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Would like to know how to reduce the 'Living Area' from the Appraised Value. Living area is the main unit for calculating taxable value of a home.
My second floor is not at all using. So how can i remove the media room, bedroom, closets from the Living Area calculation?
Is the City will allow to reduce the area?
They don't care if you use them or not. That's your choice. All those areas are finished, insulated, intended for human occupancy and heated by a conventional, permanent heating system.
They have walls, floors and ceilings of materials generally accepted for interior construction.
They are directly accessible from another finished area. That means a finished room accessed through any unfinished space cannot be counted as finished square feet.
Its a good question. I've pondered that question before.
As the baby boomers retire and want to downsize but the younger generations have no jobs, no money. The boomers will have no one to sell their house to and will be looking for ways to reduce the cost of staying in the oversized house.
I'm not aware of any "regulations" that pertain to how "finished square feet" are to be determined. However, there are "standards of practice" that apply.
Typically in order for something to be considered as part of the 'finished square feet", the included spaces need to have the walls covered and finished with some sort of wall covering such as paint, wallpaper, wood paneling, etc. The ceilings are the same...and those usually mean "painted". Also, the floors need to be finished, not concrete...and not painted concrete. Usually, floor coverings like wood or carpet needs to be there.
Additionally, to be counted as a bedroom, a room must have a window and a closet. If it doesn't have one, the other, or both, it's not considered a bedroom, but still could be included into the finished square feet calculations. You could have all the windows removed and boarded over.
Maybe you can just remove the heating system upstairs. Maybe you will need to remove the sheetrock to the studs then get it reappraised.
I have no idea, just guessing.
Other tips would be making your property look like hell. Then when re-assessment comes up again, you could argue the comparables to get a lower tax rate. Downside is you live in a dump. As boomers try to keep taxes down with limited income, I foresee allot of run down properties next to really nice houses to keep taxes down.
If i rent it, who has to give the property tax for that second floor? So again shall i have to give the income tax for rent?
You are, and yes you will.
Why are you trying to weasel out of your property tax responsibility? We all have to pay ... If you don't want to pay such high property taxes, sell your current home and buy a smaller one.
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