How Ownwell Saved an Austin Developer $65,560 in Property Taxes

Client

Jon Trial is a retired real estate developer who is now a property developer in Austin, TX. He owns the industrial warehouse at 2711 Daisy Dr, Austin, TX 78724 which he is currently building and is nearing completion. The warehouse has 30,000+ square feet of flexible and rentable area.

Challenge

In 2023, Travis County had the subject property valued at $478,989, reflecting the minimal completion of improvements on the property as of 1/1/2023. In 2024, the county increased the improvement value by 1250% even though the subject property as of 1/1/2024 had not been 100% completed. Still, the county decided to value the property on an income approach, resulting in a total assessed value of $6,470,343.

Solution

Using the information provided by Mr. Trial including the survey and photos, Ownwell argued that the income method used by the county was inappropriate for a partially completed property that:

1. Doesn't have electricity, water, and a certificate of occupancy

2. Has not been given 3-5 years after the completion date to stabilize - this 3-5 year period allows a reasonable amount of time for the subject property to compete in the market and allows for trends to develop

Our opinion in the arbitration was $1,988,949 and the Board ultimately agreed and set the 2024 value to reflect Ownwell’s assessed value.

Results

Ownwell reduced the assessment value from $6,470,343 to $1,988,949, a 69% reduction in the original county assessment value, saving Mr. Trial $65,560 on his 2024 tax bill. In addition, we qualified the property for the circuit breaker passed in recent legislation which will provide Mr. Trial stability when forecasting his property’s taxable value YoY and gives him peace of mind so he’s not blindsided by rapidly increasing property values and taxes like the experience in TX during 2021 and 2022.