Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Well, hello everyone, and welcome to the show. We have
an exciting show for you today. For us, it's about
property taxes. Have you had an issue with your property
tax value going up and you're challenged with that, Well, listen,
we have Richie gil with gil Dinson Company. He is
going to be talking to us about things that they
(00:22):
can do to assist you in adjusting those property taxes.
Also with us as Arlette Salsado, she is with First
Financial Bank. She's going to talk to you about. Okay,
when that happens. And then your escrow account has an
issue because there's not enough money in there. There's a
gap of the amount that you owe versus the amount
(00:42):
that you have in your escrow account. What do you
do to overcome that? How do you compensate? What are
the different strategies for you to be able to make
that up. So today we're going to get started on
all of those things, and we're going to go ahead
and jump right in. We're going to be talking to
Richie gill And and Ritchie has spent his career working
(01:03):
in several facets of the real estate industry, including multi
family ownership, operations and sales, and so while he was
studying at the University of Texas. At Austin, Richie started
his first real estate business focused on student housing around
the university. So over the next decade, his passion for
(01:23):
real estate grew and led him to start Guild, Denson
and Company. His desire is to combine cutting edge technology
with deep industry experience to help property owners get a
fair shake against the appraisal district's aggressive taxation techniques. He
believes treating the client right should always be the first
(01:45):
priority and the top concern of the business, and so
in his free time, Richie enjoys biking around Austin and
participating in business centric organizations and we are so thrilled
to have Richie Guild joining us today. Welcome Richie to
the show.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
A Hi, Danna, thank you very much for having me.
I really appreciate the time we're able to spend today
and talk about one of my favorite subjects, property tax.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Well, I'm glad it's your favorite subject. I don't think
it's many of ours. But we've got to have someone
who can help us with that. So give us just
a general overview of exactly what it is that you
guys do. I'd love for if we have any any
listeners out there who have specific questions, I'd love for
them to go ahead and give us a call at
four nine eight ninety six five five eight four and
(02:34):
be able to have you answer some of those questions
for them. But in the meantime, I'd really like to
get an overview of exactly what it is that your
company can do to help a property owner.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, absolutely, Dan, and thank you for the great introduction.
And I'm actually going to add a little more background,
maybe more than you ask for. Even though I'm based
in Central Texts, my family's from Beaumont. My grandfather was
a hand surgeon then moved there in nineteen forty eight
and love my dad graduated high school there. So even
though I'm in Austin now, I do have East Texas
(03:09):
roots that I know is important. So I just wanted
to bring that up before we get started.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
I love that. Thank you for adding that.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
We always like to hear about our local folks, so
thank you for throwing that in.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Absolutely Well, talking about property tax basically, we run a
firm that helps people protest their property taxes, so we
can kind of dive into as much details as your
listeners want to hear. But there's a couple of different
ways to lower your property tax bill, a couple different
direct ways. One is going to be making sure you
(03:42):
get all the exemptions you qualify for, and I'm sure
we'll want to talk some more detail out on that
later in the show. But the second option, and a
very important option, is to protest the valuation that the
county is assigning to your property. That evaluation is used
to calculate and generate your tax bill at the end
of the year. Were actually coming right up on appraisal
season where all the local counties will send out their
(04:06):
notices of appraise value. And what we do is we
followed protests with the county indicating that we believe that
appraisal value should be lowered. We'll come up with the
evidence and build a case for why we believe that's so,
and we can talk about the details of that as
well today. Happy to go into that, and we'll bring
that forward to the appraisal district in both an informal
(04:26):
setting and potentially a more formal what we call appraisal
review board hearing. So we'll do that for our clients,
and basically it's a full service offering from start to finish,
we follow the protests, put together the evidence attendant hearing,
and then at the end, if we're successful, we charge
customers a small percentage of however much we save them
(04:48):
on property taxes, and if we don't save them anything,
they don't pay us anything. So it's a pretty straightforward
service law offering.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
That's amazing, and I know that for my customers today,
you are actually docing your fee in order to be
able to help them, So I appreciate you being willing
to do that. Let's talk about when you said they
will be mailed out. I'm under the impression that many
of the appraisal districts will have those mailed out by
(05:15):
around April first, so that's when people are going to
start seeing their values trickle in. So they'll get a
letter and it'll say, okay, this is where the appraisal
district thinks the value of your home what they think
it is valued at. Now I'll tell you, Richie. I
get calls all the time of customers, clients who say, hey, Dana,
(05:38):
you know I need to know is this a valid value?
Speaker 2 (05:43):
You know?
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Is this real?
Speaker 1 (05:44):
And so I can sometimes talk them through a little
bit of what I know about the values. And I'll
be honest, a lot of the times lately when I
go on a listing appointment and we're looking at the
value of their home, what's on the tachroll is higher
than what the market value can be. Right now, I mean,
(06:05):
we've seen over the last two years the market has
softened significantly. Now, prior to that, you know, the market
was hot. We were getting multiple offers over asking price,
lots of good activity. But I don't think the adjustment
has been made over the last two years for what
has really happened in our local market. Is that something
(06:25):
that you're seeing across the state as well?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah, Dan, So that's a great observation. There's a couple
of different items we can dig in here. So, first
of all, the appraisal districts, and it's not just Jefferson
or the areas of East Texas, all across the state,
all two hundred and fifty four counties use mass appraisal methods.
And so if you think about the office that's trying
to appraise in a given county, let's say one hundred
(06:50):
thousand parcels, they may have a small staff of a
few dozen people at most trying to reappraise every property
across the county, and so when they do that, they're
relying on oftentimes outdated or inaccurate information that's basically pulled
into a big database or a spreadsheet, and then that's
used to generate a value. So when people see their
(07:11):
tax appraisal notice, they need to know it's very often
using massi appraisal techniques, no one actually visited their property.
Most times, no one ever drove by it or has
any pictures of it. It's just a number on a spreadsheet.
So that methodology creates a lot of issues on these
appraisal notices and a lot of errors and miscalculations on
that taxable value. So that's the first thing. Second thing
(07:33):
is you're exactly right. A lot of times counties are
quick to increase values and flow to decrease them on
the way down. And so we're noticing this really statewide
that counties are just not keeping up with the volatility
we've seen in the real estate market over the last years.
Part of the issue that appraisal district space is Texas
(07:53):
is a non disclosure state and a lot of your
users may know and so because of that, it can
be tough for appraisal district to accurately appraise the property
when they don't know how much properties are selling for now.
Sometimes they may get access to some MLS data or
see listings online, but that's not If they see a
listing online or for sales TIGN, that's not necessarily what
(08:14):
the property is selling for. It could be selling for
quite a bit less than what that listing price is,
and so a lot of that's just not reflected. And
so when the prices are coming down, appraisal districts are
usually pretty slow to decrease that. So it is an
important topic to look at that appraisal notice. And I
always talk to clients about this. It's a very important
note is that Let's say you get your appraisal notice
(08:36):
and you talk, you know, you feel this appraisal notice.
Let's say let's say it comes in at five hundred
thousand dollars, but you think your property maybe you could
sell for more than that, Maybe you could could sell
for six hundred thousand. A lot of people think, well,
maybe I don't need to protest my taxes, maybe there's
not much value in it because I think I could
sell it for more than my tax appraisal, So how
(08:58):
am I going to get lowered? Well, text is, there's
also equity laws, meaning you have to be fairly taxed
for other similar properties in the area. So just because
you could sell it for more than the appraisal notice,
which is not happening very often anymore. A lot of
times the apprisals is more than you could sell it for.
But when that happens, you might have a neighbor being
taxed at four hundred thousand, and there may be an
(09:19):
opportunity for us to get you a reduction regardless of
what you could sell it for. But you are exactly right.
We are seeing a trend across the state of appraisal
notices coming in for more than the property could sell for.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
And I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
It is a challenge for each local appraisal district to
be able to value those homes. We have them coming
to our local mls wanting to get access well as
real tours. We want to make sure we protect that
data and that's the challenge for them. And I know
it's not an easy task for the appraisal district to
(09:52):
come up with that number. So I don't want to
put all of the blame on them because it is
a challenge. The other side of that, when I've spoke
to our local appraiser, appraisal district appraiser, you know she's
feeling the pressure and he's feeling the pressure. There are
three of them I've visited with of what's going on
in Austin and then how that impacts our dollars that
(10:16):
go to our schools. And then they also have to
have an audit that's coming up, and so there are
lots of things in play for our appraisal districts that
make it challenging to come up with that value.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
That's right. And just to add a little more color
to that some of the listeners may find this useful,
is that an appraisal district, they have a boss in Austin,
the Comptroller's office, and so they have to pass what's
called a ratio study, which basically is the state government
making sure appraisal districts are fully appraising properties across the state.
