ARB Coach — Practice Your Hearing With Your Own AI

A free copy-pasteable prompt that turns Claude, ChatGPT, or Gemini into an ARB hearing coach. Paste it into your own AI subscription along with your evidence packet, and it will drill you the way the panel will. No account here required.

What It Does

An Appraisal Review Board hearing runs about 15 minutes. The district presents first; you have 7–10 minutes to make your case and answer questions. The single best preparation is to rehearse out loud beforehand — in particular, to defend your comparable properties against the kind of pushback the district’s appraiser will offer.

The prompt below configures your own AI assistant to play that role. You paste in your evidence packet (any packet — ours or yours); the AI reads it, drills you with panel-style questions, pushes back on your comp selections, and ends each session with a punch list of your weakest spots.

It is entirely your tool. We don’t see your conversation. We don’t store anything. You can use this with a free ChatGPT account, Claude.ai, Gemini, or any chat AI you already pay for.

How to Use It

Open your AI of choice. Any of the four below works. Start a fresh conversation.
Copy the prompt below using the “Copy” button, then paste it as your first message.
Paste your evidence packet right after the prompt — the actual text of your equity table, sales table, adjustments, and any condition rebuttals. If you have a PDF, copy/paste the text from it; if you have our packet, copy the relevant sections.
Send. The AI will ask you the first panel-style question. Answer it out loud, then type or speak your answer. Iterate until you feel ready.

Expect to spend 30–45 minutes on a thorough drill session. Most owners discover 2–3 weak spots they didn’t know were weak.

Don’t Have an AI Subscription? Use a Free One.

All four of the major AI assistants offer a free tier that’s capable enough to run this drill. We don’t get any commission if you sign up — we link these because the coach is more useful with an AI than without.

Claude (Anthropic)

Email or Google sign-in. Free tier handles the full drill; longer sessions may hit rate limits.

claude.ai →

ChatGPT (OpenAI)

Email or Google sign-in. Free tier is fine for the prompt; the deeper drill works better on a Plus account, but Free is enough to start.

chatgpt.com →

Gemini (Google)

gemini.google.com →

Grok (xAI)

Free signup at grok.com, or use it via a free X account. Free-tier limits are on the tighter side; fine for one drill session.

grok.com →

None of the four free tiers currently require a credit card. If you already have one of these accounts, just open it — you’re ready.

We have no financial relationship with any of these providers. The links are direct, no tracking, no commission.

The Prompt — Copy and Paste

You are my ARB hearing coach for an upcoming Texas property tax protest. I'll paste my evidence packet below. Your job is to drill me until I'm ready to defend it in front of a three-person Appraisal Review Board panel. YOUR ROLE — READ THE PACKET FIRST After I paste the packet, identify and confirm back to me: - The property address, account number, and county - My current noticed (appraised) value - The value I'm requesting at the hearing ("the Ask") - The three equity-comp medians if present (high / middle / low strata) - My top 3-5 equity comps with their adjusted values - Any sales comps and condition or feature rebuttals If anything in the packet is unclear or missing, ask me before continuing. YOUR DRILL FORMAT — ONE QUESTION AT A TIME Ask the kind of question a Texas ARB panel chair would ask. Examples: - "Walk me through your value claim in two sentences." - "Why these specific comparable properties?" - "How did you arrive at the adjusted value for comp #2?" - "How do you respond if the appraiser says your comps are too small?" - "What's your single strongest point if you had to lead with one?" PUSH BACK LIKE THE DISTRICT WILL Channel the district's appraiser. Examples of real pushback: - "Your comps include outliers that pull the median down." - "You're cherry-picking — the district used the broader pool." - "These comps are an average of 8 years older than your property." - "Sale ratios on your sales comps are inconsistent." - "The class-tier rate doesn't match your adjustment math." COACH ME ON LOGISTICS - The hearing format: about 15 minutes total. 5-minute preamble (chair reads case info, swears everyone in). Then I or the appraisal district present — whoever I elect. The owner has the choice of presentation order under the Texas Comptroller's Model Hearing Procedures §IV.1.g (binding on every county ARB via Tex. Tax Code §41.66(a)). The slot is fixed: whoever speaks first uses the time they need, the second speaker works with the residual (about 7-10 minutes of substantive time). - I should bring 4 sets of evidence (one for each panel member + appraiser) and 2 sets of photos. - Address the chair as "Madam Chair" or "Mr. Chair." Address the appraiser as "the district's representative." - Under Tex. Tax Code §41.47(c-2), the board may not set my appraised value above the value the chief appraiser submitted, except as I request and agree to. Limited statutory exceptions for new construction, omitted property, and §25.25 corrections apply on separate tracks. HARD RULES — DO NOT VIOLATE - Do NOT tell me what number to ask for. That's my call. - Do NOT guarantee or predict any specific outcome. - Do NOT give legal advice. If I ask a legal question, tell me to consult a licensed Texas attorney. - Do NOT recommend that I settle or reject any offer the appraiser makes. That's entirely my decision. - Do NOT pretend the district can't reduce my value at the hearing — they can, and that's the goal. The §41.47(c-2) protection is against UPWARD revision, not downward. END EACH DRILL SESSION with a summary: 1. The 2-3 weakest spots in my evidence (where the district will press hardest) 2. The 2-3 strongest points I should lead with 3. One concrete sentence I should have memorized as my opening Ready? Once I paste my packet below, ask me your first question. [PASTE YOUR EVIDENCE PACKET BELOW]

What a Drill Session Sounds Like

To give you a sense of the flow, here’s a brief excerpt of what a session might look like after you’ve pasted the prompt + a packet:

AI: “I see your subject at 2403 Pebble Lake Dr, noticed at $1,038,768, with an Ask of $940,000. Your high strata median is $1,005,000; middle is $940,000; low is $885,000. Five hero equity comps with adjusted values clustering around $920k–$960k. Let’s start: walk me through your value claim in two sentences.”

You: “My property is appraised at $1.04M but five comparable homes within a mile show an adjusted median of $940k. I’m requesting $940,000 based on the middle-strata equity median.”

AI: “Good. Now the district’s appraiser stands up and says: ‘Three of your comps are smaller than the subject by more than 10%. That’s why their values come in low.’ How do you respond?”

You: [type or speak your answer, the AI critiques it, repeat]

A full session is typically 8–15 of these exchanges, ending with the AI’s summary of your weakest and strongest spots.

Honest Caveats

The AI is not a Texas property tax attorney. It can rehearse you, but if you have a genuine legal question (e.g., late-filing options, post-ARB appeals, §41.461 disputes), consult a licensed Texas attorney.

The AI doesn’t know your specific panel. Real panel members have idiosyncrasies. Your AI’s drill is a generic ARB rehearsal, not a prediction of your specific hearing.

You may need to remind the AI to stay in coach mode. If it drifts into making the protest decision for you (“you should accept”, “you should reject”), say: “Stay in coach mode — that’s my call, not yours.”

The hearing outcome is not guaranteed. Many protests result in no reduction. Practicing improves the odds of articulating a defensible case; it does not guarantee the panel agrees.

Need a Packet to Drill Against?

Our $50 packet gives you the comparable-property evidence + pre-filled forms. Use it with the coach prompt above, or skip the packet entirely and drill against your own notes — the coach works either way.

Montgomery, Harris, Dallas & Travis counties. $50 flat fee if you purchase a protest packet.