Preparation is the key to a successful hearing. With preparation, you will have the evidence and organization necessary to make a good case.
Collect information
- Understand the hearing procedures, including: how long you will have to present your evidence, how may people are on the review board, and what you can expect at the hearing. The hearing procedures will be sent to you at least 14 days before the hearing.
- Talk to the appraisal district staff. Ask them questions about anything you’re unsure of or do not understand. Look at the appraisal district’s website, which should have a lot of information for you.
- From the appraisal district staff, get a copy of the information the appraisal district plans to introduce at the hearing.
- Go to the appraisal district’s website and get the appraisal card on your property. Check to see it has the right number of bedrooms, bathrooms, and garages. If there are any discrepancies, use them as evidence in your hearing.
- Check anything in your home that will negatively affect its value. For example, a foundation problem like a cracked slab. Prepare photos, reports, and repair estimates. Include anything that happened before January 1 (the date of your appraisal), including improvements or damage. (Do not include anything that happened after January 1–that will count toward next year’s appraisal.)
- Measure your home from the outside to ensure it has the same square footage as on the appraisal district’s records.
- Because home sales are considered the best indication of market value, review the sales the appraisal district used to determine your property’s value. Make a list of the sales, dates of sales, size of the homes, size of the lots, whether a home is on a corner lot, the year the home was built, the location, the zoning, the amenities in the home, etc–anything that adds (or takes away) value to the home. Compare these to your home.
- Look at your neighborhood as a whole. is there anything that brings down the value of homes, like being too close to the freeway or railroad? Is there anything about your home that makes it not typical of the homes in your neighborhood?
For example, do the homes the appraisal district used in mass appraisal all have pools or hardwood floors or something else that increases their value? That would overvalue your home if your property does not have those improvements.
- If there are sales that the appraisal district should not have used in appraising your home’s value, because your property is too different for a comparison, mark them. At the hearing, point out why they should not have used those particular sales.
Remember
The point of the hearing is to establish the correct value of your home. The ARB is not an all-knowing entity and does not know every detail about your home or your neighborhood. You know your home and neighborhood far better than the appraisal district can. Bring the evidence that shows your value is correct.
Evidence does not include your personal financial situation. Property taxes can only be based on the value of the home, not how much money you make (or aren’t making).
Organize your information
Prepare wisely for the limited time you will have in the hearing.
Organize your information clearly. Don’t hop from the fire report to the sales data and back to the picture of the cracked foundation. Keep the reports and information on your house together and the sales data together. Listing your information in an outline with categories helps most people.
Consider marking your evidence with exhibit numbers as a form of organization. “Turn to exhibit 1,” you’ll say, and everyone will be looking at the picture of your house after the tornado. It’s much more organized and effective than having everyone flip through unnumbered and disorganized papers until they find the picture you’ve described.
Create counter arguments
Look at the evidence the appraisal district will use and prepare arguments against that data. For example, why the sales data of your neighbors’ homes is not a good comparison to your home.
Practice your presentation
Time yourself to ensure you stay within the time limit. The hearing procedures will tell you how much time you have to present your case. Sometimes it’s 5 minutes, which means you need to be exceedingly organized and concise to present all your information in the limited time.
Make copies
Make enough copies of your evidence (reports, pictures, lists, descriptions, etc.) for each member of the ARB panel (usually 3 people), the appraisal district, and yourself. The exact number of people on the ARB panel is in the hearing procedures.
Congratulate yourself on all your hard work!
This article is the second in a series on protesting property taxes. Read the next article in this series, Protesting, Step 3: The Hearing, for details on how the hearing will proceed.
