When we bought the house in Feb 2021 for $207k. I quickly applied for homestead before the April 20 deadline and protested the amount when I saw online the notice of appraised value. County was trying to appraise our house at $282k. Our professional appraisal at closing had it at $210k. The county called me after the protest and matched the $207k... The following year, it shows homestead exemption and the county now appraises at $349k! According to them, the homestead 10% cap doesn't count until 2 years has passed. So they go down to $300k. From $207k to $300k in one year! Next year's protest, from $367k to 330k. This year $372k but the 10% cap finally kicked in and that makes it $352k but then again next year I'm sure they will go back up again and again and again. A realtor got me a market analysis two years in a row for free. This year it showed our property has market value of $282k, Zillow $281k, Our mortgage company $277k. These Bexar County Appraisers are all crooks and the State of Texas needs to do something about it!! More on reddit.com

Show us your notice where it went up 110% More on reddit.com

Yes! You could lose upwards of 10 minutes of your time. Just do it More on reddit.com

Never blindly trust the Bank that holds your escrow account regarding your insurance premiums and property taxes. If at all possible always insist on NOT having an escrow account and manage payment of your insurance premiums and property taxes yourself. If you absolutely cannot get out of using escrow ( per your mortgage terms) you still must make it habit to get all your appraisal information directly from your County Tax Appraisal Dept and get multiple bids on home insurance every couple years. You can almost always reduce your costs with well managed tax appraisal appeals and switching home insurance to better rates every year or two. Remember that homes in Texas with Homestead exemption are capped at 10% YOY increases so it’s worth it to ensure you get the most fair appraisal ( lowest) possible sooner rather than later. Prop 4 was approved in Nov 23 and increased the amount of money you will save due to homestead exemption. https://ballotpedia.org/Texas_Proposition_4 ,Property_Tax_Changes_and_State_Education_Funding_Amendment(2023) Make sure your county has your homestead exemption correct. Its very possible your escrow bank is not yet factoring in this new reduction - another reason not to escrow. This article includes advertising from squaredeal but I can attest that I used their data when I did my own property appeal and I was successful in getting my taxes reduced. https://blog.squaredeal.tax/how-to-lower-property-taxes-in-Texas/ Based on my own personal experience I’d recommend appealing taxes yourself rather than using an agent. If you are armed with data from squaredeal and you have a valid case and get a reduction, then the following year, per State Law, the County Tax Appraisal District can only increase by 10% max if you have homestead exemption. Edit: To clarify I used Squaredeal data, not services per se. More on reddit.com