So they have a mandate to do that, and if
(10:50):
they don't, the local school district can lose funding, and
it's a big deal. You don't want to fail your
ratio study with the comptroller. So sometimes our hands are
hide and they have to make sure they're doing their job,
otherwise that school funding could be in jeopardy.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I think that's important to bring out because people don't
understand that that is part of the challenge. They're not
just trying to raise your values for no reason. They're
having to do that because you're right, they do have
a boss, the comptroller, who is holding them accountable for
those values. So let's talk a little bit more about
ways that people can maybe get a little assistance.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Let's take a break, and when we come back, Richie,
if you don't mind, let's talk about what are some
of those exemptions that people could put in place that
may help them reduce some of those costs for them.
So don't go away, come right back. This is the
Dana Simmons Show. Dana Simmons and we are enjoying a
(11:48):
conversation with Richie Gill of Guildenson Company. They are property
tax consultants and he's been visiting with us about the
challenges that go along with property taxes and values. And
in this next segment, we're going to talk about exemptions
and what are some of those exemptions that you may
be able to get and then in the next segment
(12:08):
we're going to talk about protesting valuation. So if you
have any questions for Richie, please give us a call
at four nine eight nine six five five eight four
and let him answer those for you. Okay, Richie, it
has loved the information you shared in our first segment.
It was so helpful. Would love to hear from you.
(12:28):
How can we get some of these exemptions and who
can apply and who can qualify?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah, David, this is a very important topic, so let's
stig right into it. The first the first exemption that
is going to be most applicable and common for property
owners is the general homestead exemption. So in Texas, if
your property, if your home is your primary residence, you
qualify for barely substantial exemption on your property tax bill,
(13:00):
which which was actually recently increased because of what the
lawmakers in Austin did this last session. You get one
hundred and forty thousand dollars of your value exempted from
school taxes. So that's important to know is that if
you qualify for the homestead it's your primary residence, your
driver's license address matches the property you're living at. You
(13:20):
need to make sure you have that homestead. It saves
you quite a bit of money. In addition to one
hundred and forty thousand dollars of taxable value being exempted,
you're also going to get a ceiling on how much
the appraised value can increase each year, of a ten
percent ceiling. And so those two aspects of the homestead
(13:40):
exemption are very important, so you want to make sure
you get that if you do qualify. Another very important
exemption is for property owners that are sixty five or older.
And so with this exemption, your school taxes are going
to freeze essentially for future years to prevent further in increases.
And so it's very important if you're sixty five or
(14:02):
older to make sure you get this exemption, and also
can move with you if you move houses, that exemption
is portable from one house to the other. And then
one more exemption that I want to bring up is
we talk a lot with veterans, and for those disabled
veterans out there, there is a great exemption. If you're
one hundred percent disabled, you don't have to pay any
(14:23):
property taxes in the state of Taxes, which is an
amazing program that we have. So those are three big
ones taxes actually has more exemptions than that, but those
are going to be the ones that help the most people.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
So one of the other ones that I will have
questions about if we have time later in the show,
is the ag exemption for those who have quite a
bit of land. So we'll touch on that later since
that's me personally, and I have someone else who has
other questions.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
If we have time, we'll get to that. So one
of the questions that.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
We have is what is the best evidence to be
able to protest property taxes.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
That's a great question. So this is really what we
specialize in. So there's two primary avenues for which you
can file out protests and come up with evidence. One
is market data, meaning you believe your property would sell
for less than it's being appraise for. So the most
convincing evidence with that is recent sales. Now, obviously one
thing that's important to note is the recent sales data.
(15:22):
Just like your team would do if they had a
listing appointment, those recent sales need to be adjusted to
the property adjusted for conditions where footage, beds, baths, lot size, age, remodel,
all that. So you can take recent sales and adjust
them for the subject's property that you're protesting. And an
important note on that is these values are as of
(15:42):
January one, so it's a that particular date. So if we're,
you know, like in the middle of COVID where prices
went wild, it is January one's valuation. So market information
market value is important. The second aspect of protesting is equity, meaning,
like we talked about before, there are laws requiring counties
(16:04):
to do fair and equal taxation. So if you notice
that there's a property near you that is almost identical
or very similar, that's a comparable property and they're being
taxed and their appraisal notice is substantially lower, there may
be evidence for an equity case or an equity hearing
in order to adjust your appraisal down to match the
(16:26):
other similar property. So it's market data and equity data.
Those are going to be your two most powerful tools
in a protest.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
So when we come back and our next segment, what
I want you to talk about is the challenge with
presenting that you know for some of us, yeah, I
can pull that market data, but I cannot go and
battle that for you. But that's something that your company
can do. So when we come back I'd like for
you to explain a little bit about what you do
and how you do it and how you do fight
(16:55):
for your customers.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
So don't go away, come right back.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
This is the Data Simons Show, and I'm joined by
Richie gil who is with gil Dinson Company. He is
a property tax consultant, and we were just talking about
homestead over sixty five disabled veteran exemptions and in the break,
Richie I did get a question, So I'm going to
go ahead and start with that and then we can
(17:18):
move on to protesting your value. I had a question
about a life interest property. If someone is in a
life interest property, do they have the ability to file
the over sixty five exemption?
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Yeah, so that is a great question. And so my
understanding of that, and this is this is the clients
we've dealt with, is that usually if they are the
primary resident of the property and the exert control of
the property, they do have the right to get that
homestead exemption and protest property taxes just like anyone else.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Would great news for anyone who's in that situation. So
let's talk about that pro test. Whether it's your homestead
or if it is a commercial property, or maybe an
investment property. You can handle all of those correct, that's right.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
We handle all types of property all across the state.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
So I think I have a property that is the
value is too high, I contact your office and say
I really need your help. What are the next steps
that a client would go through?
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Absolutely, So if a client is looking to engage our service,
and I always talk to people, look, really everyone should
be protesting their taxes every year. There's so many errors
of issues on these appraisal records that even if you
think your property can sell for more than the appraisal notice,
there's typically a case we can make to lower it.
And so if a client is interested, they should go
(18:54):
right on our website Guildenson dot com. There's a get
started page that's just two or three pages long. And
because they're listening to the show and they're affiliated with
you data, there's going to be a discounted rate. They're
only going to pay twenty five percent of whatever we
save them on their property tax bill. They can sign
up fully online. They just need to use the code
(19:14):
Simmons when they're on our website, and so that's important
to know. Once they sign up on our website, we
go through a pretty comprehensive process to analyze the property.
That's going to include looking at sales comps in the area.
It's going to include looking at what we call equity
comps to make sure they're fairly taxed. It's going to
include looking to make sure they qualify and are getting
(19:36):
all the exemptions they should be getting. And we'll put
together the most compelling case we possibly can to bring
it in front of the appraisal district's attention to try
to get them a reduction.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
And so as you do that, let's say the appraisal
district doesn't agree to reduce it, are there additional methods
you can use to go further?
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Yeah, So that's a great question. So in our world
of property tax protesting, there's a couple different major buckets
of process. The first step that we go through is
an informal negotiation with the county. So we will reach
out to the county appraisers and say, hey, guys, we
have this evidence for why we believe our client's property
is over praised. Take a look at it. Do you
(20:22):
agree with us? And we'll show them some or all
of our evidence, depending on the case, and if they
agree with us, at that first stage, great, we can
set a lot of lower value. Most of the time,
it doesn't happen that easy, and we go to what's
called the appraisal Review Board, and that is essentially a
panel of three people that vote on whether or not
(20:42):
they agree with the evidence we're presenting. That we can
face some challenges in there. They are paid members that
receive a paycheck from the appraisal district. So sometimes they're
unbiased like they should be, are instructed by the comptroller,
sometimes not so much. But if we go through that
process do not get what we believe is a fair
shape for our client, we will proceed to a third
(21:05):
phase of appeal called judicial appeal. And this is there's
two types of judicial appeal. One is binding arbitration and
one is litigation depending on the type and size of property.
We will proceed to that and we will take hundreds
of cases a year to this phase of protests if
we feel our client is not being fairly taxed and
(21:27):
so that basically removes it out of the appraisal district's
hands and either puts it in district court or in
an arbitrator's office. And so that is going to be
the final step for protesting in the state of Texas.
