re: Any Houston area folks have an absurd property tax appraisal?

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Unless the law has changed 10% is the just the max threshold your appraised value can increase without you being able to protest it.

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It appraises for whatever it appraises for, the taxes value can only increase by a max of 10% per year

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Sent in my homestead but for some reason they don’t have it included.

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Well there you go

All values are set as of January 1 of every year. You inherited the previous owner’s taxable value for the rest of the year when you purchase a property after January 1. When January 1 of the new year arrives, the market value and taxable value resets, therefore seeing that massive increase in both values. At least this is how it works in Oklahoma.

Also, with homestead you are capped at a .03 percent increase every year. .05 percent without homestead. The cap comes off when added value improvements are made to the property.

For example: if your taxable value is $200,000 and are homesteaded, you take 200,000 x .03 = 6,000 + 200,000 = 206,000. If you have $50,000 of new construction value according to the Assessor, you add that to the $206,000 to get a new taxable value of $256,000. If the market value stops before $256,000 then the taxable stops with it as it can never exceed fair market value.

Everything I am telling you is how it’s done in Oklahoma but hopefully the premise is similar in Harris County.

Typically the first full year of ownership, the Fair Market Value and Taxable Fair Market Value are the same. Each year from that point on, the Market Value is based on homes that have sold from the previous year but your Taxable Value is capped at whatever percent increase.

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Sent in my homestead but for some reason they don’t have it included.

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The previous owners had the homestead exemption if they were in the house Jan 1st 2024. You can get a discount on the prorated portion of the time you were in the house but technically you do not have an exemption.

You are not eligible for the 10% cap as you did not hold an exemption in 2024. They jump values way beyond 10% in my neighborhood (harris county) regularly as soon as the 85 yr old resident of 40 years sells to the 35 year old family man.

ETA: Your 2024 purchase price should be rock solid evidence of your value and mine was accepted without needing a meeting when I protested in 2020.

But hey, no state Income tax.....

Unless you think you can get them to come down below your purchase price, then submit documentation of your purchase price along with your Notice of Protest form.

The form asks your opinion of what the value should be. Write down the purchase price and more likely than not, they will send you a settlement offer of your purchase price for the current year.

The deadline is May 15th this year, unless your letter provided a later date.


In recent years there have been software glitches in calculating the value.

There have also been glitches in calculating the 10% cap for the homestead exemption which would only be corrected if noticed by the homeowner.

There can also be extreme errors that go unnoticed (and paid for) by the home owner. Attics have been shown to be taxed as a 2nd or 3rd story, a tarp covering a vegetable garden to protect it from frost seen from a satellite image by an appraiser who mistakes it for a swimming pool. A shadow from a tree led to an appraiser thinking it was a newly built guest house. A horse trailer being taxed as an addition to the house. An outdoor rug being mistaken for a deck. A dog house next to the house being mistaken for a house with no dental heat or air being shown as having updated to central heat and air. These are just a few example of errors I've caught the last few years.

Request the 2025 Property Field Review Card for your property. This will have a sketch of your property and include features and their pricing information used to calculate the value. Look over this carefully and make sure it all appears accurate.

Almost every appraisal district in Texas has a website. You should be able to search for the 2025 Mass Appraisal Report, Appraisal Plan/Manual, or other similar documents for your county. This should include information on house classes, conditions, depreciation, and costs for everything your are taxed on by the CAD.

Galveston County actually hosts classes to help property owners learn how to effectively protest each year. They also offer a short guidebook and PowerPoint online that you may find very helpful give you a basic understanding of what to expect and helpful tips.

Galveston County Protest Info

Galveston CAD 12 Page Protest Guide

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Sent in my homestead but for some reason they don’t have it included.

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It took Montgomery county 8 months to process my homestead exemption. I had to pay full tax and wait for them to process my exemption and send me a check. It has to be processed by the Appraisal office then approved and sent to the Tax Assessor office and it’s SLOW!

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You let the firm owned by the state representative who writes property tax legislation fight property tax legislation. Good idea.

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They get me the best results. I don’t love them, but I like keeping my money more than I dislike them.

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Mines high AF. I just let Bettencourt argue about it every year and remember there’s a price to not live in a shite hole.

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My tax rate is 1.5795 do good for the area considering Woodson’s Reserve is 2.8 to 3.2 for the new part. The old owners last year tax value was $150,000 more than what I paid for the house. So the value of the house this year jumped up $275k from last year.

It’s a $6700 annual difference. I’m going to send them my closing documents tomorrow and hope they accept.