Every spring, millions of Texas homeowners face the same decision. The Notice of Appraised Value arrives in the mail, the number is higher than last year, and it is time to decide what to do about it. You know you should protest. The question is how.
Should you do it yourself? Use a tool to help? Hire a professional consultant? Bring in a tax attorney?
The property tax protest industry in Texas generates hundreds of millions of dollars in fees every year. A significant portion of that money comes from homeowners who could have handled the process themselves with the right evidence and a basic understanding of how hearings work. That does not mean consultants are a bad choice for everyone. It means the decision deserves better analysis than most homeowners give it.
Here is the honest breakdown, with real numbers, so you can make the decision that makes sense for your situation.
The four ways to protest your property taxes in Texas
Texas homeowners essentially have four options when it comes to protesting their property taxes. Each sits at a different point on the cost-vs-effort spectrum. None is universally wrong. But one is probably right for you.
Option 1: DIY alone (free)
You research comparable properties yourself, pull your own data from the appraisal district website, build your own evidence packet, file the protest, and attend the hearing. Total cost: your time.
Option 2: DIY with a toolkit ($79 flat fee)
You use a service like ours that generates a professional evidence packet with comparable properties, valuation analysis, and filing instructions. You still file and attend the hearing yourself, but the research is done for you.
Option 3: Property tax consultant (25-50% of first-year savings)
A professional firm handles everything: filing, evidence, hearing attendance. They take a percentage of whatever savings they achieve, typically 25-50% of your first-year tax reduction. Many auto-renew annually.
Option 4: Tax attorney ($200-500+/hr)
A licensed attorney handles your protest, usually reserved for complex cases, commercial property, or situations involving legal disputes with the appraisal district. Billed hourly or on a flat-fee engagement.
For the vast majority of Texas residential homeowners, the real decision comes down to the first three options. Tax attorneys make sense for commercial properties and contested legal issues, but they are overkill for a typical single-family home protest.
Side-by-side comparison
Here is how the four options stack up across the factors that actually matter. These numbers reflect typical Texas residential property protests based on county appraisal district data and industry reporting.
| Feature | DIY Alone | Our Toolkit ($79) | Consultant (25-50%) | Attorney ($200+/hr) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | $79 flat | $300–$2,000+ | $1,000–$5,000+ |
| Evidence quality | Variable | Pre-built packet | Professional | Professional |
| Time investment | 4–8 hours | 30 minutes | ~0 (they handle it) | ~0 |
| % savings you keep | 100% | 100% | 50–75% | Varies |
| Recurring fees | None | None | Annual (auto-renew) | Per engagement |
| Files for you | No | No (you file) | Yes | Yes |
| Typical success rate | ~50–60% | ~70–80% | ~70–80% | ~80%+ |
The table reveals something important: for a typical residential home, the difference in outcomes between a $79 toolkit and a consultant charging hundreds of dollars is small. The real gap is between showing up with no evidence (DIY alone with weak preparation) and showing up with solid comparable-property data (either from a toolkit or a consultant).
The math that actually matters
Forget the marketing. Forget the testimonials. The decision between DIY, a toolkit, and a consultant comes down to arithmetic. Let us walk through a real example using Dallas County data.
Dallas County example: Median protest reduction
Median appraised value reduction: $29,381
Effective tax rate: ~2.3%
Annual tax savings: $29,381 × 2.3% = $675 per year
The 5-year picture is where it gets stark
DIY alone (5 years): $675 × 5 = $3,375 total savings
Our toolkit (5 years): $596 + ($675 × 4) = $3,296 total savings
Consultant at 40% (5 years, auto-renew): $405 × 5 = $2,025 total savings
Over five years, the consultant takes $1,350 more of your savings than the flat-fee toolkit. That difference pays for a lot of other things.