But usually in one of those three phases of protests,
we are able to get that value lowered to what
we believe is a fair value.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
That's a process that would be very challenging for a
homeowner to do on their own. So I love that
there is a solution for homeowners who feel like they're
being over a Now, the question I have is what
percentage of your clients actually get their values reduced?
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Do you have that data?
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Yeah, that's a great question. So last year, just over
eight out of ten of our clients got a reduction
on their tax appraisal, So it's quite a few. And
that's why I tell people, look, no matter what your
situation is, have us take a look at it, because
if we go through this process and don't lower your
property taxes, you're not going to pay us anything. We're
going to assume the liability of spending our time on
(22:31):
this case, and we'll take a look at it, and
sometimes looks. Sometimes people call our office before they sign
up on our website and just say, hey, here's my situation.
Should I protest? And I'll give an honest opinion, because
if there's a reduction to get we want to get it,
and if there's not I'm going to be upfront with
the client and just let them know. Hey, you know,
I don't think there's anything we can do here because
you have this big exemption or something else. But in
(22:52):
most cases, in ninety percent plus of property owners, there
is a reason to go through the protest process to
make sure being fairly taxed.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
That's amazing, And I want people to hear what you said.
If you don't get a reduction, they don't pay a fee.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
That's that's right.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
It's a no lose situation here. So Richie, if someone
is interested, give the audience to your website again and
how they can best contact you if they have any
questions or if they do want to go ahead and
work with you. I know, we don't get our notices
mailed out until you know, the first week or so
(23:33):
in April, so we still have a little bit more time,
but then they are certified by the end of July, right,
So you've got a short window there where you have
to ensure that you are working on this. It's not
like you have the rest of the year to do it.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Absolutely, and this is a great point to bramptonis So
basically the deadline for us to follow protest is thirty
days after the appraisal notice or May fifteenth, whichever is later,
and so so typically it's May fifteenth for a majority ofccountings,
And so we encourage you to act quickly on this
and to engage our services and file up protests as
(24:09):
soon as you can, because once that May fifteenth deadline passes,
even though you don't receive your tax bill until the
end of the year, you're not able to do anything
about it. After that May fifteenth deadline or thirty days
after your praise most comes out. So it's very important
you act timely. And a lot of people they'll call
us when they get that tax bill in the mail
in November or December and say, hey, I want to
(24:30):
protest it, and unfortunately it's too late because the deadline
was many months before that. So it is important to
get moving on this quickly and early in the process.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
So let's go ahead and go over the ways that
people can contact you.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Absolutely, so I would encourage everyone to visit our website
that's Guildenson dot com and I'll spell that out. It's
g I L L D E N S O N
dot com and you can also google it so Guildenson
dot com. On the website, they can choose to sign
up directly. There's a get started button that they click,
and when they're on that get started page, I just
(25:06):
asked that they insert a discount code to make sure
they get our lowest rate, because, like I said, if
you're listening to the show your friend's family affiliates of Dana,
you're going to get a discount. So anyone listening, they
just enter enter SI N M O NS on that
discount code field on page two, and that'll get them
(25:27):
a discount of twenty five percent contingency fee. They can
also call us anytime. There's a phone number on our website.
I can also give it out. Now it's a one
eight hundred number, but one of only two or three
staff members answer the phone to a small office one
eight hundred nine to one eight three five zero two,
(25:47):
And we'd be happy to answer any questions, whether you
have a complex tax situation or you just want to
call and ask about your situation, or just talk with
us before you sign up. We'd be happy to have
that discussion.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Well, it has been such a pleasure so much good information, Richie,
thank you so much, and we will have on our
Facebook page that flyer with your information as well as
that discount code. They can call my office at any
point in time and we'll have all of that. If
they didn't write down your phone number and they need that,
we will make sure that we can get that over
(26:22):
to them. But this information has been so valuable. I
really appreciate you taking your time on a Saturday to
stop and do this for us. So thank you again,
and we appreciate you very much.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Thank you very much. Have a great day, Danna, and
allis forward to speaking with more of your listeners.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Thank you so much. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Well, when we come back, we're going to also talk
with our let Salsado First Financial Bank, because we're going
to talk about what happens when you get that tax
bill in, or your mortgage company gets that tax bill in,
or maybe it's your insurance that's gone up and your
escrow is short. We're going to talk through what can
you do, how can you manage that? So don't go away.
(27:07):
This is the Dana Simmons Show. Welcome back. This is
Dana Simmons and we have been visiting with Richie Gil.
He is with Gil Dinson in Company. They are property
tax consultants and wow, so much good information that he
provided in the last segment. So if you are worried
(27:30):
about your tax appraisal when it comes out first week
of April and you need someone to fight for you,
there's no cost unless he gets you a reduction. So
I think it's a no brainer to be able to
get them to help you. We will have on my
Facebook page at Dana Simmons real Estate their information as
(27:50):
well as the code that you can use to be
able to get a reduced cost for the services that
he provides. If you have questions about which exemptions you
can get, if you can get your tax property protested,
any of that, give him a call and at Gildenson
(28:11):
and Company and they can help you. He told us
about how he has a connection here. His dad was here,
so he's very familiar with Southeast Texas and I think
would do a great job in assisting you. Also with
me today is our salceto with First Financial Bank. And
as we're talking about increase and not only property taxes
but man insurance, it's killing me the way insurance costs
(28:35):
keep going up. We've got to figure out something to
do on that. Let me just say, I don't know
who we need to talk to, but we got to
talk to somebody. We know that in your escrow account
that can come up short at the end of the
year whenever your mortgage company is assessing what's there as
they pay your taxes and as they pay your insurance,
and then they're going to send you a letter that says, hey,
(28:57):
there's a shortage. So let's talk about that. Are let
what are the things that you can do to number one,
try to ensure that that doesn't happen. Let's talk first
about when you buy your house and you go ahead
and get those scros started, what are some things you
can do to make sure that after that first year
(29:18):
it's not going to end up with a large shortage.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
So one of the first things that I always tell
my customers is going to be to make sure that
they file for their homestead exemption. So if they were
listening in earlier on on the radio show, you would
have heard that your homestead exemption is generally the first
exemption that home buyers end up applying that saves them
a significant amount in taxes and it's very important and
it's super.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Easy to do.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
All you really have to do is go update your
driver's license and show that that's the property that you're
living and residing in, and you can go to your
county and go ahead and apply for that homestead exemption.
That's where you're going to see the most savings up front.
And not only that, but the other thing that we're
going to look at is your insurances, because your insurances
(30:03):
after that first year, a lot of the times that's
where you may see an increase. So it's super important
for you to take a look at your escro analysis
that you're receiving. I know a lot of the times
we receive a lot of mail and your escro analysis
is probably the last thing you're thinking of, but it's
super important to take a look at it and make
sure that we're in Jefferson County, so a lot of
(30:23):
the times we're going to have a separate homeowners insurance
and a separate windstorm quote. So whenever you're looking at that,
make sure that if it's not uncommon for it to
increase some but if it increases substantially, then maybe you
want to consider shopping your insurance at that point, because
the first year you may have a good, great discount,
whatever it is, but then after that then you may
(30:46):
see it increase. And shopping isn't going to hurt you.
It might take some of your time, but it's not
going to hurt you, and it's usually going to work
out best.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Right, and you're right.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
When you first buy a home, you are a lot
of times the mortgage company is basing the inch the
tax amount on the previous owner's situation. But we all
know that the appraised value may be less. It may be,
and then once it sells, they reappraise it. So let's
say it was someone who was over sixty five and
(31:17):
that value was somewhat held to a certain level and
then they sold the property. When that happens, often that
tax amount is going to go up. And so that's
one instance, but it's also let's say that you are
buying a brand new construction and the appraised value that
the tax office has on there is because it was
(31:37):
only fifty percent complete and you're not looking at one
hundred percent completion. So the following year when they appraise
it it's one hundred percent complete, that's going to be
a significant increase so talk about how you can set
the stage up front to be able to prevent a
significant shortage in those situations.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
Well, in those cases, it's really important, especial if you're
buying a new construction or if you have one of
those efficient situations where you're carrying more than one exemption,
that you speak with your lender whenever you're first setting
up that escrow account, because whenever I have that conversation
with my customer, I'm going to let them know, like, hey,
you know, your taxes are going to be significantly low
this year, but we're going to give you the opportunity
(32:20):
or the option to either kind of collect for the
improved because at that point, it's going to take into
account like an estimate, So we're kind of estimating what
your taxes should be that next year once it's fully complete,
because like you said, it may have been appraised whenever
it was only twenty five to fifty percent complete. So
if you have the if you don't have the funds,
(32:41):
or you don't think that you're going to be saving
enough separately aside from whatever your mortgage payment is, then
I would say that you have that conversation so that
upfront whenever we set up your escrow account, we are
collecting for what's going to happen once the property is
fully assessed and what that value is.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Yeah, and the other side to that is, let's say
you do set it up at one hundred percent and
then when your tax bill comes in it's less. Oftentimes
you'll have an overage. You can get that overage back.
