Property Value/Appraisals RANT

kenmac · Jan 17, 2013

KTurner said:
. They raised our property tax rate ~12% this year (assessments went down ~1%) and they just started talking about raising it another 1.5-6% next year.

Keith

It takes a vote of the people here to raise property tax.

sdkubota · Jan 17, 2013

The sewer might sound like a pain but will definately increase your home's worth...here comes the new tax assessment.

MotorSeven · Jan 17, 2013

I know your income is higher in the NE which is fine while your working. Just like S. Fla, income is up but so are taxes and insurance of all kinds. Seems like everyone I talk to is planning on leaving when they retire. They are all looking for a place that will stretch their retirement dollar(jut like I did). We are seeing a lot of Police, Fire & municipality workers that are close to retirement down here looking for land/homes. Private industry workers are here too in equal numbers. I have urged our County Mayor to advertise or otherwise present us as a great place to retire. The reasons are many as to why we are not as "developed" as other places nearby. Mostly it's our geographical location, no real industry, remote access via 2 lane roads through somewhat steep ridges & 30 -45 min to major shopping.

It's not for everybody, some move here to "get away from it all" then realize it's just a little too far away:laughing: Some have been very, well,,,ahh amusing, wondering why we don't have broadband or street lights or garbage pick-up, paved roads, MORE BUILDING CODES...the list goes on and on. When I hear that in my presence, I politely point out that those things cost money, a lot of money and if we had those luxury's most of us could not afford to live here. Furthermore, the more luxury's you have the less freedom you have...rural is rural and it should stay that way. Are there downsides to this? Well, yes but it's mostly a matter of perception & thought process. When you get behind that load of hay going 25mph and can't pass, sit back actually turn you head and look around at the scenery.....I think "Postcard Pretty" every drive to town. When you see a place like a run down single-wide, consider that that is all they can afford they they do the best they can. When the small town politics raise an eyebrow think of Monica Lewinsky.

There are many places like this across America. Small towns, small communities with lot's of pride & lot's of freedom. For those of us that join them it's our duty to maintain that freedom and keep the best qualities of the community intact. If we don't they will all vanish and one day we will look around I say, "what the heck happened?"

I'll get down off the soapbox now....carry on

NorTracNY · Jan 17, 2013

MossRoad said:
O.K. I won't mention that I pay less than $600 per year on my 1350 Sq' home on 1 acre with 1 car and 2 car detached garages, swimming pool, fruit trees and vinyard that is worth 65K if you won't mention the same house in a different setting like NY or CA will cost $450,000. :laughing:

We also have 20 acres of unimproved woodland out in the county that costs less than $200 per year. How much would 20 acres be taxed where you are? Just curious.

The home would be maybe $150-170K and taxes would be $4,500-5,000. The land would vary a lot more 20-200K. Taxes are about 3.5% of accessed value which is full "market value."

riptides · Jan 17, 2013

NorTracNY said:
The home would be maybe $150-170K and taxes would be $4,500-5,000. The land would vary a lot more 20-200K. Taxes are about 3.5% of accessed value which is full "market value."

OUCH. Is all of New York like that? I always thought the rural parts did not have that burden of high costs.

I wish the family still had the duck farm on Long Island.

300UGUY · Jan 17, 2013

KTurner said:
You basically described my wife's grandmothers' house, right beside ours. 0.99 acre, 1,375 sqft brick house built in 1970, detached single car garage (brick), and a detached 2 car garage for tractor/implement/etc storage. Assessed at $280k, taxes = $2100. Southeast VA. They raised our property tax rate ~12% this year (assessments went down ~1%) and they just started talking about raising it another 1.5-6% next year. This is in a supposedly very conservative county.

On top of that, they're forcing public sewer on us this year, which amounts to another tax. Probably $8k to get hooked up. They've told me our assessments will go up as a result of the public sewer being installed, which means I get to pay more property tax every year, and there's a new monthly sewer bill (another tax).

