board can adjust any way they see fit.

Edit: just made a call to him to discuss this further, and he did reiterate that I am understanding everything correctly and have nothing to worry about as far as taking the numbers discussed up until the date of protest

Up 10% in Pebble Creek yet again. Every year they at least try to max it out.

Nuts to me that I'm "gaining" 60k a year just living in a house.

I will say, I don't fully understand what is needed for the comps. Is it as plain as seeing the house next door is within 50sf of yours but is appraised at over $50k less than yours? Or does it come down to more detail than that?

BucketofBalls99 said:

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I will say, I don't fully understand what is needed for the comps. Is it as plain as seeing the house next door is within 50sf of yours but is appraised at over $50k less than yours? Or does it come down to more detail than that?

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just engage Ownwell to do it for you. They will fight it for you and you only owe them a percentage of what they reduce it by... essentially costing you nothing if you weren't going to protest or don't know how to protest effectively.

91_Aggie said:

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BucketofBalls99 said:

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I will say, I don't fully understand what is needed for the comps. Is it as plain as seeing the house next door is within 50sf of yours but is appraised at over $50k less than yours? Or does it come down to more detail than that?

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just engage Ownwell to do it for you. They will fight it for you and you only owe them a percentage of what they reduce it by... essentially costing you nothing if you weren't going to protest or don't know how to protest effectively.

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I just did that in about 10 minutes.

Stupe said:

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91_Aggie said:

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BucketofBalls99 said:

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I will say, I don't fully understand what is needed for the comps. Is it as plain as seeing the house next door is within 50sf of yours but is appraised at over $50k less than yours? Or does it come down to more detail than that?

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just engage Ownwell to do it for you. They will fight it for you and you only owe them a percentage of what they reduce it by... essentially costing you nothing if you weren't going to protest or don't know how to protest effectively.

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I just did that in about 10 minutes.

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I haven't heard back from them. How do I know the progress?

All Ownwell does is they send a spread sheet of hundreds of properties they are protesting noting what they wishfully think the values should be brought down to. They do very little actual research.

This long sheet of their proposed counter values comes in to the appraisal district and the appraisal district then either agrees to some drop downs, counters on some drop downs, or doesn't drop some down at all. They then send that back to Ownwell and in most cases Ownwell then tells the customer "here is what we got you , and here is your bill for this".

Point being, you are way better off going into the appraisal district yourself and fighting your case rather than having a big firm with little to lose and having done barely any research rep you and then charge you.

Orlando Ayala Cant Read said:

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All Ownwell does is they send a spread sheet of hundreds of properties they are protesting noting what they wishfully think the values should be brought down to. They do very little actual research.

This long sheet of their proposed counter values comes in to the appraisal district and the appraisal district then either agrees to some drop downs, counters on some drop downs, or doesn't drop some down at all. They then send that back to Ownwell and in most cases Ownwell then tells the customer "here is what we got you , and here is your bill for this".

Point being, you are way better off going into the appraisal district yourself and fighting your case rather than having a big firm with little to lose and having done barely any research rep you and then charge you.

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I've fought it myself a number of years. Sometimes successfully. Sometimes not. Sometimes the informal meeting goes well and they are very amiable. Sometimes they act like a just kicked their dog for even suggesting a change in valuation and bringing in comps and photos.

It's such a dog and pony show every year.