California to Huntsville or (Madison: sale, rent, insurance)

[writerwife]

Or, you could purchase the house you want and add on another garage. I know several that have done that.
A lot of people that have moved here from Cali ended up in much larger/nicer homes than they originally thought they would because of how much they still had left over from selling their homes out there. So, you might very well be able to build one unless you're socking it all away for future.

I had 4 car garage (actually, 2/2car garages) at another home I had but it was a much larger home 3,700 sq ft. So generally, unless someone was a car aficionado or worked on cars you'd be hard pressed to find a smaller home with that much garage around here.
Also.. if you moved to just outside of the city limits in just about any direction, you get a lot more bang for your buck.

[Rick In Madison]

Originally Posted by nalabama

One-story and three-car garage are likely to push you into either a newer, more expensive home on a small lot or an older, smaller home in a non-HOA neighborhood with an added-on garage and larger lot to accommodate the additional garage space. Either of which will probably take you past the $1,000 property tax payment mark. Of course, with your timeline, you can expect many more homes with three-car garages to be built before you are ready to buy.

Nope, nope, nope!!!!

I just drove back from Mississippi the other day and the state of Alabama was closing down the borders.
No more out of state people. We're full. Thanks for inquiring. Have a nice day. If you don't mind, tell others who may ask you about Alabama that we're all full up here.

[Southlander]

I'm pretty incensed that our property taxes on our 2700 square foot house in Decatur are just under $1000. Plenty of bigger houses cost less.
But that's for a year...not $500 each month!

[Rick In Madison]

City of Madison rolled in last week at ~$2000 for ~2800 sf.

Is property taxed at the state, county, and city levels? I think the answer is yes but wanted to double check with you all.

Has anybody been successful arguing the assessed value of your home **without** having a professional appraisal done? I.E. provide the assessing body with list of comparable homes cost of sale in the area or your neighborhood to figure the average $$/SqFt and then apply to your home.

[dwhisent]

I do know property taxes are much lower in the county than in Madison or Huntsville. The trade-off is higher homeowners insurance, since the county FD is mostly volunteer.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by Rick In Madison

City of Madison rolled in last week at ~$2000 for ~2800 sf.

Is property taxed at the state, county, and city levels? I think the answer is yes but wanted to double check with you all.

Has anybody been successful arguing the assessed value of your home **without** having a professional appraisal done? I.E. provide the assessing body with list of comparable homes cost of sale in the area or your neighborhood to figure the average $$/SqFt and then apply to your home.

I've never tried to argue the assessed value because I think mine is pretty much accurate.

My property taxes in Madison are about 20% higher than last year - $1750ish to $2100ish. Supposedly all the increase will go for schools, which I'm fine with, but Madison has to get money from some place and we don't have much retail for a town of over 52,000. They probably should make builders pay some sort of tax for bringing in new people, but the whole subject is controversial. If we want to be progressive (I don't mean Democrat - I mean actually progressive, forward thinking), then we have to pay for it.

[harry chickpea]

Originally Posted by Rick In Madison

City of Madison rolled in last week at ~$2000 for ~2800 sf.

Is property taxed at the state, county, and city levels? I think the answer is yes but wanted to double check with you all.

Has anybody been successful arguing the assessed value of your home **without** having a professional appraisal done? I.E. provide the assessing body with list of comparable homes cost of sale in the area or your neighborhood to figure the average $$/SqFt and then apply to your home.

County. I did (successfully) on a property in B'ham. The state law is on your side. Even if your comps are not allowed, contesting forces a real reevaluation rather than a pass-on of a flawed generalization that is used as a default in updating tax on property. There are a few hoops to jump through, but nothing outrageous. Recognize that the people you are working with in the assessor's office are not an enemy and just doing a job.

I have no comment or insight into the valuation you give. It may be correct, it may be that it is not.

[JimKrowe]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

County. I did (successfully) on a property in B'ham. The state law is on your side. Even if your comps are not allowed, contesting forces a real reevaluation rather than a pass-on of a flawed generalization that is used as a default in updating tax on property. There are a few hoops to jump through, but nothing outrageous. Recognize that the people you are working with in the assessor's office are not an enemy and just doing a job.

I have no comment or insight into the valuation you give. It may be correct, it may be that it is not.

Good advice. I did a similar thing in JeffCo (Vestavia) and Shelby. Worth a good try.

[moovin]

Originally Posted by Southlander

You say "zero disrespect" but nothing like a friendly little dig to show how much smarter you are than the locals. (Oh, and I and my low-class Alabama education fixed your careless misspellings).
Statements like that will not endear you to the natives, my friend.
As we say here, "bless your heart."

Yep, the poster is an entitled a-hole. He's already separated people by education, not by how bright, interesting, or likeable they are.

[HB2HSV]

Originally Posted by Southlander

I'm pretty incensed that our property taxes on our 2700 square foot house in Decatur are just under $1000. Plenty of bigger houses cost less.
But that's for a year...not $500 each month!

An ex-Californian, ex-Madisonian, and now back to the land of Commiefornia.

My property tax is $7,600 a year for a 2,900 sq ft house and will continue to increase at a maximum extent by law at 2% per year.. My State income tax is 9%. My local sales tax is 9.5%.

In addition, i have a rental property and recently this State passed a law that if Tennant is not able to pay rent due to a loss of income because of the virus (the Governor shut down the State, what do you expect?), you can not evict them as landlord. Good luck on paying your mortgage without the rental income. So much for the Socialist anti-business policy.

For you avid gun collectors, when I lived in Madison, I enjoy buying online and shipped to my FFL who only charged me a $5 FFL transfer fee. Now in Commiefornia, I will need to pay $75 FFL fee, 9.75% California sales tax even though I bought it online, plus $37.50 DROS background check. So now I will need to add $150 - $200 to my purchase, that is if the gun is approved for sale in the State (no Glock Gen 5, for example ).

I moved back because of family, meantime I will look forward to the day I move out of this high cost, high tax, Socialist-Communist state.