Home buying thread

Palum_sl said:

Even though there's probably zero difference between having your toilet bowl 2 feet from your sink vs. 6, I think that will gross too many people out.

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You say that buuut.... they actually say you shouldn't keep your toothbrush near the shitter.

Someone didn't watch Mythbusters.

I should know this but can anyone help me out on how property taxes are calculated? I'm looking at two homes. Both are listed for the same price. One pays ~12k/yr in taxes the other ~7k/yr in taxes. Both in the same county/city. Is that simply because the latter hasn't been appraised and a while and if I bought it they'd get recalculated and probably go up?

Also why does Zillow seem to suck at figuring out the monthly payment? For the first house it says I'd pay $500/mo in taxes per mortgage payment. When clearly that isn't enough.

-edit-

Also on the county website it says the 2015 taxes for the two were similar. Both Zillow/Realtor are both reporting the previous paid over 12k in 2014. Is it at all normal for it to fluctuate like that?

Are both houses in the same school district?

Burnesto_sl said:

Are both houses in the same school district?

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They go to different actual buildings I believe (I'm not 100% sure) but yes they're both in the same district

Every area is different. Generally there are rates set by the city / county that apply to various expenses and they get tallied up. Generally based on value with a credit in many areas for seniors, homestead, widow etc.. They add it all up, minus credits and add on any surcharges.

You should be able to look at the bill and see what the differences are to figure out if it is a rate thing, property based on an old value or some kind of non-ad valorem assessment of some kind.

Here there can be swings in tax based on that. Sometimes it is storm water assessments, sometimes city water hookup fees, sometimes the development gets assessed for something because the developer cut a deal with the city to save money and stuck it on homeowners etc. The list really is a mile long and varies a ton.

Every area is different and rates / taxes can vary wildly from county to county or city to city. Even community to community.

Also keep in mind that whatever the property was valued at is likely lower than what you are buying it for. That means the taxes will go up. First year you'll generally pay on the previous record and next will be higher as the city will based the new value on your purchase price. That means if you escrow expect a jump in your payment when that happens. The banks almost never account for that.

Cad_sl said:

Don't look at Zillow, they know jack shit. Look at the county tax appraiser website for each property.

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Aye I did and like I said the 2015 taxes were around 7.5. But both Zillow and Realtor said 12k for the property in 2014. But I wasn't sure how to go back in time that far on the county website. Maybe I just need to learn that first.

Depending on when they bought, if the assessment was already done it is possible that they paid taxes on the previous owners value. Depending on how that is calculated that could be significantly lower if homesteaded. Here, as an example, there is a max that the value can go up at 3% per year for the assessment. Since Florida real estate in this area is retarded on the up and down swings that means if I buy a home from someone in August 2015 that say owned it for 20 years the assessed value might only be 110k. I buy the home for 225k but 2015 taxes will still show the 110k value minus their exemptions because the assessment took place prior to them recording the sale.

I sell this home to you in 2016 for 235k in April or June, whatever. The assessors office doesn't update the values until they do the assessment in August. So you buy the home and your mortgage escrow gets calculated using the lower tax value in many cases. Since that is the only tax bill available. Every site you look at will show you the lower bill because that is the last bill generated.

It's also possible that the other owner has assessments for hooking up to city water / sewer that are paid out over 10 or 15 years. The development may have assessments. The taxes in the county vs the city could be higher.

Without knowing an address of the two and checking public records it's impossible to guess as there are a million reason why the taxes could of been half.

As mentioned find out from the county appraisal district/appraiser. Realtors just use what the owner had down. They might have got a homeowners exemption of XX amount and also some states have reduced taxes for over 65 and such. Here you get $75k of free appraised value to start off with for everyone and it goes up from there but there are age changes as well.

I sent Cad the information. The house is a bit strange since a few years ago it was foreclosed, purchased, sold again (at the foreclosed price), gutted & renovated and now is on the market for twice what the foreclosure price was. So I'm guessing with the bouncing around of the value of the home the taxes may have been a bit strange. But hopefully Cad can shed a bit of light.

Most likely during that transition it was assessed non-primary-residence tax rates for the owners. You may have to wait until the next year and request a reevaluation for the reduction, but it really depends on the county/state and tax codes.

Maybe. Like I said I'm pretty ignorant on all this stuff. I'm actually somewhat surprised the house is for sale since it is on a primo lot and the renovation doesn't scream to me it was to be flipped. It appears to be more a customized reno. But the price is also probably about 40-50k too high as well.

I wish I could tell you definitively but it's going to be different from state to state and even county to county or township to township. For instance, in the town I live in there are different mill rates based on which fire district you live in within the same town (I'm not kidding).

Mill Rate Definition | Investopedia

This not only effects property taxes on your home but also property taxes on vehicles (yes, an actual thing in CT) and even trash removal.

Haha, fuck CT. But who am I kidding, cars here are 8.3% sales tax and a further ~1.2% the next year as a registration tax that goes down slightly each year after.

Cancel, must be a trap.

My daddy always says if someone accepts the deal then they must be fucking you.