Property taxes ...

Well, got done at the appraisers office yesterday. Got decent results - my home value remained unchanged from the previous year, and was able to limit the increase on one rental house (was $208K last year and they wanted $270K this year. Agreed to $228K). The other rental house ended up with a very small increase (about $35 worth of tax for the whole year).

In a perfect world, all the houses would've been lowered. But, this is still likely a better outcome than going before the ARB. At least on the one rental house, I can increase the rent a bit to cover the additional taxes (~$40/mo). The other one can stay the same, as $35 a year is trivial.

I've also had much better success going 1 V 1 with county appraiser versus the ARB.

I’m glad my house is valued at a high value.

Looks like that education is paying off.

Nah, I've been doing this for a number of years already before law school. Used to be a real estate broker awhile back.

Most of you have something to look for!!! The year you turn 65, taxes can be frozen if you fill out the form. One reason to do everything possible to keep the value of your HS as low as possible.

Do property tax savings come at the expense of school children and teachers?

They are getting brutal where I live, I see a big 5th wheel in my future and no house.

I see kids in our city regularly run across the street in front of oncoming traffic. There are times when I seriously doubt that a few extra tax dollars would make any meaningful difference to their education.

Yes, I know that's pessimistic.

The optimistic answer is this isn't property tax savings - it's simply ensuring that I only pay my fair share.

I am in the process of having a house built that will be finished in November and I turn 65 in December. You can be sure I will be filling out the necessary forms.

I hired a guy who specializes in fighting these increases. His cost is 25% of what he saves me in taxes. I'm good with that. The house that my wife and I own that we thought would be a great retirement place has turned sour since it will now cost us nearly $600 a month in taxes. I'm going to consider selling and buying a place in a cheaper tax area. I may be able to freeze my taxes next year when I turn 65 but I heard that it only freezes your homestead portion and if tax rates go up so do your taxes. So I am thinking this "freezing" your taxes at 65 is also a bunch of hooey.

When you don’t collect on big business you gotta collect from small business and employees

Needs to come at the expense of the school board and Supervisors

500 million dollar schools won't make your kid any smarter.

Whitehouse just built a school in the kuntry that now requires someone to widen county roads and build a completely new road. Hope that comes from the school budget!!!!

Public school is just a racket

They need to go online for schools now of days, no need for a brick and mortar scbool.

Frisco schools start teachers with no experience at $50K per year to only work like 187 days per year, and then add the extravagant school that look like college campuses

And if their school district is anything like mine there are almost as many administrators as teaches.

That is probably a common theme in most school districts in Texas

Frisco built a new school administration building last year, they spent $30 million dollars on it and I believe average salary there is around $100K

I can assure you that freezing your school taxes will save you a lot of money over time.

Bob, here's a good explanation of how the property tax ceiling works:

http://www.crosstimbersgazette.com/2016/09/26/understanding-the-tax-ceiling-for-seniors-disabled/

Yes, it's a real thing, and can save senior citizens a huge amount on their homestead taxes.

If it's an older house that needs repairs it may be best to defer the property taxes until the owner dies, then let the city have the house if it is an POS

I see this done in the hood areas

I see both sides of this point but in general property tax is a form of double taxation, you get taxed on the wages you earn to buy said property then you never actually own it because you are paying in perpetuity.

Until I owned my own business I never really got how bad our taxes are on ambitious people.

I am a consumption tax guy , then everyone pays a “fair” share

Thanks Zeek, great article. It shows what I was trying to say. Oh I indeed plan to file the forms necessary to save as much as possible, albeit pocket change. From the article:

"First it is important to understand what is “frozen”. Neither the value nor the tax rate is frozen. Rather it is the tax levy that is frozen, also known as “limited”."

Denton county examples showing an extra $10,000 off the Value if you are 65. wooo freaking hoo.

Example # 1:
Taxable Value $200,000
Homestead Exemption – $25,000
Over 65 Exemption – $10,000
Adjusted Value $165,000
Tax Rate *$01.54 / $100
Tax Levy $2541
Tax Ceiling set at $2800
Taxes Due $2541

Example # 2:
Taxable Value $200,000
Homestead Exemption – $25,000
Over 65 Exemption – $10,000
Adjusted Value $165,000
Tax Rate *$01.54 / $100
Tax Levy $2541
Tax Ceiling set at $2200
Taxes Due $2200

Bob, over time those freezes matter a great deal. Some of the older folks in my neighborhood have been in their houses for 20+ years, and their taxes are frozen at levels of half or less of current valuations.