The challenge is telling your escro company not to reassess
that value because then the following year it's going to
be short. So talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 4 (33:20):
So if you do have that situation, you do have
to call your servicer back, because I've seen it happen
before where they'll issue you a full refund for whatever
the taxes were for that year or whatever we were collecting.
And that refund, it's super important that you just keep it,
save it, don't spend it, because you have to reapply
that back to your ESCO account. You have to redeposit
(33:40):
it into that so that next year, whenever they're analyzing
and that ESCRO analysis goes out again, you're going to
see that, Oh, well, now they want to charge you
for the overage plus what the taxes are going to
be now so you end up seeing your payment go up,
not just what it should have gone up, but plus
some because they're taking into account whatever they had practically
(34:01):
reimbursed you already.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
So challenging.
Speaker 4 (34:04):
It is very challenging, and that's why it's so important
to make sure that you're looking at that because if not,
if you are struggling, whatever it is, then you're not
going to be able to afford that payment at that point.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
And so the challenge is, let's say you're short twelve
hundred dollars. Let's use some round numbers here. Okay, you're
short twelve hundred dollars, they're gonna want to they're gonna
want you to either pay the twelve one hundred dollars
up front or they're going to add it to your
monthly note. So that's one hundred dollars, but because it
went up, they've got to add another one hundred dollars
so that your account next year won't be short. So
(34:39):
that's an additional two hundred dollars a month. That for
some people is a big challenge. And those are just
round numbers. Sometimes it's more than that. Yeah, sometimes it's
five thousand dollars. And so you're looking at a very
big chunk.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
Of change, so managing.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Your ESCRA account is critical. One of the other things
I've had to help people do that have that really
help them reduce their note a little bit is that
if they're seeing their you know, taxes and insurance go up,
and they've been in the house for a little while
and they have equity there, they didn't put twenty percent
down initially, one of the things we can do is
(35:16):
talk to the mortgage company about potentially removing the PMI,
So assessing it then seeing if we can get them
to remove that PMI will allow that price to go
down at least a little bit, to be able to
help them reduce a little bit.
Speaker 4 (35:31):
Yeah, and that's honestly, that's one of those great tools
that you also need to know because depending on what
kind of loan option you have, your PMI or mortage
insurance whatever it is, could be anywhere from eighty to
two hundred and fifty dollars or depending on whatever your
loan amount ended up being like, it could be pretty significant.
So whenever you're doing that, if you've been in the
(35:53):
home long enough and you think that your loan of
value is usually eighty percent, but I think it automatically
falls off at seventy eight. So if that's the case
for you, then you may want to look into that
because that's also going to save you a little bit
at the end of the year.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Well and seventy eight percent of what you first purchased
it for, So if values have gone up, you're paying
that without needing to because your value has gone up
and you are at least eighty percent into it. So
there are things that you can do, and talking to
your lender is critical. One of the things I also
think is super important are lot is that you understand
(36:30):
the local insurance challenges. So a lot of times when
people are dealing with out of town lenders, they don't
know about the separate windstorm some properties have flood insurance
required and the homeowners here and they don't understand that
our taxes are a little bit on the higher side.
So talk a little bit about how being a local
lender can truly make a difference.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
So it does make a difference because whenever you're even
whenever you're online and kind of trying to see what
is my monthly payment going to be for this proper
you're in there and you're playing around with those calculators
that are on there, But really and truly they're not
taking into account the insurances that we usually carry because,
like I had said earlier and you just mentioned now,
you're gonna have your homeowner's policy. Usually that's a little
(37:14):
bit less, but you have to take into account your
separate windstorm policy. And whenever it's a separate policy, you
tend to pay a little bit more for those policies.
And then not only that, but we take into account
your flood zone too. We do have areas that are
in a flood zone. So if that's something that's gonna
make or break, if you're already thinking that you're spending
top dollar on what your monthly payment is, then we
(37:34):
really need to make sure that the property you're purchasing
isn't in that flood zone where and the same goes
like if I were to go ahead and help someone
that's purchasing out of this area, I sometimes overestimate their
insurances because I'm so used to our area and being
in Jefferson County, Orange County, Harding County that whenever someone
tells me that they're purchasing in val Verde County, that
(37:59):
I'm like, oh, well, I'm going to say that your
insurances are I don't know, two hundred and fifty dollars
a month, and then they get me a quote and
it's one hundred dollars.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
Well there you go.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Yeah, those those simple things make a big difference. I
had a last week received a pre approval letter on
a property that we have listed, and it was for
Harris County. Is what the big lender, a national lender,
had posted Harris County on that pre approval And I
told my seller, I said, we want a pre approval
that has Jefferson County. We need to make sure that
(38:32):
this preapprove approval is accurate because counties can make a difference.
And when you're in Jefferson County, it is a little
bit higher on your insurance premium, and that could on
a two hundred thousand dollars house, that could impact that
borrower's ability to be able to purchase that house. So
or let's talk a little bit. If someone has questions
(38:54):
about their escrow account about how they can get that paid,
how would they get in touch with you?
Speaker 4 (39:00):
If you have any questions, you can give me a
call at four oh nine four seven four one five
zero three, or you can email me at A southsel
s A U C E d O at f FI
N dot com.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Okay, and I always have to when I'm typing your
name a sauce do. It's just the easier way to
do it. So if you didn't get all of that,
it's just a sauce do. That's how you spell it.
And our lat is with First Financial Bank and there
are seven branches all over Southeast Texas. But you just
(39:33):
like you said, you can help anyone anywhere in.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
The state of Texas. Correct, yes, meam, and you do
faha V.
Speaker 4 (39:40):
A U S the A in house loans. We have
some great grant options as well. Just recently had some clothes.
So it's honestly, you have any questions, just feel free
to reach out.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
Well, And what I love is it's not just putting
someone just in a box. Just this week, I had
one of our clients reach out to you about doing
a bridge loan.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (40:01):
We did do a bridge loan and we work those
with our consumer lenders. But honestly, it's so good to
have that relationship with our consumer lenders and being able
to offer both products from secondary market to in house financing, and.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
This client didn't even know that this would be an option. Yeah,
and so that's what I love you sit down. People
can sit down and even talk to you face to
face because you're local, and you can say, Okay, what
are you trying to do and then be able to say,
let's work on what's going to be the best way
for you to move forward in this situation. And it's
not them having to come and say, hey, I want
(40:35):
an faha loan when an faha loan might not be
the best fit for them.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (40:39):
No, And then you have to take into account what
that customer is wanting and making sure that they're comfortable,
because at the end of the day, I would hate
to put someone in a situation where they aren't comfortable
or they're you know, living paycheck to paycheck or whatever
it is. But just making sure that we're meeting their
needs as well. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
And one of the benefits is that you also speak Spanish.
Speaker 4 (40:57):
I do speak Spanish as well.
Speaker 3 (40:59):
I'm just thanking on it.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
So you can communicate with clients either in English or Spanish.
And you have some great loan programs for people who
are I ten right, yes, me M Okay, well, I
am so thankful to have had you on the show
and also appreciate Richie Gil being here and talking about
property taxes. We thank you so much for joining us today.
(41:21):
We hope you have a great Saturday. This is Dana
Simmons with the Dana Simmons Show.
Well, hello everyone, and welcome to the show. We have
an exciting show for you today. For us, it's about
property taxes. Have you had an issue with your property
tax value going up and you're challenged with that, Well, listen,
we have Richie gil with gil Dinson Company. He is
going to be talking to us about things that they
(00:22):
can do to assist you in adjusting those property taxes.
