Property Taxes?

[love_da_ocean]

The city of Idaho Falls was about $200 a month for a $200,000 home. I noticed just outside in Ammon, ID it was about $100 a month for the same. Hope this helps. Then outside in county boundaries you are looking at maybe $50 a month. Southeast Idaho is definetely a bargain place to live! I have lived in California, Utah, have family in Texas, and New York.

Best of Luck!

[Baynative]

Originally Posted by LiveinPA

Can someone give me some info on property taxes in Idaho?

I hear that they are supposedly cheap, yet I looked at some real estate sites and the taxes listed are just about as high as here in PA and we are known to have some of the highest in the US!

What would property taxes be like on a $200,000 home?

Have a quick look at the MLS search. Taxes are listed on any price bracket you may choose.

Sandpoint Idaho Real Estate Guide

[esselcue]

Idaho has a tax exemption for home owners who live in their property (not rentals).I think it about a 50% deduction.

[Sandpointian]

Consider CDA, Hayden, and Sandpoint...

HO exemption is $100K, i.e. your property tax is calculated based on tax assessment minus $100K. Example. Home in Hayden is assessed at $255K. Tax would be about $1100/year with the exemption and $1750 without the exemption. So figure $90 a month for homes and $150/mo for investment properties.

CDA is more varied.

A $265K home downtown with HO exemption has a prop tax bill of $1600, the same tax bill as a $165K home without the HO exemption.

So here are rules of thumb to use for "middle class", city homes...
->for homes w/o HO exemption, upper bound of assessed is 1% & lower bound is 2/3 of 1% of assessed
->for homes w/HO exemption, upper bound of assessed is 1/2 of 1% & lower bound is 1/3 of 1%

Out in the country and in smaller towns, there is far more variance with the assessment, the rates, and with enforcement of those rates. For the lower bounds might actually be a notch lower. In the city, the assessments are pretty close to market prices and rates pretty close to the upper bounds.

As far as rates go, they are pretty decent. But...for long time residents on fixed income, those rates just creep higher and higher. If NID sees a sustained boom post-credit crisis, those rates in actual $ terms will get punitive in a quick way. For young folks, the rates are reasonable when compared with other states. Not great, but not horrible.

[Baynative]

Originally Posted by Sandpointian

Consider CDA, Hayden, and Sandpoint...

But...for long time residents on fixed income, those rates just creep higher and higher. If NID sees a sustained boom post-credit crisis, those rates in actual $ terms will get punitive in a quick way. For young folks, the rates are reasonable when compared with other states. Not great, but not horrible.

Tax rates creep higher everywhere. I don't think that is anymore punitive for one class of folks than another. Retirees on fixed incomes are always vulnerable, to an extent, because they don't have the ability to move to better jobs or get pay raises. In some areas there are provisions to fix the taxes of seniors at a certain age.

[Sandpointian]

Baynative,

>>I don't think that is anymore punitive for one class of folks than another. >>Retirees on fixed incomes are always vulnerable...


People don't make the same income at different ages. Therefore, the effect of taxes differs at different points in the life-cycle. The two groups hurt most by property taxes are young, new homeowners and the elderly. The young have to pay a far higher % of their income to taxes that someone more mature in their career. As for retirees, well, you prove my point above.

>>because they don't have the ability to move to better jobs or get pay raises.

While theoretically you are correct, in practical terms you might want to look at retirees in a different way. They are retired. Most often 65+ years of age. They are not looking to upgrade or to get pay raises! They are vulnerable b/c they are either living on SS or a monthly pension or they have arranged their income in such a way that income streams are predetermined +/-. Public policy should recognize that a 70 year old will not approach a job market the same way as a 30-40 year old and therefore can run the risk of getting impoverished from too steep a rise in property taxes.

Tax rates creep higher everywhere.
>> Not really. The issue is that the creep is trivial in some places and far more substantive in others. Our mill rates in Idaho are quite high and the creep fairly steep. The homeowner's exemption has not kept up with RE appreciation. From 2004-2006, my property taxes went up nearly 50%. For owners of second homes and rental homes, the high mill rate is steep.

>> In California, property tax is fixed at 1% +/- of the original purchase price. So creep is not only different in different places, but in some places the creep is pretty much pinned down to zero. We have no such provision.


S

[dtbarron]

Lot of Bunk.... I have two properties in Idaho,,, I paid $200,000 for each.. My daughter live in one and I live in the other... The Taxes are a WHOPPING $4,000 that is right $4,000 ... when I complained, that I lived in an area with a farm on one side and a small airport on the other, and a Trailer court nearby,,, They said, Well someone has to paid for the services..... I tried to get the Home Owner Exemption and have been fighting them for 2 years... that would reduce it to $2,500 for one house...How I got into this mess was the same as these other people are saying,, that it was cheap... It is a lie,,,, that is all I can tell you.... each County is different and in Caldwell, it is 2% of the value... $200.000 times two is $4,000 dollars....

[Sandpointian]

Originally Posted by dtbarron

Lot of Bunk.... I have two properties in Idaho,,, I paid $200,000 for each.. My daughter live in one and I live in the other... The Taxes are a WHOPPING $4,000 that is right $4,000 ... when I complained, that I lived in an area with a farm on one side and a small airport on the other, and a Trailer court nearby,,, They said, Well someone has to paid for the services..... I tried to get the Home Owner Exemption and have been fighting them for 2 years... that would reduce it to $2,500 for one house...How I got into this mess was the same as these other people are saying,, that it was cheap... It is a lie,,,, that is all I can tell you.... each County is different and in Caldwell, it is 2% of the value... $200.000 times two is $4,000 dollars....

DT,

What part is bunk?

Property taxes are mainly county- and city-level issues in Idaho, although the home-owner exemption is set by the state. So there will be some variance across counties.

You paid $200K for your own property and $200K for your daughter's? If you are indeed the owner on both titles and the one you live in is your primary residence, then you should qualify for the home owner's exemption. This would cut your property tax bill considerably. I am not sure why there would be any issue with the HOE unless you are not the owner or if the property is commercial or something like that...

Are you saying you pay $4K per house per year? 2% of paid value? That would be stiff. HOE should cut the assessable amount by 50%. This leaves a $100K to be taxed (assuming 100% of market is assessed), or $2K not $2500. Something is funny with your numbers.

You should be able to appeal the assessment if too high, something sensible in this real estate market.

Also, from what we have seen up here, the middle class urbanite gets assessment close to 100% of market value, but folks in the rural areas or who have properties that are unique usually get assessments below the market. I guess the greater uniformity, turnover, and visibility make them easier targets for the County Assessor.

Perhaps Caldwell is using property taxes to make up for other revenue shortfalls?

NID property taxes are not cheap, but reasonable, provided the HOE is granted. Below would be a representative example...

Our rates here are about 1.67%. Say you live in a $300K home. Say it assessed at $270K (90% of market). $105K HOE. 1.67% times $165K = $2755/year or .91%. Not cheap for sure (MA is about .5%), but not horrible compared to other places in the country, like NJ or NY or TX (4-8%)!!

But the lack of other avenues for investment properties makes the property taxes say on your daughter's home pretty not that cheap. I empathize.

That you have to pay these taxes in the first place?? Well, that is a different story...

S.

P.S. My worry is less about property taxes than for income taxes, since the brackets are set very low.