Stella, welcome. When we talked today, I promised your first update would land this week — here it is, and it starts with your own home on Willow Arbor. This is the basic look: the county's own numbers for your home, plus the market around it, in plain words. Every figure shows where it came from.
Tap a topic below to open it:
These facts come straight from the Hays County Appraisal District's record for your home — the same record the county uses for property taxes.
| Address | 2510 Willow Arbor Blvd, San Marcos, TX 78666 |
| Neighborhood | Willow Creek Estates |
| Owners on record | Peter & Stella Contreras — owners since 2000 |
| Built | 2004 |
| Main living area | 2,228 square feet |
| Land | 1.01 acres |
| Features on record | Attached garage · covered porch |
County market value (2026): $688,780. This is the County Appraisal District's figure for what your home is worth on the open market. The county builds it from records and formulas, for tax work. It is the district's number — not an appraisal, and not mine.
Assessed value (2026): $579,896. "Assessed value" means the number the county uses to figure your property tax bill.
The homestead cap is a state rule: once the home you live in is on file as your homestead — yours has been since 2014 — its taxable value can only climb so much each year, by law. So here is why the two numbers differ: the county's market number ran ahead, and because the homestead cap limits how fast your assessed value can rise each year, your assessed value ($579,896) sits below the county's market value ($688,780).
Two bars, five years apart, from the county's own records — a steady climb (Hays County Appraisal District, assessed values).
The county never walks through your home. Its number is built for taxes, and it is not a promise of what a buyer would pay. What your home would sell for is a different question — and it takes a broker's read, with the real sales near you laid out one by one. That read is yours anytime; see the "Next Steps" tab.
Buyers do not really buy a price. They buy a monthly payment. So this update also watches the cost of a loan. These are national averages — a snapshot, not a quote. Your real number comes from a lender, on the day you ask.
| Loan | Average rate | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 30-year fixed | 7.37% | Bankrate, this morning (Oct 21) |
| VA 30-year | 7.17% | Bankrate, this morning (Oct 21) |
| 30-year fixed, weekly average | 7.40% | Freddie Mac, week of Oct 15 — flat on the week |
What that means in dollars: on a $350,000 loan at today's 7.37% average, the payment for the loan itself — before tax, insurance, and HOA fees — runs about $2,416 a month. That is a math example on the average rate, not a quote.
Plain read: San Marcos sits between Austin and San Antonio, and both markets feed it. Prices here are holding steadier than in much of the state. Buyers have more room to deal than they did a few years ago. Sellers who price right still do well — sellers who reach, sit.
Your assessed value went from $363,070 in 2021 to $579,896 in 2026 — up about 60% (that is simple math on the county's two numbers, from the "Your Home" tab). And the County Appraisal District's market value for your home now stands at $688,780. On paper, the home you bought in 2000 has grown a great deal.
While the county's market number climbed, the cap held your assessed value — the number your tax bill is figured on — below it. That gap between $579,896 and $688,780 is the cap doing its job, year after year.
The middle sale price in our area last month was $421,000. The County Appraisal District's market value for your home is $688,780. Yours is a larger home — 2,228 square feet on a full acre in Willow Creek Estates — so a higher number makes sense. But here is the honest word: the county's number is built for taxes, and only a real read, sale by sale, can say where your home truly lands if it ever sells.
You do not need a plan, and nothing here is a pitch. This is your home's basic look, with every figure's source shown — the way I believe this work should be done. If a move ever comes up for you or your family, you will already know the ground you stand on.
Want the full read on your home, or have a question about a move? Book a short call: