How to Find Out County Appraisal Value of a Home
The purpose of a county home appraisal is to determine the value of a home in order to calculate the amount of property tax owed. The home is usually assessed first by the official county appraiser, and this assessment is then passed on to an auditor-controller. The auditor is responsible for evaluating area tax rates and applying them to the value of the home. Finally, the county treasurer will be responsible for billing the homeowner for the property tax. Property taxes are usually public record. As a result, finding out the county appraisal of a home is not as difficult as it might seem.
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Instructions
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Find out what the tax rate is in the area of the home you're researching. Tax rates can change annually, and most counties will reassess home values at the beginning of their fiscal years, which might be in September or in January, depending on the county. Contact the local office to see if they can provide the general tax rate for the neighborhood.
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Consult the county appraisal district's website, if one is available. Larger municipal areas---and even smaller areas--frequently offer tax appraisal information online for local homeowners and potential buyers in the area. In some cases, it might be as easy as typing in the address of the home and finding out if the county has the information within their online documents.
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Call the local county appraisal office, or visit the office to locate the appraisal information. Unless the purchase price of a home has been kept private for legal reasons, property tax information is generally considered to be a part of the public record, so you should be able to request the county appraisal of a home. Be forewarned that the information might not be available at a clerk's fingertips, though. In larger municipal areas, such as Houston and Los Angeles, the county office will handle thousands of appraisals. There might be a wait period to receive the information.
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Tips & Warnings
Some counties will allow you to schedule an interview with the county appraiser/assessor to determine how the appraisal has been reached. You can call and request an appointment and then go through the appraisal point-by-point or even request a second appraisal if the first is unsatisfactory.
For homeowners who feel that their taxes have been raised unnecessarily, county appraisal offices provide a dispute process that homeowners may use to request a lower rate either on the county website or during a public hearing. Be prepared with documentation indicating the value of your home in order to dispute the county's findings.
