Episode Summary:
Welcome to The REAL in Real Estate Podcast, your go-to show for real estate success. In this episode, the host sits down with Mickey Le, a seasoned property tax expert and partner at Ad Valorem Tax Management with 30 years of experience.
This episode serves as a comprehensive guide for homeowners—particularly in Harris County and across Texas—on how to successfully protest their property tax valuations. Mickey shares insider strategies on the appeals process, the importance of exemptions, and how to effectively leverage evidence to ensure you aren't overpaying on your property taxes.
In this episode, you will learn:
✔️ You Should Protest Your Taxes Every Year: If you aren't actively protesting your property taxes—or hiring a professional to do so—you are almost certainly overpaying and leaving money on the table.
✔️ The Window to File a Protest is Small: For Harris County, appraisal notices are generally mailed out around April 17th, and the deadline to file your protest is May 15th, giving you less than a month to take action.
✔️ You Have the Right to Review the County's Evidence: By law, you can request the evidence the county intends to use against you 14 days prior to your informal hearing. It is highly recommended that you comb through this data to find errors, such as the county mistakenly classifying a non-air-conditioned attic as living space, or comparing your home to newly remodeled properties.
✔️ Hard Evidence and Exemptions Are Crucial: When arguing that your home's value should be lowered due to needed repairs (like foundation or roof issues), bringing actual contractor estimates makes your story much more believable to the county. Furthermore, checking that you have the correct exemptions applied—such as Homestead, Over-65, or Disabled Veteran—is the vital first step to tax savings, and you can even apply to receive credit for up to two missed prior years.
Connect with Mickey Le: Mickey Le is based in Houston at Ad Valorem Tax Management. You can contact him via:
- Phone: 713-977-4197
- Email: mle@atmtax.com
Listen to the full episode now: https://the-real-in-real-estate.captivate.fm
