property taxes

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Our property taxes in one year went up 25%. Even if I pay off my house I'm going to be paying a lot in property taxes annually on top of maintenance and insurance. Anyone who thinks that a paid for home is free is dead wrong.

[kork13]

Our property taxes in one year went up 25%. Even if I pay off my house I'm going to be paying a lot in property taxes annually on top of maintenance and insurance. Anyone who thinks that a paid for home is free is dead wrong.

Yeah, we had the same thing happen in Idaho -- I think it jumped 20%? Everyone blames the folks fleeing CA & bringing their inflated equity & expectation of home prices with them .... but whatever the cause, housing across the state has nearly doubled over the last 4 years ... zero exaggeration -- our home was $230k in 2019, and today's value is $400k (down from $420k a few months ago). The counties have all been ghleefully making half-year bonus assessments to keep up with it, and it's led to massive spikes in property tax bills.

But... Even with a high-flying tax bill, owning our home outright is a whole lot better than owing those taxes PLUS a mortgage.

[jenn_jenn]

Our property taxes in one year went up 25%. Even if I pay off my house I'm going to be paying a lot in property taxes annually on top of maintenance and insurance. Anyone who thinks that a paid for home is free is dead wrong.

YEP!

Like Kork, I’d still rather have a paid for home though. Which we don’t have and won’t have for a long time.

We have a very middle class home and pay ~$30k year in property tax. That’s some people’s entire mortgage payment.

My favorite part though is that despite our insane property tax bill, we still only have a volunteer fire department.

ETA: I’m sorry about your high tax bill! I empathize!

[disneysteve]

My favorite part though is that despite our insane property tax bill, we still only have a volunteer fire department.

Wow. What does all the tax money pay for and do you think it's worth it? We are in NJ with the highest property taxes in the nation so I can certainly sympathize. I will say, though, that for the most part we have very good services for that money. The bulk of it goes to the schools and we have very good ones here. Then there's emergency services, trash and recycling, street department, snow plowing, etc. Trash collection has been an issue the past couple of years but that's more pandemic/labor shortage related and they've been trying their best to correct it.

I totally understand why so many retirees move out of state, though.

[jenn_jenn]

Wow. What does all the tax money pay for and do you think it's worth it? We are in NJ with the highest property taxes in the nation so I can certainly sympathize. I will say, though, that for the most part we have very good services for that money. The bulk of it goes to the schools and we have very good ones here. Then there's emergency services, trash and recycling, street department, snow plowing, etc. Trash collection has been an issue the past couple of years but that's more pandemic/labor shortage related and they've been trying their best to correct it.

I totally understand why so many retirees move out of state, though.

The bulk of it goes to schools. We do have great schools but we lived in a great school district in CA and property taxes there are no where near the same.

Our fire department is volunteer and we get a postcard each year to donate to the police department so I don’t really think our property taxes check the box there.

They do an okay but decent job of keeping the roads nice. We have trash and recycle collection. All services we had in CA for a lot less in property tax.

Do I think it’s worth it? No, but I’m also not moving, so maybe I should actually be saying yes?

We work in Manhattan and (similar to comparable counties in NJ) we’re paying for the proximity to NYC.

[ua_guy]

Our property taxes are going to be about $14,000 this year. We are preparing to pay off the house in March (this has been a long time coming, with several delays). We will need to set aside approximately $1300/month for taxes and insurance going forward.

[kork13]

But... Even with a high-flying tax bill, owning our home outright is a whole lot better than owing those taxes PLUS a mortgage.

In light of your guys' tax bills .... I'd like to amend my previous statements regarding our property taxes.

We pay roughly $5k in our current home, up from ~$4k last year. Our rental in OKC is only $2k (I've always known that was cheap). But $14k? $30k?!? Every year?!?!?

I withdraw all personal complaints & extend my heartfelt pity to those with $10k+ annual property tax bills.

