Tongue-in-cheek, it helps to just say it quickly.   Anyhoo, what's 1 quarter million between friends??   And IF you used Cdn. dollaars, it'd only be 155Gs.   Enjoy your new-found prestige.  

There is a property tax revolution brewing and I'm all for it. Pay off your house and then have to rent it from the county for the rest of your life?

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Originally posted by 1935tb-11

guess what guys and gals,,, i now live in a mansion... well according to the county tax office we do.... they got me down as having a 1/4 million dollar estate... out in the remote part of the county... 40 year old small house ,,, 1100 sq ft,,, 3 acres and an old barn and shop. thats 75% jump at once.... i guess its "cut in there deep,,, there is nothing they do" is the new moto for the county.... i have heard others claim 80 to 100% jump. so i got hat going for me.... so sick i can't even see straight

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This is very disheartening news for someone—on a musician's income— looking for property in that area.  We were hoping for some ramshackle fixer but I reckon we'll have to settle for road with a wide shoulder on which to park the car.

My property taxes go up every year while my neighborhood goes down. Go figure that one. I couldn't sell it for near what it's taxed as being worth.

Nothing else I can say without breaking rules, so I'll just say I empathize with you, I feel your pain.

California limited property tax increases to owners (not buyers) in the late 70s. Wrecked the public education system, but my place, bought for $115,000 in 1986, has a taxable value of $220,000 this year. Its actual market value is probably around $600,000, almost $300,000 above the general rate of inflation. California property (outside fire-risk zones) just keeps going up. Although I can’t complain about my situation, the major beneficiaries of the property-tax increase limitation have been long-term corporate holders of real estate such as rental real-estate operations and the railroads, which still own vast acreages.

A solution to investor owned housing is a high property tax rate coupled with ONE complete homestead exemption per household.

First...any assessment imposed by respective county authorities can be challenged by you.

Upon receiving the initial county assessment for our newly built [timber frame] home 40+ years ago I nicely invited the county assessor to chat with me on the premises.

I pointed out that prior to construction I studied the specific construction features to avoid that would boost and multiply the 'market' valuation.

I'll omit those details here but my primary 'push-back' was that living in a barn cannot equate to a 'normal' residential dwelling built in accordance with 'conventional' construction. That is, our residence consisted entirely of interior wall spruce shiplap, solid doug fir planking - but not one speck of gyprock, paint, baseboard, enclosed eaves, or other upgraded and "taxable" features.

So, in receipt of the first assessment notice it was now time for me to impart a bit of education by hosting an on-site show-and-tell. The 'presentation' was very friendly and provided for person-to-person contact rather than me allowing the county representatives to make decisions based on market 'square foot averages' and the most recent selling price of the closest home in my area.

Now....an initial assessed value baseline was established that was nearly 50% less than adjacent and surrounding neighbors - and, to the present day our yearly property tax still remains far less than what others are assessed.

So, there are 2 points here. One is regarding whether you might be engaged presently in a new home design, but most important, second, if you believe your home is not accurately assessed (atypical related to 'market value', including wear and tear, generalized mold, outdated plumbing and undersized electrical, etc., etc.), then now might be an appropriate time to conduct an assessor's walk-thru to point out what a real dump your family lives in.

As said above, our property taxes are so unlike what most folks are paying for 'conventional' housing that rather than provoke a neighborhood kerfuffle it's an issue not discussed. So, i'd recommend human contact with the relevant folks who tap into your pocketbook.

I’ve always thought that property assessment, whether by public agencies or private assessors, is a racket precisely because of the market value approach. My answer is to set value by separating land value from structure value and then set structure value by the cost of replacing the structure from the ground up as if it were leveled by a tornado. Land value is anothre issue.

In my town, the value of the property is based on what it would cost to completely rebuild it, not market value. That's why our taxes are so high. Market value of my house in my neighborhood is about half of what it would cost to rebuild it. Without getting political: another way for cities to add taxes to homeowners.

