[sike0000]

You have to be careful in SE MI if you are worried about taxes. We pay around 5k a year for a 137k house. That really lowered our buying power knowing we have to tack on another 400+ dollars a month to our mortgage payment. This is not a second home.

There are some surrounding areas with lower taxes but the house are more expensive so you need to check around.

But if you are looking for a retirement area you are probably not going to be looking to within 50 (or even 100) miles of where I live

[magellan]

Originally Posted by sike0000

You have to be careful in SE MI if you are worried about taxes. We pay around 5k a year for a 137k house. That really lowered our buying power knowing we have to tack on another 400+ dollars a month to our mortgage payment. This is not a second home.

There are some surrounding areas with lower taxes but the house are more expensive so you need to check around.

But if you are looking for a retirement area you are probably not going to be looking to within 50 (or even 100) miles of where I live

Holy crap. I hope it's a nice area.

The state of Michigan has a property tax estimator:

https://treas-secure.state.mi.us/pte...testimator.asp

[Coldjensens]

Michigan has higher property taxes than some areas, but lower sales and income taxes. You need to find the web sites that look at the overall tax burden i order to get a true picture. Last time I looked, Michigan was in the middle tax wise.

I am not sure where you get your infomration. The City of Detroit has some of the highest property taxes in the state.

Otherplace besides Detroit are usually tied to the qulaity of the schools. Better schools result in higher taxes due to millages. Still it seems like the numbers that you are getting are high. We found that the "estimated taxes" on real estate web sites tend ot be high.

We live in a pretty high end area in a large house ont eh water. If I remember correctly, our taxes are about $6500 per year total (summer and winter). That is a lot, but not compared to the numbers that you cited.

Somewhere, somehow, Lansing is going to try to raise taxes. They no longer have the funds to keep their pet pork and campaign promise funds afloat. Like all politicians that simply cannot grasp the concept of actually cutting back.

[Awaiting2012]

Originally Posted by MI-Roger

Each State obtains the funds to operate a little differently, but no one can do it for free.

Summer/Winter taxes: We pay half of the total property tax bill in summer and the other half in winter. If a home has a $6K tax bill it is paid in two, approximately equal, installments. You do not pay the $6K twice each year!

Pensions: I don't know about PA, but in Michigan all pensions are free from income tax. You said you are retired so this may be important to you.

Sales Tax: Recently raised to 6% as part of a movement to shift school operating funds away from property taxes. No sales tax on food.

Income Tax: If I remember correctly, our current income tax rate is a nearly flat 4.2% rate. In addition there is a homestead tax provision to benefit property owners who pay an unusually high percentage of their income on property taxes.

Headlee Amendment: This can be a "gotcha" when buying a home so learn about it. This amendment resulted in a limit on property tax increases each year. Property taxes are limited to increase by the smaller of either 5% or the rate of inflation. The limit is applied when calculating the "State Equalized Value" of the property which is different than the market value. When a home is sold, the SEV for that property is immediately reset to 50% of the market value. I have lived in my home for 28 years so my SEV is substantially less than 50% of market, at least it was until the market went bust last summer. The taxes paid by a current home owner may be substantially less than the taxes paid by the new owner after the home is sold. Although the difference may no longer matter because of the recent rapid fall of home values.

Thanks everyone for the replies. The one gentleman sounded like he's WAY too rural for me. Based on what I've seen, under 3,000/yr in Michigan sounds like you are in the boondocks. What county do you live in might I ask? What nearest "big" city is near you for that low tax rate there?


Pa does exempt us from taxation of pension so it's just like Michigan. Thanks for clearing up that summer/winter thing! Lol, I thought that looked weird .

Sales taxes are about the same. Overall, it seems like a wash I guess for what you state above. Other than scenery change, I don't think I'd get much more than here. I was more interested in bigger sqft, but again the places were I could get that those taxes are insane.


Once again, ty for the response all.


EDIT: That "Headlee" thing sounds like a complete nightmare. We don't have anything like that here. It kind of like sounds like a bait and switch.

[Awaiting2012]

Originally Posted by magellan

You didn't give us the market value you used to reach that $10,000/year in taxes. Or where you were looking.

