Scorpions, rattlesnakes and #@%$*&! property taxes

[Leonidas]

. What constituted a small farm wasnt well defined, so a lot of folks bought nice 10 acre plots, built minimansions on them and then planted a bunch of peach trees in the back yard.

I'm batting .000 today. Avocados do well enough in the hot weather, it's the winter that smites them. There's probably a bunch of them being grown in the Valley.

In Texas there are two types of special appraisals (not an actual tax exemption) for land either used primarily for agricultural purposes (based on owner's primary occupation and source of income), and a "open land" appraisal method that is pretty wide open:

• The land must be currently devoted principally to agricultural use to the degree of intensity generally accepted in the area.
• The land has been devoted principally to agricultural use or production of timber or forest products for five of the preceding seven years.
• The owner files a prescribed form provided by the appraisal office with the chief appraiser before May 1 with all the necessary information to determine the validity of the claim.

The statute contains an extensive definition of agricultural uses that qualify for open space appraisal.

• planting and producing crops,
• raising or keeping livestock or exotic animals,
• devoting the land to floriculture, viticulture and horticulture,
• producing or harvesting logs and posts for agricultural improvements and
• wildlife management.

I've always heard that five cows on 20 acres will get you by.

 

[W2R]

I'm batting .000 today. Avocados do well enough in the hot weather, it's the winter that smites them.

I know they are pretty fragile. They were grown in some places in San Diego County when we lived there, but I didn't hear of any in College Station Texas when living there. We had a lemon tree that produced unbelievable quantities of lemons, and an orange tree, in San Diego. We had reasonable results from a Bartlett pear in College Station, but no citrus or avocado trees.

 

[ziggy29]

I hear farm property in Texas is treated much more fairly. Move out of town a little and plant a couple of avocado trees.

Our pastor bought a place out in the country on 10 acres a couple miles outside of town last year. Earlier this year he and his wife bought a few goats to keep on their property to qualify for an ag exemption.

 

[REWahoo]

Our pastor bought a place out in the country on 10 acres a couple miles outside of town last year. Earlier this year he and his wife bought a few goats to keep on their property to qualify for an ag exemption.

I believe the state law requires a minimum of 10 acres and 5 years of "ag use" to qualify for the property tax exemption. It is a substantial price break, but the added cost of enough acres to qualify, at least for a location where DW and I would want to live, more than offsets any tax savings potential.

Update on my original post: I called the county appraisal office to set up an 'informal review'. I asked the appraiser how they came up with my new value and was told it was based on recent sales. When I pressed him for details, he revealed only one home had sold in our neighborhood in all of 2007 and the price was in the range of $125 sf. He admitted they would prefer to have several sales to establish market value, but said they had to use what they had when it came to reappraisals.

I asked for the values and the sq footages of my 4 nearest neighbors. Those appraisals worked out to be $75, $88, $97, and $126 per sf. Since my old appraisal was $98 sf and the new appraisal is $122 sf, I asked why my number was near the top and not closer to the average as my house was not substantially different from the others. His response: "Those two lower ones are probably under valued".

I said OK, then if you throw out the two low numbers and take the average of the top two, you come up with $111.50 sf, which I think is more reasonable than the $122 sf number. He seemed to be open to this and said he'd take it up with the chief appraiser and get back to me.

I'm waiting for his call to see what new number they come up with. If they go for it my 24% increase will be reduced to 14%, not great but an improvement over what they proposed. If they don't bring it down to a number I think I can live with I have the option to file a formal protest and meet with the appraisal board in person. Hope it doesn't go that far.

 

[JPatrick]

I asked for the values and the sq footages of my 4 nearest neighbors. Those appraisals worked out to be $75, $88, $97, and $126 per sf. Since my old appraisal was $98 sf and the new appraisal is $122 sf, I asked why my number was near the top and not closer to the average as my house was not substantially different from the others. His response: "Those two lower ones are probably under valued".

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When you talk $$per foot you need to look at the competing dwellings.
One story is more per foot than multi story. Then if some have high cost features like central vac, marble counters etc, etc, that goes into the figure also. Age of the house should be like 5 to 8 apart. You really need to show the reason those homes are higher is because they deserve to be and your doesn't......you know, overrun with snakes and stuff.

 

[JPatrick]

Missouri has yearly personal property tax on your car, boat, and such items. I don't recall the rate but I figured out last week that it would be over $400 for a $25K car.

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$400 sounds a little high....Last year I had 4 vehicles and 1 classic car listed and the state bill was $495 and the city $45. I live in a fairly high tax rate city/county.

