Property Condition Evidence

Why condition can matter

Texas Tax Code § 23.013(d) lists property condition among the factors that determine whether properties are comparable, and the Comptroller's ARB guidance lists repair receipts and estimates among what owners should gather. If your property has a significant condition problem — a foundation issue, an aging roof, major deferred maintenance, damage — that evidence speaks to what a willing buyer would pay, which is what market value measures.

What condition evidence does not do

No official Texas source assigns a fixed percentage or dollar reduction for a given condition problem, and neither do we. Claims like "foundation damage reduces value by 20%" have no basis in the statutes or the Comptroller's guidance; value effects depend on the property, the market, and the evidence as a whole. Anyone who tells you a specific number applies automatically is guessing.

How to document condition

• Photographs. Dated, wide and close, showing the issue and its context.
• Contractor estimates. Itemized, signed, and current — the Comptroller's guidance lists "receipts or estimates for repairs."
• Professional reports. Engineering reports are named in the official guidance for significant structural questions.
• Consistency. Make sure what you document matches the property record's description of your property; a mismatch with the district's characteristics is itself worth raising.

Repair now or document first?

We cannot tell you whether to repair before a hearing — that is a judgment about your property and market. What we can say: completed repairs with receipts and before/after photographs, and unrepaired conditions with estimates, are both recognized evidence forms. What tends to weaken an argument is neither: conditions asserted without any documentation.

Where condition fits in the protest

Condition evidence usually supports a market-value argument: that the appraised value exceeds what the property, in its condition, would bring under the statutory market-value definition. See the evidence guide and the market value explainer.