Washington Real Estate Taxes (Seattle, Spokane: sales, new home, to buy)

[itsme2]

We're considering relocating to Washington but have thus far been unable to pin down real estate tax costs. Is there a rule of thumb or a broad range? Is there a table somewhere thaty might show the tax structure by county including the city tax add on? Are there any on going nasty surprises with the annual tax bill there?

Thank you.

[silverfox]

Generally ..... it will be somewhere between $9.30 to $16.00 per $1000 of asessed value per year, which will be reset at the purchase price of the new home.

Can vary greatly between eastern and western Washington also.

Best thing to do is pinpoint the areas you think are viable, and make a call to the Tax Revenue Dept in that town to get a close estimate.

Since King County did away with the monorail tax there are no nasty surprises that I know of at this time.

As you might know we have no state income tax but a sales tax that runs between 8.0% and 9.0%. Also no sales tax on many food items.

Silverfox

[itsme2]

Wow, that's a large range. Is the tax based on the total sale price of the house? Is the western part the higher one? Is there any viable tax reduction strategy when purchasing a home?

[MoMark]

Originally Posted by itsme2

Wow, that's a large range. Is the tax based on the total sale price of the house? Is the western part the higher one? Is there any viable tax reduction strategy when purchasing a home?

I'd ask a realtor in the area you're looking in. If he or she has experience in that area, he or she should know.

[silverfox]

Here are some examples,

Spokane.......15.08 East

Sequim......9.32 West

Kennewick.....12.36 East

Seattle/Bellevue.......approx. 16.00 West

It is based on the house and property valuation at the time of the purchase.

Also remember that you will have to pay sales tax on a Brand New Home.

Only tax reduction strategy I know of would be to buy a lower priced used home in a lower taxed area. If needed you could slowly remodel and escape the higher taxes until they re-asess and pick on up what they find. They were doing that every four years last time I checked but it could depend on where you locate.

[itsme2]

Just so I'm clear on this, are you saying a $500K house in Spokane East would be 500X15.08= $7,540 total taxes, correct?

Thank you.

[silverfox]

Spokane and Spokane east could possibly have a slightly different rate but it probably wouldn't be much if any. That is the correct formula.

500,000 X $15.08

Your Realestate agent can give you the details on the sales tax charges on New homes.

Welcome to Washington...........and the real world.

[RodFarlee]

The average real estate tax rates in each county are in Table 24 of:
http://dor.wa.gov/content/statistics...5/default.aspx
(rates vary depending on whether you're in/out of city limits, different school/fire/library/community college/water/sewer/etc districts).

Also note that the assessed (taxed) value averages about 90% of the actual market value (see Table 30 or 32A in the above link). In part, this is because assessments are at least a year behind the market.

Further general information on real estate taxes is available here:
http://dor.wa.gov/content/taxes/property/default.aspx

[dcgirl]

Silverfox,
You have reaffirmed my desire to retire to Washington. The real estate taxes in Texas are just killing everyone. Washington's rates (even at the high end) are much lower than even rural Texas rates. I would save 27% even if I moved to Seattle!

[KidBlue]

They get you with real estate taxes. If homes are reasonable, the tax rate is too high. If you live where the tax rate is low (like in CA capped at 1%), the houses are appraised at such a high level, the amount you pay is about the same. I guess it could be worse--could be living in New Jersey where the tax rate is REALLY HIGH.