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Hello All,
Hoping someone knows the answer. I am at a total loss. We are looking at the Easley area and trying to understand how property taxes are configured. We were looking at staying in Easley HS or Anderson 1 HS area.
All the house sizes we've pulled up are about the same size-:4br, 2 1/2 ba with .50 acres. When you pull up property tax past data, many of the houses seem to have no pattern from year to year of why their taxes have jumped like thousands? Some stick around 8-9000 assessed where others have gone from that way up to 11000 or 15000 assessed?
why would this drastic change occur? I'm not one for surprises especially relating to my home. Am I missing sonething? How are they getting this?
Hello All,
Hoping someone knows the answer. I am at a total loss. We are looking at the Easley area and trying to understand how property taxes are configured. We were looking at staying in Easley HS or Anderson 1 HS area.
All the house sizes we've pulled up are about the same size-:4br, 2 1/2 ba with .50 acres. When you pull up property tax past data, many of the houses seem to have no pattern from year to year of why their taxes have jumped like thousands? Some stick around 8-9000 assessed where others have gone from that way up to 11000 or 15000 assessed?
why would this drastic change occur? I'm not one for surprises especially relating to my home. Am I missing sonething? How are they getting this?
I may be misreading your post, but are you thinking that the actual tax bill is 8-9K on some houses while 11-15K on others? I figure that isn't what you meant, but did want to clarify as I doubt there are many houses in SC with that high a tax bill.
As for changes in assessment , I'm copying some info below. I'm assuming the houses you are looking at have significantly different market values on the MLS , as location, amenities etc play heavily into home values. . Keep in mind that primary residence vs second home/homesteading and the like will factor in as well. Houses that have had multiple owners vs houses that have remained in a single owner's hands might also result in totally different market values but again, not something I have really looked into.
Coming from out-of-state, I still find SC's property tax hard to read, or at least more complicated to determine than other places I have lived.
[SIZE=2][SIZE=2]Assessment Ratio
[/SIZE]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=2]
[SIZE=2]
[/SIZE]
[/SIZE]– The percentage of your property’s
value which is subject to taxation. For example, the
assessment ratio of residential property is 4%. Multiply
your home’s fair market value by the assessment ratio of
4% to determine assessed value.
[SIZE=2][SIZE=2]
Assessed Value
[/SIZE]
[/SIZE] [SIZE=2][SIZE=2]
[/SIZE]
[/SIZE]– An appraisal or fair market value of real
or personal property multiplied by the appropriate
corresponding ratio equals the assessment or assessed
value. Assessed value times the millage rate equals the
Mzfroggez, thanks for your reply. The high numbers I mentioned were what was mentioned on the realtor.Com site under taxes. It shows an accessed value, which I would think would be 4% of that, but we can't seem to get the number to match up.
Also, there seems to no rhyme or reason of how a property is accessed. The houses I've run across are $225k to say $240k. It just seems bizarre that one 4br 2 1/2 bath with .50 acres can be accessed so differently. I ran across one last night that literally has been accessed at $15,000 and another I liked for $11,000, but there is no way I would actually consider it when many others I pulled up are showing an average of $8000 to $9000. That's a difference it's showing of like $1200/yr to almost $4,000 on the one assessed at $15,000. I went to tax site and pulled up the address and it looks like it went up even more this year.
Is it different living closer to "town"? Here where we live, we found out after we moved, there was a regional tax, which has been like $2500/yr. We would not have chosen to specifically live here if we knew beforehand. Homes a mile and a half from us- further away from the village, pay no regional tax.
So, I'm wondering if it's like that?
If your house was a rental in prior years than they would have been accessed at a much higher rate. When you are pulling tax data you may be stumbling upon that which would skew the results compared to taxes paid as a primary residence. Not sure if that's the issue but just a thought.
There s a tax estimator on the Pickens County site. It should give you a good idea. I live in Pickens County. My taxes are roughly $700-$750 per year. Of course my home is less than $150k. If you own your home you claim it as your primary residence you get assessed at a 4% rate as opposed to the 6%. That does not mean 4% of the purchase price. There is a mileage rate involved. You should be able to go to the County website & put in the address or tax ID # to see the last tax bill. We pay 1 year in arrears in SC.
