I didn't think foreclosures in King county were that bad. (Seattle: for sale, renting)

[70Ford]

At foreclosure auctions, the hunt is on - Mortgage Mess- msnbc.com

Not bad enough to have an article about it on a major news site, anyways.

It's a weird conundrum. The more foreclosures, the cheaper the homes get. The cheaper the homes get, the more I'm ready to buy. The more I'm ready to buy, the more readily I look. The more I look, the more homes I see for sale in different neighborhoods. The more homes I see for sale in different neighborhoods, the more I think won't sell/and/or will drag down prices. The more homes that go into foreclosure in a neighborhood, the higher the "It's a neighborhood with a lot of looming foreclosures" factor is. The higher that factor, the less I want to buy in that neighborhood.

I think they call that wanting to have your cake and eat it, too.

Isn't that just weird?

[azoria]

Don't touch that thing.

Read your own posts. Property taxes in the state of Washington are outrageous and not based on any kind of reasonable assessment--you know this. Read these forums and see people who are paying $1,000 a month in property taxes on a house that is losing value. And those taxes are going to go nowhere but up, actual market value of the property be damned. The state needs money. It's legalized extortion: you want to keep your house? You're gonna pay the protection money or else.

70Ford, you're a savvy guy. I know you have a wife and kids and renting can be a bummer. Underemployed recently? Are you sure that you can ante up the ever increasing demands of the state in order to own a home and stop renting?

Until they institute a state income tax in Washington, homeowners are the cash cows of preference. Can you afford their never ending escalating demands? You know the state of WA has no homestead protection. If you don't/can't pay their ransom demands, your home goes under the hammer in 90 days. Think hard.

Then buy a house. In another state.

[dpgtfc]

Originally Posted by azoria

Then buy a house. In another state.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA280_.gif

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by azoria

Don't touch that thing.

Read your own posts. Property taxes in the state of Washington are outrageous and not based on any kind of reasonable assessment--you know this. Read these forums and see people who are paying $1,000 a month in property taxes on a house that is losing value. And those taxes are going to go nowhere but up, actual market value of the property be damned. The state needs money. It's legalized extortion: you want to keep your house? You're gonna pay the protection money or else.

70Ford, you're a savvy guy. I know you have a wife and kids and renting can be a bummer. Underemployed recently? Are you sure that you can ante up the ever increasing demands of the state in order to own a home and stop renting?

Until they institute a state income tax in Washington, homeowners are the cash cows of preference. Can you afford their never ending escalating demands? You know the state of WA has no homestead protection. If you don't/can't pay their ransom demands, your home goes under the hammer in 90 days. Think hard.

Then buy a house. In another state.

Where in Washington is anyone paying $1000/month in property tax? Our house was assessed at $425,000 and our tax bill was less than $4000 per year. Even in TX with some of the most outrageous property tax, in order to pay $1000 a month you'd have to own a home assessed at close to $600,000 to pay $1000 a month.

[LongDawson]

I feel violated by property taxes at $500+/mo but when I told my neighbor that, he said I should feel lucky. He is from New York and everyone pays $1000+ per month in property taxes.

Right now well-built homes are available for $300k in many nice areas. My brother just bought for $250k. Property taxes are what, $200/mo on that value? As property values go down the taxes will fall also, I believe it's set on a 3 year average. $1000 per month? What?

$1000 per month in property taxes is unheard of unless you are lakefront or living in a house with a ton of square footage. Keep it under 2000 square feet and you are fine.

By the way this is an excellent article. Winter of 2007 I spent many Friday mornings down at the court house on 4th avenue studying the process. There are nice rewards for some but it's a lot of work, and usually your investigations turn out to be a waste of time. But I had a lot of fun at it. Probably the best deals out there are REO bank-owned.

[azoria]

Originally Posted by Jennibc

Where in Washington is anyone paying $1000/month in property tax? Our house was assessed at $425,000 and our tax bill was less than $4000 per year. Even in TX with some of the most outrageous property tax, in order to pay $1000 a month you'd have to own a home assessed at close to $600,000 to pay $1000 a month.

"My experience with WA taxes leaves me shell-shocked...

I'm specifically referring to my Property Taxes. Like others have mentioned, it's not just the rate of Property Tax that's the killer... it's that individual home-owners are really at the mercy of the county tax assessor and the assessor's opinion of value.

I paid very close to the assessed value of my home and a little over a year later, my property valuation, per the Thurston County Assessor, increased by several hundred thousand dollars over what I paid 18 months prior. The following year the valuation went up again to nearly double my purchase price... $7000 a year property tax is one thing... 12,000 a year is insane...

Almost all the land surrounding me has been put into some type of land trust since I bought and this is the basis of why my land doubled... that's well and good on paper, but a $1000 a month in taxes has to be paid in real dollars

Without some predictability in projecting future property tax obligations, homeowners are left with few choices and the downward spiral begins... "

http://www.city-data.com/forum/washi...e-taxes-2.html

[Ira500]

Long Dawson is right. I too have spent a lot of Friday mornings at the local foreclosure auctions(there are 2, one downtown and one in Factoria) and finding a nice house for a good price is pretty rare...the opening bid is the amount owed, which is too often more than the value of the house.....when it is not sold it reverts to the lender and becomes an REO, where there are some good deals but also banks trying to get too much...property taxes are especially high for homes on larger parcels of land away from Seattle...I know someone who has a house on 5 acres in Maple Valley who paid 270 thousand for it in 1996 and now pays 8000 a year in taxes....it may have to with nearby mega mansions.....and even when values go down, taxes seldom do...and even though there are more foreclosures locally than there were, it's small compared to most other parts of the country, though Pierce County has lots of them.

[Jennibc]

Originally Posted by Ira500

Long Dawson is right. I too have spent a lot of Friday mornings at the local foreclosure auctions(there are 2, one downtown and one in Factoria) and finding a nice house for a good price is pretty rare...the opening bid is the amount owed, which is too often more than the value of the house.....when it is not sold it reverts to the lender and becomes an REO, where there are some good deals but also banks trying to get too much...property taxes are especially high for homes on larger parcels of land away from Seattle...I know someone who has a house on 5 acres in Maple Valley who paid 270 thousand for it in 1996 and now pays 8000 a year in taxes....it may have to with nearby mega mansions.....and even when values go down, taxes seldom do...and even though there are more foreclosures locally than there were, it's small compared to most other parts of the country, though Pierce County has lots of them.

But even 8000 a year in taxes is less than 1000 a month.

[Heiwos]

Originally Posted by Ira500

I know someone who has a house on 5 acres in Maple Valley who paid 270 thousand for it in 1996 and now pays 8000 a year in taxes....it may have to with nearby mega mansions.....and even when values go down, taxes seldom do...

That house is probably worth at least $700K in today's market, so the owner should have no complaints. Some areas have higher taxes than others. Issaquah's are high compared to Bellevue's, for example.

[texastrigirl]

My parents lived in Iowa for much of my life. They paid state income tax and a hefty property tax bill for 40 plus years before moving across the border to South Dakota which has no income tax. They are in a better position in South Dakota by far. Having a state income does not necessarily mean your property tax will come down!!