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Bexar Appraisal District determines the market value of a home as the first step to determining its taxable value.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sam Owens\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
The envelope from the\u00a0Bexar Appraisal District<\/a> has landed in your mailbox<\/a>. You open it\u00a0\u2014 and there\u2019s a mass of type in small print. It\u2019s your\u00a0appraisal notice<\/a>.<\/p>\n Just looking at it may spark an urge to fold it back up, put it back in the envelope and say you\u2019ll look at it later.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n But let\u2019s tackle it together.\u00a0<\/p>\n The top left section is the district\u2019s contact information and your address, including the property ID number. That number is your account number with the Bexar County tax assessor-collector. In the top right section is your account number with the appraisal district; information about the property, such as your ownership stake and its legal and mailing addresses; and the ID number and PIN that you\u2019ll need to use the district\u2019s online portal. There are also reminders that this notice is not a bill.<\/p>\n 2026\u00a0APPRAISALS: Bexar County home values dip in \u2018softening\u2019 real-estate market<\/a><\/p>\n San Antonio Express News Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source on Google to see more of us when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n In the middle, there are two sections with a bunch of numbers. A quick scan of the first section shows there\u2019s five rows of various types of market value, productivity value, appraised value, cap value and exemptions. The second section offers up exemption amounts, taxable values, appraised value and taxing units. This is the meat of the appraisal notice\u00a0\u2014 we\u2019ll get to it in more detail below.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Below that is the fine print\u00a0\u2014 with details such as who sets the amount of taxes, the property tax database, exemptions and information on filing a protest, including the deadline and where to send it. The back is the form that has to be filled out if you\u2019re protesting your appraisal<\/a>. Read these sections at your leisure\u00a0\u2014 but if you\u2019re planning to protest<\/a>, do not skip reading them.\u00a0<\/p>\n Now let\u2019s get back to the middle of the first page and all those numbers.<\/p>\n RELATED: Property taxes too high? Protest them yourself using customized data<\/a><\/p>\n Shown is\u00a0an\u00a0example of\u00a0what the Bexar County appraisal notice looks like. It\u2019s from a\u00a0Bexar County Appraisal video.<\/p>\n Screen grab<\/p>\n Getting your market value<\/p>\n The first section looks at what\u2019s called your appraisal information for last year and what\u2019s proposed for the current year. The first five rows deal with the property\u2019s market value as determined by the appraisal district.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Most homeowners will be dealing with the first two rows\u00a0\u2014 market value of improvements and of non-agricultural\/timber land. The first is the value of the home and any other buildings on the land while the second essentially refers to your yard. The next two rows will have values of 0 for most (and in the sixth row) unless you\u2019re a farmer or have mineral rights, so we\u2019ll skip over those.<\/p>\n The fifth row is the total market value\u00a0\u2014 this is what the district estimates your property would have sold for on the open market on Jan. 1. It adds up the values in the previous rows. But this is not what your taxes will be based on. That number is in the seventh row\u00a0\u2014 appraised value<\/a>, which is sometimes called the assessed value.<\/p>\n Determining your appraised value<\/p>\n To get your appraised value, the appraisal district first will deduct\u00a0any exemptions<\/a> you have from the total market value. The exemptions you have are listed in the last row. For example, if the property is your primary residence, you should be receiving a homestead, or HS, exemption.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n READ MORE: These Texas property tax breaks can cut homeowners\u2019 bills. See if you qualify for an exemption.<\/a><\/p>\n Your appraised value also is affected by the homestead cap, or circuit breaker limitation, which is referenced in the row below the appraised value. This is getting a bit in the weeds, but here goes. If the property has a homestead exemption, Texas law limits\u00a0\u2014 or caps\u00a0\u2014 how much its taxable value can increase in a year to 10%. That means even if the market value of your home jumped 20%, the taxable value can increase only 10%. So the cap also plays a role in determining your appraised value. The cap doesn\u2019t kick in until the Jan. 1 after you qualify for the exemption\u00a0\u2014 so if you applied for a homestead exemption in March, the cap doesn\u2019t take effect until Jan. 1, 2027.\u00a0<\/p>\n OK, that\u2019s it for the first section\u00a0\u2014 now let\u2019s go on to the next set of numbers. (Do you feel like you\u2019re back in school yet? This is what teachers would have called a real-world example.)\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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