Texas property tax law changes every few years. See the latest posts for the most up-to-date information.
During property tax time, there are a lot of different numbers to juggle. As a homeowner, you have to juggle your property’s assessed value, the total tax bill, various exemptions and credits, and the amount funneling into your escrow account each year. The task is even more complicated if your home is on the market or if you’ve actively been considering selling your home. Then you’re also focused on potential sales prices, mortgage rates for your new home, and, of course, the assessed value of your current property.
In fact, that same number seems to come up twice: the assessed value of your property. But that same terminology can mean very different things depending on the context in which you’re using them. In a nutshell, here are two different assessed values your home might hold simultaneously:
- The tax assessment of your property’s value: County tax assessors or appraisers calculate this number. It’s the assessed value of your property for the purpose of calculating your tax bill. There are various rules and regulations that exist to stop this assessment from rising too steeply, especially if the property is your primary residence. Generally speaking, you’d prefer this number to be as small as reasonably possible.
- The appraised, or market value of your property: This number is not directly related to your taxes but is the value of your property as determined by a third-party, private entity appraiser. This professional is hired by an insurance agency, a mortgage lender, or a prospective home buyer. Their job is to calculate the real “value” of the home on the market as determined by its age, surrounding market trends, and roof condition. By and large, the bigger this number is, the better.
These two descriptions cover the key differences between the numbers: one is a tool for calculating taxes, and one is for ensuring everyone is getting a fair deal in a house-buying transaction. Let’s explore these numbers in more depth so you can strategically navigate property tax season and future house sales with equal aplomb.
Related: Ways to Cut the Tax Value of Your Property
Tax Assessments and the Value of the Property: What Are They Used For?
Every year, your local tax appraisal district recalculates your home’s appraisal/market value, as well as its tax assessment value. Some years, they may individually assess the property with a more in-depth analysis of the property; in other years, they’ll use general estimates and calculations across your neighborhood as a whole to establish a new tax assessment for the given year. Once they have this figure in hand, they multiply it by the effective property tax rate you owe, and that determines the total tax bill that you receive in October and must pay by January 31st of the following year.
How Your Home’s Tax Assessment Is Calculated
While property taxes are controlled by policies and regulations established by the state government, your local tax figures are ultimately decided by your city and county. The tax appraisal district in which your residence is located will determine your effective tax rate, different projects and costs that make up the budget, and even the day-to-day operations of how the district operates to gather and manage those taxes.
For most residential properties in Texas, the tax assessment is not the value of the property but is based on the calculated market value of the property. However, there are a couple of different methods your specific district assessors may use:
- Cost Method: This calculation estimates the cost of replacing the property in the event it is demolished. Older properties may have a depreciated value, while homes with new fixtures and renovations would have a higher value based on the cost of labor and materials.
- Sales Evaluation Method: In this method, assessors determine a likely price your home would sell for in the current local market. They’d compare your home to similar properties in your neighborhood while giving weight to unique features of your property, such as renovations, a swimming pool, or other favorable characteristics.
- Income Method: This calculation looks at how much income you, as the owner, would receive for renting out the property to a tenant. It looks at the return, or profit, which is impacted by costs like taxes, maintenance, and property management.
The property, after its estimated value is calculated, is then multiplied against a local assessment rate, which varies from county to county. That final number is then what tax appraisal districts multiply by the various mill levies your property is subject to in order to give you an itemized tax bill for different local levies (for your school district, city, county, etc.).
What Can Raise or Lower the Tax Assessment of Your Home’s Property Value
A few different factors can alter the assessed value of your home from year to year. Two to consider are:
- Market factors. If you live in a hot real estate market, which many Texans do, that will have a striking impact on your property tax bill. Sudden spikes of interest in your area, especially if many of your neighbors recently sold their homes, can make your property value skyrocket. Conversely, if the real estate market in your area is very slow or your property doesn’t have regular upgrades that make it comparable to other neighborhood homes, your property assessment may level out or even go down.
- Property tax protests. As a homeowner, you have a right to protest your property taxes. While you might protest to make corrections to the exemptions or effective tax rate on your property, the most common type of protest is in regard to the assessed value. If you think the assessor raised the value too aggressively, you can file a protest and present evidence to a review board to lower that number.
What Is the True Value of Your Property?
Let’s move away from tax assessments and consider the other meaning of ‘property assessment’ — the value of your property as determined by third-party appraisers in the private market. This number more closely aligns with what you would sell your home for on the open market. If you’re selling your house, an appraiser officially enters the picture between when you accept a buyer’s offer and the official closing day.
The buyer’s lender will often require a licensed appraiser to assess the property and determine its value. This is to protect the lender: they don’t want to agree to a loan for an amount more than a property is actually worth, resulting in a bad investment.
The appraiser looks at the property in some degree of depth, considering factors such as the condition of the property, the insurability of the roof, and the desirability of the property’s location. When this number is high, it helps ensure you can sell your home for a high price and that the deal will go through smoothly.
However, not even this number dictates what you must sell your home for. If you put your home up for sale in an incredibly strong market, you may have buyers put in competing offers that quickly outstrip the asking price, let alone the appraised value, by tens of thousands of dollars.
Related: What Real Estate Agents and Clients Should Know About Property Taxes
Tax Assessment vs. the Value of the Property: What’s the Difference?
While people often call both of these numbers the ‘assessed value,’ they mean completely different things and are decided by completely different entities. However, the most important difference to remember is the purpose for which the number is being used.
The tax assessment is part of the calculation that determines your property tax bill. If you have a homestead exemption, this amount can’t be raised by more than 10% each year (unless you’ve made specific improvements to the property). If you believe the number is too high, you can contest it through an established protest process.
An appraisal during a house-selling process, on the other hand, is a little less tightly controlled. The lender or other entity hires an appraiser for the purpose of ensuring the property’s value is high enough to protect the lender’s interests. You or your agent can argue against the outcome or try to hire another appraiser, but there is no set protest process.
Note for house sellers: Your tax assessment is not used in an appraiser’s calculation of your property’s market value. In fact, most real estate agents won’t even look at the county records to try and negotiate down the price of your house. They know the numbers are unrelated!
How to Lower Your Home’s Tax Assessment (And Why You Should Try)
Is the tax assessment the value of the property? As we’ve seen, it’s not. And while you want your home’s appraised value to be as high as reasonably possible, that’s not the case for your tax assessment. Instead, you want to keep that value low, so you don’t pay more than your fair share of property taxes.
At Home Tax Shield, we’re here to help manage the process on your behalf. We can calculate a fair assessment of your home for tax purposes, manage the protest process for you, and help you fight for a fair tax bill. Contact us today to get started.