Property Taxes

[Zee09]

I purchased a piece of property in 2011
Just around that time here we saw property going down in value.
Nothing close to the really hard hit areas.
Later that year I received a property tax bill that was reduced 27% from the original 2006 year ( build date)


That was very fair and reflected the true decline in value.

I just payed taxes today and the new taxes are right back at the 2006 rate which is roughly 27% increase from last year.
That said the average appraisals are not inline with the current taxes. I guess the state got used to the $$$ and is over-inflating the value.

Anybody else seeing this? No surprise but the taxes absolutely do not reflect actual value

This is a rural area and nothing has changed here much since the 60's

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Because house pricing everywhere is way over inflated and taxed and way over the top on permit expenses. Its coming home to roost.

 

[Cujet]

Property taxes are one of those things where the locality can charge you what ever they want. How they justify doing so is up to them.

Adjustments to assessed value are common and widespread, when the tax rate itself can't be manipulated due to local ordinance.

As I'm sure you know, you can dispute your taxes. There are a few success stories, where assessed value was adjusted properly. But among those successes are an infinite number of "NO, we won't adjust" responses.

 

[paulri]

Is there a way to dispute the valuation? I know in our county, this is something that can be done.

 

[Boomer]

Some years ago, our Sportsmen's Club (way the heck out in the country) got hit with a 70% tax increase. Reason? A doctor built a palatial house a few miles away and this "increased" our property value. Did not matter that the club had been there for over 50 years. We hired an attorney and fought it and the ruling came down in our favor. Taxes returned to previous level. It pays to fight these things!

 

[LazyDog]

In the Crooks County world, property taxes never went down the just double the multiplier and does how they did it. We never got a decrease in the taxes, during the decrease in house values.

 

[Dave Hess]

Nothing worse than a McMansion built in your neighborhood to drive up taxes.

Its good you fought and won. ðŸ‘

 

[dishdude]

Originally Posted by Mr Nice
Nothing worse than a McMansion built in your neighborhood to drive up taxes.

Its good you fought and won. ðŸ‘


Sure beats an abandoned crack house taking property values down!

 

[JohnnyJohnson]

Originally Posted by LazyDog
In the Crooks County world, property taxes never went down the just double the multiplier and does how they did it. We never got a decrease in the taxes, during the decrease in house values.


This my taxes never went down a cent when the value of my home dropped 30% during the TARP joke. It was all rob Peter to pay Paul.

 

[JeffKeryk]

Yeah, in CA you get a valuation every year prior to your tax bill. You can dispute it.
But ultimately we just pay and pay... All good.
Good luck.

 

[02SE]

Originally Posted by Zee09
I purchased a piece of property in 2011
Just around that time here we saw property going down in value.
Nothing close to the really hard hit areas.
Later that year I received a property tax bill that was reduced 27% from the original 2006 year ( build date)


That was very fair and reflected the true decline in value.

I just payed taxes today and the new taxes are right back at the 2006 rate which is roughly 27% increase from last year.
That said the average appraisals are not inline with the current taxes. I guess the state got used to the $$$ and is over-inflating the value.

Anybody else seeing this? No surprise but the taxes absolutely do not reflect actual value

This is a rural area and nothing has changed here much since the 60's


My property taxes are up substantially since 2006. Nothing has really changed in the area, except the local school district continually wanting (and getting) more money.

 

[anndel]

They don't do a full assessment here in Honolulu. The city is lazy and just their property tax assessments by comps. They used to walk around and physically assess each property. You can have a condemned dump but because of the neighboring home sales were high, be assessed high as well. When my wife and I were looking for a house, there were 10,000 sq ft lots in metro Honolulu with a 80 year old condemned homes on it listed for $1,000,000. We passed on them and bought in central Oahu near good schools for our son.

 

[opus1]

Originally Posted by LazyDog
In the Crooks County world, property taxes never went down the just double the multiplier and does how they did it. We never got a decrease in the taxes, during the decrease in house values.


