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After
his years on the city council and in the real estate
business, it is incredible that former council member
Bill Blaydes finally realizes that
ultra large homes are undervalued for
tax purposes. He tells
Chris Heinbaugh: ?They live in a different world than you or I
do.? After all
these years, what world he has been living in?
Yes, these high-end
properties are undervalued, and have been for a long
time. Back when several near completed homes on
Strait Lane caught fire and burned to the ground, the
Dallas Morning News
reported the tax value vs the replacement value was
way out of sync. That was a long time ago!
When completed by developers (the same ones who
are constantly down at city hall Jonesing for tax abatements),
these homes were not appraised correctly to begin with.
I find it strange that Blaydes has now figured
this out.
How can this be?
If you can afford to build such an uber house,
then you can afford to hire the expertise to fight the appraisal district much
like Henry Miller is doing about those upscale retail
shopping centers with a pending action in court. Rest
assured, the appraisal district
will settle, as opposed to going to court.
We regular Joes (whose
primary reason for home ownership is for living in and
raising our families) are at a disadvantage compared
to the big guys who can afford big guns to fight their appraisals.
We don?t have the time, money or expertise to
fight the appraisal bully. As a result,
our home appraisals go unchallenged higher and higher
each year until we are taxed out of our homes, and cannot
sell them at the price appraised.
Wonder how Blaydes came to this cathartic revelation
after all these years? When
he was on the city council, he was
the best friend of developers and the ultra rich.
Like Will Rogers, he
never met a tax abatement to a developer he did not like. His
moaning about this long standing discrepancy is curious to say the least.
Especially, when one notes the full sales
disclosure that was before the Texas Legislature failed along with the proposed
appraisal cap of 5% percent thanks to the likes of Rep.
Fred Hill and local governmental lobbying against the 5% cap.
Sorry, Bill, but I still
remember your failed play against the owner of the
Overhead Door company when you tried to steal his land
and business for the benefit of your
developer/speculator friends.
I still support the 5% cap on appraisals.
Even for the undervalued uber homes, I would support a
3% cap if they approve mandatory sales price
disclosure. We regular people cannot afford to
fight against the bullies in local government who know we are an easy mark.
In closing, Bill Blaydes remindes
me of a crocodile shedding tears as it eats its
victim.
David W. Tuthill
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