Can you believe there are 28 Houses in Zip Code 77064?

Appraisal districts use a process called mass appraisal to value hundreds of thousands of houses. In Harris County, they value about 1.2 million houses each year, using a very limited staff. Most of the property inspections mandated by state low (every three years) are now done using aerial photography! Seriously, how much can you tell about the condition of a house viewing an aerial photograph?

In many cases, the computer-generated estimate of market value is within 10% of the true value. However, in about half the cases the value set by the appraisal district is either 10% high or low, because of defects in the mass appraisal process.

We believe about 30,000 homes in Harris County over-taxed by 50% or more in 2014. And about 5,000 homes in Harris County over-taxed by 100% or more. Between 200,000 and 300,000 Harris County taxes are over-taxed by at least 10%.

While this may seem incredible, it is due to the errors in appraisal district property records, inaccurate data regarding cost, depreciation and comparable sales. Further, most property owners have limited knowledge about the appeal process and believe myths about appealing property taxes. They do not understand the HCAD jargon of grade, CDU, level of remodel, land lines, etc. Compounding the problem is a reluctance to revise HCAD records. If an HCAD appraiser agrees a property is over-taxed, he will change the value. However, to correct fields of data such as grade, condition or land value is highly unusual. So the same problems occur from year to year, frustrating home owners and causing HCAD a consistently high appeal value.

Since HCAD targets 100% of market value for their homes, half of all houses are over-taxed and half are under-taxed. The result is there are at least 200,000 houses in Harris County over-taxed by at least 10%. Following is a list of some of the most egregious examples of homes over-valued Zip Code 77064. If you recognize the address, please call the owner and make sure they protest.

Property Zip Code

Property Address

Assessment Ratio

2014 Market Value

Gross Sale Price

Owner Name

77064

10007 Autumn Harvest Dr

169%

$110,156

$65,000

Do Chuong N & Anh D

77064

9706 Waving Fields Dr

158%

$126,794

$80,000

Giering Investments Lp

77064

10831 Indian Vista Dr

153%

$103,786

$68,000

Lau Gabriela E

77064

11614 Breezy Knoll Dr

140%

$108,867

$78,000

Federal National Mortgage Corporation

77064

10131 Cedaredge Dr

138%

$146,070

$106,040

Green Ruthie B & Donald

77064

10218 Prospect Hill Dr

134%

$113,307

$84,500

Pang Randy & Sabrina

77064

10122 Willow Crossing Dr

126%

$176,516

$140,000

Universe Skyhorse Inc

77064

9047 Rippling Fields Dr

126%

$110,303

$87,500

Martinez Rosalinda

77064

11511 Inga Ln

125%

$104,134

$83,000

Rise Real Property Llp

77064

10935 Golden Grain Dr

125%

$118,501

$94,500

Platt Hans A

77064

11718 Ridge Run Dr

124%

$101,671

$82,000

Rizvi Aqeel A & Larysa A

77064

10538 Waving Fields Dr

123%

$99,401

$80,500

Sfr Hou I LLC

77064

10338 Turrett Point Ln

121%

$173,338

$143,000

Mavreles Todd & Linda

77064

8643 Ballinger Dr

121%

$211,573

$175,000

Atauz Adriana

77064

10534 Walnut Glen Dr

121%

$126,684

$105,000

Trejo Sergio Jr

77064

11202 Broadsweep Dr

120%

$99,670

$83,000

Gober Kirk

77064

11210 Broken Sky Dr

118%

$106,080

$90,000

Mcleod Douglas

77064

9035 Stoney Lake Dr

118%

$258,970

$220,000

Dogan Can & Hulya

77064

10307 Trailblazer Ln

114%

$109,359

$96,000

Garrison Kristen A

77064

10102 Autumn Way Ct

114%

$171,855

$151,000

Giap Delena

77064

10215 Hondo Hill Rd

112%

$156,513

$140,000

Conn Sarah

77064

10024 Redoak Pass Ln

110%

$141,158

$128,000

Sykes Noris

77064

10238 N Laurel Branch Dr

110%

$178,531

$162,000

Mclauchlin Donna

77064

10818 Golden Grain Dr

110%

$125,454

$114,000

Suquett Sergio R

77064

37 Pebble Bch

110%

$244,779

$222,500

Vachiratevanurak Ekaluck

77064

9707 Arrowgrass Dr

110%

$159,008

$145,000

Burgess Phillip

77064

9303 Stone Post Cir

110%

$294,609

$268,900

Ikechi Obichi & Ijeoma

Since the property taxes are paid by the mortgage company for most home owners, the pain point for the home owner is about one year too late. When they receive the notice their monthly payment is increasing by $100 or $200 or more per month, the appeal deadline has likely passed. The property tax appeal deadline in Texas is May 31, or the following workday if May 31 is on a weekend. However, the owner will not be aware of the consequence until early next year.

