Tax

[GoPadge]

Yep. Appraisal districts will rake you over the coals any chance they can. We purchased our last home in August of '04 with a CAD value of $72k and an appraisal of $135k. For 04 we paid taxes on $72k. For 05 the CAD re-assessed the home to within $100 of our closing $118k.

They claim a notice was sent in April/May time frame and we should have appealed in June. Interestingly enough, the first notice we got, and I still have it, was in late October. We had a $1200 shortfall when the bank paid the taxes in Nov/Dec.

Of course we can't appeal until June. So our mortgage went up $200 a month, $100 for 05's shortfall and $100 to pay for 06. We did apply to appeal in June and had our hearing in August.

As I've said elsewhere, we dotted our i's and crossed our t's, took a roll of pictures, and had signed and notarized documents from the electrictian, two different quotes for painters, and even one from the previous home owners stating that $5k of the selling price was for cleaning the property.

We won our appeal and the CAD lowered the assessed value to $90K (a $28Ksavings) but only for 06. Becuase we should have appealed in June of 05 when we got the notice in October....

[Zhang Fei]

Originally Posted by GoPadge

What? You mean I can't live in a mansion on my McD's income?

I think people from New York or California who either inherited homes in their home state or bought before the decade-long bubble, expect to buy $600,000 homes in Texas to replace their $600,000 homes back home. And then get sticker shock when they find out the size of the property tax bill. What they're not getting is that people who occupy $600,000 homes in Texas make a lot more money than people who occupy $600,000 homes in New York or California. If all they want to do is upgrade their housing, they'll do fine in Texas. If they want to have far richer neighbors than they had back home, it's going to be a stretch, financially.

[momof2dfw]

Originally Posted by Zhang Fei

I think people from New York or California who either inherited homes in their home state or bought before the decade-long bubble, expect to buy $600,000 homes in Texas to replace their $600,000 homes back home. And then get sticker shock when they find out the size of the property tax bill. What they're not getting is that people who occupy $600,000 homes in Texas make a lot more money than people who occupy $600,000 homes in New York or California. If all they want to do is upgrade their housing, they'll do fine in Texas. If they want to have far richer neighbors than they had back home, it's going to be a stretch, financially.

True. You did not even mention that the difference in the two $600K homes is VASTLY different in style, upgrades, amenities, etc. Here in Texas that $600K is going to get you a pretty darn near nice house in a good area, probably golf course or lake community. It may not be the most expensive in the area at $600K in those areas but it will be much nicer than the one they left in their home state. I love watching that show on the Fine Living Network, "Whay You Get For The Money" where they compare homes in different markets across the country that are the same price.