What evidence wins a Texas property tax protest

Every Texas property tax protest comes down to one question: what evidence did the homeowner bring? The Comptroller's guidance is blunt about this. You must present actual evidence, not just complaints. The appraisal review board cannot act on frustration, and it cannot act on your opinion of the tax rate. It decides on market evidence.

This guide covers what counts, what persuades, and how to organize it all into a packet the board can act on.

Evidence the board accepts

The recognized categories are consistent across county guidance:

• Comparable sales. What similar homes in your area actually sold for. This is the core of nearly every protest.
• A closing statement. If you bought the home recently, the price you paid is direct evidence, especially when the purchase predates the January 1 valuation date by a short time.
• An independent appraisal. A professional appraisal commissioned for the protest, performed using recognized methods.
• Photographs of condition problems. Foundation cracks, roof damage, storm damage, dated interiors, deferred maintenance. Photographs alone are weak; photographs paired with cost documentation are strong.
• Repair estimates and contractor bids. The dollar figure that turns "it needs work" into an adjustment the board can act on.
• Income data. Rent rolls and expense statements, for income-producing properties.

Notice what is not on the list: your tax bill amount, comparisons to neighbors' tax bills, the quality of local schools, or how the increase will affect your budget. Those are real concerns, but they are not market evidence, and boards are instructed to base decisions on market evidence only.

What separates persuasive evidence from noise

Boards see folders full of Zillow printouts every season. The evidence that actually moves a value tends to share four traits.

Close comparability. The sales you cite should match your home on the traits that drive price: location, square footage, age, condition, lot. Ten sales of homes genuinely like yours beat forty sales of houses that merely share a ZIP code. The statute reinforces this for the unequal-appraisal ground: §42.26(a)(3) requires comparable selection and adjustments using generally accepted appraisal methods, and §23.01(f) holds the district to the same standard.

Recent sales. Values move. A sale from three years ago tells the board little about this year's market. Recent arm's-length sales carry the weight.

Documented adjustments. No two homes match exactly. Strong evidence acknowledges the differences and prices them: the comp has a garage and yours does not, the comp sold renovated and yours needs a kitchen. An adjustment grid makes your number verifiable instead of asserted.

Condition evidence with a price attached. A photograph of a cracked slab is a story. The same photograph with a foundation contractor's $18,000 bid is an exhibit. Boards respond to the second one because it quantifies the discount a buyer would demand.

Building the comparable sales grid

For a market-value protest, the grid is the case. Here is the shape that works:

1. List five to ten recent sales of homes similar to yours, as close as possible geographically.
2. For each: sale price, date, square footage, year built, and condition notes.
3. Compute the price per square foot for each sale.
4. Compare your home's assessed value per square foot against the cluster.
5. If your assessment sits above the cluster, the gap is your argument.

That same grid, reformatted to per-square-foot ratios against similar homes, is the core of an unequal-appraisal argument. One dataset, two uses, which is why pulling good comps is the single highest-value hour in any protest.

Organizing the hearing packet

The organization that boards process fastest: four to ten exhibits, in presentation order, each with a one-line description.

A typical order for a market-value case:

1. Summary: your requested value and the two or three facts behind it.
2. Comparable sales grid.
3. Individual comp detail sheets.
4. Photographs of condition issues.
5. Repair estimates or bids matching the photographs.
6. Closing statement or appraisal, if you have one.

Label every exhibit and reference them by label when you speak. Boards work through long dockets; a packet they can follow is a packet they can act on. Our guide to ARB hearing prep covers the hearing itself, including the notice windows and what to expect on the day.

How this maps to what we build

Everything above is why our product looks the way it does. The free lookup pulls the nearest comparable sales for your address from public county records and shows your assessment against them, which is step one of the grid. The $49 Evidence PDF formats five to ten comps into the grid, a cover letter citing the correct statutory ground, and a chart kit, assembled for your hearing. The $149 agent prepares the complete packet, including talking points, anticipated rebuttals, and an ordered exhibit list, and files in Dallas County where it can.

Whichever route you take, the principle holds: the board votes on evidence. Bring the grid. The full protest process, from deadline to ARB order, is here if you are starting from the beginning.

Not legal advice. Estimate only. Based on public county appraisal data.