Depressing thoughts about our home value?

[Andre1969]

That's for sure. When I was house hunting the agent tried to show me a couple of houses with pools and I immediately dismissed them. I didn't want either the upkeep or the liability of some neighborhood kid getting in there and drowning. Of course that was in MD, where an in-ground pool can only be used maybe three or four months out of the year.

When I started casually house-hunting back in 2016, initially I had no intention of buying anything with a pool. However, I'd still go to open houses for places that had pools, just to get a feel for the neighborhood, the house itself, etc, to see if there were other features I might like, to consider when it was time to actually buy.

The types of houses I was looking at were all over the map, ranging from around $400K to $800K. For the most part, I was looking for land, like at least an acre, and a yard that lent itself well to building a garage, if the place didn't already have on. Most of these houses weren't in mass-produced subdivisions, so it was a bit difficult to directly compare, but one thing I noticed was that the houses that had pools, didn't really seem any more expensive than those without, all other things being as equal as possible.

So, that opened my mind up, to where decided I'd consider a house with a pool, if I liked everything else about the house. And, that's what I ended up with. Now, I did have to build a garage, but in all fairness, no house would have had the kind of garage I truly wanted already on the premises, so I would have needed to build something, no matter what I bought.

I am in Maryland and yeah, having the pool just sit there, under a tarp for 8 months out of the year does seem kind of like a waste. Especially now that I woke up this morning, to 39 degree temps! But, it sure makes up for it in the summer!

Sometimes I do wish I was in an area with a warmer pool season, and think about people in certain parts of Florida that can keep them open year round. But, my housemate put an interesting perspective on it. He said that if we had it all year round, we'd take it for granted, and it would just feel like no big deal. But only having use of it for part of the year, gives us something to look forward to, and makes it feel more like a special treat.

So, I guess there's a good side to just about everything! It sort of makes me think a bit of when you're still stuck in the working world. When I had to go in the office 5 days a week, I always had that euphoric feeling as I left the parking lot on Friday afternoon. Nowadays, I mostly work from home, and only have to go in on Wednesdays. And I still get that euphoric feeling when I leave out on Wednesday afternoon. So, there is some good that comes, from still working. Still, I'd trade those momentary flare-ups of ecstasy I get from leaving work, for being fully retired!

 

[athena53]

I just got the first tax bill since we moved. Somehow it is about 1/3 what I expected. I will stfu about it.

I've been in this house for 8 years. They re-value every 2 years and farm it out to some "consulting firm". This year they botched it badly and the social networks and the on-line media were full of stories about people whose valuations had doubled over 2 years. Many were afraid of losing their houses because they couldn't afford the increases. (No tax breaks for seniors or low-income other than a proposal to allow them to pay in 4 installments, which isn't a great solution IMO.) The County office was deluged with people appealing their assessed values.

In the meantime... my house had been valued at $307,000 in 2021, which was pretty close to market value. Three houses on my street on my side of the lake, comparable sizes and features, had gone for around $400K over the last couple of years so I was prepared for that.

Mine was valued at $287K. I have no idea why. The final tax bills just came out and yeah, my property taxes decreased by a nice chunk.

On one hand I feel guilty and I've told few people IRL. OTOH- I aways pay whatever the gubmint says I owe them.

 

[Andre1969]

I just got the first tax bill since we moved. Somehow it is about 1/3 what I expected. I will stfu about it.

That happened to me, the first year I was in the new place. The bill I paid in late 2018 was around $3200, which seemed awfully low. The next year, it shot up to around $4800, which seemed too big of a jump, what with homestead tax credits that are supposed to keep that kind of stuff in check.

I called the county to find out what was up. Turns out that first year, because of the timing, I got the previous owner's homestead tax credit. I bought the house in September of 2018, which is after the property tax bills are calculated, but before they're due.

I guess, depending on the time of year you buy, you might get the previous owner's homestead tax credit that first year, if the county/state hasn't gotten record of the transfer of ownership yet.

