Appraisal District Snitches? Please Help This Woman With Her Tarrant County Appraisal
This is only supposed to happen in places like the former Soviet Union, not in Fort Worth. You must read this email. It appears ”neighbors” are informing the Tarrant County appraisal board what “upgrades” folks have in their homes. Listen to this:
“I went before the Tarrant County Tax Review board. I had current market analysis’s from 2 real estate agencies showing that my home should sell for between $131,000 and $139,000, not the $155,000 it was evaluated for. I also took charts showing the homes that sold in in my addition in past 6 month. Average sales price was only $121,000. They lowered my home tax evaluation to $150,000. The county tax appraiser stated my neighbors said my home was upgraded inside with Italian tile, convection oven, etc.etc. I asked one of the review board how he came up with the $150,000 amount since the Realtors were telling me that my home would only sell for about 132,000. He stated that was between the 3 of them. I told them that I did not feel they had been fair. Do you know any attorney in Fort Worth (Burleson area) to appeal to reduce real estate tax evaluation? “
Tax Doc, do you make house calls to Fort Worth?
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The stories from the tax appraiser’s office just keep getting stranger and stranger. I find it shocking that a government appraiser would base values on the hearsay of a neighbor. When asked, the appraiser is required to tell you what data they used (including the comparable homes in your area) to come up with their value. What a shame that a homeowner would have to hire an attorney to help satisfy a basic taxpayer right to protest their value.
The homeowner could take pictures of her kitchen showing any updates (or lack there of). She could also take a CMA from the realtor showing the estimated sales price of $132,000.
The last time I was down there, I got a reduction — that was still a substantial increase over the previous year. Out of curiosity, I looked up the appraisal history of the appraiser at my hearing (the employee, not the appraisal board citizens) — guess whose home appraisal dropped significantly the year she bought the house, and had not climbed back up to the previous value in several years?
Here’s a few suggestions to this Ft. Worth homeowner:
1. Take these neighbors off your Christmas card list.
2. Don’t invite them to your first official pool party this summer, after your new $100,000 pool project has been completed.
3. Keep tabs of the cars parked in your neighbors’ driveway, especially when the husbands and wives are out of town. If there’s an Escort parked in a driveway, take a picture of it. And by all means get the license plate number.