Also with us as Arlette Salsado, she is with First
Financial Bank. She's going to talk to you about. Okay,
when that happens. And then your escrow account has an
issue because there's not enough money in there. There's a
gap of the amount that you owe versus the amount
(00:42):
that you have in your escrow account. What do you
do to overcome that? How do you compensate? What are
the different strategies for you to be able to make
that up. So today we're going to get started on
all of those things, and we're going to go ahead
and jump right in. We're going to be talking to
Richie gill And and Ritchie has spent his career working
(01:03):
in several facets of the real estate industry, including multi
family ownership, operations and sales, and so while he was
studying at the University of Texas. At Austin, Richie started
his first real estate business focused on student housing around
the university. So over the next decade, his passion for
(01:23):
real estate grew and led him to start Guild, Denson
and Company. His desire is to combine cutting edge technology
with deep industry experience to help property owners get a
fair shake against the appraisal district's aggressive taxation techniques. He
believes treating the client right should always be the first
(01:45):
priority and the top concern of the business, and so
in his free time, Richie enjoys biking around Austin and
participating in business centric organizations and we are so thrilled
to have Richie Guild joining us today. Welcome Richie to
the show.
Speaker 2 (02:02):
A Hi, Danna, thank you very much for having me.
I really appreciate the time we're able to spend today
and talk about one of my favorite subjects, property tax.
Speaker 1 (02:10):
Well, I'm glad it's your favorite subject. I don't think
it's many of ours. But we've got to have someone
who can help us with that. So give us just
a general overview of exactly what it is that you
guys do. I'd love for if we have any any
listeners out there who have specific questions, I'd love for
them to go ahead and give us a call at
four nine eight ninety six five five eight four and
(02:34):
be able to have you answer some of those questions
for them. But in the meantime, I'd really like to
get an overview of exactly what it is that your
company can do to help a property owner.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, absolutely, Dan, and thank you for the great introduction.
And I'm actually going to add a little more background,
maybe more than you ask for. Even though I'm based
in Central Texts, my family's from Beaumont. My grandfather was
a hand surgeon then moved there in nineteen forty eight
and love my dad graduated high school there. So even
though I'm in Austin now, I do have East Texas
(03:09):
roots that I know is important. So I just wanted
to bring that up before we get started.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
I love that. Thank you for adding that.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
We always like to hear about our local folks, so
thank you for throwing that in.
Speaker 2 (03:21):
Absolutely Well, talking about property tax basically, we run a
firm that helps people protest their property taxes, so we
can kind of dive into as much details as your
listeners want to hear. But there's a couple of different
ways to lower your property tax bill, a couple different
direct ways. One is going to be making sure you
(03:42):
get all the exemptions you qualify for, and I'm sure
we'll want to talk some more detail out on that
later in the show. But the second option, and a
very important option, is to protest the valuation that the
county is assigning to your property. That evaluation is used
to calculate and generate your tax bill at the end
of the year. Were actually coming right up on appraisal
season where all the local counties will send out their
(04:06):
notices of appraise value. And what we do is we
followed protests with the county indicating that we believe that
appraisal value should be lowered. We'll come up with the
evidence and build a case for why we believe that's so,
and we can talk about the details of that as
well today. Happy to go into that, and we'll bring
that forward to the appraisal district in both an informal
(04:26):
setting and potentially a more formal what we call appraisal
review board hearing. So we'll do that for our clients,
and basically it's a full service offering from start to finish,
we follow the protests, put together the evidence attendant hearing,
and then at the end, if we're successful, we charge
customers a small percentage of however much we save them
(04:48):
on property taxes, and if we don't save them anything,
they don't pay us anything. So it's a pretty straightforward
service law offering.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
That's amazing, and I know that for my customers today,
you are actually docing your fee in order to be
able to help them, So I appreciate you being willing
to do that. Let's talk about when you said they
will be mailed out. I'm under the impression that many
of the appraisal districts will have those mailed out by
(05:15):
around April first, so that's when people are going to
start seeing their values trickle in. So they'll get a
letter and it'll say, okay, this is where the appraisal
district thinks the value of your home what they think
it is valued at. Now I'll tell you, Richie. I
get calls all the time of customers, clients who say, hey, Dana,
(05:38):
you know I need to know is this a valid value?
Speaker 2 (05:43):
You know?
Speaker 3 (05:43):
Is this real?
Speaker 1 (05:44):
And so I can sometimes talk them through a little
bit of what I know about the values. And I'll
be honest, a lot of the times lately when I
go on a listing appointment and we're looking at the
value of their home, what's on the tachroll is higher
than what the market value can be. Right now, I mean,
(06:05):
we've seen over the last two years the market has
softened significantly. Now, prior to that, you know, the market
was hot. We were getting multiple offers over asking price,
lots of good activity. But I don't think the adjustment
has been made over the last two years for what
has really happened in our local market. Is that something
(06:25):
that you're seeing across the state as well?
Speaker 2 (06:29):
Yeah, Dan, So that's a great observation. There's a couple
of different items we can dig in here. So, first
of all, the appraisal districts, and it's not just Jefferson
or the areas of East Texas, all across the state,
all two hundred and fifty four counties use mass appraisal methods.
And so if you think about the office that's trying
to appraise in a given county, let's say one hundred
(06:50):
thousand parcels, they may have a small staff of a
few dozen people at most trying to reappraise every property
across the county, and so when they do that, they're
relying on oftentimes outdated or inaccurate information that's basically pulled
into a big database or a spreadsheet, and then that's
used to generate a value. So when people see their
(07:11):
tax appraisal notice, they need to know it's very often
using massi appraisal techniques, no one actually visited their property.
Most times, no one ever drove by it or has
any pictures of it. It's just a number on a spreadsheet.
So that methodology creates a lot of issues on these
appraisal notices and a lot of errors and miscalculations on
that taxable value. So that's the first thing. Second thing
(07:33):
is you're exactly right. A lot of times counties are
quick to increase values and flow to decrease them on
the way down. And so we're noticing this really statewide
that counties are just not keeping up with the volatility
we've seen in the real estate market over the last years.
Part of the issue that appraisal district space is Texas
(07:53):
is a non disclosure state and a lot of your
users may know and so because of that, it can
be tough for appraisal district to accurately appraise the property
when they don't know how much properties are selling for now.
Sometimes they may get access to some MLS data or
see listings online, but that's not If they see a
listing online or for sales TIGN, that's not necessarily what
(08:14):
the property is selling for. It could be selling for
quite a bit less than what that listing price is,
and so a lot of that's just not reflected. And
so when the prices are coming down, appraisal districts are
usually pretty slow to decrease that. So it is an
important topic to look at that appraisal notice. And I
always talk to clients about this. It's a very important
note is that Let's say you get your appraisal notice
(08:36):
and you talk, you know, you feel this appraisal notice.
Let's say let's say it comes in at five hundred
thousand dollars, but you think your property maybe you could
sell for more than that, Maybe you could could sell
for six hundred thousand. A lot of people think, well,
maybe I don't need to protest my taxes, maybe there's
not much value in it because I think I could
sell it for more than my tax appraisal, So how
(08:58):
am I going to get lowered? Well, text is, there's
also equity laws, meaning you have to be fairly taxed
for other similar properties in the area. So just because
you could sell it for more than the appraisal notice,
which is not happening very often anymore. A lot of
times the apprisals is more than you could sell it for.
But when that happens, you might have a neighbor being
taxed at four hundred thousand, and there may be an
(09:19):
opportunity for us to get you a reduction regardless of
what you could sell it for. But you are exactly right.
We are seeing a trend across the state of appraisal
notices coming in for more than the property could sell for.
Speaker 3 (09:30):
And I agree with you.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
It is a challenge for each local appraisal district to
be able to value those homes. We have them coming
to our local mls wanting to get access well as
real tours. We want to make sure we protect that
data and that's the challenge for them. And I know
it's not an easy task for the appraisal district to
(09:52):
come up with that number. So I don't want to
put all of the blame on them because it is
a challenge. The other side of that, when I've spoke
to our local appraiser, appraisal district appraiser, you know she's
feeling the pressure and he's feeling the pressure. There are
three of them I've visited with of what's going on
in Austin and then how that impacts our dollars that
(10:16):
go to our schools. And then they also have to
have an audit that's coming up, and so there are
lots of things in play for our appraisal districts that
make it challenging to come up with that value.
Speaker 2 (10:29):
That's right. And just to add a little more color
to that some of the listeners may find this useful,
is that an appraisal district, they have a boss in Austin,
the Comptroller's office, and so they have to pass what's
called a ratio study, which basically is the state government
making sure appraisal districts are fully appraising properties across the state.
