Colorado Property taxes are lower than most other States (Denver: real estate, insurance)

[Vision67]

Colorado homes taxed at some of the lowest rates in country – The Denver Post

"Nationally, single-family homeowners paid an average of $3,296 in property taxes last year, while in Colorado they paid only $2,046. The tab was smaller here even though the average market value of a home, at $394,604, was $109,110 higher than the U.S. average of $285,495.

Only Hawaii and Alabama had lower effective property tax rates than Colorado. And in New Jersey, Illinois and Texas, residential property tax rates were around four times higher."

[DurangoJoe]

Property taxes are lower but home prices are higher so it's really kind of an offset. My higher mortgage payment with the lower taxes still results in about the same payment that I had on my home back east.

[reed303]

Originally Posted by DurangoJoe

Property taxes are lower but home prices are higher so it's really kind of an offset. My higher mortgage payment with the lower taxes still results in about the same payment that I had on my home back east.

True, but if and/or when you pay off the mortgage, your on-going tax payment will be less in retirement

BTW, having moved the opposite, CO to CT, it seems home (and auto) insurance was less in CO for a comparable property. And CT taxes cars just like real estate.

And I don't see what we, as home-owning taxpayers in CT, get in return for a 60% greater tax burden.

[DurangoJoe]

Originally Posted by reed303

True, but if and/or when you pay off the mortgage, your on-going tax payment will be less in retirement

BTW, having moved the opposite, CO to CT, it seems home (and auto) insurance was less in CO for a comparable property. And CT taxes cars just like real estate.

And I don't see what we, as home-owning taxpayers in CT, get in return for a 60% greater tax burden.

We lived in PA for 60 years. We sold our last single family home there in Allegheny County in 2005. We sold it for $315K & the property taxes on it were $9k+ per year. Insurance was definitely cheaper than Colorado by about 2:1.

We don't expect to ever pay off the mortgage here since we won't be in the house long enough. Maybe here another ten years then sell and move into a condo in town so we'll be within walking distance to everything.

[MsMetal]

Originally Posted by DurangoJoe

Property taxes are lower but home prices are higher so it's really kind of an offset. My higher mortgage payment with the lower taxes still results in about the same payment that I had on my home back east.

In Denver, sure, not in all of CO though. Home prices in COS, are much cheaper than even the midwest state we came from, where property taxes were also much higher (& well worth it, for the services we rec'd).

[Vision67]

I never before realized how cheap property taxes were in Colorado until I retired and started looking elsewhere for a possible retirement.

Our kids live in San Francisco and although we cannot afford those RE prices, just getting a place close to Sacramento for about $500K still has property taxes of about $6K per year vs. about $1.8K here for a similarly valued house.

That seems a lot to pay government for the privilege of living in a house that you "own".

We decided instead to just stay put and visit every few months.

[smdensbcs]

Originally Posted by Vision67

I never before realized how cheap property taxes were in Colorado until I retired and started looking elsewhere for a possible retirement.

Our kids live in San Francisco and although we cannot afford those RE prices, just getting a place close to Sacramento for about $500K still has property taxes of about $6K per year vs. about $1.8K here for a similarly valued house.

That seems a lot to pay government for the privilege of living in a house that you "own".

We decided instead to just stay put and visit every few months.

In some places like NJ and other states, apparently everybody pays the same high property tax rate. In Texas there's no state income tax so presumably they get their funding through higher "other" taxes, including property tax. In California, the "new buyers" pay 3x, 5x, sometimes 20x the property tax rates of the folks who've owned their houses for decades and voted in Prop 13 which effectively froze their property tax rates and passed the higher rates to you the "new" buyer. Good for you that you didn't go for that scam. It's not the government that's scamming you by the way, it's the people who voted to give themselves property tax savings decades ago and pass the cost onto you. Classic taxation without representation there.

[MsMetal]

Originally Posted by Vision67

I never before realized how cheap property taxes were in Colorado until I retired and started looking elsewhere for a possible retirement.

Our kids live in San Francisco and although we cannot afford those RE prices, just getting a place close to Sacramento for about $500K still has property taxes of about $6K per year vs. about $1.8K here for a similarly valued house.

That seems a lot to pay government for the privilege of living in a house that you "own".

Yup, when we moved here from Mpls, we were paying $6K on a 4000 sq ft house. At the time here, we paid $1200 LOL, same size house, tho' the bsmt was unfinished in COS, so not sure how much that made a difference, if at all.

I will say this though. In Mpls, even in a little suburb (the last place we lived in Mpls, tho' we'd lived in multiple burbs & the city), EVERY time it snowed, ALL the streets were completely plowed & cleared by morning. ALWAYS! Even just an 1-2". Then we moved here & didn't see a snowplow for 7 years on our street, no matter how bad the storm was. Yearly pothole repairs...every year. Highway Helper trucks driving the interstate to help out any motorist who had trouble! It was WELL worth the cost.

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by smdensbcs

In some places like NJ and other states, apparently everybody pays the same high property tax rate. In Texas there's no state income tax so presumably they get their funding through higher "other" taxes, including property tax. In California, the "new buyers" pay 3x, 5x, sometimes 20x the property tax rates of the folks who've owned their houses for decades and voted in Prop 13 which effectively froze their property tax rates and passed the higher rates to you the "new" buyer. Good for you that you didn't go for that scam. It's not the government that's scamming you by the way, it's the people who voted to give themselves property tax savings decades ago and pass the cost onto you. Classic taxation without representation there.

Not at all how Prop 13 works..

What Prop 13 does is require voter approval for new assessments.

The Prop 13 RATE is the same Statewide and applies equally to all assessed property and is 1% of value set at the time of transfer plus a max 2% annual adjustment for inflation.

Prop 13 adds predictability in Property Tax.

My sellers built the home I bought back in 1957 and paid $1200 the year I bought it and immediately my tax was set at $8800... I don't begrudge them or any of my neighbors as they are the ones that paid for the drainage and road bonds years ago plus make the neighborhood desirable.

They carried the burden for 50 years and now it is my turn and fully intend in 50 years to be in the same situation.

[Thoreau424]

Looking at just property tax is like only looking at rear-view mirrors as being important on a vehicle. You could take each of the 50 states, one by one, and glorify one factor that's better than the rest of the states. But we don't live in a vacuum where only one factor matters and overwhelms the rest.

You've got to include all of the major factors to reach sensible conclusions. Personally, I've found CO to be much more expensive overall compared to the last state I lived in. The property tax difference (which is better in CO) is lost in the overall equation, and can't rescue the total sum difference.

CO also has state income tax. If you compare that to states that do not have it, and add that in, that alone will nullify and cancel out the benefit of a lower property tax.