And then there's the social security tax "increase" this year, and all of those other tax changes due to those fiscal cliff "negotiations"

Arggg...@#$ #$%#$% #$%#$%

Excuse me while I go sit in the corner and let my blood boil....:banghead::banghead::banghead:

Keith

Your taxes are less than ours, but your sewer hookup is about 2K less than ours also. The SS tax isn't really a increase, it's just going back to what it was. I don't mind paying the taxes, but the income isn't increasing.

300UGUY · Jan 17, 2013

MotorSeven said:
I know your income is higher in the NE which is fine while your working. Just like S. Fla, income is up but so are taxes and insurance of all kinds. Seems like everyone I talk to is planning on leaving when they retire. They are all looking for a place that will stretch their retirement dollar(jut like I did). We are seeing a lot of Police, Fire & municipality workers that are close to retirement down here looking for land/homes. Private industry workers are here too in equal numbers. I have urged our County Mayor to advertise or otherwise present us as a great place to retire. The reasons are many as to why we are not as "developed" as other places nearby. Mostly it's our geographical location, no real industry, remote access via 2 lane roads through somewhat steep ridges & 30 -45 min to major shopping.

It's not for everybody, some move here to "get away from it all" then realize it's just a little too far away:laughing: Some have been very, well,,,ahh amusing, wondering why we don't have broadband or street lights or garbage pick-up, paved roads, MORE BUILDING CODES...the list goes on and on. When I hear that in my presence, I politely point out that those things cost money, a lot of money and if we had those luxury's most of us could not afford to live here. Furthermore, the more luxury's you have the less freedom you have...rural is rural and it should stay that way. Are there downsides to this? Well, yes but it's mostly a matter of perception & thought process. When you get behind that load of hay going 25mph and can't pass, sit back actually turn you head and look around at the scenery.....I think "Postcard Pretty" every drive to town. When you see a place like a run down single-wide, consider that that is all they can afford they they do the best they can. When the small town politics raise an eyebrow think of Monica Lewinsky.

There are many places like this across America. Small towns, small communities with lot's of pride & lot's of freedom. For those of us that join them it's our duty to maintain that freedom and keep the best qualities of the community intact. If we don't they will all vanish and one day we will look around I say, "what the heck happened?"

I'll get down off the soapbox now....carry on

You should just be quiet. When I moved to our area, it was very rural. All the development has done is raise my taxes. New folks means new schools, new roads, new fire department stuff, more police, all paid for at todays prices. And a lot of development never pays for itself. We have had a bunch of small factories locate here over the years. All of them get tax deals to locate here, low cost development loans, training funds from the state, all for $8 per hour jobs. And these places are owned by big corporations, not little businesses. And usually by the time the tax breaks run out, the companies come up with a deal: give us more or we will leave for someplace that will. Or they just walk away, send the jobs to Mexico.

Gunny · Jan 17, 2013

kenmac said:
It takes a vote of the people here to raise property tax.

Here in Kentucky the public library, county health services and the school board can raise their portion of your property tax up to 4.5% a year just by saying so. They can raise it higher if they hold three public meetings to discuss it.
Guess what? Every year the school, health and library taxes go up by at least 4.5%. (By the way, we pay that not only on our property tax bill, those taxes are also on your electric bill, your telephone bill and again when you renew your vehicle license plates every year) School taxes alone make up over 50% of my tax bills.

The state auditor has raised some noise about this, calling them "unregulated tax bases", but I doubt if they ever do anything about it.

ustmd · Jan 17, 2013

KTurner said:
You basically described my wife's grandmothers' house, right beside ours. 0.99 acre, 1,375 sqft brick house built in 1970, detached single car garage (brick), and a detached 2 car garage for tractor/implement/etc storage. Assessed at $280k, taxes = $2100. Southeast VA.

Keith

Not to minimize your pain, but I would kill to get that property tax rate. The county (here in deep red Texas) just took $4214 on an assessed value of $216K.