Real Estate Taxes for Eastport (Rockland, Rockport: oceanfront, insurance, mortgage)

[tapestry]

Hiya! I hope this is not too dumb a question, but my husband, Dan (Dano19606) and I are seriously wanting to move to Eastport and I had a couple of questions about the real estate taxes and wanted to make sure I had it right:

Our realtor told us that the real estate millage for Eastport was 0.01975. So, would this mean, then, that if we bought a house for $100,000, our real estate taxes would be $1975 for the year and, if so, would you just divide that figure into 12 to get the monthly real estate taxes of $164.58?

I am just trying to get a total figure in my mind of all the taxes we will have to pay regarding our new home in Eastport.

So, for example, if our mortgage is $500 a month and if I figure out the taxes correctly and they are $164.58, would our TOTAL MONTHLY FIGURE for our home be the $664.58? Or are there are any additional taxes and/or expenses we would have to worry about regarding the house?

I realize we will have heat and utilities, etc., but right now I'm just wondering if I have all the real estate taxes straight in my mind and the way to figure them or whether I'm not figuring it correctly.

Sorry for such a long and convoluted message....

Thank you in advance for your help!

...Sue

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by tapestry

Hiya! I hope this is not too dumb a question, but my husband, Dan (Dano19606) and I are seriously wanting to move to Eastport and I had a couple of questions about the real estate taxes and wanted to make sure I had it right:

Our realtor told us that the real estate millage for Eastport was 0.01975. So, would this mean, then, that if we bought a house for $100,000, our real estate taxes would be $1975 for the year and, if so, would you just divide that figure into 12 to get the monthly real estate taxes of $164.58?

I am just trying to get a total figure in my mind of all the taxes we will have to pay regarding our new home in Eastport.

So, for example, if our mortgage is $500 a month and if I figure out the taxes correctly and they are $164.58, would our TOTAL MONTHLY FIGURE for our home be the $664.58? Or are there are any additional taxes and/or expenses we would have to worry about regarding the house?

I realize we will have heat and utilities, etc., but right now I'm just wondering if I have all the real estate taxes straight in my mind and the way to figure them or whether I'm not figuring it correctly.

Sorry for such a long and convoluted message....

Thank you in advance for your help!

...Sue

Don't forget fire insurance. You have to have it if you carry a mortgage.

[flycessna]

Originally Posted by tapestry

Hiya! I hope this is not too dumb a question, but my husband, Dan (Dano19606) and I are seriously wanting to move to Eastport and I had a couple of questions about the real estate taxes and wanted to make sure I had it right:

Our realtor told us that the real estate millage for Eastport was 0.01975. So, would this mean, then, that if we bought a house for $100,000, our real estate taxes would be $1975 for the year and, if so, would you just divide that figure into 12 to get the monthly real estate taxes of $164.58?

I am just trying to get a total figure in my mind of all the taxes we will have to pay regarding our new home in Eastport.

So, for example, if our mortgage is $500 a month and if I figure out the taxes correctly and they are $164.58, would our TOTAL MONTHLY FIGURE for our home be the $664.58? Or are there are any additional taxes and/or expenses we would have to worry about regarding the house?

I realize we will have heat and utilities, etc., but right now I'm just wondering if I have all the real estate taxes straight in my mind and the way to figure them or whether I'm not figuring it correctly.

Sorry for such a long and convoluted message....

Thank you in advance for your help!

...Sue

As a rule of thumb yes.......but

Tax bills are devided into two payments (sept/march)........if you wanted to have "escrow" then yes...you would pay monthly on them into your mortgage account...along with extra money to cover the cost of insurance...and then when you get the bills you would send them to your mortgage company and they would pay them for you.

But keep in mind, the property tax is based on CITY VALUE...not what you pay for the property.

Though, if you pay a lot less for a property then the city has it valued for... you could argue for them to lower their valuation as City valuation is supposed to be an actual value.

I find they tend to run less then what properties are actually sold for. So assuming you bought a home for 100k your taxes might not be as high.

So when you look at a property....just check with the city to see what the taxes are...most listings through MLS will show that information.


On an different note........I was looking at property in Machias/Eastport area....I was suprised to see what people were asking for them The prices didn't really seem any less then down here for a similair home.

