How to Appeal Your Property Taxes
1. Check your current assessed value
Your county assessor or appraisal district sets an assessed value each year, usually mailed to you as a notice of value (or notice of appraised value). If you can't find yours, our calculator can look it up for supported counties, or you can search your county assessor's public records directly.
2. Compare it to actual market value
An assessment is only worth appealing if it's higher than what your property would actually sell for today. The strongest evidence is recent comparable sales: similar homes nearby that sold recently for less than your assessed value. Home-value indices like Zillow's ZHVI (what powers our own estimate) are a useful sanity check, but an appeal board will weigh actual comparable sales and, where available, a professional appraisal more heavily than any index.
3. Gather your evidence
Beyond comparable sales, useful evidence includes: photos documenting any condition issues the assessor's estimate wouldn't reflect (deferred maintenance, storm damage, an outdated structure), a recent purchase price if you bought within the last year or two, or a professional appraisal if you've already had one done for another reason (refinancing, for example).
4. File before your deadline
Deadlines are strict almost everywhere and vary by state and sometimes by county. See our deadline guide for the counties we currently cover. Filing late is one of the most common ways a legitimate case never gets heard.
5. Informal review, then a formal hearing if needed
Most jurisdictions offer an informal review first: a conversation with an appraiser or assessor's office representative where many cases settle without a hearing. If that doesn't resolve it, your case goes to a formal board (called an Appraisal Review Board in Texas, a Board of Equalization in Washington, or an Assessment Appeals Board in California, for example) where you present your evidence directly.
Do you need to hire someone?
No. Filing yourself is allowed everywhere we've researched, and for a strong, well-evidenced case it's often the best financial outcome, since you keep 100% of the savings. Property tax specialists typically work on contingency (25-30% of your first-year savings, recurring every year they keep appealing on your behalf), which tends to make more sense for larger, more complex cases. A flat-fee evidence-packet service is a middle ground: a one-time cost, and you file it yourself. Our calculator shows all three options with real numbers for your specific situation, rather than steering you toward whichever one happens to pay us the most.