For all of you that have been or are still reeling from the October 20, 2019 tornado that hit our community, I wanted to give you an update on protesting your appraisal district value.

By now you should have received your new value for the last two months of 2019. As of 12/20/2019 the Dallas Appraisal District (DCAD) announced they had identified and visually inspected all properties damaged by the tornado. If your home is like mine, they likely drove by and thought all was fine. The truth of the matter was that the roof was slightly off, and we have no back to our house. The pool is unusable, and the dining room greenhouse was shattered. The point? All is not as it appears from a simple street evaluation.

When asked how DCAD arrives at the evaluation, they explained that they use a chart with four valuations devised by Richardson. Richardson? Yes, Richardson. They said that they were in too much of a hurry to develop one for Dallas. Sigh. 

These are just some of the parameters used to access, however, I was not given access to the full sheet.  

·      Affected: 25%

o   Some shingle damages

·      Minor Damage: 50%

o   1 Wall

o   Section of roof damaged

·      Major Damage: 75%

o   2 walls

o   Roof substantially damaged

·      Destroyed: 100%

o   3 or more walls

o   Roof substantially damaged 

 

My home was given a 25 percent “minor damage” evaluation at first, however, after taking pictures and taking an engineer’s report with me to DCAD, I was able to get it increased to the 75 percent “major damage” evaluation level. 

The cutoff date to protest is January 21st and you can go down any day before this and protest on the spot. This has proven to be the easier and more efficient way as opposed to completing a protest form.

Now what does this mean for your taxes? Let’s just say my home was valued at $1 million on January 1, 2019. This is the pre-disaster value. Now it is valued at $800,000. It is broken down below: 

For the year 2019:1,000,000 X .80 = $800,000 value for the first 10 months$800,000 X .20 = $160,000My new value is $960,000 for 2019

Because I have paid my taxes for 2019, I will receive a credit towards the difference in value of $40,000. The new value of $800,000 should also be your new valuation for 2020 when those statements come out in April.

Last but not least as something to remember, when DCAD reduces your valuation amount, you need to wait until that processes. Then, call the Dallas County Tax Office at 214-653-7811 for your refund to be processed. 

No one ever said it would be easy, however, I hope this is at least a helpful resource for everyone dealing with this never-ending headache.

 

Cheers to a fresh start in 2020, 

Christy Berry

Christy BerryJanuary 8, 2020