This information may not apply to your County/jurisdiction. Please be sure to confirm dates and details. I am not a professional consultant or appraiser, just a regular citizen who has fought their property taxes for a number of years. Everything here is opinion, and should not be regarded as fact.
So, you're going to receive a paper in the mail from the county, stating your new taxable home value. What you do is you go online on their ifile protest site. There, you will have an opportunity to put what you think the value should be and why. Make sure that number is less than both the market AND appraisal value, otherwise it will not make a difference on your tax bill. However, if it's less than market, but more than appraisal, it will not lower your tax bill, but will at least help bridge the gap of the value of your house for the next time you fight it.
Counties keep raising values, and most of the people don't fight it. Then, that collectively raises all of the home values. If most houses in an area are valued high, and one is valued low, they are bound to level out the one that's low 😐. Having a high or unreasonable home value is only good if you're trying to sell and want the value to be high. For us, I don't plan to sell soon, so it's not convenient for me.
So, to start, you take pictures of stuff in your home that decreases the value, for example, there may be shifting in the foundation. With newer builds, the house will shift for a few years. Some of the tiles may have cracked, or the caulking/grout in the bathrooms may have split. Take pictures of anything you know would need to be fixed if you were to sell it. I believe the counties value homes at tip-top "for sale" condition, so show them that it's not. In essence, show them things that a home buyer would complain about. Take pictures of sheetrock/water damage. If it needs a paint job, cracks in the foundation/driveway. I generally advise people to get estimates/quotes for roof, foundation, or big damages. That way, when you protest, you can show a dollar amount that it will cost you to correct an issue, and you can attach the quote. For example, if the house is valued at 200k and roof estimate was 6k, you can put you think it's worth 194k because that's how much it will cost to fix the roof. You don't have to attach estimates if you don't have them. It is helpful if you have pictures.
If you live near a school or commercial center, the traffic may drive you nuts and you may have instances where you cannot leave your driveway. Take video of all the traffic, cars passing by/speeding, or the congestion at intersections.
There are a lot of nuisances that aren't taken into account when they "value" the homes. If you're near train tracks, or there's always trash in the area, graffiti, etc, bring up any kind of noise or nuisances that would make a home buyer reconsider getting the home. You can also present crime rates in your area. Look up your state's sex offender registry to see if there are any that reside near your home.
Another thing is to look for homes in the neighborhood that have similar sq ft to your house, and compare the value. There is a house nearby that is always valued less than mine, it is the exact same floorplan and sq ft. Go to the appraisal district website for your county and find comparables. On hcad.org, you can click quick search, type your address, and on top you will see "nearby addresses". Click that and you can see similar homes. You can also put together an excel sheet comparing other homes to yours. Divide value by sq ft. Use a few samples and calculate an average cost of sq ft. Then, multiply your value by that amount (value should be less than your current value), otherwise it won't help at all.
Make sure to protest by the deadline (May 15 I believe) and scan your data to the form online. They will either send you a counter offer that you can accept online, or they will give you a hearing date. There is the informal meeting which is you and a county representative in a cubicle and you go over the info. The formal hearing is in a room with the county rep, you, and 3 independent mediators. Personally, I believe they are not all that "independent". They rarely side with you, although they are supposed to be neutral. I've fought every single year, and the formal meeting has got me the least results.
There are also different consulting firms who do this kind of stuff regularly, but they charge, and I'm not sure how good they are. One of the county reps told me my presentation was better than a certain firm, so either it was really good, or they are just okay, or don't go as much into detail.
Also, when you hire them, they usually get you to sign a form giving them permission to fight it every year and then they send you the bill. I know someone who sold their house, the firm fought the taxes, and still made them pay the bill. Just be careful if you choose to hire them, and make sure to notify them if you move.
There is also the appraisal method where you hire an appraiser to go to your home and value it. Then you include that report in your protest to the county. However, I don't know how much their services cost, or how much it helps because I've never done it that way.
Good luck! I hope this helps.... tell everyone you know to protest their taxes! They raise them because they can, and we have to fight back, because we can. 🙂
Also, aside from taxes, look into your home insurance policy. If you don't have a home/car discount lowering your car insurance costs, you may be able to get a lower rate elsewhere. One way to do it is call your bank whom the home is mortgaged with. Most of them have brokers available to help you shop around and get you the best rates. Just make sure that it has the coverage that you need/that your bank requires.
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