Property Tax/Assessment Question

DarkStar11

We received our 2006 property tax assessment today, and it shows a $26k increase in assessed value. We have made no improvements to the house or landscaping since it was last assessed, and the house is only 3 years old. This is my first house, and I'm wondering if this increase is normal for new construction or if this seems like a rather high change that should be contested?

William81

Depends on how the market is in your area. Our market is still really hot here and my house jumped almost 18,000 this year also.

Of course my taxes took a nice little jump also....[}:)]

DarkStar11

Market is not that hot - DFW area, actually considered "undervalued" by Money magazine.

William81

Buddy of mine is a realator in that market....He has had several fantastic years in a row. According to him the market is pretty brisk there....

Red223

Just how far off are the tax assessments from street value?

When I was shopping around for houses in northeastern PA houses were appraised for $20k for taxes but were selling for $130,000.

All those city slickers keep buying them up running the prices up. If they ever re-valuate them for taxes in that area everyone will be having foreclosure sales...they are unable to pay taxes as it is.

select-fire

I would ask my neighbors if their taxes have increased. If not , then go to your assessor's office and ask for a re appraisal. Don't scare me like that, my home is new. I do have to pay a roll back tax only on the land this fall. My taxes on the home and one acre was assessed by the building permit ( what construction cost ) plus one acre of residential property. The other acreage is taxed agricultural which is only $1 buck an acre...

PJ

Thank god for Prop 13 (Calif.). Limits assessment increases to 1% per year.
Pete

barto

My taxes run about $200 per month.
I DREAD the thought of tax increases.
Gonna be a BIG * sale right after I retire.
[V]barto[V]

allen griggs

A 26K increase in 3 years is not unusual.

11b6r

Yeah- I know what you mean. Ours went up by 40% in 2 years. The assessment is supposed to be for market value. Just a thought- go over to realtor.com, run an advanced search for your zip code, and plug in # of bedrooms, etc- and see what is on the market at what price where YOU live. You CAN appeal an assessment IF the assessment is wrong- not "I think it's too high" but "I don't have the number of bedrooms shown on the assessment- and that is my neighbor's garage- I don't have one"

select-fire

I might also add check your vehicle taxes when moving. I stayed in the same district and the county taxed me in another ( which was of course higher ) I didn't see it when I paid my truck taxes. Then the car came.. I caught it and the county got real snippy with me about the location of my new home. Then I showed them the bill they sent on it. Same old district as before. I am still waiting on the refund from my truck.

ripley16

The average assessment in my county increase 67% in our bi-annual reassessment. Count yourself lucky. Mine only went up 50%. Assessments are based on actual market value.

tsavo303

look into protesting it. you can probally at least "freeze" it for a few years. if you are paying more than your neigbors, assesed value is much more than you paid, you can probally reduce it

select-fire

This is an interesting thread. Especially if one is moving about the U.S. .Here in SC assessments are somewhere in the 66-70% of fair market value. Taxes are pretty reasonable. If a home is worth 100K the assessor would tax it at 66k. However when the home increases in value and is sold , say for 125k then the taxes would be assessed at 83K. So when shopping try to purchase just a little above tax assessments. It actually doesn't really matter what they are assessed , the RATE at which it is taxed and the cost yearly is all that counts.

nunn

The assessment notices contain a disclaimer to the effect of: "This does not constitute an offer to buy." I reckon a lot of people felt as I did and told them they could have the property for the assessed value.

I pay a bit over $200 every month for taxes. Ridiculous.

DarkStar11

Our property taxes were a little over $5k for 2005 [B)]. I haven't had a chance to talk to the neighbors yet to see if their assessments reflected a similar increase. Someone at work said it is probably related to the subdivision getting completely built out.

select-fire

Holy cow... some of y'all must live in mansions with tax bills like that. $5000 tax a year would put you in a Million dollar home here.

gruntled

quote:Originally posted by PJ
Thank god for Prop 13 (Calif.). Limits assessment increases to 1% per year.
Pete


I believe that's two percent. It's also known as the "welcome stranger law". My neighbor across the street has a tax bill that is almost five times as high as mine. I almost enjoy paying my property tax bill.

The one down side is that we can never move again. We used the one-time old geezer provision in prop 13 to transfer our property value to here. We saw a house we liked very much & the price was a little less than what I expect we could get here but the new property taxes would be horrondous.

DarkStar11

quote:Originally posted by select-fire
Holy cow... some of y'all must live in mansions with tax bills like that. $5000 tax a year would put you in a Million dollar home here.


Nowhere near a million -- not even close to $500k, either. By no means a mansion. TX property taxes are high, especially in the 'burbs of the larger cities.

select-fire

DarkStar11, Wow, At 5K taxes and insurance at only 1k that puts it at $500 per month before house payment ( if that applies ). Don't know if I could deal with that just knowing they were getting it out of me.