Property Taxes ... How Much are yours

[Ductape]

RIGHT !

 

[yak651]

For the people with taxes over $10k, what is the value of the house? That's crazy, if the house isn't paid off, how do you afford something like that plus insurance and everyday expenses? I thought mine was bad, house we built last year, on 9.5 acres, value around $250-$275k, taxes $3200. The thing I hate is I have my own septic, well and I have to pay for garbage removal. The fire department is volunteer, I don't get what I'm getting for these fees. Not to be political, but healthcare and taxes is making it hard for a "middle class" person to survive

 

[Sackett2]

Great thread;
Makes me feel better about Oregon, thought we had it bad...
My in-laws 7 acres with one old farm house and a log cabin (no foundation) has about 1500 tax.
My parents built a new house in 1979- started at 1500, then in 1980 when the house was completed hit over 3000, and was going up every year. Someone managed to pass a law that reset the taxes to a earlier time and restricted the increases to like 2% a year; my parents how pay around 2500, for a 3 bedroom, 3 bath 2500 sq ft house, on 1.5 acres with 3 shops (outbulidings)

 

[Bird]

When I moved, U Haul vans were $2,000 to leave California, but if you rented here in Texas and were going to California, it was $400 for the same miles. So many people were leaving that they couldn't get enough vehicles for people to rent.

Eddie, I don't even remember what I paid, but I rented a U-Haul to move from the Dallas area to the Chicago area for the 1971-72 school year, but learned it would cost more than 3 times as much to rent one to come back to Texas when school was out.

This year, my little house (1,295 sq. ft., 3 bdrm., 2 bath, attached 2 car garage, plus a 21' x 25' shop building under the same roof connected by a 12' breezeway) on a 70' x 130' lot in town with an 8' x 12' storage building out back was appraised at $118,000 and the total taxes were $2,047.19 ($148.54 to the county, $565.44 to the city, and $1,333.21 to the schools). That's with an "over 65 homestead" exemption which exempts $55,000 for the county, $20,000 for the city, and $10,000 for the schools. My school taxes are now "frozen" so they aren't supposed to go up unless I sell the place, then the new owner will get hit.

 

[ultrarunner]

For the people with taxes over $10k, what is the value of the house? That's crazy, if the house isn't paid off, how do you afford something like that plus insurance and everyday expenses? I thought mine was bad, house we built last year, on 9.5 acres, value around $250-$275k, taxes $3200. The thing I hate is I have my own septic, well and I have to pay for garbage removal. The fire department is volunteer, I don't get what I'm getting for these fees. Not to be political, but healthcare and taxes is making it hard for a "middle class" person to survive

I call it scary...

My home is on 17 acres and the land continues to increase per the county... I knew taxes would be around $750 per month... so I can't complain about that.

I didn't know the limit on WA property taxes would be overturned and my taxes would go to $1000 per month. I guess I'm lucky because the county increased my assessment by 80% from what I paid for the place 18 months prior.

I've got the place rented for $2000 per month to help with the tax situation while I'm working in California.

What scares the heck out of me is there really is no upper limit as to how high high or how large an individual homeowner's property tax can increase.

The bulk of my taxes go to the school... I'm on well water and we have a volunteer Fire Department and no garbage service.

 

[Dargo]

For the people with taxes over $10k, what is the value of the house? That's crazy, if the house isn't paid off, how do you afford something like that plus insurance and everyday expenses? I thought mine was bad, house we built last year, on 9.5 acres, value around $250-$275k, taxes $3200. The thing I hate is I have my own septic, well and I have to pay for garbage removal. The fire department is volunteer, I don't get what I'm getting for these fees. Not to be political, but healthcare and taxes is making it hard for a "middle class" person to survive

I don't know how a young couple can do it now unless they get their property and money via inheritance. Unfortunately for me, I didn't inherit a dime nor any property. All I inherited is a bullheaded attitude and a blue collar skill set of being able to operate most any piece of equipment and the ability to repair and build a lot of stuff. The way I was raised, I never heard of taking anything to the shop or calling a repairman. If something broke you just fixed it; period. At one point in time I was angry at my parents because I never got anything from them, so I thought. I put that 'do anything' attitude towards building my home and business and discovered what they gave me was more valuable than any toy or any car. I was also raised with the idea that if you don't have the money to pay for something, you can't afford it. Again, for a while, I despised my dad for not giving me a car nor even co-signing with me for a loan to get one. I now thank him for that lesson.