So they have a mandate to do that, and if
(10:50):
they don't, the local school district can lose funding, and
it's a big deal. You don't want to fail your
ratio study with the comptroller. So sometimes our hands are
hide and they have to make sure they're doing their job,
otherwise that school funding could be in jeopardy.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
I think that's important to bring out because people don't
understand that that is part of the challenge. They're not
just trying to raise your values for no reason. They're
having to do that because you're right, they do have
a boss, the comptroller, who is holding them accountable for
those values. So let's talk a little bit more about
ways that people can maybe get a little assistance.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I'll tell you what.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Let's take a break, and when we come back, Richie,
if you don't mind, let's talk about what are some
of those exemptions that people could put in place that
may help them reduce some of those costs for them.
So don't go away, come right back. This is the
Dana Simmons Show. Dana Simmons and we are enjoying a
(11:48):
conversation with Richie Gill of Guildenson Company. They are property
tax consultants and he's been visiting with us about the
challenges that go along with property taxes and values. And
in this next segment, we're going to talk about exemptions
and what are some of those exemptions that you may
be able to get and then in the next segment
(12:08):
we're going to talk about protesting valuation. So if you
have any questions for Richie, please give us a call
at four nine eight nine six five five eight four
and let him answer those for you. Okay, Richie, it
has loved the information you shared in our first segment.
It was so helpful. Would love to hear from you.
(12:28):
How can we get some of these exemptions and who
can apply and who can qualify?
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah, David, this is a very important topic, so let's
stig right into it. The first the first exemption that
is going to be most applicable and common for property
owners is the general homestead exemption. So in Texas, if
your property, if your home is your primary residence, you
qualify for barely substantial exemption on your property tax bill,
(13:00):
which which was actually recently increased because of what the
lawmakers in Austin did this last session. You get one
hundred and forty thousand dollars of your value exempted from
school taxes. So that's important to know is that if
you qualify for the homestead it's your primary residence, your
driver's license address matches the property you're living at. You
(13:20):
need to make sure you have that homestead. It saves
you quite a bit of money. In addition to one
hundred and forty thousand dollars of taxable value being exempted,
you're also going to get a ceiling on how much
the appraised value can increase each year, of a ten
percent ceiling. And so those two aspects of the homestead
(13:40):
exemption are very important, so you want to make sure
you get that if you do qualify. Another very important
exemption is for property owners that are sixty five or older.
And so with this exemption, your school taxes are going
to freeze essentially for future years to prevent further in increases.
And so it's very important if you're sixty five or
(14:02):
older to make sure you get this exemption, and also
can move with you if you move houses, that exemption
is portable from one house to the other. And then
one more exemption that I want to bring up is
we talk a lot with veterans, and for those disabled
veterans out there, there is a great exemption. If you're
one hundred percent disabled, you don't have to pay any
(14:23):
property taxes in the state of Taxes, which is an
amazing program that we have. So those are three big
ones taxes actually has more exemptions than that, but those
are going to be the ones that help the most people.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
So one of the other ones that I will have
questions about if we have time later in the show,
is the ag exemption for those who have quite a
bit of land. So we'll touch on that later since
that's me personally, and I have someone else who has
other questions.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
If we have time, we'll get to that. So one
of the questions that.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
We have is what is the best evidence to be
able to protest property taxes.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
That's a great question. So this is really what we
specialize in. So there's two primary avenues for which you
can file out protests and come up with evidence. One
is market data, meaning you believe your property would sell
for less than it's being appraise for. So the most
convincing evidence with that is recent sales. Now, obviously one
thing that's important to note is the recent sales data.
(15:22):
Just like your team would do if they had a
listing appointment, those recent sales need to be adjusted to
the property adjusted for conditions where footage, beds, baths, lot size, age, remodel,
all that. So you can take recent sales and adjust
them for the subject's property that you're protesting. And an
important note on that is these values are as of
(15:42):
January one, so it's a that particular date. So if we're,
you know, like in the middle of COVID where prices
went wild, it is January one's valuation. So market information
market value is important. The second aspect of protesting is equity, meaning,
like we talked about before, there are laws requiring counties
(16:04):
to do fair and equal taxation. So if you notice
that there's a property near you that is almost identical
or very similar, that's a comparable property and they're being
taxed and their appraisal notice is substantially lower, there may
be evidence for an equity case or an equity hearing
in order to adjust your appraisal down to match the
(16:26):
other similar property. So it's market data and equity data.
Those are going to be your two most powerful tools
in a protest.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
So when we come back and our next segment, what
I want you to talk about is the challenge with
presenting that you know for some of us, yeah, I
can pull that market data, but I cannot go and
battle that for you. But that's something that your company
can do. So when we come back I'd like for
you to explain a little bit about what you do
and how you do it and how you do fight
(16:55):
for your customers.
Speaker 3 (16:56):
So don't go away, come right back.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
This is the Data Simons Show, and I'm joined by
Richie gil who is with gil Dinson Company. He is
a property tax consultant, and we were just talking about
homestead over sixty five disabled veteran exemptions and in the break,
Richie I did get a question, So I'm going to
go ahead and start with that and then we can
(17:18):
move on to protesting your value. I had a question
about a life interest property. If someone is in a
life interest property, do they have the ability to file
the over sixty five exemption?
Speaker 2 (17:36):
Yeah, so that is a great question. And so my
understanding of that, and this is this is the clients
we've dealt with, is that usually if they are the
primary resident of the property and the exert control of
the property, they do have the right to get that
homestead exemption and protest property taxes just like anyone else.
Speaker 1 (17:58):
Would great news for anyone who's in that situation. So
let's talk about that pro test. Whether it's your homestead
or if it is a commercial property, or maybe an
investment property. You can handle all of those correct, that's right.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
We handle all types of property all across the state.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
So I think I have a property that is the
value is too high, I contact your office and say
I really need your help. What are the next steps
that a client would go through?
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Absolutely, So if a client is looking to engage our service,
and I always talk to people, look, really everyone should
be protesting their taxes every year. There's so many errors
of issues on these appraisal records that even if you
think your property can sell for more than the appraisal notice,
there's typically a case we can make to lower it.
And so if a client is interested, they should go
(18:54):
right on our website Guildenson dot com. There's a get
started page that's just two or three pages long. And
because they're listening to the show and they're affiliated with
you data, there's going to be a discounted rate. They're
only going to pay twenty five percent of whatever we
save them on their property tax bill. They can sign
up fully online. They just need to use the code
(19:14):
Simmons when they're on our website, and so that's important
to know. Once they sign up on our website, we
go through a pretty comprehensive process to analyze the property.
That's going to include looking at sales comps in the area.
It's going to include looking at what we call equity
comps to make sure they're fairly taxed. It's going to
include looking to make sure they qualify and are getting
(19:36):
all the exemptions they should be getting. And we'll put
together the most compelling case we possibly can to bring
it in front of the appraisal district's attention to try
to get them a reduction.
Speaker 1 (19:49):
And so as you do that, let's say the appraisal
district doesn't agree to reduce it, are there additional methods
you can use to go further?
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Yeah, So that's a great question. So in our world
of property tax protesting, there's a couple different major buckets
of process. The first step that we go through is
an informal negotiation with the county. So we will reach
out to the county appraisers and say, hey, guys, we
have this evidence for why we believe our client's property
is over praised. Take a look at it. Do you
(20:22):
agree with us? And we'll show them some or all
of our evidence, depending on the case, and if they
agree with us, at that first stage, great, we can
set a lot of lower value. Most of the time,
it doesn't happen that easy, and we go to what's
called the appraisal Review Board, and that is essentially a
panel of three people that vote on whether or not
(20:42):
they agree with the evidence we're presenting. That we can
face some challenges in there. They are paid members that
receive a paycheck from the appraisal district. So sometimes they're
unbiased like they should be, are instructed by the comptroller,
sometimes not so much. But if we go through that
process do not get what we believe is a fair
shape for our client, we will proceed to a third
(21:05):
phase of appeal called judicial appeal. And this is there's
two types of judicial appeal. One is binding arbitration and
one is litigation depending on the type and size of property.
We will proceed to that and we will take hundreds
of cases a year to this phase of protests if
we feel our client is not being fairly taxed and
(21:27):
so that basically removes it out of the appraisal district's
hands and either puts it in district court or in
an arbitrator's office. And so that is going to be
the final step for protesting in the state of Texas.
But usually in one of those three phases of protests,
we are able to get that value lowered to what
we believe is a fair value.
