Moving to San Antonio, some advice... (Canyon, Detroit: to rent, HOA, buying a home)

[snafu59]

do people here ever mention the outrageous property taxes in San Antonio TX? I'm a S.A. resident of 40+ years, but now getting close to retirement.

I plan to get away from my super high property taxes by relocating to a diff state.

[ged_782]

Originally Posted by snafu59

do people here ever mention the outrageous property taxes in San Antonio TX? I'm a S.A. resident of 40+ years, but now getting close to retirement.

I plan to get away from my super high property taxes by relocating to a diff state.

I don't know your age, but retirement age is typically something like 65+/-.


In Bexar County, there is an Over 65 exemption that can be applied to your principal residence. It consists of significantly higher exemptions than allowed under a regular Homestead Exemption, plus most taxing entities freeze their taxes at that point. It doesn't matter if your property gets assessed at a higher value, a freeze is a freeze. So what happens is that your taxes dip at age 65, then you may see small increases over the years from the entities that don't freeze (like County Hospital District, Road & Flood, or something like that). In addition to the County, virtually all Cities and School Districts freeze. But you end up paying much less than the under-65 crowd would for the same property, especially as the years go by.

[snafu59]

I plan to retire by 60 or so, if all goes according to plan...

My wife wants to keep working though.

It's just that my house has been paid off a couple of years, and the property taxes here are just crazy.

[ged_782]

Originally Posted by snafu59

I plan to retire by 60 or so, if all goes according to plan...

My wife wants to keep working though.

It's just that my house has been paid off a couple of years, and the property taxes here are just crazy.

My elderly mom's house here in San Antonio (and in the same school district, too) carries an appraisal that is 24% higher than my house, but her annual property tax last year was about 40% lower than mine!


There are a number of reasons I may chose to live someplace other than San Antonio upon retirement, but saving on property tax isn't one of them. Like many people, I don't envision having sufficient resources to be able to even consider retirement until age 62 at the absolute earliest, so I would be looking at a couple of years of post-retirement property taxes at the under-65 rate at the most.

[StealthRabbit]

My TX property taxes are $2200 on the highest of 6 rural properties.

Be careful what you wish for...

I left Colorado in late 1970's being taxed out by relocating Texans and Californians. Ended up in income tax free WA state.
My WA properties taxes are $17,700, up from $800/ yr (same house, 20 yrs older and more worn out)


You might be safe in parts of AR, LA, MO, some of TN... But... visit the assessor before you buy.

[snafu59]

I have 2 properties in the SA area, one in SA and one close by in Universal City. The combined taxes are over $8,000. Both houses are paid off, the the annual property taxes are terrible, no other word for it.

If I retire, those taxes will be a huge chunk out of my "much more limited" income.

I have liked SA for most of the time I have lived here... since 1973. But the older I get, the closer to retirement, I realize SA pretty much "doesn't check very many boxes".

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

You might be safe in parts of AR, LA, MO, some of TN... But... visit the assessor before you buy.

In the past few months, we considered a couple of those states you listed. TN sounded ok, until I read that it rains over 50" a year over the entire state. AR housing seemed less expensive, but it also rains a lot there, and many consider it "a dump" (not my words).

We are now researching other areas of TX, for less expensive housing, and property taxes that are not outrageous. Abilene area/Taylor County seems ok so far. I am not interested in the Houston or Dallas areas, or Austin.

[Atari2600]

Originally Posted by flashfearless

Habitat for humanity is an option too. If you can line it up, they will demo and haul off for free. Call
(210) 797-0941 Ask for Mr Martin. I wasn't able to time it right for him to demo at the exact time my contractor was ready. So I just had HFH haul off. If possible, get an official appraisal for value of cabinets when you pay for home appraisal. IRS will want that.

This is an EXCELLENT idea, thank you VERY much for posting this. I really appreciate this! I'm absolutely going to do this as soon as I close and move-in later this month!

[Atari2600]

PROPERTY TAXES...


Just wanted to add some comments. The property taxes are higher than I was expecting them to be... at least considering the value of the home. I wish I could say that I was being responsible and knew exactly the rate and everything that I'm paying in my current home in South Florida, but my property taxes are about the same in South Florida, as they are in San Antonio. My home in South Florida is valued at around $430k, but it's being taxed at an appraisal rate of $340k. They can only increase that amount by 3% annually, but we re-financed, which caused it to be re-appraised at the time.


Anyway, the home I just bought was $220, and the taxes are estimated around $5,600... again, which is about what I'm paying for a $400k+ home in South Florida. So it does seem like the San Antonio property taxes are a bit high.




What is nice though... in South Florida, I pay about $4,000 annually for home owners insurance, which is a REALLY good deal (most of my neighbors are paying upwards of $5,500). My home owners insurance is coming in just under $1,000 bucks here in San Antonio, so I'm pretty pleased to say the least. It all has to do with our homes being at-risk for hurricanes in Florida.

[Azure110]

San Antonio property taxes are high. I am paying almost 6K/year for my home and I know many on here pay even more than that. It is not going to get any better either as people seem to keep moving here with their kids. Protesting your taxes is just a waste of time too.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by Azure110

San Antonio property taxes are high. I am paying almost 6K/year for my home and I know many on here pay even more than that. It is not going to get any better either as people seem to keep moving here with their kids. Protesting your taxes is just a waste of time too.

depends... I am rural, and was able to negotiate a 70% reduction in assessed value on one of my TX homes. (had to provide evidence).

There are certainly areas near SA that have more reasonable property tax rates and lower valuations.

But, as a retiree.... FIXED costs can be tough on your budget. Since our investment rentals in TX cash flow so well, we bought 2 additional investment props to cover Property taxes on all our investments and primary home. Using an investment prop keeps your income relatively 'inflation' adjusted', as well as indexed to local property values / matching your tax obligation. Yes, it can be a pain, but with 50 yrs in retirement, we needed a solution that was inflation adjusted. So far, we have kept very good tenants, some stay 10+ yrs. ALL take care of their maint issues, as we are usually traveling overseas.