In an article written by Jack Craver of the Austin Monitor, it’s reported that Travis County increased appraised values by 16 percent this year over last year, with commercial values up 23 percent, while home values climbed 8 percent. Additionally, “The number of people protesting their appraisals has steadily increased in recent years, hitting a record of 116,000 in 2016. The number of lawsuits has also risen dramatically, from 195 in 2012 to 703 last year.” This seems to be a consistent trend around the state. We applaud county efforts to more accurately appraise property values. However, aggressive mass appraisal technics inevitably lead to more over assessments, which can be revealed when considering unique characteristics of individual properties.

 

To read the full article, click here.