Property taxes: how do you cope? (Houston, Howe: 2015, house prices, buy)

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by unihills

Why would you expect to find a landlord that doesn't factor in all of their costs? Maintenance, repairs and taxes are all part of the landlord's costs and it seems reasonable they should be covered by the rent.

seems reasonable.... but renters are not too reasonable about accepting the huge annual expenses that my crop up for land owners. Insurance and taxes can exceed 20%/ yr, and often do not get passed along to that extent.

Anything over 5% bring tears to my tenants.

[H'ton]

Originally Posted by Seymour_Butts

H'ton,

Regarding preferring to rent due to property taxes being high:


Where do you find landlords who don't factor property taxes into the amount they charge for rent? I gotta find one.

Oh, they do but as a consumer you can determine the amount of rent you want to pay for your term.
You aren't paying $xxx/month + an additional amount for the appraised value of your home...it's already factored in and I imagine it's lower for multi family than single family.

One poster was telling us that their home increased in value by about 100k in a short amount of time.

If your landlord raises your rent you can always move and find something that fits within your budget...increased property taxes on increased value is something that is more messy to get out of (sale of home, closing costs, etc.)

[Lowexpectations]

Originally Posted by Seymour_Butts

H'ton,

Regarding preferring to rent due to property taxes being high:


Where do you find landlords who don't factor property taxes into the amount they charge for rent? I gotta find one.

Landlords charge what the market will allow not what their costs are

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by Lowexpectations

Landlords charge what the market will allow not what their costs are

AND with consideration to our tenants. I prefer to keep good tenants (7-10 yrs) and I eat a lot of increased costs (taxes). I am not alone. Some people are unable to cough up more dough just because the county / schools need more money. I usually share my tax, utility, and insurance statements with tenants to show annual change. I consider tenants AND county and Schools as partners that benefit from my investment dollars. (I homeschooled, but all my tenants choose to use the public schools, we all drive on the roads, and appreciate EMS, police, libraries,,,)

[KathrynAragon]

Hold up - please don't tell me that landlords in general are willing to take a loss or break even in their business. I know that's not true.

Landlords in general are in the business to make money - and that's OK.

[Lowexpectations]

Originally Posted by KathrynAragon

Hold up - please don't tell me that landlords in general are willing to take a loss or break even in their business. I know that's not true.

Landlords in general are in the business to make money - and that's OK.

While they are generally in business to make money they can't price rents based on their cost. The rental market will dictate pricing and it doesn't care what your personal cost are.

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by Lowexpectations

While they are generally in business to make money they can't price rents based on their cost. The rental market will dictate pricing and it doesn't care what your personal cost are.

Landlords make money. If it's not profitable to them, they do not stay in the business. Landlords pass on the costs of owning and maintaining property to their renters and their profit is on top of that. Property taxes are part of the cost of owning and managing rental property.

[Trainwreck20]

Originally Posted by KathrynAragon

Landlords make money. If it's not profitable to them, they do not stay in the business. Landlords pass on the costs of owning and maintaining property to their renters and their profit is on top of that. Property taxes are part of the cost of owning and managing rental property.

There are many times when rental properties can have negative cash flow. A landlord writes off the losses, as much as possible, and counts on long-term appreciation and a return to a profitable market.

[Lowexpectations]

Originally Posted by KathrynAragon

Landlords make money. If it's not profitable to them, they do not stay in the business.

Well that's certainly not true however we weren't discussing if landlords stay in the business

Landlords pass on the costs of owning and maintaining property to their renters and their profit is on top of that.

This is simply not true. It's certainly isn't how the rental market prices what rents the market will allow

Property taxes are part of the cost of owning and managing rental property.

This is true but doesn't change the fact that the market dictates rental rates

[Ghost Town]

Originally Posted by ChristieP

The only way to truly know the tax on a house is to go to the County Appraisal District web page, and put in the address of a house. It will show you the assessed property value, and the annual taxes. Trulia, Zillow, and any other real estate site is just guessing at taxes. There's no way the taxes on a $149k house are $5000 annually!

It can be even above $5000 easily if you live in Houston area.
My tax rate is 3.5% with mud tax and some newer communities have even 3.8% tax rates. However I just saw pretty nice house not too far from me, but in a countryside, with 2.2% tax rate. That's not too bad.
But definitely a lot higher compared to TN.