Texas Tax Protest
Texas has some of the highest property taxes in the country. The government does a yearly audit of the home appraised value and recommends really high values. Why do you care? Because if the county appraises your home for higher then that translates to insurance and tax cost increase, costing you much more than need to. For example, a SARE member’s monthly costs jumped from $2400 —>$2855 in a year.
WHEN YOU BUY IT, MAKE SURE THE ASSESSED PRICE STAYS THE SAME AND CONTEST IT TO STAY THAT WAY
Outsourcing
- You can use OwnWell.com
- You can pay someone like https://www.fivestonetax.com/blog/how-to-appeal-property-taxes-in-williamson-county/ to contest for you
Do It Yourself
Homestead
A homestead exemption only applies to your principal residence, the home you actually live in. Claiming one on a rental means making a false statement on the application, so don't. For investment properties, protest the value through the non-homestead process below.
Owners who are 65 or older, or disabled, can get extra exemptions on their own homestead. Check your county appraisal district's site for the rules.
NonHomestead
https://traviscad.org/protests
https://tax-office.traviscountytx.gov/properties/taxes/important-dates
https://www.realtyaustin.com/blog/property-taxes
Here are the links to appraisal districts where you can look up values of nearby homes:
Travis County:
http://www.traviscad.org/property_sea...
Williamson County:
Hays County: