Well, I am still sticking by my original comment.....they just don't care! There is NO way my home would EVER sell for the value shown on my tax statement. I don't care if Victoria are ranked 5th in the nation for housing market. That does me no good, when I have to pay taxes on a house that would never sell for what is listed on my tax statement. So whether you overpaid for a house, whether you underpaid for a house or whether you blame the sellers or realtors, the bottom line is, MY TAXES are too high on my home, and I am not alone with this complaint!

http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/...

Thanks for playing!

My husband and I bought a home 1 year ago. I was very shocked that the proposed 2009 tax appraisal for our property went up over $25,000 from 2008. I am protesting because I researched other similar properties in our area and they only went up $3,000 to $7,000. What makes us so "special" is what I want to know. We have not done any improvements to the property except some clean up and cosmetic things like paint. Surely, that is not worth $25,000. Our home is also about 40 years old. Our neighbors whose home is only 5 years old sure didn't have a $25,000 increase and their house is certainly a lot nicer. Something sure seems fishy to me.

I have always had a receipt for vehicle registration tax....most times got away with claiming it was a "gift". The few times I have sold a car for cash I gave a reciept for less than purchased to help the person out on the registration tax.

sure the tax appraisers have good reason to raise taxes so high. they look into a crytal ball or pull it from their ***. I had to pay taxes on a junk vehicle that I bought for $200. I was told they appraised my vehicle (which they never laid eyes on or had any history of) at $800 and charged me taxes for $800. Like I said, what crystal ball did they look into or where did they pull that number from? Im pretty sure the tax "creators" did like the City Manager did to "justify" his raise, and looked online at other citys to base the taxes for our city.

I have lived in my area for 6 yrs & I always follow the houses for sale...listing price vs selling price. We also get flyers from realtors soliciting their services & some of them will list selling prices in our area I guess to try to entice us to sell. I was really excited to see the listing prices in our area & then extremely depressed when I saw the selling price.

Every realtor I have ever worked with gave me the selling prices in the neighborhoods I showed interest in, all I did was ask.

Also when examining our tax appraisal I noticed the increase was not on the structure but on the land itself. The structure amount was the same, the land value is what is skyrocketing.

VBB: I'd like to know where you are getting the record information on comparable houses over the past 5+ years. That info is available to realtors and if you are not a realtor, you have to ask for the records. You might be able to find it online, but since I've been thinking about buying a home here for the past year or so, I have yet to find anything on closing sales in the past years. I'm told you can find it online, but in all my asking and searching in the past year, I have yet to come across it. You can find current prices just fine, but records from previous years are quite difficult to find. Please, if you have a link to a site stating closing sales from prior years, feel free to point me to it. It'll help me when I do buy a home, should the time come.

But, hey, I'm going to leave it at that. People will always want to point the finger at one particular person or place, even though they don't have enough fingers to point at everyone.

Our tax rate also has been increasing in leaps & bounds....the asking prices are higher yes, but the selling prices remain what they were 5+ years ago...so that doesn't make sense.

SouthernGal: It's not directly YOUR fault, as an individual homebuyer.
It's homebuyers and sellers as a whole, not as individuals.

People that are willing to pay just a "little bit more" when they buy their home, and people are constantly buying and selling houses. It all adds up in the long run.

There have been enough people since you bought your home that bought houses that are comparable to your home for more than what you, as an individual, paid for yours.

The market value keeps going up, because people keep paying more and more each year when they buy their homes. The appraisal district's job is to REPORT MARKET VALUE, not to raise it. Since the district reports the increase, the taxes increase.

The district has to go by how much the houses sold for each year and adjust for it. They are required to by law to do so.

If you have a problem with the appraisal procedures, then take it up with the people that write the laws regarding tax code, which would be the Texas Legislator.

$40m...sorry...mistype

Blame on homebuyers? Not in my case. I bought it in 1975, and I realize it's worth more today, but nowhere near what they value it on my tax statement. I DID NOT pay too much for it when I bought it. If listed today...it might sell for $40K less than what they value it at. I believe in paying my fair share, but my home does not increase this much EVERY SINGLE year.

My value went up $40m in the last two years? Contested that and got it dropped $10m but my taxes are still going to go way up. I bought my house 12 yrs ago for $109m and now they say it is worth $157m with the addition of a $15m shop.

Go figure

I wonder how many of you people went to the demonstration that was given. The following link is what the Advocate put out prior to the demo:
http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/...

Honestly, the reason your values went up was because either you or your fellow Victoria citizens PAYED "TOO MUCH" FOR YOUR HOUSES! You've had your house for quite some time, you say? Maybe it's not your fault then (because it can never ever be YOUR fault, apparently). But it's that fella or gal that lives in your area who payed "too much" for their home.

"Oh! But the economy is tanking!"
On the NATIONAL AVERAGE SCALE, yes, the economy is dropping. VICTORIA IS NOT FOLLOWING THE OVERALL NATIONAL TREND. The majority of TEXAN ECONOMY is staying steady and not dropping! Texas alone is not a representation of the nation. Neither is Victoria.

"Oh, but the realtors say the economy is tanking!"
The realtors are the ones that are helping determine the asking prices and they're the ones that do all the work to get a better sales price. You shouldn't blame the realtors either for doing their job.

Basically, if Victoria citizens don't want to pay so much in taxes on their homes, then Victoria citizens shouldn't pay so much on their homes. Really, the blame shouldn't be placed on anyone, but if anyone wants to justify putting the blame of rising house taxes on anyone, then the blame is justifiably placed on the homebuyers and homesellers.

Hey southerngal, sorry to hear about your appeal. I appealed and got my value lowered. They went up 10% on my property from the proposed value of last year. I asked how did they come up with that amount. It was because of the "shack" that was not reported earlier. Excuse me I said, that "shack" is falling and it leaks, there is nothing in it. It is rotting away. Had proof and we settled on a lower amount.

They raise the taxes every year with no regard to the economy, and they could care less your home would NEVER sell for the value they put. They make it difficult to appeal. This is one subject
I get very upset about. They just don't care.