Why are Texas Property rates extremely High, highest in nation (school districts, maintenance)

[Rakin]

I have protested my taxes several times here in Dallas County and every time I have set with a County Appraiser who pulls up the sales data from the MLS while we sit and talk. They can tell you when a house sold and the sales price. There is a field we can use to indicate the sales price was not released by the buyer & seller in a transaction but it is only used a small amount of times.

I believe appraisal district access is one of the reasons the government allows MLS databases to exist and to be shared among the real estate community. It is open to county tax districts but just not published for the public.

Recently photos & floor plans were taken off the county websites also to not be shared with the public but appraisers still have access. It's still all considered private information by the great state of TX.

They still respect our privacy to some degree and IMO that's the way it should be.

Note: Private Appraisers also belong to our MLS system and have access to the info also.

[TexasHorseLady]

Wait, Rakin, you're in Texas. Texas being a nondisclosure state, the county tax appraiser does NOT have access to the sales price unless the buyer or seller tells them, which they are not required to do (and which we advise them to be very careful about doing unless the house is appraised way over what they paid for it and it would substantially reduce their taxes).

The MLS is not supposed, since Texas is a nondisclosure state, to be open to the county appraisal district. That's why tax market value appraisals are so often way off and should NEVER be used for determining the market value of a property.

I've protested my tax valuation, as well, and while they do pull up information, they don't have the sales price data unless it's been given to them by the parties to the sale.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by Rakin

For residential sales, the local Appraisal Districts have access to local MLS sale data and use these sales to determine values. The info is just not published for the public but can easily be supplied by your friendly real estate agent. I do it yearly for my clients and am a firm believe that we should keep personal data confidential. Whose business is it in the public what I pay for my house, my car, my TV ?

I do understand there is not a data base for commercial properties.

I think it is ironic that people from places like CA say their rates are so much lower but their cost of homes can run 5 times more. The bottom line costs are all about the same.

I agree in general that what I pay for most things I buy is nobody's business. But homes are different than TVs. A TV is taxed just like everyone else - at a standard sales tax rate. It's value is automatically recorded at point of sale and tax calculated.

A home is legally treated very differently than retail goods. It is subject to unique taxation - and the "appraised value" should be as accurate as possible. That ensures fair and equitable treatment by the AD. So it is perfectly reasonable for the AD to see MLS data.

As for CA taxes - I agree with you 100%. I continue to believe that rates are not nearly as important as actual $$ paid. Paying 2% on 200K in Texas is no different than paying 1% on 400K in CA. More likely that 200K Texas home is 600K in San Jose.

[tech2enable]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Yeah, I guess this is why everyone is bailing out of the state and all the retirees are moving away...oops! maybe not. I guess reality doesn't always fit with theory, eh?

I didn't say that everybody is moving away, but talk to many retirees and they will tell you the exact same thing, taxes too high, besides if not everybody and all the retirees don't move away how can say reality doesn't fit theory, that's like saying if 90% percent of the people move away or ball out the state, not all of them are moving away so reality doesn't fit that theory,

My argument is that the Texas property tax system , discourages retirees from moving in, a large percentage, and a lot of them move out, you will find out this forum and others many have moved to places like Tennessee and new Mexico or have stayed there because of that issue.

[tech2enable]

Originally Posted by hoffdano

I agree in general that what I pay for most things I buy is nobody's business. But homes are different than TVs. A TV is taxed just like everyone else - at a standard sales tax rate. It's value is automatically recorded at point of sale and tax calculated.

A home is legally treated very differently than retail goods. It is subject to unique taxation - and the "appraised value" should be as accurate as possible. That ensures fair and equitable treatment by the AD. So it is perfectly reasonable for the AD to see MLS data.

As for CA taxes - I agree with you 100%. I continue to believe that rates are not nearly as important as actual $$ paid. Paying 2% on 200K in Texas is no different than paying 1% on 400K in CA. More likely that 200K Texas home is 600K in San Jose.

Ever heard of proposition 13, some people in CA pay 0.1% percent in property taxes, the effect property tax rate is 0.4-0.6% of market value in California but it depends on how long the person is staying in that particular home, the appreciation, any improvements and upgrades and how/when and cost.

Texas taxes are more like 2.5% of the purchase price , add in high insurance and electric and it can easily cost more than the maintenance of a california home, the argument that 200k is equal to 600k in san jose may be true in terms of square footage, but a home's market value is not equal to square footage, the weather, income, jobs, and wealth in the area, specific proximity to areas such as the ocean,etc apply, for instance you cannot buy ocean-front or Mediterranean climate property in Dallas no matter what the cost.

