Stop Overpaying: Your Complete Guide to Lowering Property Taxes in Brazos County

If you own real estate in Brazos County, you are likely overpaying your property taxes right now—potentially by $600, $1,200, or even $2,000 a year. The unfortunate kicker is that the county is perfectly okay with that.

I’m Greg Schwartz, a real estate agent and investor here in Bryan and College Station, Texas, and I have been battling increasing appraisal values for my clients and myself for years. I’m going to share exactly how the system works, why your property taxes feel so high, and give you the step-by-step process on how to protest your taxes back down to a reasonable level.-----Why Your Assessed Value Is Wildly Inaccurate

You might be asking where to even find your property’s assessed value. It's easy: you go to brazoscad.org. CAD stands for Central Appraisal District, the government body in charge of assessing our home values for tax purposes.

What you’ll likely find is that the assessed value is wildly inaccurate—I'd argue it's worse than a Zillow estimate. Here’s why: The county uses a mass appraisal system. They are not sending an individual to walk every single house like we would for a proper appraisal when buying or selling. Instead, they base the value on loose factors like square footage, lot size, and whether you have a detached garage.

The state law only requires them to have a goal of being plus or minus 10% of the actual market value. For a median-priced $300,000 house in Bryan and College Station, that margin of error is $30,000. If you are overpaying on $30,000 in value that isn't accurate, you are overpaying by $600 to $750 per year, based on a common 2 to 2.5% tax rate here.The Financial Hit to Investors

If you are an investor, like me, that $600 a year comes out to $50 a month. Many of my investors and I aim for $100 per month in cash flow. If the appraisal is off by $30,000, that extra $50 a month in taxes instantly eliminates 50% of your cash flow due to a single expense. That is unacceptable, so let’s fix it.-----Your Complete 5-Step Guide to Protesting Property Taxes

Here is the exact process to protest your assessed value and ultimately lower your property taxes in Brazos County:Step 1: Determine the Assessed Value and Deadline

The county mails out a Notice of Appraised Value every year around April 1st. You should receive this in the first two weeks of April.

This notice starts the clock: According to Texas law, you have up to May 15th or 30 days after receiving the notice to file your appeal, so time is of the essence.Step 2: Collect Evidence (Comps are Key)

You need evidence to support your claim that the assessed value is higher than the true market value. The best way to determine market value is with comparable sales (comps).

The best place to get comps is from your local real estate agent. At Schwartz Realty Group, we help our investors collect this evidence every year because our goal is always to increase ROI and cash flow.Step 3: File Your Online Appeal

With your assessed value and evidence in hand, the filing process is straightforward:

1. Go to brazoscad.org and click on the appeals portal in the top left corner.
2. You will need two pieces of information from your Notice of Appraised Value to sign in: your e-file number and owner ID number.
3. Once in the portal, select the property you want to protest, click on "view/file for your online appeals," and follow the county’s step-by-step guide.
4. You will be prompted to upload your evidence and provide what you feel is the appropriate market value for the property.

Step 4: Reassessment (The Win)

After you file, the county takes your evidence and reassesses the value of your property. In as much as 90% of cases, the county will come back with a lower number. This means a lower assessed value and, therefore, lower property taxes.Step 5: Have Your Day in Court (For the Few)

For the unlucky few where the county does not lower the assessed value, you have the ability to go to an in-person hearing. You go in person, present your evidence to a board, and state your case on why your market value is less than the county's assessed value.-----We just tackled one of your biggest expenses as a property owner or investor in Bryan and College Station, Texas. When you’re analyzing a potential property, you must account for property taxes and all other expenses.

If you want help analyzing properties or need assistance with the protest process, just shoot me an email. All you need is the word CASH sent to greg@schwartzrealtygroup.com.