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It's a busy time of the year for the Bexar Central Appraisal District as appraisal protests pour in online, in the mail, and in person.
Property taxes are based on those appraisals, so the higher they are, the more you pay.
The district's chief appraiser said they may receive as many as 195,000 protests over those appraisals by this Friday's deadline.
Chief Appraiser Roy Sandoval leads a staff of 200, including 70 commercial and residential appraisers, who set property values on 600,000 properties. It's a big job.
When it comes to residential neighborhoods, home appraisals are done en masse, based on what price homes are selling for.
He said that's why a homeowner may want to consider filing a protest.
"When a homeowner files that protest, we get to the specifics of your individual home, because again, we don't know what's going on inside. We don't know what repairs are needed. We don't know what damages you may have," Sandoval said.
The average residential appraisal is nearly 2% lower this year, compared to last, to around $330,454.
Sandoval said the San Antonio area's overall housing and commercial property market values flatlined in 2025.
"Unlike the pandemic years, where we had double-digit increases in 2022 and 2023, this has been a relatively flat market," he said. Overall, from last year to this year, our appraisal roll went up 2.5%, but 2% of that was new construction, which I think on the residential side was 12,000 new homes, and we picked up some new construction on commercial, so only ... half-a-percent of that was actually reappraisals, so this market has been flat."
A lot of Bexar County residents have been receiving pitches from tax management companies in the mail, offering to protest appraisals on a homeowner's behalf, but Sandoval says there is no need to pay them for that when you can do it yourself.
He said he does not like the term "protest," which does sound confrontational in nature. He said his staff is instructed to treat everyone with care and respect.
"For the past several years, we have had an 85 to 88% settlement rate, informally, which means from the first opportunity you get to speak to my staff, we come to an agreement."
And the chief appraiser said even if you didn't receive notice your appraisal went up, you can still file a protest.
The fastest way to file a protest before the deadline is online.
