How much $$ per year on Property Tax and House Insurance? (Baltimore: townhouse, transfer)

[Tiger Beer]

How much $$ per year on Property Tax and House Insurance?

Just curious how much most of you pay for these things for your property in Maryland.

Is that high or low compared to other states across the U.S.? Maybe comparisons if you lived elsewhere...

[Iggier]

For my townhouse on a postage stamp-sized piece of land in close-in Montgomery County:

Property taxes - $6,000 in 2010 (it was $7,000 in 2009 but the 2010 reassessment lowered them)

Home insurance - roughly $650

I've haven't compared this to other parts of the country, but probably on par with other major metro areas.

[North Beach Person]

Your taxes will be based on the tax rate of the County. Go to the County web site to get that. Divide your house's assessable base by 100. Multiply by the tax rate. That's your property tax bill from the County. You also have a property tax bill from the State (same process), the rate is $0.112 per 100 of assessed value. If you live in an incorporated municipality you will also have property tax paid to it (although you will get a break on your County tax rate due to a differential. That covers the services the County doesn't do in the town because the town does them). You may also have special assessments for trash or infrastructure such as water and sewer facilities on the tax bill. That is separate from charges for water and sewer use.

Your insurance will most likely be somewhat higher in the close-in (to DC and Baltimore) areas due to higher loss rates (car insurance is the same way, more car break ins and thefts= higher rates). If you are in a more rural area your property insurance rates may be higher due to distance from fire departments and lack of hydrants.

If you are in the 100 year flood plain (as I now am since th re-drawing on the lines last year) you also will be required to have flood insurance.

[marska]

Originally Posted by Tiger Beer

How much $$ per year on Property Tax and House Insurance?

Just curious how much most of you pay for these things for your property in Maryland.

Is that high or low compared to other states across the U.S.? Maybe comparisons if you lived elsewhere...

Oh Tiger, my oh my...if I could only have my old Iowa property taxes back.... 5 acres, 4 bedroom home, 2 outbuildings...not fancy, just comfortable...1200/yr.
Simple tax structure.Insurance was 120/month. 2007 figures

NY, Albany County, very complicated and weird property tax schedule but it amounted to about 6-7K/yr for an "average" home.

[RamblingMan]

Tiger Beer,

Maryland has a high tax burden. Property Tax is high. You also pay a state and county income tax, and a tax to the Maryland National Parks and Planning Commission. And to top it all off, if you buy a house, the transfer costs in Maryland are among the highest in the nation.

That said, the overall tax burden isn't necessarily any higher than in Washington or Virginia. All three places have a high overall tax burden, but they get their money in different ways. If you're interested in estimating or comparing costs, you probably need to make some guesses about your income, the price of your property, and your lifstyle.

[Tiger Beer]

From the number I've seen so far - $6,000/year...it seems similar to Virginia...

I started a thread over there as well. Maybe the entire region is similar.

I have since learned that NY/NJ is more like double those prices...and there are other parts of the country that are one-third or one-half what the MD/VA area around DC seem to be.

I guess it's all relative to where the jobs are.