Do Commerical property owners pay far less tax rates than residental home owners, I am leaning toward yes? (Dallas: apartment complexes, assessor)

[occupant]

Commercial property in my county seems to match well with like-valued residential property. But it's all unzoned for the most part out where I live.

Mechanic Shop, assessed value $42,850, tax due for the 2009 year, $505
My house, assessed value $46,760, tax due for the 2009 year, $507

Dollar for dollar, the commerical property pays (slightly) more.

[High_Plains_Retired]

Originally Posted by occupant

Commercial property in my county seems to match well with like-valued residential property. But it's all unzoned for the most part out where I live.

Mechanic Shop, assessed value $42,850, tax due for the 2009 year, $505
My house, assessed value $46,760, tax due for the 2009 year, $507

Dollar for dollar, the commerical property pays (slightly) more.

If your house was on the same lot in Muleshoe, Texas (Bailey, County) as my small home there, your annual tax would be $1,540. My commercial property at Muleshoe is appraised at about $69,000 and the taxes are $2,250. My tax rates are the same for both properties.

I recently took a significant retirement nest egg that I had hoped to use to develop the commercial property at Muleshoe and bought property in another county. I then converted the property there to rentals until I can get them sold, if ever I can. The high property taxes in Muleshoe were a strong deterrent when I once considered retiring there.

The population of Muleshoe is declining but the city leaders just can't figure out why. They continued to spend money and raise property taxes right through the worse part of the recession. The town claims to be politically conservative but, like G.W.Bush who they strongly supported, they are fiscally liberal.

[FlyDrive100b]

Originally Posted by occupant

Commercial property in my county seems to match well with like-valued residential property. But it's all unzoned for the most part out where I live.

Mechanic Shop, assessed value $42,850, tax due for the 2009 year, $505
My house, assessed value $46,760, tax due for the 2009 year, $507

Dollar for dollar, the commerical property pays (slightly) more.

Do you know the true value of the commercial property.

[ETex2]

Originally Posted by occupant

Commercial property in my county seems to match well with like-valued residential property. But it's all unzoned for the most part out where I live.

Mechanic Shop, assessed value $42,850, tax due for the 2009 year, $505
My house, assessed value $46,760, tax due for the 2009 year, $507

Dollar for dollar, the commerical property pays (slightly) more.

Tax rates vary by taxing entities. If both properties are the the same exact taxing districts, then the house would probably pay less taxes assuming there were homestead exemptions.

[piyf]

Originally Posted by occupant

Commercial property in my county seems to match well with like-valued residential property. But it's all unzoned for the most part out where I live.

Mechanic Shop, assessed value $42,850, tax due for the 2009 year, $505
My house, assessed value $46,760, tax due for the 2009 year, $507

Dollar for dollar, the commerical property pays (slightly) more.

The only place I can think of that would have a house that cheap is downtown Detroit. Am I right?

[FlyDrive100b]

Originally Posted by ETex2

Tax rates vary by taxing entities. If both properties are the the same exact taxing districts, then the house would probably pay less taxes assuming there were homestead exemptions.

Not necessarily, the same assessed value may not apply, the argument is that assessed value if much lower for commercial properties than its real value, hence a lower tax rate than homeowners, in part due to texas non-disclosure status.

[ETex2]

Originally Posted by tech2enable

Not necessarily, the same assessed value may not apply, the argument is that assessed value if much lower for commercial properties than its real value, hence a lower tax rate than homeowners, in part due to texas non-disclosure status.

I've been a commercial real estate appraiser for 26 years, and also a real estate tax consultant for the last 18 years. A huge part of my living is based upon the premise that many commercial properties are actually assessed at a value much higher than true market value. And I'm banking heavily on the fact that next spring, this fact will become even more apparent.

And even though Texas is a non-disclosure state, there are enough sales that can be verified to give appraisers and assessors enough comparable data to do competent appraisals. But as a tax consultant, one thing we count on is that appraisers working for appraisal districts use mass appraisal techniques, and they rely on the income approach rather than the sales comparison approach most of the time for commercial properties.

[FlyDrive100b]

Originally Posted by ETex2

I've been a commercial real estate appraiser for 26 years, and also a real estate tax consultant for the last 18 years. A huge part of my living is based upon the premise that many commercial properties are actually assessed at a value much higher than true market value. And I'm banking heavily on the fact that next spring, this fact will become even more apparent.

And even though Texas is a non-disclosure state, there are enough sales that can be verified to give appraisers and assessors enough comparable data to do competent appraisals. But as a tax consultant, one thing we count on is that appraisers working for appraisal districts use mass appraisal techniques, and they rely on the income approach rather than the sales comparison approach most of the time for commercial properties.

How are you defining commercial, commercial can also mean apartment buildings, texas has no income tax so do you know the true income, I agree that in certain areas it can be done by using asking rents in place of non-disclosure sales prices that are based on mass statistics, I am not sure if you have been using this tool or an assessor.

May I add that many more affluent homes which may include more than one dwelling unit seem to pay less money, not just apartment buildings.

[ETex2]

Originally Posted by tech2enable

How are you defining commercial, commercial can also mean apartment buildings, texas has no income tax so do you know the true income, I agree that in certain areas it can be done by using asking rents in place of non-disclosure sales prices that are based on mass statistics, I am not sure if you have been using this tool or an assessor.

May I add that many more affluent homes which may include more than one dwelling unit seem to pay less money, not just apartment buildings.

Commercial does include apartment complexes. State income tax has no bearing whatsoever on how commercial property is appraised using the Income Approach to value. The income would be the market rental income or actual rental income for the property itself. It's something that appraisers do nearly every time they appraise commercial property. Fee appraisers as well as appraisers working for local appraisal districts. The net operating income (NOI) projected for the property is capitalized at an appropriate overall rate in order to estimate the market value.

[FlyDrive100b]

Originally Posted by ETex2

Commercial does include apartment complexes. State income tax has no bearing whatsoever on how commercial property is appraised using the Income Approach to value. The income would be the market rental income or actual rental income for the property itself. It's something that appraisers do nearly every time they appraise commercial property. Fee appraisers as well as appraisers working for local appraisal districts. The net operating income (NOI) projected for the property is capitalized at an appropriate overall rate in order to estimate the market value.

Apartment complex that I've looked at for sale, paid very little in way of property taxes compared to homes, the argument could be that if commercial real estate is assessed properly, residential is not being assessed properly or its assessment is too high, many people believe that commercial real estate in Texas is under assessed, they have exemptions such as AG farms, using multiple properties in areas that don't have similar properties,etc

I presume not all commercial properties, list those details, some require you to appear in person or to sign non-disclosure agreements when you receive the data or may manipulate the data, I guess you can use rents and income for that building to figure out apartment complexes, but commercial real estate seems to vastly broad, are there areas where commercial is harder to assess.

I also not that you live in a more small town or rural area, have you been an assessor in more urbanized areas.