Does Texas have uniform property assessment rules?

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Originally posted by Bill Rogers

I’ve always thought that property assessment, whether by public agencies or private assessors, is a racket precisely because of the market value approach. My answer is to set value by separating land value from structure value and then set structure value by the cost of replacing the structure from the ground up as if it were leveled by a tornado. Land value is anothre issue.

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Different states in the US have slightly different approaches to property valuation.  In Oregon, where I worked as a planner, local governments have a tax base that is a set number.  The only way to increase that set total tax base number is by ballot—or by annexing new property into the jurisdiction.  I was kept busy consulting with local governments who were very interested in annexation, whether it was new subdivisions or a single square foot of property.  This allowed the jurisdiction the opportunity to recalculate the tax base altogether because they weren't very successful with ballot approvals. 

At that time, the county assessor's office was deliberately understaffed.  The reasoning was that visits by the assessor made the local government somewhat unpopular with constituents.  Annexations were sort of a legal racket, an end-run around voter approval.  But market forces were and are still a terrible way to set property valuation.  The real estate market is entirely unregulated and subject to clever manipulation by hedge-fund managers who have absorbed huge swaths of property.  I've seen it in action and it's a major flaw in our system.

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Originally posted by banjo bill-e

There is a property tax revolution brewing and I'm all for it. Pay off your house and then have to rent it from the county for the rest of your life?

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Yep!  If you really think you own some property try not paying taxes on it for a few years!

I'm not really sure how they di it where I live, but the overall value they assess the property and house on is significantly less that the actual value if I were to sell. Our house is quite large and we have 7 acres of land about as close to town as you can get with that much property, so the real value is for potential development. I have turned down several inquiries regarding selling it for development. As I go through the county GIS, where I can find the assessed value on any house in the county, it appears that no houses are taxed at their real value, so I guess it is fair that we are all taxed about the same proportionally.

I think on larger pieces of land, like mine are taxed based on the house and one (or two) acres with the remaining land taxed at a different rate.

In this community a 1/4 million dollar [Canadian] home is a 50 year old 1 bedroom apartment suite in a basic neighborhood. This 3 bedroom 2 level home in the burbs is now assessed at 22 times what we originally paid in 1978. Its called being land rich and income poor. The Metro Vancouver gurus decided to update our sewage treatment plant about 4 years ago. The cost over runs are now into the hundreds of millions. As a result our annual taxes are increasing nearly $600 to pay for this boondoggle which will continue for a few [unknown] years.

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Originally posted by Bill Rogers

My answer is to set value by separating land value from structure value and then set structure value by the cost of replacing the structure from the ground up as if it were leveled by a tornado.

This may not be sinecure you are hoping.  The price of new construction has gone up quite a bit recently.

Thank you kindly.

They claim the assessments are fair. They claim they are based on recent sales in the area. If one person gets suckered into a stupid amount for his house the neighbors pay dearly in the next round of taxes. If there is is an overall depression in prices they will assess the homes lower for that year. That doesn't mean a lot because they can often increase the mill rate for everyone. Taxes are often similar across the province. The reasoning is that it costs the same to run a garbage truck or dig a ditch in Vancouver as it does in Merritt [population 2000].

Typically we believe old stories, or what the neighbor said, or generally what the [county] tax assessment protocol is that floats around in the air, or 'what we've been told' by the tax department's telephone answering person.

My point here is, do your homework. Read the regs yourself. [Try to] make sense of them.
If still having questions, or don't understand the arithmetic, or wonder what's 'discretionary', etc., you are fully entitled to discuss your specific situation with your local civil servants who obviously work for your local government jurisdiction and whose salaries are paid by your tax dollars.

