Got the letter saying you've "overlooked a refund"? The money is real. The company is optional.

§Yes, the money is probably real

Here's the part these letters get right. If you owned and lived in your Texas home but never filed a homestead exemption, you overpaid property taxes — and Texas law lets you claim the exemption retroactively and get the overpayment refunded.

So a letter quoting a specific dollar figure isn't lying about the money. These firms scan public appraisal records for homes with no exemption on file, estimate the refund, and mail the owner. What the letter never says clearly: filing is free, the form is two pages, and the refund goes to you either way. The only thing the company adds is a contract that gives them a cut of your own money.

$What the middleman costs

The letter promises "no upfront or out-of-pocket expenses" — and never states what percentage they keep. Firms like this work on contingency. Whatever their cut is, here is what it does to a refund the size of the one they quoted me:

If you're considering signing anyway, ask them one question first: "What percentage do you keep?" Get it in writing. Then look at the table again.

▸How to claim it yourself, exactly

1. Confirm you qualify for the back years

   For each tax year you're claiming: you owned the home and it was your principal residence on January 1 of that year, and you weren't claiming a homestead exemption anywhere else. Your ID (driver's license or state ID) needs to show the property address.

2. Count your window — today, not next month

   The two-year clock runs from each year's delinquency date (usually Feb 1 of the following year). Example: 2024 taxes went delinquent Feb 1, 2025, so a late application for 2024 is open until roughly Feb 1, 2027. The oldest eligible year is always the one about to fall off. Every month you wait risks losing an entire year of refund.

3. Get Form 50‑114 from your county appraisal district

   It's the standard Residence Homestead Exemption Application, free on your county appraisal district's website (find yours through the Texas Comptroller's appraisal district directory). Check the late-application box and list every year you're claiming.

4. Make the application bulletproof on day one

   This is the step that decides how fast you get paid. Include: your ID with matching address, documentation for every person on the deed, and anything that explains a complication before they ask (see the gotchas below). An application the district considers incomplete can quietly cost you months — or a whole year of the lookback.

5. Answer every request within days, in writing

   If the district asks for more information, you generally have 30 days before the application is denied — but don't use 30, use 3. Reply inside their ticket/email system so everything is timestamped. Be warm on the phone; be thorough in writing.

6. Follow up, then watch for the refund

   Processing commonly runs 60–90 days. Check your account on the appraisal district's property search; once the exemption posts and is approved, the tax collector must refund the overpayment within 60 days — automatically. If nothing moves, one polite status email referencing your account number keeps the file warm.

⚠The gotchas nobody warns you about

Everything above is in the instructions. None of what follows is. I learned each of these the hard way, in Bexar County, in 2026.

• The "completeness" trap. Some districts treat the two-year lookback as running from the date your application is complete, not the date you filed. If they sit on your file for months and then request a fix, a year you filed for on time can fall out of the window. You may have grounds to contest that reading (the statute speaks of when the application is filed) — but the real defense is filing a complete, airtight application on day one and pushing for early review.
• Silence is not progress. My application sat for months before anyone told me a signature needed fixing. Districts are swamped and late applications sit at the bottom of the queue. Send a short, friendly status email every few weeks. You are keeping your file visible, not being a pest.
• A co-owner on the deed triggers questions. If a parent, ex, or relative is on the deed, expect the district to ask about their exemption status. A notarized Affidavit of Equitable Ownership (co-owner attests you're the true owner and they claim no interest or exemption) resolved it in my case. Get it notarized and file it with the application — don't wait to be asked.
• Out-of-state property of any owner = prove a negative. If anyone on the deed owns property in another state, the district may require written confirmation from that county that no homestead-type exemption is claimed there. A signed email from that county assessor's office can be acceptable — ask them for a line stating you're not an owner of record and claim no exemption, with their official signature block.
• Name changes need paperwork attached. If your legal name has changed since the deed was recorded, include the court order with the application. Do not make them ask.
• The letter's "deadline" is pressure, but the window is real. The scary "mandated by Texas law" line is just §11.431's two-year limit wearing a costume. Ignore the company; respect the clock.
• No notary is required to file. Form 50‑114 doesn't need notarization. The "mobile notary" these companies offer to send to your home is for signing their contract, not the state's form.

≡This isn't just one company

Letters like this are an industry, not an outlier — common enough that the Texas Attorney General has issued a consumer alert about misleading homestead solicitations after receiving over a hundred complaints, and the Harris Central Appraisal District has published its own warning describing this exact model: recover "unclaimed government funds," sign over a large share of the refund, and what the firm actually does is file the free exemption form. HCAD also notes some of these firms have sued homeowners in small claims court to collect their cut after the homeowner balked. That contract the mobile notary brings to your door is real, and it binds.

The letters come in a few flavors, all aimed at the same free form:

• "Recovery" contingency letters (like the one above): no upfront fee, a percentage of your refund on the back end, urgency language about deadlines "mandated by Texas law."
• "Designation of Homestead" letters: a flat fee ($35–$100+) to file a county-clerk document about forced-sale protection that is not the tax exemption — the names are confusable on purpose.
• Bundled "savings" fees: some tax-protest firms quietly file your free exemption when you enroll, then bill a percentage of the "savings" the exemption automatically created.

✓Verify everything yourself

• Texas Tax Code §11.431 (late homestead application) — statutes.capitol.texas.gov
• Form 50‑114, Residence Homestead Exemption Application — Texas Comptroller (comptroller.texas.gov) or your county appraisal district's site
• Find your county appraisal district — Comptroller's appraisal district directory
• Check your property's exemption status — your appraisal district's "Property Search" (in Bexar County: bcad.org → Online Services → Property Search)