property taxes?

TwentyThreeMX

TwentyThreeMX

PR Founding Father
Just something to discuss. I'm a little angry about it. Figured I would see how it is outside of cuyahoga county???

I pay pretty high property taxes, about $3500+ a year for an average 3 bed room 2 bathroom house w/ no property. I had tried to dispute the assessed value the last 2 years with no luck, but this year was the 3rd year so time for a reassessment from the county.

My value dropped 17%!! Here I was doing the math, all excited thinking I was going to save close to $60 a month starting in january (and get a little check back from my mortage company due to overpayment of my escrow acct).

After a little research it seems that the rates pretty much change directly in relation to values. In other words, values go up, taxes decrease. Values go down, they increase.

So here we have a bunch of crappy neighborhoods that are already struggling, lets raise taxes, make more people want to move, make them less attractive to want to stay there...

How does that seem logical or fair? Is that normal??? Seems like BS to me.

ok I'm done ranting.
 
Cuyahoga County blows. I was so happy to get out of there a decade ago and will not go back.

One other item I do not like is the whole escrow thing. Seemed like it was constantly wrong, changing, going up, etc. I switched years ago to just paying mortgage, taxes, and insurance all separately.
 
Wish my property taxes were only $3500! I pay $5800 a year. Plus a school tax, plus 2.25% income tax.........never stops. But yeah, go to your county auditor, ours did a nice job actually getting accurate values, and taxes for properties when they were re-assed last year.
 
1720 sq ft house on 1 acre of property. 2295 taxes/year. No additional 1% income either because i'm in a township.

you're pretty much stuck. I know a few people I work with who are stuck with houses they are way upsidedown on in your area. They paid like 130-150k and now they're worth about 70.

My taxes actually decreased this year. Probably will say my house is worth less now...
 
Boy was I fortunate! $1800 a year for house on 5 acres in country. 1 mile from Fin and 2 miles from Wallyworld. Best of both worlds...freedom close to town!
 
GeorgiePorgie said:
1720 sq ft house on 1 acre of property. 2295 taxes/year. No additional 1% income either because i'm in a township.

you're pretty much stuck. I know a few people I work with who are stuck with houses they are way upsidedown on in your area. They paid like 130-150k and now they're worth about 70.

My taxes actually decreased this year. Probably will say my house is worth less now...
Click to expand...

im not really stuck. sure it will be hard to sell the house im sure.. but i got it on a short sale.. so i got a decent deal on it and it is still appraised 25k+ higher than I paid. Realistically though I figure I will be able to break even or come near enough to be satisfied with it. If things turned around it would be profitable but I dont see things turning around sooner than I want to get out.
 
John250 said:
Wish my property taxes were only $3500! I pay $5800 a year. Plus a school tax, plus 2.25% income tax.........never stops. But yeah, go to your county auditor, ours did a nice job actually getting accurate values, and taxes for properties when they were re-assed last year.
Click to expand...

Are you able to claim a home office or anything else to offset this expense? $5800 a year is a killer.

Property tax's! Just another massive expense that takes your net-worth the wrong direction and you'll never have anything to show for it, and often the biggest money pit of home ownership.
 
I am self employed, so yes, I claim a office....portion of the common areas, bathroom, etc. Also, phone, internet, electric, heat, gas, landscaping, etc. Everything is a percentage. I let my CPA take care of all my taxes.
 
Sort of like what I say in jest, "I don't really own anything, I rent from the Governement". But its sorta true.
 
GeorgiePorgie said:
And you still pay 5800. Yikes.

You never really own anything. You'll always be paying off the government.
Click to expand...

$5800 is my property taxes. All the other deductions are taken off my income taxes, and it has worked out fairly decent the last couple years.
 
NQ1965 said:
Are you able to claim a home office or anything else to offset this expense? $5800 a year is a killer.

Property tax's! Just another massive expense that takes your net-worth the wrong direction and you'll never have anything to show for it, and often the biggest money pit of home ownership.
Click to expand...

Home office deduction is on income taxes, not property taxes.

