Henderson County was slow in getting them out, but I was happy to see that mine dropped again. i am not rolling in money so this a good thing to happen!

Yes, I know what the appraisal district showed, but they don't include the exemption amounts. Those are applied by actual tax collection office - a different group. Apparently, the CAD messed up last year on what they sent to the tax collector and I was overcharged. I didn't notice it because the tax amount dropped because of the changes in the law and I was happy. About the only good thing about being over 65 is the property tax freeze and they just sweetened the pot for me. So far they have us appraised at close to $700K and my new lower tax amount is frozen at $2700./year.I have a $700+ refund coming for their error last year. So my taxes have gone from $5K to $2.7K while my appraisal has gone from $300K to almost $700K.

THIS is why I sold my big custom home and bought a beater fixer upper when I was approaching the "freeze" age of 65.

Marc

I had to re apply for the homestead exemption this year. We're paid off and have lived here for 30 years. Supposedly you have to do it every 5 years now. My taxes did go down though.

Dropped? Congrats to you but we are jealous.

Ours went up by $7.00 but I need to check if my new over 65 homestead exemption was applied.

Ours went up a few hundred.

Apply every 5 years? That’s ridiculous.

We haven’t gotten ours yet.

Uh oh! I did not know that it now expires. Thanks!

Well, it dropped because they overcharged me last year! The big drop was due to the legislative change regarding school taxes.

Mine has gone down for a couple of years. The California land rush is absolutely done here, and now after finding out what a 800+ deep well costs in limestone bedrock, much of the land is back on the market with little selling.

I found mine online. The physical bill has not even been mailed yet.

THAT is good news, and I am really happy to hear that. Hopefully it is a growing trend!
Sadly, we are not seeing that here and crazy high numbers are the norm because people buying these expensive weekend homes don't care about interest rates or property taxes. I'm going to ride this wave until my equity climbs enough for me to want to bail. We will have this place paid off in about two years.

Important reminder for us old guys: You can take your "percentage" of tax discount with you. I am heading for paying 10% of the "unfrozen" tax amount. That means that I will pay 10% of whatever the taxes are at a new place in Texas. Too many people don't use this approach when planning for the future. Right now, I am at about 30%, so if I sold today and bought a new place with a tax bill of $10,000. I would pay $3,000. To me, that is a big deal.

Marc

Marc,
I learned about this percentage discount from one of your earlier posts. I verified it with my CAD, it’s a good deal!

It's really a powerful tool for those that may need to down scale as they get older. Imagine a property tax burden that you see as negligible because it is a fraction of the regular tax.

Remember the opposite scenario that I see playing out around here. I could buy a $30K or $40K shack for essentially the land value, then fix it up enough to be appraised for $90K to $120K by the county and then transfer the freeze and pay 1/3 of the taxes on my $10 million house. You cannot maintain your freeze if you add a second story, another wing or patio, etc. BUT, interior remodel and infrastructure stuff like driveways, new roofs, foundation problems, paint, stucco/siding, electrical service upgrade, HVAC, plumbing and septic, well repair are considered maintenance and will not "pierce" your freeze - around here at least. Think about how many homes are dirt cheap because they need those things.

Marc


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We got a reduction on the city home last year and interestingly even got a partial refund on top of that. But have no fear...they are increasing it this year.
On the farm we got no reduction last year but did get one this year.

*On edit....Part of the reason is I have a property tax protest company that works on this every year.

If you do improvements or build on raw land, how does the appraisal district find out? Are you required to report?

Nowadays they can easily find out through drone photography, or even just Google maps.

I received 2 tax bills from Rockwall CAD. 1 on Saturday and the next 1 on Monday. The first 1 had no date on it and no postmark while the 2nd 1 was postmarked and dated Friday. School taxes on 2nd bill were $1200 lower then first 1. Value, exemptions, & rate are the same on both. The first bill was $300 higher then last year which I thought was a little high considering I protested and received a reduction. Nothing has changed exemption wise except for the city which took away the extra $100k. I have claimed the over 65 exemption every year since turning 65. When I received the lower bill I went on the website and the amounts matched. Got on the website yesterday and hit Pay. When I did that it showed the lower amount. Keeping my fingers crossed it is not an error.

My county will not even recognize homesteading... I got a bit off from the school district but it was strait 0 from Madison County.. they also charge an insane amount on land tax every year

Isn’t homestead exemption a state mandated issue?

No, it's by county.

Oh they let me homestead.. but they give 0% exemption for it through the county..

We discovered just how much leeway individual counties and school districts have. That caused us to cross some off during our search. For example, when filing for the 65 year old freeze in the Eustace ISD area, they first deduct 25% from your appraised value then freeze it at that new lower amount. Also Henderson County carries the freeze into some of the other components of the property tax bill, not just the school part.

We chose this specific area for several reasons and tax structure and rates were important. When you move, you should do the research and choose wisely!

I thought I was being careful when we bought this house 15 years ago. Wasn’t until I got our first tax bill to realize even though we are physically in Tarrant County, we still pay a portion of taxes to Dallas County because Grand Prairie is partially in that crap county. Would have never even considered this area if I was made aware at the time.

We protested and mine went down 3k +-