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If I buy a home that would close approximately May 20th and the property taxes due April 30 had not been paid by the seller, how do they get paid at closing and out of whose pocket?
I believe the sellers must pay taxes for the time they were in the house. It should be taken care of at settlement and be part of their closing costs (the seller).
We recently sold our home and the not-yet-due county property taxes for the previous year were taken from our proceeds. The city property taxes for 2010 were pro-rated for the 20-something days we owned the house this year and also taken from the proceeds.
First thing you need to find out is when those taxes due April 30th are to cover. In my area, taxes due in the summer of 2010 would be for 2nd half of '09. That is, taxes are paid 6 months in arrears. So if your area is the same, the seller would be responsible in full for taxes due April 30th (which would cover from like April through October, '09) as well as ANOTHER 6 months worth (which would cover from November '09 - April '10) AND a prorated amount through closing.
For example, we had a closing last week. Taxes were current (last payment was due and paid in December, for 1st half '09). Seller was charged in full for 2nd half '09 PLUS Prorated from 1/1/10 - 4/12/10. Buyer was given those amounts as a credit, so will need to be prepared to pay them when tax time comes next. In some cases, this may be put into buyer's escrow account instead of credited to buyer's closing, which is better in my opinion, so the buyer doesn't forget about it and spend it. If they do, the escrow account is short, and the buyer has to pay an increased PITI to make up the difference for a year or so.
There is also the possiblity that taxes are paid immediately in arrears (instead of 6 months after). In that case, the seller would owe the taxes due April 30th for the prior 6 months plus the prorated amount through closing.
HOWEVER, I'm pretty sure I've read on here that there are also places where taxes are paid in advance. In that case, taxes due April 30th would be mostly your responsibility if you close in May. The seller would only pay a prorated amount through the closing date, and you probably have to foot the bill for the rest, right away. Basically, prorated in reverse.
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