Help on figuring tax exemptions in Harris County (Houston, Austin: low income, for sale)

[rodolfocostarica]

Hope someone can help clarify a tax credit question for Houston.


Im planning on buying a cheaper condo in Houston soon and trying to figure out how to calculate what the homestead and senior citizen (low income also) credits will do to the property tax bill.

As an example im looking at a $60,000 condo in Houston that on the real estate website says

Year 2019

Taxes $970
Land $7,291

Additions $31,081

Total Assessment $38,372


Im confused as to whether the credit(s) REDUCE THE ASSESED VALUE ONLY FOR THE SCHOOL PORTION (WHICH i CANT TELL HOW MUCH THAT IS OFF THE INFO ON THE REAL ESTATE WEBSITE) or the TOTAL 38K AMOUNT. ALSO I SAW A STORY WHERE HARRIS COUNTY JUST REDUCED TAXES MORE IN MAY FOR LOW INCOME SENIORS.
CAN ANYONE EXPLAIN HOW THIS WOULD WORK ON THIS CONDO EXAMPLE FOR ME? IS IT POSSIBLE TO GET THE TAX BILL DOWN TO ZERO?

THANKS IN ADVANCE?

If anyone has a cheap 2 br. condo for sale let me know.

[mojo101]

what is additional?
there are plenty of cheap 2 bedroom condo in Houston,what area are you looking ?
Mus you live in Houston,?
SUgarland is popular ,and newer and cheaper,

[rodolfocostarica]

sugarland looks fine. Many options there. I thought it was part of Houston proper. Do you know how the tax credits work?

[mojo101]

The name SUgarland comes from the fact it was at one time used to plant sugar canes,it is a swampy area prone to flooding which is good for growing sugar canes.
Also unlike Houston or Austin ,it lacks major corporations which foot the tax bills,a friend of mine worked for Metro,and Sugarland has asked Metro to extend its buslines into Sugarland as many need public transportation,Metro said sure,but you have to pay,and Sugarland does not have the $$ .
keep looking,as more oil and gas compnaies layoff workers,you may find some attractive condos in downtown and montrose areas

[rodolfocostarica]

Thanks Mojo. Great info. Im patient and dont need to buy asap. Would love downtown or Montrose but for my budget things would have to get real bad to find something there. And I dont want the economy to crash.

[WRM20]

Originally Posted by mojo101

The name SUgarland comes from the fact it was at one time used to plant sugar canes,it is a swampy area prone to flooding which is good for growing sugar canes.
Also unlike Houston or Austin ,it lacks major corporations which foot the tax bills,a friend of mine worked for Metro,and Sugarland has asked Metro to extend its buslines into Sugarland as many need public transportation,Metro said sure,but you have to pay,and Sugarland does not have the $$ .
keep looking,as more oil and gas compnaies layoff workers,you may find some attractive condos in downtown and montrose areas

Sugar Land is two words, not one.

Metro doesn't go to Sugar Land because Sugar Land voted to not join Metro.

Sugar Land has more money than many other area towns.

[mojo101]

Condos have monthly maintenance fee.
Sharptown has some cheap condos,dunno if it is any good or safe,

[WRM20]

HCAD has jurisdiction information on the website https://hcad.org/search/jurisdictions/

Find a property, look up the tax jurisdictions, then look at the list to get the exemptions. For HISD, a $60,000 property owned by an over 65 would have a tax value of $8,000. That's $60k-20%-$25k-$15k. I think that means the tzxes would be about $100 per year.

[rodolfocostarica]

Thanks WRM exactly what info I needed. Appreciate it.