Looking for recs, as I imagine plenty of others will be, so thought I'd start a general thread. Our CAD is a pain and I don't have the time to deal with them myself so looking to hire.

We're in Cooke County if that matters.

In our experience we've done way better with a face to face.

Do you know if you made any mistakes other than being young and not having a personal relationship with the board?

texAZtea said:

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Do you know if you made any mistakes other than being young and not having a personal relationship with the board?

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None that I can think of. I tried to show unequal comparison and they didn't care. They saw someone who just purchased a house and refused to share the purchase price. It was game over even though they have to listen to an unequal comp appeal. When they asked for my purchase price and I refused everyone's body language said this was over.

One of the houses in my neighborhood that has the exact same floorplan was valued at 130K over my house. They used that to skyrocket my evaluation. Of course, that neighbor was way out of the market average and had a resort style pool, outdoor kitchen, fireplace, 2000 sq ft covered patio and was recently purchased (with the price reported to the CAD - idiots.) I even had pictures from real estate listings showing their appraisal didn't adequately assign value to those amenities.

They couldn't care less. Thats when I knew I couldn't win. If I wanted my appraisal reduced it had to be through the efforts of someone who knew these unaccountable idiots. And thats exactly what he was able to do.

Of course. This was all when oil was in the ****ter, katy had a slowdown in purchasing, and the valuation they figured upon was generous, but not too far out of the market. Nowadays all that work is wiped away and I don't think anyone is getting a break.

I should add that I don't think there's any situation in which a protest will actually be successful for us. When I say our CAD is difficult to work with, I'm speaking from experience when we had to sue them to get them to follow very clearly stated law around ag/wildlife exemption. When we brought in professionals to help us navigate even they were blown away by the CADs actions and words (things like the chief appraiser saying the ARB does what he tells them to). At arbitration their own attorney had to tell them to STFU. So no, I don't have high hopes and I don't want to waste my time. But if a service who takes a cut of savings wants to give it a go I'm all for it.

AlphaBean said:

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I should add that I don't think there's any situation in which a protest will actually be successful for us. When I say our CAD is difficult to work with, I'm speaking from experience when we had to sue them to get them to follow very clearly stated law around ag/wildlife exemption. When we brought in professionals to help us navigate even they were blown away by the CADs actions and words (things like the chief appraiser saying the ARB does what he tells them to). At arbitration their own attorney had to tell them to STFU. So no, I don't have high hopes and I don't want to waste my time. But if a service who takes a cut of savings wants to give it a go I'm all for it.

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At that level of power trip, there needs to be a class action lawsuit and open discovery. You aren't the only one who got swindled and 99% of everyone else gave up before suing, I'm sure.

While I haven't worked directly with Cooke County CAD, I know people that have and they are notorious in the area for being impossible.

one MEEN Ag said:

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AlphaBean said:

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I should add that I don't think there's any situation in which a protest will actually be successful for us. When I say our CAD is difficult to work with, I'm speaking from experience when we had to sue them to get them to follow very clearly stated law around ag/wildlife exemption. When we brought in professionals to help us navigate even they were blown away by the CADs actions and words (things like the chief appraiser saying the ARB does what he tells them to). At arbitration their own attorney had to tell them to STFU. So no, I don't have high hopes and I don't want to waste my time. But if a service who takes a cut of savings wants to give it a go I'm all for it.

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At that level of power trip, there needs to be a class action lawsuit and open discovery. You aren't the only one who got swindled and 99% of everyone else gave up before suing, I'm sure.

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Oh absolutely. They delighted in telling us about all the people who had already tried but failed including a TPWD biologist.

Any recommendation for here in Fort Bend County?

one MEEN Ag said:

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AlphaBean said:

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I should add that I don't think there's any situation in which a protest will actually be successful for us. When I say our CAD is difficult to work with, I'm speaking from experience when we had to sue them to get them to follow very clearly stated law around ag/wildlife exemption. When we brought in professionals to help us navigate even they were blown away by the CADs actions and words (things like the chief appraiser saying the ARB does what he tells them to). At arbitration their own attorney had to tell them to STFU. So no, I don't have high hopes and I don't want to waste my time. But if a service who takes a cut of savings wants to give it a go I'm all for it.

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At that level of power trip, there needs to be a class action lawsuit and open discovery. You aren't the only one who got swindled and 99% of everyone else gave up before suing, I'm sure.

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Had a similar experience where we sued our CAD two out of three years on the same property. F__king idiots lost the first battle, we fixed the valuation for two years and then they turned around and basically slapped a 100% increase on in the 3rd year. We sued again and I REALLY wanted it to get to court so there would be caselaw on the books, because I knew the CAD was screwing not just us but every other property owner in the District (hotel property - they tax as a going concern not as a developed property). We ended up in arbitration and they settled with us, paying our attorney fees and fixing the value again.

On other properties we have gone 3rd party to dispute appraisals. We pay a 10% of savings fee and don't waste our time at the CAD office, so it works out okay.

I live out of the country and own with a single family rental home in Brazos County. Does anyone have any recommendations for tax protest service in College Station?

Thanks,

Chris