Pre-Offer Buyer Research Report
Travis Heights · Travis County · Single-family residence
Prepared for a prospective homebuyer · Research date: May 30, 2026
Here are the bones of the property exactly as the Travis Central Appraisal District (TCAD) and the Travis County Tax Office record them. These are the figures an appraiser and lender will start from.
Source for all of the above: [PRIMARY: TCAD / Travis County Tax Office]
The most recent net appraised value on record (2025 tax year) was $1,287,000. The 2026 value has been set at $1,129,060 (land $534,720 + improvement $594,340) but is currently marked “Under Review” — the owner has filed an Appraisal Review Board (ARB) protest with a hearing scheduled June 1, 2026, so that number is not final. [PRIMARY: TCAD]
The actual most-recent annual property tax bill was:
| Tax year | Tax billed | Status | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $26,338.27 | Paid 01/20/2026 | [PRIMARY] |
| 2024 | $27,018.19 | Paid 01/16/2025 | [PRIMARY] |
| 2023 | $16,136.87 | Paid 01/25/2024 | [PRIMARY] |
| 2022 | $16,561.68 | Paid 12/31/2022 | [PRIMARY] |
| 2021 | $16,658.72 | Paid | [PRIMARY] |
Through 2022–2023 a Texas homestead 10%/yr cap was holding the taxable value well below market. In 2024 that cap disappeared (net value became full market), which roughly doubled the bill — consistent with the home losing its homestead exemption when it was converted to a rental/short-term rental. This matters to you: Texas bills don’t carry over a prior owner’s homestead status. After an April 2026 sale and with the 2026 value still under protest, your going-forward bill will be recomputed. If you’ll live here as your primary residence you can file for a homestead exemption — but confirm the actual going-forward amount directly with the Travis County Tax Office rather than assuming any number above. [PRIMARY: TCAD / Tax Office]
A note on rates: Texas tax bills are the sum of six overlapping unit rates (Austin ISD, City of Austin, Travis County, TCAD, Travis County Healthcare District, Austin Community College District). We did not read each published rate, so we assert no rate here — and dividing the bill by the assessed value does not produce a meaningful “rate,” so we don’t print one.
The assessor’s “Main Area” is 2,019 sqft [PRIMARY: TCAD]. Marketing figures vary: one aggregator snippet shows 1,923 sqft, and Redfin’s $478/sqft on the $999K list implies roughly 2,090 sqft [AGGREGATOR]. The listing itself says “Buyer to verify all info.” Why it matters: $/sqft, the appraisal, and resale all hinge on the real number — so have your appraiser field-measure the gross living area. Note too that marketing describes 2 bedrooms on the main level plus an upstairs primary suite and a bonus room/guest suite with its own entrance and full bath (used as a short-term rental); make sure any such space is permitted and properly counted. [AGGREGATOR]
This is a records scan, not a title commitment — title is NOT asserted clear. Your title company or real-estate attorney will run the recorder index to confirm the current vesting deed and any liens before closing. That step is normal and is exactly what catches anything here.
Below are the recent nearby sales assembled for this property. One thing to anchor on first: Texas is a non-disclosure state, so actual closing prices are not recorded in public deed records. Every price in this table is an MLS/listing-site figure — none is a recorder-verified closing. Treat them as strong directional evidence, not gospel, and have your agent/appraiser confirm.
| Address | Closed | Price | Bd/Ba | SqFt | $/sqft | Source / flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 217 Leland St, 78704 | 2025-12-05 | $1,090,000 | 4/3 | 1,896 | $575 | [AGGREGATOR] |
| 1800 Alta Vista Ave, 78704 | 2026-02-27 | $1,050,000 | 3/3 | 2,408 | $436 | [AGGREGATOR] |
| 2002 Alta Vista Ave, 78704 | 2025-12-23 | $900,000 | 4/2.5 | 2,182 | $413 | [AGGREGATOR] |
| 1118 Gillespie Pl, 78704 | 2026-01-30 | $1,598,000 | 4/4 | 2,510 | $637 | [AGGREGATOR] High outlier |
| 1101 Manlove St, 78741 | 2026-02-18 | $1,050,000 | 4/3.5 | 1,863 | $564 | [AGGREGATOR] Diff. ZIP |
| 1617 Elmhurst Dr, 78741 | 2026-02-10 | $675,000 | 4/3 | 1,986 | $340 | [AGGREGATOR] Low outlier / diff. ZIP |
All six comps are listing-site (MLS-derived) figures, not recorder-verified closings — Texas non-disclosure means the true sale prices are not public. Confirm with your agent/appraiser before relying on any of them.