[tapestry]

Originally Posted by Maineah

Don't forget fire insurance. You have to have it if you carry a mortgage.

yup, forgot to mention about home insurance....I realize that we'll have to pay that as well which would include fire, however, we're paying that now, anyway...

Was just wondering if there are any additional and/or hidden real estate taxes in Maine that we would have to worry about that we're not paying here in Pennsylvania...

Have heard conflicting stories -- some say Maine's real estate taxes are high and some say low -- so was just a little confused....

I *do* know that, comparatively speaking, Pennsylvania seems to be an expensive state to live in, so I'm hoping that we'll find Maine's taxes to be a bit lower....

Thank you!

...Sue

[Mainer61]

Originally Posted by flycessna

As a rule of thumb yes.......but




On an different note........I was looking at property in Machias/Eastport area....I was suprised to see what people were asking for them The prices didn't really seem any less then down here for a similair home.

Yes, it's strange. Lakefront property is way high....oceanfront property is less than the midcoast, but it seems that regular intown homes are more expensive (asking prices) than Rockport/Rockland. I can't figure it out, either.

[tapestry]

Originally Posted by flycessna

As a rule of thumb yes.......but

Tax bills are devided into two payments (sept/march)........if you wanted to have "escrow" then yes...you would pay monthly on them into your mortgage account...along with extra money to cover the cost of insurance...and then when you get the bills you would send them to your mortgage company and they would pay them for you.

But keep in mind, the property tax is based on CITY VALUE...not what you pay for the property.

Though, if you pay a lot less for a property then the city has it valued for... you could argue for them to lower their valuation as City valuation is supposed to be an actual value.

I find they tend to run less then what properties are actually sold for. So assuming you bought a home for 100k your taxes might not be as high.

So when you look at a property....just check with the city to see what the taxes are...most listings through MLS will show that information.


On an different note........I was looking at property in Machias/Eastport area....I was suprised to see what people were asking for them The prices didn't really seem any less then down here for a similair home.

Thanks so much for the valuable information.....I had no idea about the city value possibly being different and, yes, I have seen them listed on the MLS and they always seem to be lower than what we figure based on the cost of the property....that's GREAT NEWS!!!

To clarify (and just to be sure I have it straight): Based on what you said, we should just look at the taxes on the MLS listing and not worry about what we figure based on the price of the property....if this isn't correct, please let me know...

When you said you were surprised that prices in Machias/Eastport weren't less than where you are -- where are you? I apologize if you've said before, but I haven't been on this board in a while up until a few days ago and probably forgot....

Thank you!

...Sue

[Maineah]

The house across the street from us is still listed at around $600,000. I bet they haven't shown it twice in two months.
Our town taxes us on 80% of the assessed value of the property.
With real estate prices starting to fall I'm sure we can expect our property taxes to be lowered in the near future.....yeah right!

[corgis]

Property taxes, here in Eastport are billed in late August or early September and are due and payable in full as of November 1. As far as I know, you can't pay the taxes month by month, just pay the bill in full each fall. Perhaps someone else is more knowledgeable than I am but that's how it works with us.

[Maineah]

I wish property taxes were based on how many services you actually receive from the town. Police, fire, rescue we all benefit from that but why should someone pay to keep up a sewer system or water system they're not hooked up to? Or schools? If you don't have kids in school why should part of your taxes go to school upkeep? We have no trash pick up, and other than plowing the road in the winter we receive nothing but the fire, police and rescue which we have never used. Our kids are out of school and our taxes will be $4400.00 next year too! Thanks for nothing!

[tapestry]

Originally Posted by corgis

Property taxes, here in Eastport are billed in late August or early September and are due and payable in full as of November 1. As far as I know, you can't pay the taxes month by month, just pay the bill in full each fall. Perhaps someone else is more knowledgeable than I am but that's how it works with us.

We have our real estate taxes escrowed into our mortgage now so that we don't have to worry about paying the real estate taxes separately and coming up with that money twice a year, and it's figured into our monthly mortgage payment....

We live in Pennsylvania, however, I believe you can do it that way anywhere in the country -- it just depends on the mortgage company you get and what type of mortage you have....some mortgage companies will escrow and some won't....

Hope to meet you, Corgis, and all the other nice folks that Dan (Dano19606) and I have met on here when we come up in 3 weeks!

P.S. May I ask why your name is Corgis? Just curious.....do you have Corgi dogs?

Thanks!

....Sue