The critical detail many homeowners miss is the auto-renewal. Most property tax consulting firms sign you up on a recurring contract. They file on your behalf every year and take their percentage every year, whether or not they achieve a meaningful new reduction. Some firms are upfront about this. Others bury it in the fine print.
A one-time toolkit fee buys you the evidence you need for this year. Next year, you can decide again. There is no lock-in, no percentage, no auto-renew.
Find out if your property is over-assessed
Our free scorer checks your property against neighborhood comparables in seconds. No sign-up required.
Check Your Property FreeWhen to DIY your property tax protest
Going fully DIY makes sense if you have the time, the inclination, and a straightforward case. Here are the situations where DIY alone works well.
Your property is clearly over-assessed
If you know of three or four similar homes on your street that sold for less than your appraised value, you already have the core of your evidence. A few hours on the appraisal district website and you can build a solid case.
You are comfortable with basic research
If you can navigate a county website, compare price-per-square-foot figures, and organize a simple spreadsheet, you have the skills. The 30-minute protest checklist walks you through every step.
You want to keep 100% of your savings
There is no cheaper option than free. If you have 4-8 hours to spare during protest season and would rather keep every dollar of your reduction, DIY is the way to go.
You have time to prepare evidence and attend the hearing
The hearing itself is usually 15-20 minutes. But preparing strong evidence — finding comparables, calculating adjustments, organizing your presentation — takes real time. If you have that time, you do not need anyone else. Read our hearing scripts guide for exactly what to say.
The risk with full DIY is evidence quality. Showing up with vague assertions about your home being overvalued is not a protest — it is a conversation that the appraisal review board has heard a thousand times. Showing up with five comparable properties, adjusted for square footage and condition, is an argument they have to address.
When to use a toolkit
A toolkit sits in the sweet spot between DIY and hiring a consultant. You still file and present your own case, but the research — the part that takes the most time and determines whether you win — is done for you.
You want professional-quality evidence without the learning curve
Our toolkit generates an evidence packet with comparable properties selected from your county's appraisal data, adjusted for differences, and formatted for the appraisal review board. You get what a consultant would prepare, without the consultant's fee.
You are comfortable filing but want the research done for you
Filing a protest is straightforward in most Texas counties — often just an online form. The hard part is building the evidence. If you can handle a 15-minute hearing but do not want to spend 6 hours pulling comparable property data, a toolkit is the right balance.
You want the best ROI
At $79 flat, you keep 100% of your tax savings after a one-time cost. Compare that to a consultant taking 25-50% of your savings every year. On the Dallas County median reduction, the toolkit pays for itself in the first month of savings.
You are protesting for the first time
First-time protesters often underestimate the importance of evidence and overestimate the difficulty of the hearing. A toolkit solves the evidence problem, and our decision framework tells you whether your case is strong enough to win.
When to hire a consultant
Property tax consultants exist for a reason. There are situations where their expertise and representation genuinely justify the percentage fee. Here is when it makes sense to hire one.
Your property is complex
Commercial properties, multi-family buildings, mixed-use developments, and unusual residential properties (historic homes, waterfront, acreage) require specialized valuation knowledge. A consultant who works with these property types regularly will build a better case than a toolkit designed for typical residential homes.
You genuinely cannot deal with the process
Some people have neither the time nor the temperament for a property tax hearing. If the idea of attending a hearing (even a brief one) is a dealbreaker, a consultant handles everything. That convenience has a price, and for some homeowners, it is worth it.
Your potential savings are very large
If your home is a $1.5 million property that appears over-assessed by $200,000, the potential tax savings could be $4,600 per year. Even at a 40% consultant fee, you are netting $2,760. When the stakes are this high, a consultant's experience negotiating large reductions can be valuable.
You have a contested legal issue
If the appraisal district has made an error that they refuse to correct, if you have an exemption dispute, or if your case needs to go to binding arbitration or district court, you need professional representation. This is where tax attorneys (not just consultants) earn their fees.