The flags above are kept in the table, not quietly averaged away, so you can see the real spread:
Including everything, the four 78704 comps cluster roughly $413–$575/sqft. Applied to the subject’s ~2,019 sqft, that points to a broad ~$0.83M–$1.16M value band. Excluding the cross-I-35 pair tightens the 78704 set to about $413–$575/sqft as well.
That comp band (~$0.83M–$1.16M) brackets both the $999,000 list price [AGGREGATOR] and the Redfin Estimate of $1,063,228 [AGGREGATOR ESTIMATE]. Two reminders: the Redfin Estimate is an automated guess — not an appraisal and not a recorded value — and the property’s 2026 assessed value ($1,129,060, still under protest) is a tax figure, not a market appraisal. The honest read: the evidence supports a value somewhere in the high-$900Ks to ~$1.06M for a clean 78704 pairing, with real uncertainty until an appraiser measures the home and confirms comps. The surrounding 78704 market in April 2026 read soft — median ~$845K, sale-to-list ~95.8%, ~91 days on market — i.e., a buyer’s market. [AGGREGATOR: Redfin]
Good news here — there’s nothing to manage. This is a detached single-family home in Travis Heights with no HOA and no condo association: no monthly dues, no resale/estoppel certificate requirement, and no association rules to clear at closing. TCAD shows no association, and the listing corroborates (Redfin lists HOA dues with no amount). [PRIMARY: TCAD] [AGGREGATOR corroborates] Nothing further to verify in this section.
The FEMA panel number and effective date are primary-source facts [PRIMARY: FEMA Map Service Center]. The exact zone label was not read directly off the FIRMette in text form, so it should be confirmed on the FEMA FIRMette or the City of Austin FloodPro viewer before you rely on it.
That said, the available indicators point to Zone X (minimal risk — outside the 1%/0.2%-annual special flood hazard area): the Redfin/First Street Flood Factor is 1/10, “Minimal risk,” and the listing carries no flood disclosure. [AGGREGATOR: First Street]
If the zone is confirmed as Zone X (as indicated), federally-backed lenders do not mandate flood insurance — but confirm the zone first before waiving it. One local note: Blunn Creek runs through Travis Heights, which is exactly why reading the actual FIRMette / FloodPro for this parcel is the right last step rather than relying on the neighborhood’s general reputation.
A couple of items from the data are worth running past the City of Austin building/development department — none of these are alarms, just the ordinary things worth confirming:
No permit-history database was pulled for this report, so treat the items above as things to confirm at the source (City of Austin permits / inspection records), not as a complete permit scan.
Color-coded by how settled each item is: Green = checked & clean, Yellow = verify before you offer, Red = a real issue. Most of this list is yellow — meaning “confirm,” not “worry.”
| Flag | Status | Why & what to do |
|---|---|---|
| Back taxes / delinquency | Green | Tax Office shows $0.00 due, all years paid through 2025. No delinquency found. [PRIMARY] |
| No HOA / condo dues | Green | Detached single-family, no association, no fees or estoppel to clear. Nothing to do. |
| Flood risk | Green | Indicators point to Zone X / “Minimal” Flood Factor (1/10). Read the FIRMette/FloodPro to confirm the zone label before waiving flood insurance. |
| Liens / mortgage / encumbrances | Yellow | UNKNOWN — recorder index was gated; not yet scanned. Your title company will run it. Title is not asserted clear. |
| Going-forward tax bill | Yellow | 2026 value under ARB protest (hearing 6/1/2026); April 2026 sale + loss of prior homestead will reset the bill. Confirm the amount with the Travis County Tax Office. |
| Square-footage discrepancy | Yellow | Assessor 2,019 sqft vs listing ~1,923–2,090. Affects $/sqft & appraisal — field-measure the GLA. |
| Closing price unknowable (free sources) | Yellow | Texas non-disclosure — don’t treat the $999K list or $1.06M Redfin Estimate as the sale price. Confirm via your own MLS/transaction. |
| Permits / former STR space | Yellow | Verify the guest-suite/bonus space is permitted with proper egress, check STR/zoning status, and get docs for the 2021 plumbing & HVAC updates. |
| Comps include cross-submarket outliers | Yellow | Two comps are in 78741 (across I-35) and one 78704 comp is a high outlier. Narrow to true Travis Heights pairs for the appraisal. |