2020 has been a challenging year for us all. In our part of San Antonio, COVID-19 has meant some challenges for tenants to pay rent, job losses and the new normal of home schooling and practicing Social Distancing. Last week we experienced an EF-1 Tornado touch down followed a few nights later with a hail storm. And being that it is late spring, another Texas tradition has come around. The release of 2020 assessed property values be Texas Counties!

I have often heard that the only two things in life that are guaranteed are death and taxes. Unlike most other states, Texas definitely puts an emphasis on these property values as Texas does not have a state income tax. In addition to sales tax, the property tax is the largest tool we have to collect funds to operate schools, hospitals, fire departments, city government, county government and state government.

A lot has been made of the fact that our property tax percentages have not increased however property values have increased so you will still see an increase in taxes. Bexar County released it's 2020 valuations last week. We are already looking at 2020 proposed values against 2019 actual assessed values. For all of the properties we manage, in all but 3 cases, those values increased.

The reason that these values continue to increase year over year is that our San Antonio market still remains strong. Our average home sales price in Bexar County was $265,000 at the end of March 2020 with an average sales price of $125 per square foot. Compared to the same time in 2019, the average home sales price at the end of March was $249,996 with an average price per square foot of $119. Our average Days on Market for March 2020 was 65 compared to 61 at the end of March 2019. 

Our next step for our owners we manage for is to evaluate if the values exceed the true market value of the property. If so, then we will file to protest the values and supply our documentation. The deadline to protest is June 29, 2020. This is just another no cost benefit w provide for our owners to help them maximize the return of their properties. 

While we believe in paying our fair share in taxes, we don't want to pay more than what the property should be valued for. Much has been discussed for a state wide appraisal system since each of Texas's 254 counties must determine how they will assess property values. Stay tuned for more and let's hope the rest of 2020 isn't near as crazy as the first half!