You are looking at accessed value not taxes paid. In south carolina a house is accessed at 4 or 6 percent of what the tax dept says the house andland are worth, this is called assessed value. 4% is for owner lived in home, 6% is for rental or second homes. Assessed value is not your tax bill. Your tax bill is figured on a millage rate times assessed value and differs county to county as well as if you are in city or not. On realtor.com this is usually the first number under heading tax. Most counties have a website you can lookup a tax bill as well as current tax rate called a millage rate. Other fees maybe added in. A $250,000 house in Easley district 1 owner occupied would be assessed at $10,000and taxes due would be rougly $1200. By the way zillow is easier to understand. It shows taxes and assessed values in a simple manner.
Thanks everyone for the info. I guess I'm just a little foggy on how they come up with the accessed value. I just ran across a house in Pickens that is for sale at 62,900 with half acre and it shows in the tax info that it would be approximately $1200 for taxes. I am just having a difficult time wrapping my head around how that can be the same as a $250k house. This is what's confusing me. I realize your taxes are based off the accessed value, but I am just not understanding how they're coming up with the amount they're accessing these homes at. It feels like they're blindfolded, you spin them around a few times and they spit out a number and that's what you pay the 4 or 6% off of.
I'll play with Zillow and see how their site works.
I'm sorry, I don't mean to see dimwitted. It's just hard to wrap my brain around a house that's roughly $63k versus $250 and see the same taxes being owed. Doesn't see quite right.
Well that would only be right if the house is currently not owner occuped both because of the 2% increase in assessed taxable value and because of school tax. Owner occupied do not pay school tax so these two differences could double the tax due. So a $63000 house that normally pays $600 tax if owner occupied would potentially pay $1200 if rented. You really need to visit the county website to see the tax bill to know for sure about the property.
hmmm.. interesting angle on the renting and also no school tax. I thought all paid school tax? Is a school tax figured in somewhere else? It's not near as complicated in other states to figure this stuff out. HA. My parents are looking at following us down and she told me looking at the tax notes on the real estate sites is hurting her brain. HA.
Thanks janrey1234 for that angle, did not know and what a crazy difference it all seemed. Thanks all for your help in muddying through all this.. I just don't like surprises- financial surprises.
Yes, a few years back school tax was removed from property tax for owner occupied homes. It is still paid for in other property taxes like cars, boats and planes and a new 1% sales tax was added making sales tax 6% (and sometimes higher if a county or city has instituted a tax for something else). Sales tax was removed from food though which was taxed previously. School tax is still included on home propety for repaying bonds that might have been taken out to build new schools and such. Basically, taxes here are spread out. Where are you moving from? There aren't many financial surprises but there is to be aware of subdivisions that might have an annual homeowners fee to cover things the subdivision might have, for instance, my subdivision has a pool and tennis court. Our fee is $450/year. The less a subdivision has for amenities the less the fee should be. You can tell a realtor to avoid houses that might be in subdivisions with homeowner fees if you don't want that.
I can break down for you my taxes in Greenville county which is probably higher than in Easley area
about $450 for 4 vehicles probably closer to $500 next year because we updated a truck. The cars are 2004 and 2005 and the truck is 2011. We have a classic car that is taxed very low. You pay a sticker fee every two years $24 for decal for a car, the truck was charged $30. Road fee is $15 every year and would be a part of the $450 I paid. The truck and classic car were tagged this year and also included in that $450 amount I mentioned. Total tax on 2 cars only was only around $240 add stickers and it would be $288.
about $1400 for real estate (actually went down a little this year)
then 6% tax on whatever I purchased this year and I believe it is 5% on salary.
There is a homestead exemption that might apply to your parents. Must live in South Carolina for a year and be over 65. You get to exempt $50,000 on your home value (this may account for some differences in taxes you are seeing for same priced homes in the same neighborhood) before it's assessed then taxed on assessed value.
Taxes may seem confusing, which they can be until you actually sit down and pay them, but they aren't all that high IMO at least compared to some northern states where the taxes on property are 2 or 3 times what I pay.
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