And you get plenty for your property tax. Whether you want it or not you get (depending on
what your local community has voted to approve) fire protection, schools, roads, police protection,
libraries, water and sewer, the list is freaking endless.

Note that I'm not saying what you pay is reasonable, too high or too low, but the concept
that you get nothing for that money is wrong.

Something nobody mentions is how much is their home's appraisal. If you have a million
dollar home, you're going to pay a lot more than a guy with a $100k home.

If you don't like what you are paying, campaign against the tax issues you
don't want to pay for next time. Talk to your friends and neighbors. Go
door to door.

From my experience, the biggest money pit of home ownership is a septic
system. YMMV.
 
sturd said:
And you get plenty for your property tax. Whether you want it or not you get (depending on what your local community has voted to approve) fire protection, schools, roads, police protection, libraries, water and sewer, the list is freaking endless.

Note that I'm not saying what you pay is reasonable, too high or too low, but the concept
that you get nothing for that money is wrong.
Click to expand...

I didn't say you get nothing for your money. But I get your point.

Agreed that those are all valuable, necessary and vital "community services and assets".
But the way I have always viewed it is in the long term what do I have (individually) to show for the money that I paid out for all the years I lived there? Really it's just an annual cost (that rises regularly) to prevent your property value from decreasing due to the level of services available in the community of your home.

To me it ranks up there with insurance. I hate it with a passion. I have nothing to show for years and years of premium payments. And I cringe at how many damn policies I maintain.
 
sturd said:
And you get plenty for your property tax. Whether you want it or not you get (depending on
what your local community has voted to approve) fire protection, schools, roads, police protection,
libraries, water and sewer, the list is freaking endless.YMMV.
Click to expand...



Being on City Council, this is why I always try to convince tax payers, your NOT being over taxed at the local level. We balance our budget each year, and can show you an extensive list of projects that have been completed, and where your money is going. Tax payers need to write their state reps, senators, and federal legislators and tell them that they want their taxes to STAY LOCAL. The federal govt continues to cut taxes coming back to the states and municipalities, while adding way too many unfunded federal mandates. Where are these mandates coming from? The local municipalities are forced to ask for it from the local tax payers. The state has cut the community funding to the locals at the rates or about 15%, 15% and 20% in the last three years. Now the state of Ohio wanted to cut state taxes, so what do they cut?? The Estate tax. This made up such a small portion to the state budget, but hurts the local govts the hardest. The state legislators look at the tax payers, and say we cut taxes! All the while, screwing the locall muncipalities the most at the time once again. Right now, we have federal and state mandates for P21 radios......this is going to cost our city $750,000 that we did not know we were going to have to budget for until half way through 2012. While I am sure they are an improvement, they are NOT a neccessity at this very moment, but thanks to the federal Govt and state govt, we are forced to spend the money once again. Schools are in the same boat. Everyone is upset local schools are asking for more money. But they continue to get more and more funding cut from the state and unfunded mandates (and they have a TON in the schools)......All the while, the federal govt ask and wants more.......and can not account for it. I could go on all day about how communities are getting screwed on numerous things. Local taxes are usually accounted for pretty well (except in the bigger cities where they have a different mentality, similar to the federal govt, and usually not very smart local legislators, and not a politcal slam, but most big cities are controled by democrates.....see a connection).
Have a great 2013.........anyone want to ask any questions on local taxes.....I could go on some more!
 
I have heard these property tax stories many times. I always figured people exaggerated thier expenses. I usually move every couple of years (fix-up and move) but I have been in my current home a little longer. I have a 3 bd, 2 ba, brick rancher on .25 acers in an avg neighborhood. $850 a yr. Our school system is rated in the top 10% in the state etc. etc. If I had to pay 5 to 7k in property tax a year I would move, its that simple. But I guess low property taxes means there's only 1 downtown in proctorville. Ah..... the price you pay lol
 
I think we pay somewhere around $1200 per year. We're not in city limits, although we're in a township. We've been looking at moving, and every house I look at online, taxes is a big factor for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top