Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse of Central Texas

The Houston Chronicle
August 27, 2010

As foreclosures continue to climb in the region, a dozen homeowners are suing the Fort Bend County appraisal district for allegedly violating a new state law that mandates foreclosures be included in assessing the value of their homes for taxes.

The law, effective this year, was pushed by lawmakers who feared appraisers were ignoring foreclosures to protect the tax base of government entities.

There's untold money at stake in appraisals, authorities say, as foreclosures continue a steep rise.

Fort Bend, Montgomery and Harris counties have seen a 25 percent increase in foreclosures over the first eight months of this year, compared with the same period in 2009, according to data provided by Harris County chief appraiser Jim Robinson. The number of foreclosures increased by 1,764 to 8,898.

And those homes aren't selling at premium prices. In Harris County, 69 percent of foreclosure sales in the last 20 months sold for $80,000 or less, according to the appraisal district.

Steven Campbell, lead plaintiff in the lawsuit against the Fort Bend appraisal district, came prepared with his own PowerPoint presentation when he recently protested the appraisal of his home in the upscale Lakes Of Mission Grove subdivision in Richmond.

He carefully detailed how a total of five homes in his subdivision section had sold last year that could be used to calculate the market value of his house for 2010 taxes. Two of the five were foreclosures. One sold "short," or under duress for less than was owed. The remaining two were regular sales.

To Read More from the Source:http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7173519.html