 

[skyking1]

I've got some weird science calculus going on here.
no construction loan or HELOC due to the terribad interest rates. Yay?
The development next to the new house site is stalled by the terribad rates. YAY!
This house's value is eroding and will be hard to sell (see the terribad rates) NOT yay!
One of the bottom lines is possibly renting this place a while, which we are loathe to do.
Also no shop for me One year!
https://youtu.be/zOpfsGrNvnk?si=yuVXMYp7NYDBzlI2

 

[Koolau]

Here it does... And its crazy the way they put values on stuff and they charge by the SqFt.
A deck is $19.50, $23 if its elevated And $18 if its free standing. Now a porch is $30, $35 if screened and $40 if its enclosed. $5.20 for just a patio.
The mentioned pool... Grab a seat... $525 a SqFt. A stick built house is only $112.... Now if you have a whole house generator.. add a $1 SqFt.
$5625 for each bathroom.
A regular fireplace and chimney $6125, But $2062 if you just have an insert type with pipe chimney.

But they give do you a break... If you don't have central heat or air... they reduce it by $2.20 for each.

I had a friend who lived next to a guy who had to replace all of his siding due to rot. He refused to actually put on the final siding (just had ugly tar paper all over the outside of his house after repairing rotted spots underneath.) It was like that for years because (wait for it): Finishing the siding would have increased his RE Tax bill substantially. Talk about the tail wagging the dog. YMMV

 

[BoldPelikan]

Good problem to have!

City of Akron, Ohio recently reassessed real estate for tax purposes. Our 1951 house saw an increase of 49%! We bought this 9 years ago for a very reasonable price. But values have skyrocketed here and we will now be paying much higher taxes as a result. Would love to see the value go down....

 

[aja8888]

City of Akron, Ohio recently reassessed real estate for tax purposes. Our 1951 house saw an increase of 49%! We bought this 9 years ago for a very reasonable price. But values have skyrocketed here and we will now be paying much higher taxes as a result. Would love to see the value go down....

Welcome to the world of inflation of asset prices. You can thank the FED for making that happen. It's happening to all of us.

 

[Sue J]

City of Akron, Ohio recently reassessed real estate for tax purposes. Our 1951 house saw an increase of 49%! We bought this 9 years ago for a very reasonable price. But values have skyrocketed here and we will now be paying much higher taxes as a result. Would love to see the value go down....

Yes, I am also in Summit County. Our 1955 house went up 39%. This is on top of the previous increase of 32% a few years ago.

I admit we've been undervalued for a while and the new appraisal is realistic for what I see in neighborhood sales. But I expect a huge increase in taxes! I will still vote for important levies. We passed a big school levy a few years ago to replace our high school (from 1922) and our middle schools.

And that County wide Issue 17. My son works there in the IT department, so yeah, I vote for that one!

 

[indiajust]

My neighbors were dumbfounded when I argued with the city for lower tax values... in back to back valuations 8 years apart. Made no difference in the selling price.

To some extent they even saw it as ego stroking. They loved the affirmation from the Man. One even trained his kids to sing 325 as they went to school. Two years later i sold at 505. Even Zillow took a few years to absorb the concept. Now it inflates values to fit the egos and everyone is happy!

 

[catii]

Housing here is very expensive (and so is almost everything else) but RE taxes are a "bargain." Go figure. YMMV

In Hawaii, if you can SEE the ocean, your RE taxes skyrocket! The City & County insisted that we had a "waterfront" view, & I finally convinced the assessors to come out & show me where I could see the water. He ended up standing on my second-floor roof (on my solar panels!), & held a camera over his head, to snap a photo of what turned out to be a swimming pool.

We won that year's battle, but the next year, the waterfront view was back on our assessment. The difference was $275K, so it was worth fighting for! So I called a friend who works as an investigative reporter for a local TV station, & explained what was happening. Long story short, I'm persona non grata with the City & County, which did not appreciate having their arbitrary assessing techniques blown open on ABC News, but we & our neighbors are no longer taxed as having waterfront views.

Interestingly, that expose' didn't change our home's value on Zillow, Redfin, or Realtor.com, which makes me wonder where they get their valuations. Bought the house in 1992 for $360K, & it's now assessed at $1.48 million. Gee, I don't feel like a millionaire!

 

[MC Rider]

In Hawaii, if you can SEE the ocean, your RE taxes skyrocket! The City & County insisted that we had a "waterfront" view, & I finally convinced the assessors to come out & show me where I could see the water. He ended up standing on my second-floor roof (on my solar panels!), & held a camera over his head, to snap a photo of what turned out to be a swimming pool.

LMAO. When I was appraising real estate "a view" had to be something you see from a normal seating position, and preferably inside the house. Swimming pools and adjacent houses etc do not count as a view. Regardless of how hot the neighbor is.

 

[old medic]

In Hawaii, if you can SEE the ocean, your RE taxes skyrocket!

