Like clockwork, up exactly 10% in 77077.

TXTransplant said:

---

Microsoft has convinced mainstream corporate America that CoPilot is practically the second coming. I think it's just Microsoft's solution to a Sharepoint system whose search function never worked properly. Regardless, it was low-hanging fruit for me to test it out on this, and the results weren't too bad.

I also saw The Chronicle has a "custom AI driven tool" they are pushing called TX Tax (or something like that). Anyone use that? Looks like you have to have a subscription. Just curious how well it works.

---

Huh?

My wife and I are both in corporate America and neither of us use CoPilot. Both our companies said it sucks and use other tools. I mean I don't know anyone who uses Copilot outside of helping with emails, etc.

I agree, it's not great. But that's all that's been rolled out to us where I work. And we are strongly encouraged to use it (for way more than just email).

Yea I figured you would only be using it if you were on company time. I can't imagine anyone making the conscious decision to use it on personal time.

Diggity said:

---

3.5% increase in Westbury (77096)

---

I'm right next door in Maplewood (77096) and I'm up exactly 30%. I bought in 2017 and every #$%#ing year my market value has gone up at least 25%. I've been able to successfully protest it down to less than 10% every year, but it's absolutely ridiculous.

The house got a cosmetic renovation 3 years before I bought it, but it's largely original to 1964 and I haven't done any improvements in the time I've lived there. I believe the issue stems from the "Total" classification HCAD is using for "Cost and Design" element, which is defined as completely taken down to the studs, all finishes replaced, with MEP systems being replaced or reworked. The work actually done before I bought it was mostly cosmetic. The sheetrock and nearly everything inside the walls and above the ceiling is original except for a new HVAC system.

Since the homeowners at the time didn't fight the "Total" classification after their renovation, I've been unsuccessful in getting it re-classified to "Extensive" or "Partial", which is more in line with the work that actually happened. HCAD has told me several times that they'll send someone to my home to verify if what I'm saying is true, but they don't provide any notice as to when they'll show up. I've had someone from HCAD show up 3 or 4 times over the last 7 years, but it's always on a random day in the middle of the week when we are all at work/school. I only know they showed up because I'm able to see the HCAD shirt or jacket they wore when looking at the Ring camera footage.

Every year, I pull the data on 624 homes in my surrounding area and HCAD's market value puts me 30% over the average and one of the highest homes when it comes to cost/SF. I have nowhere near the nicest home in the area. It's infuriating.

I get substantial increases every year...but I think that's in part due to our success in fighting it and reducing the the values every year. I can ***** and moan about our increasing values - but I can't argue they're not at least somewhat in line with the market.

Where my largest frustration lies is the disproportionate increase I get every year when compared to my neighbors. The home directly next door to mine got a very similar renovation to mine about the same time mine did. Since then, they have added a pool and completely gutted/redone their bathrooms. I just checked HCAD and their market value went up 0.34% from 2025 to 2026 while mine went up 30%. Their cost/sf is $201/SF while mine is $257/SF, approximately 28% higher.

The only real difference between our homes is in how our renovations were classified. HCAD has theirs listed as "Very Good" for Cost and Design and Physical Condition, whereas mine is "Total" for Cost and Design and "Excellent" for Physical Condition.

Like previously mentioned, I've been pretty successful in protesting it down to where it should be, but I shouldn't have to fight the same fight every year, when practically nobody else around me needs to.

What firm does this board recommend?

MAS444 said:

---

I get substantial increases every year...but I think that's in part due to our success in fighting it and reducing the the values every year. I can ***** and moan about our increasing values - but I can't argue they're not at least somewhat in line with the market.

---

I agree. It's like playing whack a mole. The more successful you are in protesting in any given year, the harder they hit you with an increase the next year.

What's interesting this year is when I look at the HCAD values for the comps I've identified, they are all either still "pending" or they have already been adjusted to reflect a number close to the sales price (at least much closer than what my value currently is).

So, at least in my area, HCAD seems to be self-correcting based on sales price. But they are not applying that evenly across all properties. The ones that didn't change ownership are getting much higher increases in value.

I also don't think HCAD is appropriately identifying comps. I live in a 2300 sq ft patio home, but most of the houses in my immediate area (the HCAD identified zone) are 3000-4000 sq ft homes on larger lots, most with pools. These houses do sell for much more per sq ft, and HCAD seems to be applying that information to our houses, even though they are not actually comps.

Quote:

---

I also don't think HCAD is appropriately identifying comps. I live in a 2300 sq ft patio home, but most of the houses in my immediate area (the HCAD identified zone) are 3000-4000 sq ft homes on larger lots, most with pools. These houses do sell for much more per sq ft, and HCAD seems to be applying that information to our houses, even though they are not actually comps.