And John B., regarding the value of 'potential land value'.........there was a very recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling (involving a plaintiff v. IRS) that clarified the issue regarding capital gains reporting on "realized gains" vs. "unrealized gains". That is, an issue about the IRS legality of taxing something that doesn't exist. (Hence similarly, the 'potential land value' is not realized yet.)

quote:

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Originally posted by 1935tb-11

guess what guys and gals,,, i now live in a mansion... well according to the county tax office we do.... they got me down as having a 1/4 million dollar estate... out in the remote part of the county... 40 year old small house ,,, 1100 sq ft,,, 3 acres and an old barn and shop. thats 75% jump at once.... i guess its "cut in there deep,,, there is nothing they do" is the new moto for the county.... i have heard others claim 80 to 100% jump. so i got hat going for me.... so sick i can't even see straight

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It's a little bit outa hand here too. Bud... :0/

The taxes i pay now..
Are more than the first morgage payments on me first house..
Can't cry the Blues about it..or you will see Red... :0/

The way I look at it, the county figures they need $x amount of dollars to operate so they kind of back into the tax rate and or assessment value to get there.

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Originally posted by stevebsq

The way I look at it, the county figures they need $x amount of dollars to operate so they kind of back into the tax rate and or assessment value to get there.

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Pretty much this.  Roads, schools, teachers, landfills, building inspections, courts, police, jails, etc., all cost money, and it doesn't grow on trees.

I think DOGE needs to look into this after they get done with the Federal waste. I gotta believe the fraud waste and abuse goes all the way down to the local level.

they know they have you in a vice. i am stressed on what my home owners insurance is going to look like this time also.... last year we paid 2500 for taxes and insurance,, this year probably be 4500 to 5000,,, i am on SS so thats i big chunk of change,,, guess there are some meds that i really don't have to have. i can't qualify for the senior discount because my wife still works and we make too much with her salary. i can sell off some instruments if i need too,, don't play much anymore no how.
its like they are trying to get the elderly to sell out or force them into foreclosure.

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Originally posted by banjoT1

Typically we believe old stories, or what the neighbor said, or generally what the [county] tax assessment protocol is that floats around in the air, or 'what we've been told' by the tax department's telephone answering person.

My point here is, do your homework. Read the regs yourself. [Try to] make sense of them.
If still having questions, or don't understand the arithmetic, or wonder what's 'discretionary', etc., you are fully entitled to discuss your specific situation with your local civil servants who obviously work for your local government jurisdiction and whose salaries are paid by your tax dollars.

And John B., regarding the value of 'potential land value'.........there was a very recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling (involving a plaintiff v. IRS) that clarified the issue regarding capital gains reporting on "realized gains" vs. "unrealized gains". That is, an issue about the IRS legality of taxing something that doesn't exist. (Hence similarly, the 'potential land value' is not realized yet.)

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That has been an ongoing issue for a long time.  Being in the golf course industry, there has always been an issue on whether a golf course, located near a big city, like New York for example, is taxed as farmland, its use as recreational land, or as a potential development.  Obviously, if it were taxed as farmland, it would probably be too low and as a potential development, way too much.  A compromise for its use was probably the fairest, but what the local authority considers fair versus the owner may not jibe.

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Originally posted by Mad Hornet

I think DOGE needs to look into this after they get done with the Federal waste. I gotta believe the fraud waste and abuse goes all the way down to the local level.

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Thankfully there's acronym finder.

Reminds me of 'way back ... my first teaching job.  One of the other rookie teachers printed out a flow chart of the school division ... and didn't keep it under wraps.  Of course, alone on the top row was the superintendent ...  G.O.D. [i.e. Guider of Directors], and just underneath him was A.G.O.D. [Assistant GOD] with the next row down the supervisors ... ah, er, I mean directors ...  D.O.G. [Director of Guidance] / D.O.P.E. [Director of Physical Education] / D.O.M.E. [Director of Music Education] / D.O.S.E. [Director of Special Education]  .... and so on down thru support staff [custodians, secretaries, bus drivers, etc.], finally ending with teachers and students.  The G.O.D. wasn't overly impressed, but it blew over pretty quickly.