Its the same thing here.. but Its view of the Mountains or beside a lake.

 

[Koolau]

LMAO. When I was appraising real estate "a view" had to be something you see from a normal seating position, and preferably inside the house. Swimming pools and adjacent houses etc do not count as a view. Regardless of how hot the neighbor is.

We can see the Pacific from the shore to the horizon. IIRC our last RE bill (for the year - in two installments) added to $1600 or so. Much less than we paid 15 years ago on the mainland for 1/4 the valuation. Of course as super-seniors (over 65 or 70, I forget which) we get a nice exemption. Still, our full-ride RE taxes would not exceed $2000. Hawaii has the lowest RE taxes in the country from what I understand.



By the way, I'm sure it varies (location, location, location) but our assessment has gone up relatively little over the 13 years we have owned as has our actual selling price - based on comps in our building. I'd say we've gone from about $400K to about $700K in those 13 years. Nice bump, but nothing outrageous. YMMV

 

[Montecfo]

If your county is well managed, higher real estate values need not result in huge tax increases.

In my county taxes have stayed relatively flat for a very long time. Values up, tax rate down.

 

[old medic]

My Uncle and Aunt lost their house due to back taxes in a city in upstate NY... The area turned into a crime ridden cesspool and their property tax for one year climbed to more than they paid for the house in the early 60s. They decided to not pay the tax and ride it out. They got 3 more years before evicted.

 

[MC Rider]

I like CA prop 13. Property taxes are a % of the purchase price and can only increase something like 2% a year, iirc. Long time owners may pay a lot less than newer residents who paid a lot more for their homes. So it favors the long time owner older folks.

 

[old medic]

I like CA prop 13. Property taxes are a % of the purchase price and can only increase something like 2% a year.

That would be really nice... Since we only paid $6500 for the place, our tax bill would be like $41

 

[indiajust]

I don't like the social stress of having different prices for the same thing. Within the StrongTowns approach, taxes pay for roads/water/sewer/drainage. It makes no sense to charge different prices for the same thing.

The social stress of justifying such a framework feels too awkward to bear. There are so many things tearing society apart, why increase the burden with blatantly biased tax system?

 

[AudiDudi]

You know the amount of the taxes when you purchase your house. Just because someone buys the identical house next door for 2x the price you paid, why should your taxes go up? Let them rise with inflation and voted on mill levies but the original amount shoud be constant.

 

[meierlde]

Heh, heh, tell me what that's like. I've never experienced it!

I actually experienced this in the great Houston Bust of the 1980s House value went down by about 40% one year. (this was when Harris county (Houston) had 3k foreclosures a month.) So you don't really want this to happen, as if the real value declined that month you would likley be underwater on the mortage

 

[meierlde]

You know the amount of the taxes when you purchase your house. Just because someone buys the identical house next door for 2x the price you paid, why should your taxes go up? Let them rise with inflation and voted on mill levies but the original amount shoud be constant.

Of course property taxes are a remnant of the old all purpose wealth tax the states had in the 19th century. This included personal property (i.e furniture etc), and intangibles such as bank deposits and stocks etc. Today individuals just pay tax on real property, businesses typicall pay a tax on their furniture etc. And intangibles tax has mostly done away with.

 

[Koolau]

I actually experienced this in the great Houston Bust of the 1980s House value went down by about 40% one year. (this was when Harris county (Houston) had 3k foreclosures a month.) So you don't really want this to happen, as if the real value declined that month you would likley be underwater on the mortage

Ah, yes. I recall seeing the reports of bill boards "Last one out of Houston - please turn off the lights." Not a fun time all those years ago.


Guess I'll just be happy with my RE tax increases.

 

[Koolau]

Of course property taxes are a remnant of the old all purpose wealth tax the states had in the 19th century. This included personal property (i.e furniture etc), and intangibles such as bank deposits and stocks etc. Today individuals just pay tax on real property, businesses typicall pay a tax on their furniture etc. And intangibles tax has mostly done away with.

Yeah, what a pain intangibles were back in the day.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Nevada property taxes are low and the age of the house is figured into the equation. They can only go up 3% a year. So when I owned my 400k house the property taxes were only 700/year because the house was built in 1950. When people here complain I tell them to look at what people in other states pay. I have lived in 5 states.

 

[Dash man]

We just received and paid our property taxes for our Florida condo. It only went up $27 this year! What a nice surprise!