Property owners expected to see significant increases in values
(Seguin) – Be prepared to see a significant increase in your 2022 property values. Guadalupe County Chief Appraiser Peter Snaddon says property owners are going to see that “considerable value increase” in this year’s notices.
Snaddon says the roughly 93,000 appraisal notices being dropped in the mail this Wednesday will indicate an average increase county-wide of approximately 33 percent.
“What they are going to see for the property owner that has a homesteaded residence, in Guadalupe County, we have seen a 33 percent increase from the prior year which is numbers that are typically not observed obviously on a year-to-year basis. We’ve always been in the high single digit or right into double digits, the early teens and things of that nature in increases from just normal homesites but this past year, obviously the entire state is being hit with just some absorbent increases within the sales activity out there amongst the buyers and sellers and that’s what is really fueling the increase that property owners are going to see in their notice of appraised values,” said Snaddon.
Snaddon says when property owners open up those notices, it’s important that they recognize the increases and differences in both the market and taxable values.
“The benefit obviously of those with the homestead is that although their market value will be on average 33 percent or so above what it was last year, their taxable value on that homesite will only increase by the 10 percent because of the homestead cap benefit that they have on their property. So, that was one aspect that we would stress as well is if this is your primary residence and you haven’t filed a homestead exemption application to call our office because that is also retroactive, we can go backwards if you have been there as of January 1 on prior years so that’s definitely something they would want to call our office about to get some information on it if they fall into that category as individual,” said Snaddon.
He says this increase impacts a large majority if not most of the properties throughout the county.
“When I discussed about the market value versus an assessed value, a Guadalupe County resident out there with a homesite, the market value on average for a homesite is $324,513 this year. That’s the 33 percent from last year but the taxable value in that same category is $259,415 which is at an 11 percent increase from the prior year on average so there’s that difference you are going to see. So, a lot of people will see that huge number increase in the market value but with the benefit of their exemption, understand that your assessed value can only be 10 percent greater than it was in the prior year if nothing has changed on the property,” said Snaddon.
Snaddon says this significant jump in values will also be new for a particular set of property owners.
“Individuals that live in a manufactured home and things like that, we reappraise those as well because those are seeing substantial increases and I know the common theme amongst induvial is that mobile homes go down in value but that’s no longer the case based off of the sales data that we have, that we have been able to confirm and review. They have become a viable, affordable option over the last couple of years as stick built homes were increasing and the lack of available supplies. So, now all of a sudden, you see some of the market participants moving towards that class of property and that has caused increases so that was another aspect that I wanted to share that people may see that their mobile home’s value has increased over this past year as well,” said Snaddon.
Snaddon says even local lake properties are becoming hot commodities in the sales market making recent challenges not so challenging.
“The lake properties have come back as well. Dunlap and McQueeney as well as Lake Placid – we saw the highest increase over here at Lake Seguin (Meadowlake), here in the city of Seguin. We see some sales there that show that the fear of no water that was caused a few years back has definitely subsided, and people are willing (to buy) with the creation of the Water Control Improvement District. The plans that they have put in place over the last couple of years has definitely nullified the risk factor that might have made market participants or buyers hesitant to actually go ahead and pay the price that we are starting to see them willing to do now,” said Snaddon.
Snaddon says individuals who have rental property will be among those who will be assessed based on the full market value of their property.
Due to the increase in values, Snaddon says his office this year expects a very robust appeal season.
“It’s been increasing annually. I believe last year, we were just north of about 15,000 appeals and that was up from the prior year of about 11 percent, so we are expecting with the increases, that that number is going to be climbing as well,” said Snaddon.
Despite the projected increase in appeals, Snaddon says his office, thanks to largely online tools, is ready to assist property owners.
“One of the plus things that you would probably say of COVID is that people were kind of forced to do the remote online appeal system that we have here which is very beneficial for the property owner but also to the district for time consumption and things of that nature. We have about 16 appraisers that can hear an appeal every 15 minutes so you get about 17 or 18 appeals that somebody wants to come in or sit down or talk on the phone, the benefit of them using the online (system), there’s no structured timeframe that we have to get in there before the next appointment comes in, we can actually work there and get through a great number of those appeals,” said Snaddon. “We hope the public will take that tool and utilize it to their benefit.”
Snaddon says this increase in property values, however, is not only limited to properties in Guadalupe County. He says it’s a unique phenomenon happing all across the state.
“I’m definitely shocked. Initially, I thought when it started in the beginning of 2021, you started seeing some sales activity that people were starting to out bid each other and things of that nature and you think, okay, people are moving now without any restrictions here and there but Texas is a prime location for people to migrate to from the northern states and things of that nature and supply chain issues, the housing supplies, there’s just not enough homes available so participants of the market are out bidding one another. It’s just something that I’ve never seen obviously being an appraiser since well back in the 90s to when I came here in 2008 – nothing like this,” said Snaddon.
In their attempts to appeal any number that does not reflect accuracy, taxpayers are reminded that the process of the appraisal district is to get to that potential market value as close as possible. Snaddon says this is the job his office is required to do. He says because they can’t go into homes, owners must be able to provide the evidence required – things that may have been changed in the home, estimates, repairs, etc.
Property owners have 30 days upon receiving their notice to file for an appeal. This year’s deadline is May 15 but because it falls on a Sunday, residents will have until Monday, May 16 to submit their request.