[hoffdano]

Originally Posted by tech2enable

Ever heard of proposition 13, some people in CA pay 0.1% percent in property taxes, the effect property tax rate is 0.4-0.6% of market value in California but it depends on how long the person is staying in that particular home, the appreciation, any improvements and upgrades and how/when and cost.

Texas taxes are more like 2.5% of the purchase price , add in high insurance and electric and it can easily cost more than the maintenance of a california home, the argument that 200k is equal to 600k in san jose may be true in terms of square footage, but a home's market value is not equal to square footage, the weather, income, jobs, and wealth in the area, specific proximity to areas such as the ocean,etc apply, for instance you cannot buy ocean-front or Mediterranean climate property in Dallas no matter what the cost.

Proposition 13 fixed California's state property tax at 1% of the assessed value, not the purchase price. The assessed value will begin of course with the purchase price when the home is purchased. The law further states that the assessed value can rise only 2% per year. If the home is held for more than a few years, the assessed value will fall far behind market value in typical real estate cycles.

There is a healthy controversy about Prop 13 - for example data shows that it reduces the number of homes available for sale - because long time homeowners are reluctant to give up property taxes that are far below market values. This reduces "turnover" which in essence restricts the supply of existing homes for sale.

Remember too that Prop 13 does NOT prevent local governments from levying their own property taxes to pay for government services (and schools). Many do - which raised the tax rates above 1%. Some in CA pay 1.4% total.

Homes in San Jose (example) are simply more expensive than they are in Texas. Disregard square footage. A person moving from a $200K home in Texas to San Jose will likely purchase a home at least twice as expensive and smaller. People will seek a neighborhood of similar overall quality - schools and safety for example - and sacrifice square footage. They will borrow more money to pay for this home.

[Rakin]

Originally Posted by TexasHorseLady

Wait, Rakin, you're in Texas. Texas being a nondisclosure state, the county tax appraiser does NOT have access to the sales price unless the buyer or seller tells them, which they are not required to do (and which we advise them to be very careful about doing unless the house is appraised way over what they paid for it and it would substantially reduce their taxes).

The MLS is not supposed, since Texas is a nondisclosure state, to be open to the county appraisal district. That's why tax market value appraisals are so often way off and should NEVER be used for determining the market value of a property.

I've protested my tax valuation, as well, and while they do pull up information, they don't have the sales price data unless it's been given to them by the parties to the sale.

Everything I research says local appraisal districts do have the info from the MLS. Yes it is not available to the public,

I can't copy the attached but go to page 15 of the Tarrant county document and it shows most of their data is gathered from MLS. Dallas is the same, when I protest they have the same info you & I have on home sales.

Go to pg 15:

http://www.tad.org/ftp_data/Reapprai...n2009-2010.pdf

[1979]

Wow, not sure why a poll was warranted? But, since you included one, I will tell you, you are missing one glarring reason why property taxes are so high. Why? Are taxes so high, one primary reason is the flow of immigrants the citizens must pay for, especially all their children we have to educate.

[Rakin]

From the Dallas Cty website, they do use MLS data:

Sales Information

A sales file for sales data is maintained in MARS as well as in other data files such as Access and Excel. Residential improved and vacant sales are collected from a variety of sources, including: surveys sent to buyer and seller, renditions, protest hearings, ....

MLS, Title companies, builders, fee appraisers and realtors. Sale price, sale date, sale type, and source are recorded. Sales are used for ratio analysis, neighborhood building class model development and will be provided to taxpayers if the sale was used in the valuation of the taxpayer’s property.

From San Jacinto County Tax District:

To obtain market value from sales, San Jacinto CAD subscribes to a local Multiple Listing Service (MLS) and Lake Livingston MLS and also has access to data from the Houston Association of Realtors MLS. Sales for San Jacinto County are listed and identified within the computer-assisted mass appraisal (CAMA) system. The CAD generates and mails a buyer letter for each deed transfer, although, no records were kept of buyer letters mailed or returned. The CAD attempts to verify all sales that do not appear to be fair market transactions. Sales data for vacant land were used to adjust some land types.

[tech2enable]

Originally Posted by 1979

Wow, not sure why a poll was warranted? But, since you included one, I will tell you, you are missing one glarring reason why property taxes are so high. Why? Are taxes so high, one primary reason is the flow of immigrants the citizens must pay for, especially all their children we have to educate.

No I didn't , its called Robin hood, of course Robin hood aid doesn't necessarily go flow directly or solely to immigrant children, but it ends up in poor immigrant based school districts and not necessarily in cities, but in places along rural areas including south texas, keep in mind that cities such as houston and dallas may be considered rich districts in comparison to these poorer rural districts.