Texans have one month to lower their property taxes by protesting

Texans who are unhappy with their home appraisal this tax season have a chance to do something about it if they get the process going in the next month. The deadline for most people to protest their property valuation — thus lowering their property tax — in Harris County is May 15.

If you haven't done it before, don't worry: there are steps to follow online and companies that do it for you at no cost unless you save money.

Why protest?
Texans pay the 7th highest property taxes in the country, according to personal finance website WalletHub. If your county has overappraised your home, you are paying more than you need to in property taxes.

Protests are especially important and easy for people who closed on their homes in the past year, because the value of the property upon sale is accepted as the true value of the property. This assumes that if the property were worth more, it would have sold for more. The more recently the home sold, the more likely it is that homeowners haven't meaningfully altered the property since the purchase.

Submitting a protest is free, and there is almost no risk in doing so. The Appraisal Review Board is prohibited from raising the property value in a hearing. Homeowners may decide it's not worth their time if their appraisal barely changes and they don't save a significant amount of money.

When to submit
Most homeowners whose home has increased in value according to the county should have received a Notice of Appraisal in the mail by now. It tells them how much the county believes their home is worth this year. To check online, homeowners can search for their property at HCAD.org.

The deadline to submit a protest is May 15 or 30 days after the notice is mailed — whichever comes later. However, the notice may have been lost or delivered to the wrong place, so it is important to check before May 15 just in case. Notices are also sent later for property owners whose primary residence is somewhere else.

Homeowners have lots of way to prove their home value has not increased, or even that it has decreased due to damage on the property. Whether the evidence is photos of damage or "comps" around the neighborhood — comparing the home's value to others of a similar quality in the same area — homeowners submitting their claim themselves should be prepared to meet with an appraiser or even a review board.

Set it and forget it
Homeowners who don't want to deal with the paperwork, phone call, or hearing can hire service to protest on their behalf. For them, savings are essentially passive income; the service uses data from past years and the surrounding neighborhood to argue the client's case. It is easy to find a service that works on a contingency fee, so the cost is only a portion of the successful savings. Ownwell is a popular choice, but many local firms also specialize in this service.

Finally, homeowners should also make sure they're not leaving money on the table by applying for a homestead exemption. This is available to people who own the homes they live in, as opposed to people who own homes and rent them out to others. It subtracts $140,000 from the total valuation of the home before applying the tax rate.

Ask questions
Now is a good time to get any questions out of the way, as demands on the system are ramping up. The Harris County Central Appraisal District offers contact information, including a phone number and email address, here. Fort Bend County, Montgomery County, and others each have their own online resources.