Same in the far-suburbs. My assessed value *did* go down at one point, but the county just raised the tax rate and I paid more tax on a lesser-valued house.

Gubmint always gets "theirs" no matter what happens.

 

[SevenBizzos]

The taxes are never really congruent with the home's current value. Many states use different formulas. Locally, ours is a rolling three year average of sales.

I'm not sure why people think that home value is directly tied to revenue for your local taxing bodies (municipal, schools, etc.) anyway. Government generally costs more to operate every year. Just because everyone's homes declined 25% in value doesn't mean a school district can operate on 75% of what they did just a few years ago.

P.S. I wish my taxes were at 2006 level. They've gone up about 50%.

 

[Andrew1972]

Typically tax rate is determined by expenses of town and then distribute across the valuation of property. Sheer guess town costs have risen.


The key to low taxes at least in NH is buying in a very expensive town with mostly seasonal places or ton of commercial real estate to keep tax rate low.
I

 

[PimTac]

Originally Posted by JohnnyJohnson
Originally Posted by LazyDog
In the Crooks County world, property taxes never went down the just double the multiplier and does how they did it. We never got a decrease in the taxes, during the decrease in house values.


This my taxes never went down a cent when the value of my home dropped 30% during the TARP joke. It was all rob Peter to pay Paul.




I think the OP is living in a very unique place, having not changed since the 60's.

You and I have seen drastic changes in just the last decade and our property taxes have gone up substantially because of it.

 

[MNgopher]

First comment is that property tax collection varies significantly by where you live. The system we use in Minnesota is different than the system used in other states.

Here, the only thing your property valuation sets is the portion of the government levy that is yours to pay. In other words, your property value divided by the enitre taxing area value after factors for type of use are applied (ag pays different than commercial than residential than cabin, etc...). You pay that % of the levy set by the government (The government sets its budget in a series of hearings starting roughly in August, and finalized in December).

Your value can go up and down and the only bearing it has is relative to the total. Folks here also get confused that the valuation you are paying on this year is based on property values from roughly 2 years ago. (It takes that long to build the record of comparables, have a track record of sales, go through the valuation process and appeals process, and set it all). This really irks people when market values go down like they did in the late 2000's.

This system means that regardless of your valuation, assuming other valuations are going up and down roughly the same, your tax bill remains in the same neighborhood, not fluctuating wildly year to year based on valuations.

Other places may vary. The concept that your taxes should go up and down wildly based on valuation alone is not how it works here.

 

[dadto2]

Yup... Death and taxes.

 

[Donald]

Property tax can mean just local property tax, school tax is separate, or one tax for everything. Different states do it differently.

In my county the property tax is just for the property and paid to local town, the school tax is separate and paid to the school district. The local tax paid to the town is distributed about 1/3 the town keeps and 2/3 the town sends to the county and the county spends it mostly on social services (Medicaid).

The screwjob this year is your SALT deduction is limited to $10,000 (married).

I pay way more than $10,000 in property taxes and I also pay NY income tax and some MA income tax (I work in MA).

I realize the tax rate is slightly lower.

 

[littleant]

Don't get me started. Moved to Vermont 30 years ago. Property taxes were $350.00 a year for 1,100 square foot log home and 6 acres. 25 years ago they started rising because the ACLU said the way we paid taxes was unconstitutional. We collected taxes for education like all 50 states. Last year my taxes were $5,343.20. Hey this i live in a small town with about 210 year around residents mostly over 50 in age. Because we do not have many kids to educate (about 12). So our town has to come up with 1.7 million dollars to give to the state so they can give it out to towns that have more kids (these towns also have the good paying jobs). Talk about unconstitutional. We get Nothing for that 1.7 million . Anyone thinking of moving to this carp hole THINK AGAIN. Vermont is dying and may already be dead.