property tax

Removing Yourself From the Appraisal District Website

August 22, 2016 by khproperties Leave a Comment

Did you know that certain types of public officials and others can remove themselves from their local county appraisal district website here in Texas? People like police officers, investigators, judges, district attorneys and their employees are all included in this list as are victims of family violence. This can make looking up property information when listing a property a little difficult, but it is a small price to pay to keep these people out of harms way. Remember, in Texas, appraisal district information is public, so armed with some basic information and a little sleuthing ability, people with a vendetta against these people could locate this information with ease. By removing their records from the appraisal district website, the information gets much harder to find.

There are currently thirty one different eligible categories you may fall into in order to have your record kept confidential. In order to do so, you’ll need to fill out a Request for Confidentiality (Form 50-284) (PDF version from the Texas Comptroller’s website) available from your local appraisal district or the Texas Comptroller website. The Texas Tax Code is where the ability to restrict this information from the public comes from and the form is a statewide form.

To request that your tax record be removed from the appraisal district website, you’ll need to fill out the form (requires basic information – who you are, where you live, property information, and what category you fall under that makes you eligible for confidentiality) and send it in to your local appraisal district’s offices. You can find your appraisal district’s information at the Texas Comptroller site where they maintain a list of all Texas county appraisal districts and their contact info.

If your request is approved, you will be removed from the appraisal district website and be a little safer.

image courtesy of Texas State Library and Archives Commission

Get Your Homestead Tax Exemption

January 2, 2014 by khproperties Leave a Comment

You Can Now File Your Homestead Tax Exemption

It wasn’t all that long ago when we mentioned getting your paperwork in order for things like the Homestead Tax Exemption and now that we have moved into 2014, it’s time to file. If you bought a home in 2013 and you were living in that home on January 1, 2014, you may now apply for your Homestead Tax Exemption and a break on your property taxes. Remember, the home must be your primary residence and you may not claim homestead on multiple homes.

How does the Homestead Tax Exemeption work?

Let’s say you own a house that the local appraisal district has given a tax valuation of $100,000. The property tax you pay is calculated based off of this $100,000. If you were given a $15,000 exemption (the value on the homestead tax exemption was raised to $25,000 in 2015), your new property tax bill would be calculated based on a tax valuation of $85,000 ($100,000 tax valuation minus the $15,000 exemption = the new tax valuation of $85,000).

You must live in the home as of January 1, 2014. Many people forget to file for a homestead tax exemption because they may have bought a house on January 2, 2013, but were not eligible to file until 2014.

To file for your exemption, you must fill out the Application for Residential Homestead Exemption (PDF file) and send it to your local appraisal district. Be sure to read the form carefully and provide all the items requested when filing the form. You may also use this form to claim a Age 65 or Older/Disabled Exemption and a 100% Disabled Veteran Exemption.

Watch out for scams!

It is completely free to file for your Homestead Tax Exemption. You will more than likely receive mail now or in the near future telling you to file and asking for money to do so. While there are legitimate companies that will file this form for you for a fee, they are totally unnecessary as it is free to file. Many of these letters are deceiving and look very official, but we can’t stress it enough – filing a Homestead Tax Exemption is free and you should not pay anyone to file it for you. These companies more or less will charge you (we’ve seen the fee as high as $65) to basically put a stamp on your completed form for you. Please don’t fall for it! If you need assistance with the form, please contact your real estate agent and they should be more than happy to help.

image courtesy of mookielove

Reminder to file your Homestead Tax Exemption

January 1, 2013 by khproperties Leave a Comment

Well it’s January 1st and as I promised, here’s your reminder to file your homestead tax exemption for 2013. If you bought a home in 2012 or have never filed for a homestead tax exemption in Texas, now is the time to get it done! Remember, you must live in and occupy the home on January 1st, 2013 (so if you don’t close on your home until January 2, 2013, you’ll have to wait until Janury 2014!), but if you meet that requirement, it’s time to get your paperwork in order and sent into your local appraisal district. Here’s the original post, “Don’t forget your Homestead Tax Exemption!,” to learn all about the homestead tax exemption and to download the form necessary to file.

image courtesy of Takashi(aes256)

Don’t forget your Homestead Tax Exemption!