What the data reveals about agent-filed vs owner-filed protests
Here is where the conversation gets interesting. Texas appraisal districts track whether protests are filed by the property owner or by an authorized agent (consultant). The numbers tell a story that the property tax consulting industry would rather you did not see.
Agent-filed protest rates by county
Think about those numbers. More than three out of four protests in the two largest Texas counties are filed by professional agents. That is an enormous market. Hundreds of thousands of homeowners paying percentage-based fees every year.
But here is the part that matters most: success rates for owner-filed protests with comparable evidence are surprisingly close to agent-filed results. The appraisal review board does not care who presents the evidence. They care about the evidence itself. Five strong comparable properties presented by a homeowner carry the same weight as five strong comparable properties presented by a consultant in a suit.
The consulting industry thrives on volume. A firm that files 10,000 protests per year with a 70% success rate and a 40% fee generates millions in revenue. Even at moderate per-case savings, the math works beautifully — for the consultant. The question is whether it works as well for you.
For a typical single-family home, the evidence that wins a protest is straightforward: comparable properties in your area that sold or were appraised at lower per-square-foot values than your home. You do not need a decade of industry experience to present that data. You need the data itself, organized clearly.
The hidden cost most homeowners miss
The biggest issue with property tax consultants is not the fee itself. It is the auto-renewal.
Most consulting agreements include a clause that automatically re-enrolls you for the following tax year unless you cancel by a specific date, often 30-60 days before the protest filing deadline. That means even if your property value does not change significantly, the consultant files again, and if they achieve any reduction at all — even one that would have happened without their involvement — they take their percentage.
Some consultants are transparent about this. They will tell you upfront that they auto-renew and explain the cancellation process. Others make it easy to sign up and difficult to opt out. Read the agreement carefully before you sign. Look specifically for:
- Auto-renewal clauses and cancellation deadlines
- Whether the percentage fee applies to total savings or just savings beyond a threshold
- Whether they charge a fee even if your value stays the same (some charge a minimum)
- How they calculate "savings" — is it reduction from the appraised value or from what the value would have been without a protest?
With a flat-fee toolkit, there is no recurring cost, no auto-renewal, and no percentage. You pay once, get your evidence, and keep every dollar of your reduction. If you want to protest again next year, you decide then.
A simple framework for making your decision
Cut through the noise. Ask yourself these three questions.
1. Is your property typical or unusual?
If you own a standard single-family home in a neighborhood with similar homes, your case is straightforward and well-suited to DIY or a toolkit. If your property is commercial, multi-use, or truly unique, consider a consultant with experience in that property type.
2. Are you willing to spend 30 minutes on a hearing?
If yes, a toolkit gives you professional evidence at a fraction of consultant cost. If the idea of a hearing is a hard no, a consultant handles it for you. That is a legitimate reason to hire one — just know what you are paying for the convenience.
3. What are the potential savings?
On a $675 annual savings, a 40% consultant fee costs $270/year. On a $4,600 savings, it costs $1,840/year. The percentage fee scales with your property value. For most Texas homes, the toolkit's $79 flat fee is the better deal. For high-value properties with complex cases, the consultant's expertise may justify the cost. Use our decision framework to determine your specific situation.
Start with a free check
Before you decide between DIY, a toolkit, or a consultant, find out if your property is actually over-assessed. There is no point hiring anyone — or spending your own time — if your property is fairly valued relative to your neighbors.
Our free scorer tool compares your property against neighborhood comparables using real appraisal district data. It takes about 10 seconds. You will see your property's score, how it compares to similar homes, and whether the numbers suggest a protest is worth filing.
If the data shows you are over-assessed, our $79 toolkit generates a complete evidence packet with comparable properties, valuation analysis, and step-by-step filing instructions. You keep 100% of your savings. No percentage fee. No auto-renewal.
For a complete walkthrough of the Texas property tax protest process, read our full guide. For county-specific instructions, check the Harris County and Dallas County guides.