Why Our Founder Started Protesting

Like most great businesses, ProtestingPropertyTaxes.com started we had a problem without a solution.

In 2017, PPT cofounder Peter bought his first home in Austin, Texas. His new homeowner joy faded quickly though when he received his first property tax assessment from the Travis Country Appraisal District (TCAD).

He was shocked to see that his home was valued at 20% more than he had paid at closing only 3 months earlier. Had his home somehow appreciated in value that quickly? No, it hadn’t.

As an Ivy League trained mathematician and professor, Peter did what he does best: he researched and crunched the numbers. The numbers told a very different story than TCAD’s valuation.

Rather than combing through all of the public data by hand, Peter designed software to calculate his home’s value for him. When he saw how well it worked, he shared it with neighbors via FreeAustinAssessment.com and saw them save too.

In 2019, Peter joined forces with local experts Bill and Melinda McKenna at Austin Real Estate Partners and ProtestingPropertyTaxes.com was born.

Hear more from Peter in this Spectrum News story.