Just because you get a property tax bill twice a year doesn't mean you're getting taxed twice as much. Also, you may have been looking at non-homestead tax rates (for a second home). Non-homestead is generally 60 - 70% more or so.

Most areas of Michigan, you'll find the millage rate to be about 1.5% - 2.0% of your market value per year. So to reach your $10,000/year, you'd be talking about an $800,000 home. Is that about your price range? Because that's way higher than the median home price ($150's to $200's).

We pay about $3300 on a $250,000 home (suburban township just outside of Grand Rapids).

The homes that we were looking at were those ones northwest/north of Detroit. There seemed to be an awful lot of homes for sale at around 300-350k that had sqft of around 4k-6k. Those were the ones we were looking at.

[ferndc]

I'm not sure where you are searching, but here is a link off Michigan.gov, which is a little outdated (2007). SEV is something you will need to do a little research on for the house/city you want to live in (contact the local property tax assessor and get an accurate value). Property taxes are dropping slightly for new homebuyers (compared to previous years), so it may be somewhat near the tax rate. If you are coming up with $10,000/year in taxes and in Oakland County, I would assume you are looking near Bloomfield Hills or Birmingham. Which are beautiful areas, but with high taxes (due to the best school districts). On the upside, those areas are among the best investments for homebuyers.

As far as Detroit taxes they are among the highest in Michigan. You may be looking at an area that has tax incentives (special economic area), but in an area that may not appeal to you.

I'm not sure of your desires for an area, but if you give a little more detail you may be able to get some better insight about specific areas.

Best of luck!

[FESTER]

If you can stand the snow, try the U.P. I have 1500 sq ft. full basement attached 2 car garage sauna and wood shed. Nice well built home with hardwood floors throughout on 1/2 acre and I pay around $1200 per year. And I complain about that. One thing to remember is to stay out of the city/village limits. You will pay about double there. Buy in a township. Also look at the total mills assessed in the location you are looking at. That should give you a pretty good idea what you will pay.
There are some real steals on homes in MI. right now. Take that into account when making your decision.

[ferndc]

Originally Posted by Awaiting2012

The homes that we were looking at were those ones northwest/north of Detroit. There seemed to be an awful lot of homes for sale at around 300-350k that had sqft of around 4k-6k. Those were the ones we were looking at.

Are you looking at new construction? You'll most definitely pay higher property taxes. In Oakland County (considering you are looking for 4 to 6000 sq feet), I would recommend Pleasant Ridge, Huntington Woods, Royal Oak, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills or West Bloomfield. Palmer Park (within Detroit) also has some amazingly beautiful homes. Most or all are older homes, but have a lot of character. And, you most likely will find some updated homes in move in condition.

[Awaiting2012]

Originally Posted by ferndc

Are you looking at new construction? You'll most definitely pay higher property taxes. In Oakland County (considering you are looking for 4 to 6000 sq feet), I would recommend Pleasant Ridge, Huntington Woods, Royal Oak, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills or West Bloomfield. Palmer Park (within Detroit) also has some amazingly beautiful homes. Most or all are older homes, but have a lot of character. And, you most likely will find some updated homes in move in condition.

No, existing.

Here is a link to the homes I saw around the price range. The square footage for the price is what caught my eye.

The taxes for them poked me in both.

Detroit Real Estate & Detroit Homes For Sale — Trulia.com

[tecpatl]

Originally Posted by Awaiting2012

The homes that we were looking at were those ones northwest/north of Detroit. There seemed to be an awful lot of homes for sale at around 300-350k that had sqft of around 4k-6k. Those were the ones we were looking at.

The link to property tax calculator provided by ferndc should be very helpful to you. Location makes a big difference.
One question...why is someone looking for a 4 to 6 k square foot house worried about property taxes? Does a retired couple need that kind of room? Up here in Leelanau County, one of Michigan's great places, by the way, people who are retiring to this area are generally trading OUT of such bigfoot houses and into something luxurious but manageable in size. You might think of this area as "the boondocks" but property prices are higher here and the market is stronger than in most of the urban areas you're looking at. The difference is that people from all over the USA are looking to buy here. The downside is higher prices..but the upside is a stronger market now and in the future. Pay yer money, take yer chances.