 

[REWahoo]

When you talk $$per foot you need to look at the competing dwellings.

Yep.

One story is more per foot than multi story.

All but one of the four are one story - like ours. And wouldn't you know it, the house with the highest appraisal ($126 sf) is a two story. Makes no sense.

When you talk $$per foot you need to look at the competing dwellings.
Then if some have high cost features like central vac, marble counters etc, etc, that goes into the figure also.

I've been in three of them and the level of finish out isn't significantly different from what we have.

Age of the house should be like 5 to 8 apart.

All these houses were built within 5 years of ours.

You really need to show the reason those homes are higher is because they deserve to be and your doesn't......you know, overrun with snakes and stuff.

Sure. The snakes and scorpions are much worse over here across the street.

 

[W2R]

$400 sounds a little high....Last year I had 4 vehicles and 1 classic car listed and the state bill was $495 and the city $45. I live in a fairly high tax rate city/county.

Wow, that sounds a lot better!! Maybe I'm calculating it wrong, I dunno. Or maybe Springfield is different. Here's the link with the info (at the bottom of the page):

http://www.business4springfield.com/demographics/taxes.htm

It says the personal property tax rate is $4.9487 per $100 of assessed value, and that the assessed value is 1/3 of the appraised value.

So, if my car is worth $25K, I would infer that the tax is

(($25000/3)/100) x 4.9487 = $412.39

Is that incorrect? I am thinking this may vary from place to place in the state. Maybe there is a city or county tax included.

 

[mja]

It says the personal property tax rate is $4.9487 per $100 of assessed value, and that the assessed value is 1/3 of the appraised value.

So, if my car is worth $25K, I would infer that the tax is

(($25000/3)/100) x 4.9487 = $412.39

Is that incorrect? I am thinking this may vary from place to place in the state. Maybe there is a city or county tax included.

I have limited experience since I've only lived in WI and we don't have anything like that, but is this type of tax common? How is it collected?

I guess WI is happy enough with the sales tax when you buy the vehicle, and the (fairly-low at $70) annual registration fee for the vehicle. We make up for it with real estate property (& other) taxes, it seems.

Being taxed year after year on the value of your car is foreign to me.

 

[packrat44]

Scorpions, rattlesnakes and #@%$*&!

I thought from the title you were referring to the market over the last week.

 

[W2R]

I have limited experience since I've only lived in WI and we don't have anything like that, but is this type of tax common? How is it collected?

I guess WI is happy enough with the sales tax when you buy the vehicle, and the (fairly-low at $70) annual registration fee for the vehicle. We make up for it with real estate property (& other) taxes, it seems.

Being taxed year after year on the value of your car is foreign to me.

Some, states have personal property tax, but I don't consider it to be usual. I recall paying personal property tax each year on our boat when living in California.

According to the Greene County Tax Collector's office, a bill is sent to each owner of a car, boat, RV, or whatever, every November.

I still want to move to Missouri! But I am hoping that JPatrick is right, and that I forgot to take something into account in my computations.

 

[JPatrick]

Wow, that sounds a lot better!! Maybe I'm calculating it wrong, I dunno. Or maybe Springfield is different. Here's the link with the info (at the bottom of the page):

http://www.business4springfield.com/demographics/taxes.htm

It says the personal property tax rate is $4.9487 per $100 of assessed value, and that the assessed value is 1/3 of the appraised value.

So, if my car is worth $25K, I would infer that the tax is

(($25000/3)/100) x 4.9487 = $412.39

Is that incorrect? I am thinking this may vary from place to place in the state. Maybe there is a city or county tax included.

The difference may be in the county rate. Ours is .o41142 on 19% of value. A bit lower. I don't know the city figure, but it is pretty insignificant.
A pain in the backside, but when all the checks are written (state income tax, pers prop, and real estate) I'm still ahead of where I was in Texas. And way fewer scorpions. A few bears, some snakes, but no fire ants.

 

[W2R]

The difference may be in the county rate. Ours is .o41142 on 19% of value. A bit lower. I don't know the city figure, but it is pretty insignificant.
A pain in the backside, but when all the checks are written (state income tax, pers prop, and real estate) I'm still ahead of where I was in Texas. And way fewer scorpions. A few bears, some snakes, but no fire ants.

If it's the city tax, I might be able to live (essentially) in Springfield, but just outside the city line and avoid it. People do that here - - often people have their cars registered to an address in a suburb just outside of New Orleans to avoid a couple of hundred dollars in personal property taxes that would be required in the city per se.

