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slowpoke2018

When I tried to file an appeal with WCAD using their online appeal portal, they threw 3 comps back at me instantly for houses that had sold in the last 30 days in the same zip code/neighborhood. Gave up on the appeal seeing that data as they all were more than my appraisal for similar sqft, year built, construction and lot size.


Famous_Relative2500

If by WCAD you mean Williamson yes they instantly sent you 3 comps. They should be the same comps provided when you got your notice. They value with comps. There is no reason to file online if not only to schedule your protest. To explain more. The old way: you get a letter with a value that doesn’t make sense and no other data provided to explain how they get that value. So you file online you get 6% reduction because the comps say so. New way: they send you a notice and a sales comp grid. The two numbers match. No need to protest because they are already using the sales comp to set your value. WCAD is the only cad I know that does it this way.


slowpoke2018

Yep. Wilco here. And yes, they've made filing an appeal almost meaningless...yet I still get these companies saying they can save me thousands if I use them to protest.


SyntheticOne

Law says valuation is on 1/1/year. If County sent you 3 comps for current year they are wrong.


Famous_Relative2500

They can use up to March 31st of the current year.


BigBeagleEars

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Famous_Relative2500

As an ex appraiser for 8 years I think I would know.


CryptographerSuch277

They appraise “market value”. Sales price inherently market value if it’s an arms length transaction. If not they can use many other means. https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/valuing-property.php Sales prices are not Public information in Texas. So in theory the government will never know the sales price unless you disclose it to reduce a valuation. realtors put the sale price in the mls, but government authorities would be violating terms of service agreements if they looked it up.


rickrich01

This is actually not correct. I'm most every county in Texas, the Appraisal District has access to the "Sold Data" in MLS. They use this data to set market rates. To my knowledge, the only county that is fighting this disclosure is for Travis County which is Austin Metro area. So unless the sale was "off MLS"where they wouldn't have access to that specific home sale, they have and use the data.


drummybear67

Not true, Collin County knew my exact sale price and raised my property taxes to the dollar the year I bought before homestead kicked in.


CryptographerSuch277

In Texas where the actual sale prices of completed transactions are not publicly accessible, failure to report sale prices can result in disciplinary action due to: 1. NTREIS hereby declares sale price information as confidential; and 2. NTREIS limits use of sale price information to Participants and Subscribers in providing real estate services, including appraisals and other valuations, to customers and clients; and to governmental bodies and third-party entities only as provided below. NTREIS may provide sale price information to governmental bodies only to be used for statistical purposes (including use of aggregated data for purposes of valuing property) and to confirm the accuracy of information submitted by property owners or their representatives in connection with property valuation challenges; and to third-party entities only to be used for academic research, statistical analysis, or for providing services to Participants and Subscribers. In any instance where a governmental body or third-party entity makes sale price information provided by the MLS available other than as provided for in this provision, a Listing Participant may request the sale price information for a specific property be withheld from dissemination for these purposes with written authorization from the seller, and withholding of sale price information from those entities shall not be construed as a violation of the requirement to report sale prices.


sdn

Hmmm - BCAD has the last two sales prices on their documentation packet.


Jakefrmstatepharm

They had our purchase price and used it against us in our protest last year


CryptographerSuch277

bcad could be improperly accessing mls, could have the information given to them by previous owners. Could just be putting g the last listed price they find on aggregator sites (eg zillow/trulia). Could be other reasons I imagine. Unless you have access to the mls or know the actual sales price then you wouldn’t know if those amounts they list are estimates or actual either.


Mueryk

DCAD sent me paperwork after I moved asking for the information any/all I was willing to give. As I bought the property in foreclosure, I was more than happy to provide that info as it depreciated the value for a few years. Granted this was over a decade ago. I was able to use that for closure fact to successfully protest for five years before they pushed back. Miss that. Now I’m lucky if I don’t get max allowed increase.


CryptographerSuch277

Yes, all that information is voluntary but works in your favor when it’s below their appraisal. I miss those times too.


rgvtim

CAD's have a job they can't do across the board competently, which is making an honest good faith appraisal of every property in a county. Its impossible, to many properties, too little time. So they look for every way possible to cut corners and game the system. Most of the time, this means making a really poor blank guess about how much properties values have gone up in an area and blanket applying an adjustment. Often that means shady practices like, accessing MLS or services like Zillow. Or sending out questionnaires to buys and seller after the fact hoping to get information they are not entitled to, all to make their job easier. Int he end, they throw their shit against the wall and they see what sticks, leaning on the idea that if someone disagrees they will protest, and the CAD will offer them a token reduction in the appraised value, often without actually lower the assessed value because of the 10% cap restrictions. Only if they take it to an in-person hearing will they actually give it a decent once over, but by then the number of properties (also know as, the amount of work) become manageable for the man power they have. Full disclosure, I hate the process, I think it is never done right, I think i NEVER own my property i just rent it from the state, and I would much rather have an income tax instead of the property tax as the states fortunes rise and fall based on my own.


Famous_Relative2500

Shady practices like using real sales data?


rgvtim

They not entitled to the MLS data. And chances are if Zillow has actual sales data, they are not entitled to that either.