The mortgage payment will not likely be increased until after the current year taxes are paid. For example, if your home is grossly over-assessed in 2014, the monthly payment will likely be adjusted in the Spring of 2015. But the deadline to protest your 2014 property taxes is May 31 (actually June 2 since May 31 is on a weekend).

There is really no meaningful relationship between the methodical work done by an independent fee appraiser and an appraisal district appraiser. The fee appraiser typically inspects and measures the subject property, so he has accurate data. He also personally visits each of the comparable sales to see if they are really comparable. Conversely, part of preparing a mass appraisal does not include inspecting the subject properties.

For homes build before 1980, an appraisal district appraiser has almost never seen the inside of the house. They just guess at the quality of construction and condition. For homes built after 1980, the appraisers attempt to measure them. However, they are often not completed when the appraisers measure them, leading to errors including size (by double counting vaulted ceilings), and level of finish.

The appraisal districts errors regarding your property are compounded by errors in their information regarding comparable sales. The appraisal districts commit several errors systematically that tend to cause them to over-tax home owners. First, properties that sell are typically prepared for sale by putting them in prime condition. Properties that sell have often been recently painted have new flooring, a new roof, a new HVAC and other similar items. If a buyer was considering buying a typical house not prepared for sale and one that had been prepared as advised by the Realtor, the buyer would certainly pay more for the latter. HCAD terms the cost of preparing a home for sale "maintenance" and does not recognize any difference in condition between a recently sold house and a livable house. Harris County Appraisal District also does not recognize seller concessions, which reduce the true sales price.

A second serious problem is that appraisal districts tend to use sales that have been remodeled to value houses that have not been remodeled. Incredibly, the insular culture at some appraisal districts, including Harris County Appraisal District, is they require you to prove your house has not been remodeled. This is simply a red herring to cover up the extensive errors in their evidence regarding comparable sales. There is no requirement that the property owner prove the appraisal districts records are correct. If anything, the appraisal district doubting the accuracy of their evidence about your house should undermine their credibility on other issues.

In addition to errors regarding the information about your house and the errors regarding the comparable sales, the model used by the appraisal district is imperfect. There is no model that can consistently value houses with precision. A computer model simply generates an estimate of value, based on the data provided.

Texas law requires property owners to file a property tax protest to be able to obtain the evidence regarding their house. Protest both market value and unequal appraisal and include a note asking the appraisal district to make their evidence available two weeks prior to the hearing. The protest form is available at http://www.poconnor.com/pdf_forms/41-44.pdf

In many cases, given the large number of substantial errors in valuing houses, the appraisal district’s evidence will clearly show the property is over-assessed. It is critical that you protest prior to May 31, or you will not be able to get the information and determine if you are taxed fairly. Since over 200,000 houses in Harris County are over-taxed by at least 10%, encourage your family and friends to protest, so they at least get to see the appraisal districts evidence.

After you protest and obtain the appraisal district’s information, one of the first priorities is to see if their evidence is accurate for your house. Then check to see if the sales data is accurate. The Houston Realtors make the photos of properties sold are on-line after the sale. For Harris County Appraisal District, you can access these at har.com.

The data used for analysis was all sales of houses in Harris County that occurred during October 1 2013 to March 31 2014, for which we had a purchase price and a 2014 HCAD market value. The only records that were eliminated were those where there was a major discrepancy between the Realtor MLS data and the HCAD tax roll regarding the size of the land and / or building. Stated differently, this analysis includes all sales except those for which complete information was not available.

For more information, contact Charlissa Holman at 713 375 4367 or Patrick O’Connor 713 822 8613.

Patrick C. O'Connor has been president of O'Connor & Associates since 1983 and is a recipient of the prestigious Mai designation from the Appraisal Institute.