Taxes in Washington (Camas, Washougal: fit in, sales, assessors)

[watkins911]

Hello All,

I have been reading alot lately about the taxes in Washington and I am getting a little nervous. We are loking at Camas or Washougal area and plan on buying a house when we relocate in June. We are being relocated due to my husands job in the military and he will be working in Portland by the airport and when we first found out I started doing my research between WA and OR and it looked like it would be better to live in WA but now I am having doubts. It sounds like the property taxes are killing people and that makes me wonder if eventually I would not be able to afford my house payment either after awhile. Right now we live in CA between Sacramento and SanFrancisco and things are a little expensive here like for instance our PG & E bill here which covers gas and electricity and runs us on average during winter 550.00 a month, our house is 2050 sq feet. We do have a pool which runs 365 days a year for 3 hours a day and I'm sure it does'nt help the bill. Our property taxes are 2400.00 a year and very rarely change and we have been here 7 years. If anyone can help me on the propert taxes for a house around 300 k and what utilities run for a house around 2000 to 2500 sq ft for a family of 4. We only plan on staying for the 4 years because I ate the rain but it does look very pretty there so who knows what could happen since he will be at retirement when this tour is done. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Signed lost

[Ultrarunner]

Do you plan on selling your CA home or will you be able to retain your lower CA taxes due to Prop 13 savings?

PG&E is 3 more than 3 times what I pay in the Bay Area of a 2350 square ft home built 50 years ago. Your pool must cost about $10 per day?

You are justified to be concerned. WA is very beautiful, but how can anyone make long range plans when you have no idea where your property taxes will be year after year.

This year, a lot of people saw assessed values rise 40, 50 and even 100%. In my case the value rose 80%. This would NEVER happen is CA.

[cdelena]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

...
This year, a lot of people saw assessed values rise 40, 50 and even 100%. In my case the value rose 80%. This would NEVER happen is CA.

The appraisal increases are a (appraisers) reflection of the change in property value which happens everywhere and not necessarily a change in taxes due.

The state has reinstated the 1% limit on the (gross) increases by tax districts and that will restrain the amount assessed to homeowners although individual situations will vary.

My appraisal has gone up 8% in the last year but in conversation with the county there is no expectation that my taxes will increase by that amount.

[StealthRabbit]

A $300k home will have property taxes of $3000 > $4500 / yr depending on area within the county. You can get mil levy for specific area from assessor. Factors, are Fire / ems / school and other regional services. Do be specific and also check for utility charges for LID (local improvement districts), The developers often get "credits" for adding services which is passed along to residents and purchasers of lots. (usually water / sewer ... and can be $2000 to $20,000, and added to your monthly bills)

Your power and gas should be ~ $180 - $220 / month for family of 4 and reasonable short showers. (our utilities dropped in half when the kids left for college, and I enforce a strict 5 min shower rule, next time I will install a quarter machine, like campgrounds... on TV too... ) When we host my in-laws for a month our $70/ month electric bill doubles. (we don't have gas in our specific area; nor HS internet, nor dsl, nor cable tv...) Do be careful not to buy a home with ceiling radiant cable heat... there are many built in the 1970's and early 80's... they cost a fortune to heat and are very drafty.

I have a few friends living in CW and working at the airbase (refueling and fighter wing... the air rescue guys got shipped out, and we really miss them for local search and rescue needs). If you have kids in school, I'd try to stay on the west side of Camas, to reduce commute, and to have more consistently good schools. OR schools are not known to be great and funding is poor. There are A LOT of home schoolers in each state, and "Running Start" (college instead of High School) is very popular and a benefit in WA, OR has similar, but not as popular program. Try to find a view home, pay a little extra for less space, as I feel the future sales of cookie cutter (commodity homes) will be tough to sell, as the area is overbuilt to weather a recession, but has not been hit too hard, as it is a desired area. When you go to sell one of those, there are 100's of competitors. If you have something unique, (park, view, older craftsman, acreage, privacy lot) you have a better chance when selling. I'd also try to stay on the small size, as future family size / tax burden... makes it wiser to stay small.

#####

my assessment in the same county went up 18%, but probably due to my contesting it last year and winning a 1% concession, (my neighbor's went up 6%), my comps were 50% less than assessors. ... They do like to punish you for challenging them, and made the comment..."we'll get you next year", as they have for last 20 yrs, several of which I contested. Last yr it was up 80% and my taxes went up ~ 30% as the overall valuation goes up and the obligations are divided equally, leaving a lessor tax increase than valuation increase. (tho my taxes have averaged a 20% increase for 13 yrs running (that means they double every 3.6 yrs)

The 1% cap will have little bearing on future taxation, as it does not include voter approved bonds, and is an overall county threshold requirement (which they can 'bank'), and can be shifted as per desire / need of assessor.

[watkins911]

jan b

Thanks for all the info it really helps. Just a FYI for future in reference to your short showers, we used to have that problem with our water heater constantly heating up water especially in the colder weather if its not being used. About 2 years ago it was time for a new water heater and I convinced my husband to install a tankless water heater and it has been the best thing ever, it saves alot of money because its not constantly trying to keep the water warm it heats on demand and dropped our bill considerably when we installed it. Just a thought for you if you ever need to replace yours.