Questions about property tax (Seattle, Olympia: for sale, real estate, rent)

[Skitwocs]

Hi -
We're planning on moving to Seattle from Ireland - we don't have a property tax here (yet) - could anyone fill me in on:
- What the property tax is based on? I have been looking online at houses on Bainbridge Island around 600k, and can't seem to work out why some houses have a tax of 3k - some over 6k - for similar square footage and size of plot
- does the age of the house affect it? If you did up the house internally would it affect it?
- do you still pay property tax when you retire?

Also, does anyone know of a site that explains income tax as well?

Thanks in advance for any info - most appreciated!

[Ira500]

The property tax is based on the assessed value of the house, or the supposed market value, and depending on the location is usually about 1200 dollars per 100,000 dollars.
Absolutely the age of the house has a lot to do with it. The county assessor uses sales data from houses nearby that are of similar age, size, and style to use as comparisons.
Doing renovation inside the home normally does not affect the taxes, as long as the county assessor doesn't know about it; and that's always been my style: Make it nice inside and keep the outside looking like crap

[Ultrarunner]

I've found the property tax situation very frustrating... my assessed value went up 80% from what I paid the year before and the home I bought was on the market for a while...

So far, the Assessor's Opinion of Value is paramount... it can be appealed... but who has the time and energy to appeal every year?

In my case, someone from CA paid a huge price for a property in the neighborhood and the Assessor used this to form his opinion and every one's taxes took a big jump...

The ironic thing is the CA people thought they could sub-divide and with the new growth limitations and new setbacks from wetlands find they cannont... the property has been for sale for more than a year at substantially less than they paid.

I really like most everything about WA... my single biggest issue is opening the mail box and finding your taxes increased not a few percent... but double digit year after year

It has forced my elderly neighbors to leave WA... they really have nothing more than a "Cabin" they built in the 50's when they married... the land became so valuable according to the Assessor that they could no longer live in the home they built... WA does have programs to protect elderly, but it has limitations.

When I worked in Europe, I had colleagues that were living in the same family home as generations past... no one was concerned about being taxed from their homes... it is one thing many Americans can't say.

[swerver]

The housing bust may have finally made it's way to the tax assessors' office. If you look on the king county parcel viewer, numbers are in for 2010 (can't say for sure they are on all properties, but every one I have looked at so far is, mainly Issaquah/Sammamish) and many homes have dropped substantially, 30-35% in some cases. Of course, that doesn't mean they all went down that much, or even that some didn't go up! I don't see this data on redfin or other RE sites yet, you gotta go to the parcel viewer.

Parcel Viewer

[azoria]

Just because the property value may have declined does NOT mean that the assessment rate won't go up. And so voila, your taxes go up even though the property value has gone down.

And thusly you are double screwed: reduced property value and increasing property taxes.

It's a miracle of government.

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by azoria

Just because the property value may have declined does NOT mean that the assessment rate won't go up. And so voila, your taxes go up even though the property value has gone down.

And thusly you are double screwed: reduced property value and increasing property taxes.

It's a miracle of government.

I think this is exactly the case for some... the Olympian ran a story explaining the amount of tax paid in dollars may not fall even as property values fall

Funny thing, when I last contested... I was told values are up and so are assessments

[azoria]

Originally Posted by Ultrarunner

I think this is exactly the case for some... the Olympian ran a story explaining the amount of tax paid in dollars may not fall even as property values fall

Funny thing, when I last contested... I was told values are up and so are assessments

I rent.

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by azoria

I rent.

Probably the smartest move for many at this time...

Renting allows a person to lock-in a price without a long-term commitment...

The biggest problem I see with WA property tax is it is subjective... Back in Real Estate Law Class the professor drilled it into our heads that Real Property is unique and that is why specific performance is often an option to force a sale during a dispute.

In other words, no two properties are identical... although some would say tract homes come close

[jinj]

Originally Posted by azoria

I rent.

Your rent includes the property tax that your landlord/company pays.

[Ultrarunner]

Originally Posted by jinj

Your rent includes the property tax that your landlord/company pays.

It does to some extent... although rent is generally determined by the market whereas supply is impacted by cost...