Paying $2,200 a year in property tax beats the heck out of paying $4,500

Paying $658 a year beats paying $2200 a year.

Homestead Exemptions is like $25K, and in your case $10K for being over 65. It is a joke.

Average home price is around $500K, they need to raise the homestead exemption to be a percentage of appraised value of the house

$25K was great back when an house in North Texas was $100K, them days are long gone. Good luck finding a starter home for less than $300K

my gripe is how heck are we allowing a property tax after a house and property is paid off, it's paid for. just like buying a car, you pay it off and taxes have been paid, you go to sell it and it gets re-taxed to the new owner, the money you made to buy that car was taxed, now you pay another tax when you spend it, we have allowed government entities to get by with this because they need their money, kinda like sheep being lead to slaughter

Property tax has its place. If we want to change the formula and get more or all of it somewhere else thats fine with me so long as it makes sense.
Most tax plans I've seen don't accomplish that goal.

In Denton county my property taxes are proposed at %15 or more than the previous year now for the past 4 years. I've done the math and have seen this % increase. In the early 2000's it was a 4-6% each year and now 15%+. I have protested the past three years and will be protesting again this year because they went up 19.3% on my home but only 9.8% on my rental. Only 10 years difference when built and 400 less square footage.

I did see where they are using a classification of your home to give the proposed value. Mine is a class 8 and my rental a class 7. Crazy how the proposed value can go up so much in one year.

Roller, do you have a homestead exemption filed on your home? The maximum that your homestead can be increased is 10%, so I'm surprised to see that 19.3% figure.

Yes I do and those were my thoughts but here are the numbers. Property tax last year $177,000 this year $211,000. It was proposed at $194,000 but when I went to the online protest page it showed its actual taxable value at $211,000.

211,000-177,000=34,000
34,000/177,000=0.19 or 19% increase correct?

Yep, $10K off of the assessed value of the home for me is $2.19 x (10,000 / 100) = $219 year tax discount for being over 65. So that decreases my taxes by $18.25 a month. Whoop dee frickin doo. Then next year my rates and the assessed value go up again, and guess what, so do my taxes.

I think I understand what you mean, but would want to see the actual statement to give an answer.

Dallas county & the schools are raping me.

2016 - $6000.00
2017 - $7000.00
2018 - $7800.00

I paid Texas Property Tax Reductions to contest it but I don't know if they were able to do any good......I tried calling and emailing but no answer from them yet.

Yep!! $900 beats $3,200.

The more you pay, the nicer the house. And just sit back and think how you are helping "All the Little Children" with the, way,, too,, low,, school taxes.

Or Dallas County or Tarrant County get to pay property taxes to Parkland and JPS so the ones who don't have insurance or can't speak English get free medical.

Have you ever seen how lavishly JPS spends on salaries for employees? They spend money like it is growing on trees, if you have a Friday Shift there and they are short staffed they will call you and offer you a $100 bonus to come to work and only work half a day and get paid for a full day.

JPS is very generous with salaries.........

[/quote]The more you pay, the nicer the house. And just sit back and think how you are helping "All the Little Children" with the, way,, too,, low,, school taxes. [/quote]



Or Dallas County or Tarrant County get to pay property taxes to Parkland and JPS so the ones who don't have insurance or can't speak English get free medical.

Have you ever seen how lavishly JPS spends on salaries for employees? They spend money like it is growing on trees, if you have a Friday Shift there and they are short staffed they will call you and offer you a $100 bonus to come to work and only work half a day and get paid for a full day.

JPS is very generous with salaries......... [/quote]

Well it is free money. The more they spend the more they will tax your property and there's. Give themselves a raise to cover it. Easy Peasy! Heck my school taxes alone is $4200 this year and I am glad to helping all the Little Einsteins get smarter. The more money goes into the school system the smarter they get.

They get me for over $9K per year on property tax. Frisco schools district plan is to get have the teacher student ration to be 1 to 1.