Speaker 1 (21:47):
That's a process that would be very challenging for a
homeowner to do on their own. So I love that
there is a solution for homeowners who feel like they're
being over a Now, the question I have is what
percentage of your clients actually get their values reduced?
Speaker 3 (22:07):
Do you have that data?
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Yeah, that's a great question. So last year, just over
eight out of ten of our clients got a reduction
on their tax appraisal, So it's quite a few. And
that's why I tell people, look, no matter what your
situation is, have us take a look at it, because
if we go through this process and don't lower your
property taxes, you're not going to pay us anything. We're
going to assume the liability of spending our time on
(22:31):
this case, and we'll take a look at it, and
sometimes looks. Sometimes people call our office before they sign
up on our website and just say, hey, here's my situation.
Should I protest? And I'll give an honest opinion, because
if there's a reduction to get we want to get it,
and if there's not I'm going to be upfront with
the client and just let them know. Hey, you know,
I don't think there's anything we can do here because
you have this big exemption or something else. But in
(22:52):
most cases, in ninety percent plus of property owners, there
is a reason to go through the protest process to
make sure being fairly taxed.
Speaker 1 (23:01):
That's amazing, And I want people to hear what you said.
If you don't get a reduction, they don't pay a fee.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
That's that's right.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
It's a no lose situation here. So Richie, if someone
is interested, give the audience to your website again and
how they can best contact you if they have any
questions or if they do want to go ahead and
work with you. I know, we don't get our notices
mailed out until you know, the first week or so
(23:33):
in April, so we still have a little bit more time,
but then they are certified by the end of July, right,
So you've got a short window there where you have
to ensure that you are working on this. It's not
like you have the rest of the year to do it.
Speaker 2 (23:48):
Absolutely, and this is a great point to bramptonis So
basically the deadline for us to follow protest is thirty
days after the appraisal notice or May fifteenth, whichever is later,
and so so typically it's May fifteenth for a majority ofccountings,
And so we encourage you to act quickly on this
and to engage our services and file up protests as
(24:09):
soon as you can, because once that May fifteenth deadline passes,
even though you don't receive your tax bill until the
end of the year, you're not able to do anything
about it. After that May fifteenth deadline or thirty days
after your praise most comes out. So it's very important
you act timely. And a lot of people they'll call
us when they get that tax bill in the mail
in November or December and say, hey, I want to
(24:30):
protest it, and unfortunately it's too late because the deadline
was many months before that. So it is important to
get moving on this quickly and early in the process.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
So let's go ahead and go over the ways that
people can contact you.
Speaker 2 (24:44):
Absolutely, so I would encourage everyone to visit our website
that's Guildenson dot com and I'll spell that out. It's
g I L L D E N S O N
dot com and you can also google it so Guildenson
dot com. On the website, they can choose to sign
up directly. There's a get started button that they click,
and when they're on that get started page, I just
(25:06):
asked that they insert a discount code to make sure
they get our lowest rate, because, like I said, if
you're listening to the show your friend's family affiliates of Dana,
you're going to get a discount. So anyone listening, they
just enter enter SI N M O NS on that
discount code field on page two, and that'll get them
(25:27):
a discount of twenty five percent contingency fee. They can
also call us anytime. There's a phone number on our website.
I can also give it out. Now it's a one
eight hundred number, but one of only two or three
staff members answer the phone to a small office one
eight hundred nine to one eight three five zero two,
(25:47):
And we'd be happy to answer any questions, whether you
have a complex tax situation or you just want to
call and ask about your situation, or just talk with
us before you sign up. We'd be happy to have
that discussion.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Well, it has been such a pleasure so much good information, Richie,
thank you so much, and we will have on our
Facebook page that flyer with your information as well as
that discount code. They can call my office at any
point in time and we'll have all of that. If
they didn't write down your phone number and they need that,
we will make sure that we can get that over
(26:22):
to them. But this information has been so valuable. I
really appreciate you taking your time on a Saturday to
stop and do this for us. So thank you again,
and we appreciate you very much.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Thank you very much. Have a great day, Danna, and
allis forward to speaking with more of your listeners.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Thank you so much. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (26:43):
Well, when we come back, we're going to also talk
with our let Salsado First Financial Bank, because we're going
to talk about what happens when you get that tax
bill in, or your mortgage company gets that tax bill in,
or maybe it's your insurance that's gone up and your
escrow is short. We're going to talk through what can
you do, how can you manage that? So don't go away.
(27:07):
This is the Dana Simmons Show. Welcome back. This is
Dana Simmons and we have been visiting with Richie Gil.
He is with Gil Dinson in Company. They are property
tax consultants and wow, so much good information that he
provided in the last segment. So if you are worried
(27:30):
about your tax appraisal when it comes out first week
of April and you need someone to fight for you,
there's no cost unless he gets you a reduction. So
I think it's a no brainer to be able to
get them to help you. We will have on my
Facebook page at Dana Simmons real Estate their information as
(27:50):
well as the code that you can use to be
able to get a reduced cost for the services that
he provides. If you have questions about which exemptions you
can get, if you can get your tax property protested,
any of that, give him a call and at Gildenson
(28:11):
and Company and they can help you. He told us
about how he has a connection here. His dad was here,
so he's very familiar with Southeast Texas and I think
would do a great job in assisting you. Also with
me today is our salceto with First Financial Bank. And
as we're talking about increase and not only property taxes
but man insurance, it's killing me the way insurance costs
(28:35):
keep going up. We've got to figure out something to
do on that. Let me just say, I don't know
who we need to talk to, but we got to
talk to somebody. We know that in your escrow account
that can come up short at the end of the
year whenever your mortgage company is assessing what's there as
they pay your taxes and as they pay your insurance,
and then they're going to send you a letter that says, hey,
(28:57):
there's a shortage. So let's talk about that. Are let
what are the things that you can do to number one,
try to ensure that that doesn't happen. Let's talk first
about when you buy your house and you go ahead
and get those scros started, what are some things you
can do to make sure that after that first year
(29:18):
it's not going to end up with a large shortage.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (29:21):
So one of the first things that I always tell
my customers is going to be to make sure that
they file for their homestead exemption. So if they were
listening in earlier on on the radio show, you would
have heard that your homestead exemption is generally the first
exemption that home buyers end up applying that saves them
a significant amount in taxes and it's very important and
it's super.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Easy to do.
Speaker 4 (29:41):
All you really have to do is go update your
driver's license and show that that's the property that you're
living and residing in, and you can go to your
county and go ahead and apply for that homestead exemption.
That's where you're going to see the most savings up front.
And not only that, but the other thing that we're
going to look at is your insurances, because your insurances
(30:03):
after that first year, a lot of the times that's
where you may see an increase. So it's super important
for you to take a look at your escro analysis
that you're receiving. I know a lot of the times
we receive a lot of mail and your escro analysis
is probably the last thing you're thinking of, but it's
super important to take a look at it and make
sure that we're in Jefferson County, so a lot of
(30:23):
the times we're going to have a separate homeowners insurance
and a separate windstorm quote. So whenever you're looking at that,
make sure that if it's not uncommon for it to
increase some but if it increases substantially, then maybe you
want to consider shopping your insurance at that point, because
the first year you may have a good, great discount,
whatever it is, but then after that then you may
(30:46):
see it increase. And shopping isn't going to hurt you.
It might take some of your time, but it's not
going to hurt you, and it's usually going to work
out best.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
Right, and you're right.
Speaker 1 (30:55):
When you first buy a home, you are a lot
of times the mortgage company is basing the inch the
tax amount on the previous owner's situation. But we all
know that the appraised value may be less. It may be,
and then once it sells, they reappraise it. So let's
say it was someone who was over sixty five and
(31:17):
that value was somewhat held to a certain level and
then they sold the property. When that happens, often that
tax amount is going to go up. And so that's
one instance, but it's also let's say that you are
buying a brand new construction and the appraised value that
the tax office has on there is because it was
(31:37):
only fifty percent complete and you're not looking at one
hundred percent completion. So the following year when they appraise
it it's one hundred percent complete, that's going to be
a significant increase so talk about how you can set
the stage up front to be able to prevent a
significant shortage in those situations.
