Property Taxes in Colorado (Denver, Colorado Springs: sales, real estate, assessor)

[19000mike]

Hello all,
I was hoping to get some examples of property values and property taxes for different parts of Colorado. We (family) are looking to relocate in a couple of years and property taxes and outdoor recreation are our main priorities.
Thanks!!!

[Mike from back east]

Have you any idea at all where you want to live in Colorado? Is there a target price you're looking at? That will help us nail things down for you. Outdoor recreation is found all over the state, but the I-25 corridor gives you access to all forms of year round outdoor recreation as well as nearness to all the offerings of larger cities.

Property taxes vary a bit from county to county and even within counties. My own rule of thumb is to look at selling price of a home and then multiply that by 0.667% or 2/3 of 1% or $3700 on a $550k home.

To see home prices, I use a generic real estate website like realtor. com. Just insert the name of a city or town, click on buy or rent, hit enter, then you can see what are the pricing and styles of home in an area.

I can only speak for El Paso County and Colorado Springs.

In the area of Colorado Springs, (El Paso County) you can figure it for yourself by going to realtor.com and putting in a zip code for an area in that county, e.g., 80920. There are over 300 homes listed at this time in zip code 80920. Find one in your price range that also gives the street address. Then go to the El Paso County Assessor's website and insert that street address into the search block, hit enter, and up pops all the data for that property. Locate a line that says "Tax Entity and Levy Information" and click on the link that says "Estimated Property Tax Information" and up pops the current tax bill for that property. I'm now looking at a $400k home in realtor.com and the assessor website says the tax bill this year on that house is $2470.80.

Other counties probably have similar features, and can be found with a google search or if other people chime in here.

Also, if you see a property you like, you can ask the listing realtor for the tax info.

Lastly, property taxes are only one aspect of the total taxation picture. TX has very high property taxes, but no income tax. The Tax Foundation website lists the TOTAL tax burden by state, but it does NOT include property taxes, as there are over 3000 counties and tax rates can vary a bit within all those counties. In general taxation, Colorado comes out about 34th, or 2/3 of way from the high tax state of NY. IMO, property taxes here are reasonable, and I wouldn't worry about them all that much.

[Bideshi]

Whatever responses you get, keep in mind that property prices are going down and property taxes are going up, almost everywhere.

[PokerMunkee]

Find the county you are interested in and then find their assessor's web site. Most have it listed on there.

FYI, I pay $1600/year on a 1985 2500sq ft .3 acre house in Woodland Park (Teller County). Colorado Springs (El Paso county) is a bit less.

[19000mike]

I will likely look West of Denver and South toward Canon City. Got time to find the right place so if RE taxes are reasonable that is all I ask. I now pay $7000 on a home I built for $250000. Big Thanks to all that replied!!!
Mike

[Mike from back east]

Mike, I think you're in south/central Illinois, per your IP address. Not sure about taxes there, but taxes here on a $250k home would be LESS than $2k, not the $7k you're paying. COLO income tax is about 4.9% and local sales taxes vary but are often in the 7% range.

Canon City is a great area for many reasons, it's affordable, it's near outdoor activities, and has about the mildest climate in the state yet is not far to the winter snow sports. The big employer out there are the several prisons in that area, plus tourism. Use the search tool to find several good threads on that area.

[BarryK123]

Originally Posted by Mike from back east

Property taxes vary a bit from county to county and even within counties. My own rule of thumb is to look at selling price of a home and then multiply that by 0.667% or 2/3 of 1% or $3700 on a $550k home.

It must vary quite a bit by county. I'm paying $6500/yr for a place assessed about 725K in Jefferson Co.

If you buy something now, it will likely be assessed higher than what you pay, as the assessed value is base on prices about a year ago.

Based on your current taxes, I was going to guess NJ or Long Island.

[tfox]

El Paso County is known for lower taxes. Mike's .667% estimate would only apply to some parts of Metro Denver. Some parts of Metro Denver are going to be considerably higher. Generally, the higher taxes tend to exist in newer, more outlying subdivisions, because the considerable costs of infrastructure to new subdivisions are usually offset by higher property taxes. But this is not ALWAYS the case. The city of Denver is known to have among the lowest taxes of any municipality in Metro Denver.

But, keeping things in perspective, the property taxes here worst-case are still much better than much of the country. Texas, for example, has property taxes ranging from 2%-3.5% or sometimes even higher. I doubt you'll find many places in Colorado that even exceed 1%. Although to be fair to Texas property VALUES there are usually much lower than Colorado.

[19000mike]

Thanks everyone,
This is all good info and I do like the Canon City area so I will give it a good look!

Mike