Hmm!! Food for thought.

On the other hand, if it's a county tax then I will just have to pay it if I want to live in town.

You're right - - $400 is chicken feed compared with the property taxes in Texas. No fire ants? Now there's a bonus I hadn't thought of.

 

[Marquette]

Did you mention to them that your house is located in Texas? That alone should be enough to get the taxes down... adverse living conditions and all that ;-)

 

[REWahoo]

I'm waiting for his call to see what new number they come up with. If they go for it my 24% increase will be reduced to 14%...

After waiting a week without hearing from the county appraisal office, I gave them a call. The appraiser I spoke to last Monday was apologetic for failing to call me back, put me on hold for two minutes, then came back with a revised appraisal number - an increase of 13%. Guess in this case it paid (or at least was less taxing) to be a squeaky wheel.

 

[ziggy29]

After waiting a week without hearing from the county appraisal office, I gave them a call. The appraiser I spoke to last Monday was apologetic for failing to call me back, put me on hold for two minutes, then came back with a revised appraisal number - an increase of 13%. Guess in this case it paid (or at least was less taxing) to be a squeaky wheel.

I'm waiting for a callback, too. I was already told by the appraiser that he could "drop" the appraisal 2% (still +3% from last year and still way higher than others nearby are assessed). He said he'd personally come by and inspect our house's condition relative to others to see if it justifies the much higher appraisal relative to our neighbors, and if not, he might be able to offer a better offer to avoid a hearing. That was more than a week ago. Haven't heard yet, but I have until the 27th to file a protest.

 

[REWahoo]

Ziggy, call him back. Among other things that will make it clear to him you aren't going away. I imagine they are covered up with calls and complaints, so if you're persistent, polite and have the comparisons to prove your case you should see a decent adjustment without having to formally file a protest.

If not, load up your Powerpoint presentation and let 'em have it!

 

[Helena]

I live in Dallas County... and believe it or not, I recently received
notice my appraisal has been lowered... only a few hundred dollars...
but hey !

 

[REWahoo]

I live in Dallas County... and believe it or not, I recently received
notice my appraisal has been lowered... only a few hundred dollars...
but hey !

Mistakes do happen occasionally...

 

[ziggy29]

Ziggy, call him back. Among other things that will make it clear to him you aren't going away. I imagine they are covered up with calls and complaints, so if you're persistent, polite and have the comparisons to prove your case you should see a decent adjustment without having to formally file a protest.

If not, load up your Powerpoint presentation and let 'em have it!

Don't need to -- he just came over today to inspect the property and called me back to offer to lower the appraisal from $89K to $76K, which I'm inclined to accept.

 

[FANOFJESUS]

Don't need to -- he just came over today to inspect the property and called me back to offer to lower the appraisal from $89K to $76K, which I'm inclined to accept.

How much are the taxes on 89k in texas? I was looking to spend around the same money on a home.

 

[ziggy29]

How much are the taxes on 89k in texas? I was looking to spend around the same money on a home.

Depends on where you buy and how much you'll have in exemptions. For us -- a homestead but no other exemptions -- it would have been $1,292 with the original appraisal.

With our reduction in appraisal, plugging in the numbers looks like it will be $1,119. Heck, that $173 savings this year buys a tank of gas....

When we first moved here in '06, we inherited a senior exemption AND a disabled exemption for that year from the prior occupant, and we paid about $230 in property tax.

 

[REWahoo]

Don't need to -- he just came over today to inspect the property and called me back to offer to lower the appraisal from $89K to $76K, which I'm inclined to accept.

Won't that still result in an assessed value per SF significantly higher than your neighbors? (I'm looking back at the info you shared in post #32.)

The appraiser here agreed to take the average per SF appraisal of my 4 nearest neighbors and use it to determine my value. Might that arguement be worth running by the powers that be in a formal protest?

 

[ziggy29]

Won't that still result in an assessed value per SF significantly higher than your neighbors? (I'm looking back at the info you shared in post #32.)?

Significantly higher than the one next door, but in reality it's in crap condition. At $55 per SF it's still higher than my neighbors but I think my house is at least in marginally better condition than most of them. I still think it's on the high side of what's fair but I figured I'd lock in this sure thing reduction this year, and if the other homes haven't "caught up" next year I'll likely repeat the process.

 

[Rustic23]

Just talked to the district. Got them to knock it back to last year's value. As I turn 65 this year that is important as it will freeze the school and county taxes.