Marion County Property Taxes (Indianapolis, Hope: sales, 2010, mortgage)

[michifan]

Can someone help me understand how to estimate the property taxes for homes in Marion County?

I'm moving to Indy from Minneapolis, and many of the houses that I see on the MLS have stupid high (2% of Sales Price) property taxes which the realtor tried to explain to me, but still makes no sense.

Before I bail completely on Marion and go to Hamilton, can someone explain what I should expect? Here in Minnesota its academic and a non-issue.

[IndyGoat]

Do you have kids? Indy is fine, minus the taxes/crime/schools (public).

If you plan on sending kids to public schools, research this site:


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[MikiJayne]

The tax amounts should be on the MLS sheets your Realtor has. They are really messed up right now, but there is a cap on property taxes beginning in 2010 where they have to be under 1% of assessed value. Now, that might not include other things they add on I guess, but I don't fully understand it either I don't know anyone who does.

Anyway, because we pay our taxes in arrears, you will get a credit at closing for taxes, to pay up to the date you close.

[Missy B.]

Hi, I will try to explain it to you best as I can. I don't think anyone really understands the situation as I have come to the conclusion that the entire tax situation here in Indiana has been handled poorly and that is an understatement.

Back in December 2007 when we moved here, there was this huge uproar regarding an increase in property taxes here. At that time, no one was sure what the final result would be. The realtor that we used showed us an article from the newspaper that was a press release from the governor Mitch Daniels and it said the property tax situation would be resolved in early 2008. I cannot recall who exactly said it but it was anticipated that the property taxes would be capped at 1%. We purchased believing that the matter would be resolved soon after we closed. The state increased the sales tax to offset the revenue that would be lost from the loss of property taxes they would not receive because of inaccurate property tax values that had been inflated -- in summary, taxes went way up and people here could not pay those amounts.

We purchased in Hamilton County thinking our taxes would cap at 1% and that did not happen. Our house is new and Indiana gives a homestead and mortgage deduction that reduces your taxes but we have not received it yet because the tax bills have not been prepared yet. Confused yet??

Our taxes are based on a value of $160,200 and they are $2800 per year. Once the exemption kicks in, the taxes will be reduced to about $1100 per year if they cap at 1.5%. Unfortunately, we are stuck paying the $2800 until someone figures out what needs to be done and does it. This has gone on all of 2008 and into 2009 so I am not sure what will happen. In the meantime, we pay and pay.

Hope this helps a bit and I have not confused you beyond what you already were.

Missy

PS==welcome to Indiana!!

[sauerkraut145]

One thing is for sure, Indy will be alot warmer than the "Twin Cites". I doubt Indy's taxes will ever be cut like they promised- The state & city are broke- I'd bet it'll just be a delay game. The state of Texas has very high prop. taxes but they have no state income taxes. Anyhoo, Hang in there and hope for the best.

[Ravekid]

Originally Posted by michifan

Before I bail completely on Marion and go to Hamilton, can someone explain what I should expect? Here in Minnesota its academic and a non-issue.

There should be no question in my mind, bail on Marion. Marion County/Indianapolis (outside of certain areas with their own units of government) is slowly become Detroit South. They stuck it to their rich folks in the Indy Public Schools district, charging them $11K/year for a home assessed at $400K+/year. The entire country is become one big socialist mecca, supported by die hard Democrat party Marxist, or Neo-Conservative socialist Republicans. All the players in these circles have one thing in common....more of your tax money to fatten their six-figure paychecks even more. I can tell you right now that Indianapolis/Marion County is a lost cause. The people _tried_ to elect a person who would buck the system when they picked no-body Ballard. All Ballard has done is play the same games Peterson played to help the insiders of his political party to reap the benefits of taxpayer money. Sickening.

I can tell you right now, that you are more likely to see results in the cutting of government spending in Hamilton Co. than you are in Indy. The Indy government machine is entrenched. Their police and fire departments are massive, all complete with the do-nothing, should be a $40K/year civilian job, etc. being filled by fire fighters or police officers. There are so many ways to cut the fat, but it won't happen anytime soon. Eventually, Indy will need to follow the path of Vallejo, CA and declare bankruptcy.