December 19, 2012 by khproperties 1 Comment

It’s time to start thinking about property taxes and property tax reduction options such as your homestead tax exemption. If you bought a home in the past year or have never filed for your homestead tax exemption, the time is approaching. If you live in your home on January 1st, 2013, you can apply for a homestead tax exemption. The home must be your primary residence (ie, you can’t claim multiple homestead tax exemptions for multiple properties), but as long as you live in the home on that date, you can file to receive this break on your property tax.

Here’s how it works.

The homestead tax exemption lowers the taxable value of your home. If you have a house that has a appraisal district tax valuation of $100,000 and you get a $15,000 exemption (the value on the homestead tax exemption was raised to $25,000 in 2015), the property tax you pay is based on a value of $85,000 ($100,000 minus $15,000), effectively lowering the tax owed to the country each year.

You must reside in the home on January 1st of the year you apply. This is why we remind clients at the end of the year, because they may have bought the home on January 2, 2012, but have not been eligible to apply until the following year (on January 1, 2013 in this case).

In order to claim the homestead tax exemption, you must fill out the Application for Residential Homestead Exemption (PDF file) and sent into your local appraisal district. Be sure to fill out the form completely and read the instructions carefully – there are several items that you are required to furnsh in addition to the completed form.

Be aware of scams.

If you’ve bought a home in the past year, you’ll probably get some mail from companies who will offer to file this paperwork for you and make sure you get your homestead tax exemption. Do not use these companies or send them any money. Filing your homestead tax exemption is free and these companies simply take your forms and drop them off at the appraisal district – something you can do just as easily for the cost that they will charge you. Many of the letters are rather deceiving in the way they’re written, making you think you need to pay their fee in order to receive the exemption. So please, be aware and contact your agent if you need help filing the form, they’ll be happy to do it (or you need a new agent).

PS I’ll remind everyone about this on January 1st as well – just wanted to be sure the information got out there.

image courtesy of chefranden

Appraisals, Assessments, and Fair Market Value

July 24, 2012 by khproperties Leave a Comment

The words appraisals, assessments, and fair market value all relate to one of the most common questions in San Antonio real estate – “what is my home worth?“

These three terms often get jumbled up and misused, which can lead to a lot of confusion over what the value of a home is. It becomes even trickier as the word “appraisal” gets tossed around a lot to mean a variety of different things. This careless misuse of these words can really complicate the issue of pricing a home for sale, so let’s take a look at the three terms and how they relate to real estate and the value of your home.

Appraisals

We’ve discussed appraisals recently, including a post about appraisals and why you need one and some of the positive and negative sides to appraisals. Appraisals are part of the mortgage process (and you should get one for yourself, even if you’re a cash buyer) – the lender uses the appraisal report to help underwrite the loan. The lender wants to know that an appraised value is equal to or more than the price you have agreed to pay for the home.

Appraisals are performed by licensed appraisers who receive a lot of training. Since the housing market crash, appraisers have become rather tight with their valuations, which can be quite daunting for both home buyers and sellers (lenders will not loan more than the amount of the appraisal).

Assessments (Tax Assessed Value)

I often hear tax assessed values called appraisals. It’s kind of a tricky set of words. The office that handles them is called the Appraisal District, but for the purpose of clear definition, these should not be confused with appraisals. Tax assessed values are used by your local county to assess the amount of tax you owe on your property.

These assessments are not a good indication of value – although they can be dead on at times. With Texas being a non-disclosure state (final sold price of a home is not disclosed publicly), these tax assessed values can vary widely. There are cases where people protested their taxes and cases where the neighbor didn’t, creating disparity in taxable values on properties that may be very similar. Basing your listing price or (if you’re a buyer) your offer price on these numbers is not a good idea. Tax assessed values are good to periodically check, to be sure your property taxes are not increasing too much (if they are, you can protest your taxes here in Texas).

Fair Market Value

Fair market value is a valuation of your home based on current market trends and the actual physical value of your home. While appraisals are rather scientific in nature, fair market value is part science and part art. Your real estate agent takes into account all the information and knowledge they have on your neighborhood and your home and performs a CMA (comparable market analysis) to determine fair market value. Based on current sales trends and the details of your home, your agent will give you a price to list your home at (based on the fair market value).

As we’ve seen in recent years, the price of a home can change and move both up and down. A home purchased today may sell for more, less, or the same in the future – this future price is its fair market value at that moment in time. Even when a fair market value is set for your home, you may find that you still need to adjust the price of your home in order for it to sell.

You may also want to read Dave Taylor’s article on cost versus market price in homes sale.

image courtesy of Studio Mohawk