poconnor

Mike Collier – democratic candidate for lieutenant governor opens up about the two policies that made the property taxes in Texas to fall into crisis. Texas is a wealthy state, and the government is not wasting any money, but still property taxes are so high. mike Collier explains why, 1. Equal and Uniform law Legislature of Texas has passed an Equal and Uniform law in 1997, in which the property owners can fight against the appraisal district if they can show that the comparable property of them is appraised at lower values than their own. This sounds good and logical as a concept, but this has left an unintended loophole to the owners with large, industrial and commercial properties. The theme is, if one owns a complex asset and talented lawyers, then it is really not needed to pay the fair amount of taxes to the government of Texas. Mike Collier says closing the loophole is a chief element of his agenda on tax reform, as a lieutenant governor. 2. T...

The real estate market of Houston has beaten the existing sales record, even after the devastating effects of Harvey. Damage caused by Harvey is substantially high, but the Houston housing market did not lose its steam. The housing market has recorded a significant increase of 3.5 percent compared to the last year sales. This is totally unexpected after the upsetting effects of Harvey. Many are still trying to fix the damages and no Houston realtor has expected the massive rebound. The whole Texas has not seen this kind of rebound in the past decades. Looking on the sales record of Houston housing market, buyers had closed nearly on 79150 single family homes around Houston, Texas; representing almost $23 billion as per the report provided by the Houston Realtors. This increase had inflated the median price by 3.8 percent to $229,900. This is the first time for the Houston housing market to break the records after such a damaging natural calamity. In the Houston real estate market...

Fresh out of Harvard Business School in the early 1980s, Pat O’Connor came back to Houston to work with his father as a  commercial real estate  broker. But the self-described technology geek quickly realized a sales job wasn’t for him. Having noticed many of the names atop the Fortune 500 list were in publishing, O’Connor shifted his focus from selling apartments to investors – to tracking down data for them instead. Today, Houston-based O’Connor & Associates provides real estate research and data, appraisals, property tax appeals and cost segregation services to real estate professionals and consumers. Revenue in 2016 is expected to be upward of $20 million, mostly from the property tax appeals business. O’Connor lately has been spending much of his time building up the data side of the business, a company called Enriched Data, which he hopes one day could help save the country from another financial collapse. For example, it would give more data about residentia...

Texas property taxesare insignificant to some and can be extremely burdensome for others.Texas has one of the  highest average property tax rates  in the country, with only thirteen states levying higher property taxes. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the average American household spends $2,149 on property taxes for their homes and residents of the 27 states spends $402 for their vehicle property taxes each year. Property taxes paid directly or indirectly cause an impact on the rent we pay as well as the finance of state and local governments. WalletHub analyzed the 50 states and the Districts of Columbia in terms of vehicle and real estate property taxes. Analysts then compare the public idea and the data on the real structure of tax systems in all 50 states. SURVEY ANALYSIS PROCEDURES: Keeping in mind the end goal to decide the states with the lowest property taxes and highest property taxes by county, WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the Distric...

Whether a homeowner, business owner, disabled veteran or taxpayer, it’s important to know your Property Taxes rights and exemption for  tax relief information  concerning the Texas tax laws: Exemptions for disabled veterans— Partial exemptions for any property owned by veterans who are disabled, surviving spouses and surviving children of deceased disabled veterans, including homesteads donated to disabled veterans and their surviving spouses by charitable organizations at no cost. The exemption is determined according to percentage of service-connected disability. Also, the law provides a 100% homestead exemption for 100% disabled veterans and U.S. armed service members killed in action and their surviving spouses. Exemptions for Nonprofit organizations—Organizations that meet statutory requirements may seek property tax exemptions. Businesses that receive tax abatements granted by taxing units; ship inventory out of Texas that may be eligible for the Freeport exemption;...

First , make sure you have any exemptions that apply. There are many exemptions available to property owners, but two main exemptions include homestead and over-65. A regular homestead exemption is the easiest way to reduce your property taxes for your house if it is your primary residence. There are only two requirements for getting a homestead exemption: you must own the house on January 1 and, it must be your primary residence on January 1. There is no cost to obtain a homestead exemption and you can do it yourself; you do not need to pay someone a fee. Just complete a simple form and sent it with a copy of your driver’s license. To qualify for the over-65 exemption, the owner of the house must be age 65 or older and live in the house. The over-65 homestead exemption has multiple benefits. One benefit is that it freezes the amount you pay for school property taxes forever, unless you renovate or enlarge your house. Most cities and counties also offer larger homestead exe...

Appraisal District  officials mailed out property tax appraisals recently, it is estimated that taxable values went up again. Homeowners can challenge their appraisals; the deadline for filing a protest for most homeowners is May 31, but technically it is 30 days after receiving a notice in the mail. Don’t panic, though there are few things to remember about the appraisal process; THIS IS JUST A NOTICE! While the notice includes an estimated property tax amount that you owe, this may not be what you ultimately end up paying.  Appraisal Districts  are required to include the estimate, based on tax rates established last fall. But some taxing entities have since reduced their tax rates. CONSIDER PROTESTING ONLINE Before making a decision to protest your home’s value, it’s suggested that by using the PIN number on the notice, homeowners can review comparable home sales in their area to see how Appraisal Districts came up with their value. Just follow the prom...