---

They're not. I've looked at the comps they're using for me in Kingwood and they're justifying my valuation by comparing my 3300 sq/ft house to 6,000+ sq/ft lakefront houses in Royal Shores and even lakefront houses in Atascocita and Lake Shore. It's insane.

mine went down!!!! 77008

This happens because they do mass appraisals that are formula based. If you protest successfully you essentially get an exception, but the base formula resets each year hence the huge increase.

Protesting one year has little to no bearing on the value next year as they reset the formula each year based on what they see in the market.

The mass valuation is also why house to house values can be so off. They can't possibly value every property across the county on an individual level.

I'm still pending in 77096, but almost everything else on my street is done. The house next door sold last year as a complete renovation, and they hit it at $200 sqft. I was at $220 last year after our protest was done.

I get that they can't appraise every house individually.

However, they aren't resetting market value each year based on current market conditions - at least not in my neighborhood. If they were, my property value should have decreased, if not at least stayed the same.

However, I instead got a 12.3% increase that is absolutely not supported by my local market and the sales last year.

Nothing in my immediate neighborhood even listed for $272/sq ft, much less sold for that!

I'm shocked - only 2.6% in 77007.

I'm curious how many people with lower increases regularly (and succesfully) protest.

I don't think their formulas are particularly good and often fail specific areas worse than others. Sounds like you're definitely drawing the short straw and a protest will be necessary.

It's a generally poor process and puts the onus on individuals to correct the government, but I like property more than income taxes because it benefits someone like me who buys less house than I could afford.

I protest every year and got a decrease this year. Purely anecdotal though. The last few years I've just taken their I protest offer and I thought it was fair.

Still pending for me 77377. I'm scared

77043. Market value dropped about 90k. I'll take it.

Aggie71013 said:

---

I protest every year and got a decrease this year. Purely anecdotal though. The last few years I've just taken their I protest offer and I thought it was fair.

---

This used to be the case in my neighborhood. I DIY protested for years and kept my value low, sometimes with a single sales comp.

HCAD started getting aggressive after covid. Two or three years ago, my isettle offer was trash so I declined and took it to the board. That whole process is an absolute joke that I just don't have the patience to deal with, so I hired Rainbolt. I think they had to go before the board on my behalf last year and the result was terrible.

With that said, my family has a property in 77058 and HCAD lowered the value by $20k, seemingly based on a single neighborhood sales comp.

It's the inconsistency that drives me nuts. There is a comp directly across the street from my house that sold in July of last year for $100k less than my 2025 market value. Instead of adjusting mine down (or even just leaving it the same), HCAD increased it another 12%+ for 2026. So now my house is valued at almost $200k more than that property sold for. My market value is almost 40% higher than what it should be. I figure Rainbolt is in for another battle this year.

My numbers are in - 77008 and got the standard 10% increase.

I pretty much always use their own numbers for my protests. I have kept a spreadsheet of HCAD valuation data on every comparable property within a block of my house since I bought it because HCAD likes to use **** comps that are a half-mile or more away. Sometimes my method places my valuation lower than the previous year, sometimes it's still an increase, but it is always below the HCAD number. I've had years where they accepted my number and years where we met in the middle.

I was down $30k in 77043. I didn't expect this as a few houses on my street sold for way more than I thought they would.

htxag09 said:

---

TXTransplant said:

---

Microsoft has convinced mainstream corporate America that CoPilot is practically the second coming. I think it's just Microsoft's solution to a Sharepoint system whose search function never worked properly. Regardless, it was low-hanging fruit for me to test it out on this, and the results weren't too bad.

I also saw The Chronicle has a "custom AI driven tool" they are pushing called TX Tax (or something like that). Anyone use that? Looks like you have to have a subscription. Just curious how well it works.

---

Huh?

My wife and I are both in corporate America and neither of us use CoPilot. Both our companies said it sucks and use other tools. I mean I don't know anyone who uses Copilot outside of helping with emails, etc.

---

A lot of big companies like the one I work for implemented Microsoft Copilot for Business and "encourage" their employees to use it. Its a pretty decent tool for helping with spreadsheets and inputting data in excel. Today it saved me about an hour or two of admin work from having to input a lot of manual data into excel, it did it in seconds.

77005

Appraised value up the full 10%

Market value up 10.4%

Market up 18.7%
Appraised up 10%

77429

Bunch of crooks

idAg09 said:

---

Still pending for me 77377. I'm scared

---

Standard 10% appraised and up 14.4% market

Montgomery County 77386 - 0% change

Still going to protest to see if I can move it down some!

Same, but up 8%

Travis County dropped the value of my condo in Austin by almost 26%. And I'm still going to protest it.

Up 1.9% in 77494 in Fort Bend County. Still will be appraised at 10% more over last year's tax bill as they are still catching up.

3.8% on home
20% on commercial appraised, 70% market

This thread confounds me every year. It is like people posting up about their commute to work. No idea why it goes strong for 2 months each year.

F'ing 10% increase this year…what they have my house "valued" at, I couldn't sell it for that much…looks like I am protesting again for the 4th year in a row.

7 minutes