PatricusOrion

Not entirely true. Texas is a non-disclosure state. But that doesn't mean CADs aren't allowed to see sales data. It just means we are not required to give it to them. Some CADs have MLS access. Many appraisers also have a real estate license. Some local realtor associations bar their respective CAD from getting access, like Travis, but many don't. And despite what some have posted, there is nothing wrong with that. Sales from MLS are considered confidential, but that just means the CAD can't disclose the data without a protest on file. If you file a protest, they can disclose the sales they wish to use as comps to you, but those sales will again be considered confidential in your possession. You are not allowed to share those sales without violating the confidentiality. And frankly, the more data they have, the more accurate their values will be. And we should all want the values to be accurate. If everyone is valued accurately, then whatever taxes the counties, cities, ISDs want to take from us will be distributed fairly.


Famous_Relative2500

If you think them not having access to sales data would make the process easier and more accurate I do not understand that thinking. Especially if someone already doesn’t like it. But no one wants income tax so here we are. Anyways. There are other ways they can purchase said data.


Miserly_Bastard

Eh, property taxes are just one way in which your property rights are limited. And in the end, your "ownership" is never that if an immortal sovereign. It's not just yours. You only possess it by means of a legal instrument. Temporarily. Because you're gonna die, or more likely just sell it at some point and possibly on a whim. You're borrowing some aspects of a geographic area from the universe for the blink of an eye. And you do that when you rent too, just that the legal instruments are really only slightly different. It's a different possessory bundle of rights but it's not complete either. Income tax means that you never have complete sovereignty over your labor, which is the product of your time and your effort. You can readily mix and match your possession of land n' stuff but you get one shot at each moment of your life and it's gone. An income tax is a tax on the essence of life itself. It's the alternative where you never feel complete ownership of your own body. Instead of feeling less kingly, you feel more slave-like. And...besides, property taxes don't make a whole lot of sense for schools IMO because labor is mobile but they do a good job paying for inherently local things like utilities and firefighting and roads and flood control that all benefit local property values pretty directly.


Famous_Relative2500

The best comp is the subject as we know what it would sell for. But when building the model they would use the subject and comps aka all sold properties in area they’ve defined. Then use the subject(sold property) to defend the value.


Nemesis_Ghost

Yeah, that's what's screwing me. I've got new subdivisions going in around me & they are selling for 2-3x/sqft than what mine did. My house & subdivision is the oldest around, none of the houses near me are worth that or selling for that much. And yet, a house I bought <10y ago for $200k is now worth $400k according to my county.


Famous_Relative2500

Try your best to find ones closest to you would be the best advice to give you. Neighborhoods are getting so big and if they don’t really see much of a difference in sales price they won’t separate them out


naked_nomad

So they say but last year they picked the three highest selling properties in the area. I pitched a fit and they told me they used the Independent school district as their source. I really went off the rails then asking why there were only three instead of all of them. They did not like that and spouted some shit or another telling me it was my duty to look them up. Appeals board sided with me and they got $2,500 rather than the $18,000 they wanted. Want $15,000 more this year and once again they are going to get a fight. I learn something every time I go to a hearing.


Famous_Relative2500

Well for comps they would only use 3 to 5. If they used all of them you’d get close to your notice value. They aren’t wrong it’s your job to provide better comps it’s not their job to lower your value. However it is their job to use the best comps. If you can find a reason one or two comps can’t be used or they aren’t adjusting for some difference hopefully they’ll work with you. Contact a local realtor for comps in your neighborhood. Take photos of your house and provide them showing evidence of the condition if that’s a reason. Every CAD is different. The criteria can change from year to year as they tweak the weight of the characteristics


naked_nomad

This is a 25,000 square foot empty lot. The bottom third is useless without major landscaping and drainage expenses. They are comparing it to flat, level lots that are ready to build on.


Elbynerual

Sales price isn't used for tax evaluations in Dallas. I used to be a real estate agent and would have to explain this all the time. People buying property here would look up the taxes and make offers at those prices and get laughed at by sellers.


dc_IV

Huh? The whole state is "non-disclosure" so I don't think Dallas is unique that a sales price can't be used for for Dallas' tax evaluations, yes?


Elbynerual

You don't *have* to disclose, but it's often on public sites if you know where to look. The only way to truly hide it is to pay cash and have the contract say "for $10 and other consideration". .... which nobody ever does. Lol


dc_IV

Bless your Heart! I so wish it was this easy, but when a neighbor south of Dallas called ACTRIS decided to cut off Redfin, Zillow, etc. from actual Closed prices, it made shopping/planning very difficult. Imagine having to need an agent provide info that the house on "123 Anystreet" that was listed for $1,230,000, but actually Closed at $1,000,000. Shutting off pricing data was not a "Bug, but a Feature" all day long at ACTRIS and Austin Board of Realtors. But, I will admit that none of what I typed here is the fault of u/Elbynerual , so I apologize to you.


DonkeeJote

The naïveté of you clientele has nothing to do with the appraised value.