[bjl584]

I'm paying a little under $3K a year in PA. 2.5 acre lot 3/2 house.
Taxes haven't moved much since I've lived here, coming up on 7 years

[ua_guy]

In light of your guys' tax bills .... I'd like to amend my previous statements regarding our property taxes.

We pay roughly $5k in our current home, up from ~$4k last year. Our rental in OKC is only $2k (I've always known that was cheap). But $14k? $30k?!? Every year?!?!?

I withdraw all personal complaints & extend my heartfelt pity to those with $10k+ annual property tax bills.

The upside is we don't pay income tax in Washington State. Property tax is high, and sales tax is getting up there. It's 6.5% for the state but add local tax on that and sales tax ends up over 10% in a few places.

We always say we could move somewhere cheaper - and we did. An opportunity came up to live in Minnesota, and we tried it. But we found ourselves back here, and in contemplating if we were to make an elective move somewhere, we just don't know. For climate, culture, family, and good jobs, this is not a bad place to be at all.

[Drake3287]

YEP!

Like Kork, I’d still rather have a paid for home though. Which we don’t have and won’t have for a long time.

We have a very middle class home and pay ~$30k year in property tax.

I sure hope you meant 3k a year and not 30k! As screwed up as California is I almost appreciate my property tax bill compared to others here. We bought our home in 1993 for $250,000 and todays market value is close to 1 million. Our yearly property tax bill is around $5,000. and only goes up in small amounts because of California property tax laws. Luckily it's also paid for also.

If I was to turn around and sell my home today for a million dollars, the new owners would be paying close to $13k per year in property taxes. With so many homes going for a million dollars plus, I'm not sure how people afford these property tax bills anymore.

[jenn_jenn]

I sure hope you meant 3k a year and not 30k!

I wish I did. Bloomberg lists our county as having the highest property taxes in the country.

[Fishindude77]

Pretty reasonable property taxes here at the home place, approx. $8k annually covers 230 acres of ground, house and all the buildings.
Our lake home in Michigan is another story, $8k annually for a basic 2000 SF home on 1/2 acre lot.

[disneysteve]

I sure hope you meant 3k a year and not 30k! As screwed up as California is I almost appreciate my property tax bill compared to others here. We bought our home in 1993 for $250,000 and todays market value is close to 1 million. Our yearly property tax bill is around $5,000. and only goes up in small amounts because of California property tax laws. Luckily it's also paid for also.

If I was to turn around and sell my home today for a million dollars, the new owners would be paying close to $13k per year in property taxes. With so many homes going for a million dollars plus, I'm not sure how people afford these property tax bills anymore.

That would be a bargain by NJ standards. Our house is worth about 300K and we pay about $8,000. On a $1 million home, that would be around 26K in taxes.

[riverwed070707]

In light of your guys' tax bills .... I'd like to amend my previous statements regarding our property taxes.

We pay roughly $5k in our current home, up from ~$4k last year. Our rental in OKC is only $2k (I've always known that was cheap). But $14k? $30k?!? Every year?!?!?

I withdraw all personal complaints & extend my heartfelt pity to those with $10k+ annual property tax bills.

Well said. I was going to comment originally grumping about living in the midwest which is supposedly LCOL and how Iowa has crazy inflated property taxes over the last couple decades not by increasing the tax rate but by bringing the assessed values to actual market value but then I read $14k and $30k and decided my $6k tax bill isn't that bad A comparable home in our neighboring states would sell for $50k-$100k more but their property taxes are half. Missouri is the craziest - a $200k house can be assessed for $6k and have $500/yr property taxes. Its wild.

[disneysteve]

crazy inflated property taxes over the last couple decades not by increasing the tax rate but by bringing the assessed values to actual market value

Just the opposite here. Our assessment hadn't changed for at least 10 years and was way below market value but our taxes went up every year anyway. Even now, our assessment is $184,200 but the house is easily worth $300,000. I don't really know how they arrive at the assessment numbers.