Looking to buy a house

[Lowexpectations]

Originally Posted by huma281

Look under 2013 tax rate and add all the numbers together. There's just two bills posted so far, that's not all of them. There's probably another two that don't get posted on HCAD's website. In the three to four bills you usually receive, all those listed under Jurisdictions will be in there. They don't bill you separately for each tax, some of them are lumped together.

Nope there are four bills. Simply adding the rates per 100.00 is your mistake and makes your claim inaccurate. The north point last line item is a hyper link to the other 2 bills. It's 2.6% of value not 3.65. If it were over 3.5 of value no one would move to tomball since all the surrounding areas carry rates at mid 2s or lower

[huma281]

Originally Posted by Lowexpectations

Nope there are four bills. Simply adding the rates per 100.00 is your mistake and makes your claim inaccurate. The north point last line item is a hyper link to the other 2 bills. It's 2.6% of value not 3.65. If it were over 3.5 of value no one would move to tomball since all the surrounding areas carry rates at mid 2s or lower

Really? I'm looking at Lennars website and it claims the tax rate is 3.7% http://www.lennar.com/New-Homes/Texa...pointe#s_1&t_e David Weekley says 3.45% NorthPointe Landing Tomball TX Home Builder, New Homes - David Weekley Homes Either me and these builders are doing it wrong or you know something we don't??

[Lowexpectations]

Originally Posted by huma281

Really? I'm looking at Lennars website and it claims the tax rate is 3.7% http://www.lennar.com/New-Homes/Texa...pointe#s_1&t_e David Weekley says 3.45% NorthPointe Landing Tomball TX Home Builder, New Homes - David Weekley Homes

Those are not effective rate for folks with the homestead exemption. It also doesn't account for the gap between appraised and market value. It's really like saying you are in the 28% tax bracket but not understanding your effective rate is in the teens

[huma281]

Originally Posted by Lowexpectations

Those are not effective rate for folks with the homestead exemption. It also doesn't account for the gap between appraised and market value. It's really like saying you are in the 28% tax bracket but not understanding your effective rate is in the teens

Right, and I said that property taxes would be about $9k before homestead in one of my posts. I don't know how much homestead will take off, but w/o it you're looking at about 3.5%. It actually went down a little from last year. You are talking about prop taxes after exemptions and I'm talking about property taxes before. Not everyone is eligible for homestead.

[Lowexpectations]

Originally Posted by huma281

Right, and I said that property taxes would be about $9k before homestead in one of my posts. I don't know how much homestead will take off, but w/o it you're looking at about 3.5%. It actually went down a little from last year.

At 3.5% it would be 10500.00 as it stands it's under 8k. I asked early on if you were talking about the rate prior to exemption and you simply failed to answer. Most people do claim homestead, not too many vacation homes in tomball

[ruchi.l]

Thanks @ can you recommend realtors?

[huma281]

Originally Posted by Lowexpectations

At 3.5% it would be 10500.00 as it stands it's under 8k. I asked early on if you were talking about the rate prior to exemption and you simply failed to answer. Most people do claim homestead, not too many vacation homes in tomball

Well, Lowexpectations, all my property tax bills came in with homestead and I'm sitting at around $8,400.

[Lowexpectations]

Originally Posted by huma281

Well, Lowexpectations, all my property tax bills came in with homestead and I'm sitting at around $8,400.

Is your house worth 235k?

[Bike4Life]

Originally Posted by ruchi.l

There are so many areas between medical center and aldine --I'm unsure where to start from. Reasearching online I have read about bellaire, heights, uptown, meyerland, memorial but I'm not too sure about safety and school districts etc. please advise

If you want a new house in the city, you'll have to be one of the first frontiers to build one in a gentrifying neighborhood like Broadmoor or need closer to $1 million to live in Bellaire or Memorial (there are more specifically named areas but let's not waste time).

It's too difficult to help you when you've limited to looking for a new $500K house in old, established neighborhoods between Aldine to TMC. So, is one of you working in Aldine (near Greenspoint?) and TMC?

Also, school is another complicated matter but this can be discussed once you've narrowed down.

Since you mentioned that you prefer a new house, do you mean that you prefer a suburb? If so, then we can just wipe out any discussion about looking for a house in the city.

Refer to this thread to help you give us a better description What to ask when you are moving to Houston sticky.

[BillBallish]

Originally Posted by ruchi.l

Hello All,

My husband and I are looking to buy a house. We are looking some where between Aldine and Medical Center.
We are looking for a 3 + BR, good neighborhood, low crime and good schools. Looking for newer houses (build in last 15 yrs or less). I have heard the property taxes are high in Houston- not sure if it varies a lot within Houston city. Please advise.
Thank you!

In this case, I often ask some real estate agents I know for help. There are lots of good houses in Houston. However, it would usually take time find good deals without asking help from someone who is familiar with the place or is living in the place. They can provide you basic information about the crime rates, neighborhood and good schools near the area.