Speaker 4 (31:57):
Well, in those cases, it's really important, especial if you're
buying a new construction or if you have one of
those efficient situations where you're carrying more than one exemption,
that you speak with your lender whenever you're first setting
up that escrow account, because whenever I have that conversation
with my customer, I'm going to let them know, like, hey,
you know, your taxes are going to be significantly low
this year, but we're going to give you the opportunity
(32:20):
or the option to either kind of collect for the
improved because at that point, it's going to take into
account like an estimate, So we're kind of estimating what
your taxes should be that next year once it's fully complete,
because like you said, it may have been appraised whenever
it was only twenty five to fifty percent complete. So
if you have the if you don't have the funds,
(32:41):
or you don't think that you're going to be saving
enough separately aside from whatever your mortgage payment is, then
I would say that you have that conversation so that
upfront whenever we set up your escrow account, we are
collecting for what's going to happen once the property is
fully assessed and what that value is.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
Yeah, and the other side to that is, let's say
you do set it up at one hundred percent and
then when your tax bill comes in it's less. Oftentimes
you'll have an overage. You can get that overage back.
The challenge is telling your escro company not to reassess
that value because then the following year it's going to
be short. So talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 4 (33:20):
So if you do have that situation, you do have
to call your servicer back, because I've seen it happen
before where they'll issue you a full refund for whatever
the taxes were for that year or whatever we were collecting.
And that refund, it's super important that you just keep it,
save it, don't spend it, because you have to reapply
that back to your ESCO account. You have to redeposit
(33:40):
it into that so that next year, whenever they're analyzing
and that ESCRO analysis goes out again, you're going to
see that, Oh, well, now they want to charge you
for the overage plus what the taxes are going to
be now so you end up seeing your payment go up,
not just what it should have gone up, but plus
some because they're taking into account whatever they had practically
(34:01):
reimbursed you already.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
So challenging.
Speaker 4 (34:04):
It is very challenging, and that's why it's so important
to make sure that you're looking at that because if not,
if you are struggling, whatever it is, then you're not
going to be able to afford that payment at that point.
Speaker 1 (34:16):
And so the challenge is, let's say you're short twelve
hundred dollars. Let's use some round numbers here. Okay, you're
short twelve hundred dollars, they're gonna want to they're gonna
want you to either pay the twelve one hundred dollars
up front or they're going to add it to your
monthly note. So that's one hundred dollars, but because it
went up, they've got to add another one hundred dollars
so that your account next year won't be short. So
(34:39):
that's an additional two hundred dollars a month. That for
some people is a big challenge. And those are just
round numbers. Sometimes it's more than that. Yeah, sometimes it's
five thousand dollars. And so you're looking at a very
big chunk.
Speaker 3 (34:52):
Of change, so managing.
Speaker 1 (34:54):
Your ESCRA account is critical. One of the other things
I've had to help people do that have that really
help them reduce their note a little bit is that
if they're seeing their you know, taxes and insurance go up,
and they've been in the house for a little while
and they have equity there, they didn't put twenty percent
down initially, one of the things we can do is
(35:16):
talk to the mortgage company about potentially removing the PMI,
So assessing it then seeing if we can get them
to remove that PMI will allow that price to go
down at least a little bit, to be able to
help them reduce a little bit.
Speaker 4 (35:31):
Yeah, and that's honestly, that's one of those great tools
that you also need to know because depending on what
kind of loan option you have, your PMI or mortage
insurance whatever it is, could be anywhere from eighty to
two hundred and fifty dollars or depending on whatever your
loan amount ended up being like, it could be pretty significant.
So whenever you're doing that, if you've been in the
(35:53):
home long enough and you think that your loan of
value is usually eighty percent, but I think it automatically
falls off at seventy eight. So if that's the case
for you, then you may want to look into that
because that's also going to save you a little bit
at the end of the year.
Speaker 1 (36:07):
Well and seventy eight percent of what you first purchased
it for, So if values have gone up, you're paying
that without needing to because your value has gone up
and you are at least eighty percent into it. So
there are things that you can do, and talking to
your lender is critical. One of the things I also
think is super important are lot is that you understand
(36:30):
the local insurance challenges. So a lot of times when
people are dealing with out of town lenders, they don't
know about the separate windstorm some properties have flood insurance
required and the homeowners here and they don't understand that
our taxes are a little bit on the higher side.
So talk a little bit about how being a local
lender can truly make a difference.
Speaker 4 (36:52):
So it does make a difference because whenever you're even
whenever you're online and kind of trying to see what
is my monthly payment going to be for this proper
you're in there and you're playing around with those calculators
that are on there, But really and truly they're not
taking into account the insurances that we usually carry because,
like I had said earlier and you just mentioned now,
you're gonna have your homeowner's policy. Usually that's a little
(37:14):
bit less, but you have to take into account your
separate windstorm policy. And whenever it's a separate policy, you
tend to pay a little bit more for those policies.
And then not only that, but we take into account
your flood zone too. We do have areas that are
in a flood zone. So if that's something that's gonna
make or break, if you're already thinking that you're spending
top dollar on what your monthly payment is, then we
(37:34):
really need to make sure that the property you're purchasing
isn't in that flood zone where and the same goes
like if I were to go ahead and help someone
that's purchasing out of this area, I sometimes overestimate their
insurances because I'm so used to our area and being
in Jefferson County, Orange County, Harding County that whenever someone
tells me that they're purchasing in val Verde County, that
(37:59):
I'm like, oh, well, I'm going to say that your
insurances are I don't know, two hundred and fifty dollars
a month, and then they get me a quote and
it's one hundred dollars.
Speaker 3 (38:08):
Well there you go.
Speaker 1 (38:10):
Yeah, those those simple things make a big difference. I
had a last week received a pre approval letter on
a property that we have listed, and it was for
Harris County. Is what the big lender, a national lender,
had posted Harris County on that pre approval And I
told my seller, I said, we want a pre approval
that has Jefferson County. We need to make sure that
(38:32):
this preapprove approval is accurate because counties can make a difference.
And when you're in Jefferson County, it is a little
bit higher on your insurance premium, and that could on
a two hundred thousand dollars house, that could impact that
borrower's ability to be able to purchase that house. So
or let's talk a little bit. If someone has questions
(38:54):
about their escrow account about how they can get that paid,
how would they get in touch with you?
Speaker 4 (39:00):
If you have any questions, you can give me a
call at four oh nine four seven four one five
zero three, or you can email me at A southsel
s A U C E d O at f FI
N dot com.
Speaker 1 (39:13):
Okay, and I always have to when I'm typing your
name a sauce do. It's just the easier way to
do it. So if you didn't get all of that,
it's just a sauce do. That's how you spell it.
And our lat is with First Financial Bank and there
are seven branches all over Southeast Texas. But you just
(39:33):
like you said, you can help anyone anywhere in.
Speaker 3 (39:36):
The state of Texas. Correct, yes, meam, and you do
faha V.
Speaker 4 (39:40):
A U S the A in house loans. We have
some great grant options as well. Just recently had some clothes.
So it's honestly, you have any questions, just feel free
to reach out.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
Well, And what I love is it's not just putting
someone just in a box. Just this week, I had
one of our clients reach out to you about doing
a bridge loan.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
That's right.
Speaker 4 (40:01):
We did do a bridge loan and we work those
with our consumer lenders. But honestly, it's so good to
have that relationship with our consumer lenders and being able
to offer both products from secondary market to in house financing, and.
Speaker 1 (40:14):
This client didn't even know that this would be an option. Yeah,
and so that's what I love you sit down. People
can sit down and even talk to you face to
face because you're local, and you can say, Okay, what
are you trying to do and then be able to say,
let's work on what's going to be the best way
for you to move forward in this situation. And it's
not them having to come and say, hey, I want
(40:35):
an faha loan when an faha loan might not be
the best fit for them.
Speaker 3 (40:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (40:39):
No, And then you have to take into account what
that customer is wanting and making sure that they're comfortable,
because at the end of the day, I would hate
to put someone in a situation where they aren't comfortable
or they're you know, living paycheck to paycheck or whatever
it is. But just making sure that we're meeting their
needs as well. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:55):
And one of the benefits is that you also speak Spanish.
Speaker 4 (40:57):
I do speak Spanish as well.
Speaker 3 (40:59):
I'm just thanking on it.
Speaker 1 (41:00):
So you can communicate with clients either in English or Spanish.
And you have some great loan programs for people who
are I ten right, yes, me M Okay, well, I
am so thankful to have had you on the show
and also appreciate Richie Gil being here and talking about
property taxes. We thank you so much for joining us today.
(41:21):
We hope you have a great Saturday. This is Dana
Simmons with the Dana Simmons Show.
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Betrayal Weekly is back for a new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. If you would like to share your story, you can reach out to the Betrayal Team by emailing them at betrayalpod@gmail.com and follow us on Instagram at @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com