{"id":123434,"date":"2026-01-14T22:50:14","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T22:50:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/123434\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T22:50:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T22:50:14","slug":"rising-houston-property-taxes-heres-how-homeowners-can-defer-payments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/123434\/","title":{"rendered":"Rising Houston property taxes? Here\u2019s how homeowners can defer payments"},"content":{"rendered":"

HOUSTON \u2013 If your home value keeps climbing but your paycheck doesn\u2019t, you\u2019re not alone.<\/p>\n

A lot of Houston-area homeowners are opening their property tax bills and thinking the same thing. How am I supposed to keep up with this?<\/p>\n

The good news is that there is a payment option through the Harris Central Appraisal District (HCAD)<\/a> that could give some homeowners a little breathing room.<\/p>\n

It is called a residence homestead tax deferral. While it does not erase your taxes<\/a>, it can help delay part of them.<\/p>\n

So what does that actually mean?<\/p>\n

If your home\u2019s value went up, HCAD says this option lets you pay property taxes on up to 105 percent of last year\u2019s appraised value, plus any new improvements you made to the home.<\/p>\n

HCAD says the remaining taxes are postponed, not canceled, and will earn interest at 8 percent per year.<\/p>\n

As long as you own and live in the home, taxing entities cannot sue you for the deferred amount, according to the appraisal district. Once you sell the house or move out, the deferred taxes plus interest become due, and penalties or legal action are possible if they are not paid.<\/p>\n

One big thing to check first<\/p>\n

If you have a mortgage, hit pause before filing anything.<\/p>\n

HCAD says most mortgage companies require property taxes to be current, and deferring taxes could violate a loan agreement. Homeowners are encouraged to check with their lender first to avoid surprises.<\/p>\n

Homeowners should also make sure they have applied for and received their homestead exemption. Applying for the homestead exemption can be done easily and without cost through the Harris Central Appraisal District\u2019s website or mobile app, according to Chief Appraiser Adam Bogard.<\/p>\n

Exemption forms and applications are available on the appraisal district\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KPRC Click2Houston – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON \u2013 If your home value keeps climbing but your paycheck doesn\u2019t, you\u2019re not alone. A lot of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[53509,53507,405,53508,4562,53510,11039,10741,29836,3222,56,58,57,2063,2051,27],"class_list":{"0":"post-123434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-appraisal","9":"tag-harris-central-appraisal-district","10":"tag-harris-county","11":"tag-hcad","12":"tag-homeowners","13":"tag-homeowners-assistance-program","14":"tag-homestead-exemption","15":"tag-house","16":"tag-houses","17":"tag-housing","18":"tag-houston","19":"tag-houston-headlines","20":"tag-houston-news","21":"tag-property-taxes","22":"tag-taxes","23":"tag-texas"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}