That is good news for investors worried about the potential of declining values but bad news for taxpayers.
Austin real estate is appraised by the Travis County Aprraisal district by a flawed method of appraisal called the “mass appraisal method”. This has a lot of twists and turns. I once read a 30 paige pdf on it– It really put me to sleep. I say a flawed method because texas is a privacy state. The price that you paid for a property is not a matter of public record.
When your deed is recorded the appraisal district will politely send out a notice asking what you paid for the property. When you recieve it— THROW IT AWAY. Sometimes new proud homeowners report values to the appraisal district — that then get applied to all the properties within the same section code. This is far different from a Comparitave Market Analysis (CMA) that an Austin Realtor will give you. A CMA takes into consideration the condition of the property, upgrades and other factors.
If you do not agree with the appraised value– before you protest– call a realtor ( namely Dena Davis) and let me take a quick look at the value. I will let you know if you have an adequate chance of winning a protest. You will have to bring in comparables– that support your claim of value.
One other thing to know. Some if not all appraisals that work for the district have real estate licenses. One time– during a protest– I brought my comps pointing to the lower value and Karlton Sneed, an appraiser for the district sat on his computer and pulled comps that he saw from a higher value.
So this privacy issue only goes so far. I dont know if they are supposed to be doing that. — I doubt it. But it happens.
We are always here to serve the Austin investment real estate community in any way we can. If you are wondering whether or not a property is really worth the appraised value. Call me 512-473-2444 ext. 2.
To read the entire statesman article http://www.statesman.com/business/content/business/stories/realestate/04/16/0416appraisals.html
