cadetjay02 said:
I'm clearly not a fan of paying more taxes, but I've never found the folks at Collin CAD difficult to deal with. I've gone in a few times over the past 17 years and they've been professional and courteous. They've helped me out and lowered my values in the informal meeting when presented with actual evidence.
I will not be going in this year to protest my large increase because there isn't any evidence to support a reduction. In fact, I think the recent comps in my neighborhood would suggest that they valued my house at least 15% below what I would even list at, much less what it would sell for. This in itself is a huge win worthy of me leaving them alone during protest time.
Thanks a lot Bidenflation!
I've had moderate success during informal protests but the whole process is a joke. The point of the exercise is supposed to determine what you'd get for you home on the open market on 1/1. They've told me multiple times that despite my valid evidence they can't reduce my value more than x%.
In 2019, I protested on the basis that the bigger homes behind my house (share a fence with them and the streets are all connected) on bigger lots and in a neighborhood with way more amenities were assessed at a lower rate. In fact, I had material from one of the model homes showing I could buy brand new for less than my assessment. Their argument was that since it was technically a different neighborhood, those comps were invalid. When I asked them if they thought a buyer wanting to live in my area would exclude those houses from consideration during their search, they said of course not. But when challenged as to why then I couldn't use them as a comp for value I was told it was against the rules. They gave me a slight reduction in value that I took.
In 2020, they didn't allow informal protests due to the wuhan flu. In January 1, I didn't have a roof. In fact I had no roof for a couple of months due to an incompetent roofer (a whole other story). Additionally, the homes on both sides of my house had sold in late 2019 for significantly less per sqft than my assessment. I uploaded sales data, photos from January 1 with no roof, a quick write up, and my insurance quote. They offered to reduce my value by $500. I went to the ARB but it was virtual. I presented my case that my value should be lower due to the two transactions on either side of me. Then you should subtract the cost of the roof repair because any buyer would either reduce their offer so they could repair it or require the seller to repair prior to closing. Either way, it would be a reduction in sales price. The CAD appraiser then said that they agreed with everything I said and would agree to meet me half way between their original valuation and what my proposed evidence based valuation was. When I asked why they were only meeting me half way when they agreed with everything I said, they responded that it's because the roof was being pod for with insurance proceeds so it doesn't really reduce the value of the home. The ARB said that sounded like a good compromise. When I protested that the source of funds was irrelevant, the exercise was about establishing market value the ARB stated that they agreed with me but I should be happy that the CAD agreed to meet in the middle so easily. They kept the middle value.
It's all BS.