I intentionally don't list what I have or all I own. Again, that's just the way I was raised. I know only too well that a lot of very smart and very good people may not have many physical possessions. I've been fortunate to apply the way I was raised to my business. A customer gets what they paid for and I won't accept anything less; whether they paid for a physical item or a service. My businesses and having a hand in building everything I have has blessed me with more than I ever thought I'd have. If I owed money on anything I don't see how I could make it with property taxes having gone up so much. I absolutely despise property taxes! Everything I own was paid for with after tax dollars. Every single piece of building material was taxed when I bought them, with my already taxed dollars. Now, because I busted my hump and am relatively blessed, I get bled to the tune of what amounts to nearly a thousand dollars a month 'just because'.

Since my place is relatively large I also pay about a grand a month in utilities on top of the property taxes! Then there is my home owner's insurance and the promise of our new president that I'll get to pay even more income tax on what I make. I have to wonder if it's worth it. I can lay off several employees and wind my business down quite a bit and not really make a lot less. If my taxes do go up as promised, I'll very likely do just that. It isn't fair to my employees, but I won't have to work nearly as much to end up with keeping about the same pay myself after taxes. Hey, I still need to pay those property taxes yet I'd like to see my kids more. Besides, if I die, I need to have a pile of money on hand for my wife and kids or they won't even be able to continue to live here even though everything is paid off. Something about that just doesn't seem right.

 

[MotorSeven]

Just uder a hundered ac(21ac pasture), 2 sheds, 30x50 building w/apt- $520 a year.

RD

 

[ultrarunner]

Dargo... it's sad that for many of us the high cost of Property Tax could be reason we are forced from our homes.

Sales Tax, Income Tax and many other taxes have a discretionary nature.... Property Taxes, at least Property Tax Increases, don't... at least to my way of thinking.

I know this isn't Europe, but I spent some time working overseas and I was very surprised how low property taxes are, at least in the countries I'm familiar with... home ownership is sacrosanct.

Europe has very high sales taxes and moderate income tax... Sales Tax on cars was 31%, 18% on non-luxury items and 10% on food. Million Dollar homes averaged $700 to $1000 per year.

Living in SF Bay Area, ground zero for much of the Foreclosure Crisis, a typical new Home Owner with a 1920's, 1100 square foot home is paying $500 to $600 per month property tax... it came as a shock to many first time home owners... add insurance and mortgage and the cost of home ownership was easily 3 times the cost of renting.

 

[kenstrac]

And why are we at this point.
I was driving in the upper part of the state and heard of a town that wanted to get a 1M $ bond to put astro turf on the soccer field , don't know if they passed it .
The next town over has a late bus so that kids that have detention or play sports can get a ride home 20 mi round trip 6 kids on bus.
no matter how much money you throw at the school system it dosn't get any better they just want more and more.

 

[scott_vt]

Good Afternoon Dargo,
That was an excellent post !!! I agree on so much of what you said its scary ! Although I dont have any employees, and cant really relate to that facet, I can relate with almost everything else you stated ! As most other posters have allready stated, the bulk of their taxes come from the school system. I dont have any issues with the children in the community getting a quality education, my problem is with the way the board of education in my area operates ! They get a huge block of money, actually better than half the entire town budget ! They have no accountability to the town after that transfer of funds. Meaning that they dont have to appear in front of the board of finance to make line item money transfers as all other boards in town do ! They have blatantly snubbed their noses to the town taxpayers and continue to get large raises 3% or more even though they know full well that the taxpayers just cant swallow those raises. That is because they have a very strong union ! I believe that their raises should more closely parallel whats going on in the real world ! They have thrown away perfectly good furniture, actually let other town depts pick over their refuse and spent huge amounts of money on IMO uneeded new furniture. They are way to top heavy with administrators IMO..... I could go on and on but thats a big part of the problem with why are taxes are excessive IMO. And Im sure that its not too far away with many other municipalities also !

Sorry about the long rant !