There are so many aspects to owning a home that you never consider until you have to deal with them personally. The county/city we live in (Ramsey/St. Paul) is notorious for huge property tax hikes, double digit increases to the taxable market value of your home (we've seen as much as 23% in a year) and also, "special assessments" that can add thousands more per year to your property tax burden.
We typically get hit with 2-3 of these special assessments per year. I remember during the Housing Crisis of 2008 they charged us nearly $5k for a single assessment that had to be paid in 90 days or else it would be added to escrow and we'd be charged a sizable interest rate. That sure was "special". Lol.
It's really wise to consider property taxes when deciding where to buy. Since most county websites will allow you to just plug in the address of any property and see the tax history it's easy to do. Our son is going to be in the market for his first home this year and we're trying to educate him as much as we can.
Wow, that is pretty horrendous! I wouldn't be able to handle it. Even if it was my dream home we would be moving. Getting hit that hard multiple times per year would wipe us out! That is great that you are doing your best to educate him. There is still so much I am learning after all these years. Thankfully we have a good friend that is a title officer so she knows the ins and outs of the whole system!
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
It's pretty bad here. We're looking at all of our options now. I'd be happy buying a few acres away from the city and building a small house. That huge assessment in 2008 was a big financial hit for us, thankfully we both had decent jobs but with all of the expenses we still were barely treading water.
Our son is making really good money now as a plumber but we're trying to instill in him to borrow substantially less than the banks and brokers say he can afford.
It's amazing once you start looking into other countries, their different tax situations, and how those tax dollars are spent. Once you start to really examine it, it's unbelievable how much we get taxed (and in so many different ways) here in America. It may appear that tax rates are higher in other countries but sometimes their systems are just more transparent and they seem to get a lot more in return.
It's great to have friends like that on the inside of the system! Knowledge is power.
Yeah, that sounds like what I would like to do as well. The biggest drawback to our current house is the fact that we don't have any acreage. Sure, it only takes me a half hour to push mow the lawn, but I would like to actually own some property. My wife really likes the city water, city sewer, and natural gas though! Being honest I am a pretty big fan of it as well!
Posted Using LeoFinance Beta
The riots of the past year and some of the disruptions in the supply chain have me thinking about living outside of the city for the first time in my life. It would be great to have just a few acres...some woods to walk through and a vegetable garden. There are certainly advantages to living in the city too, I guess it's all a question of what kind of lifestyle you want to live.
I hear you. Right now we really have the best of both worlds. If only we had a little more property. There was a house we got outbid on that would have been perfect and it was right down the road from our friends. Fenced back yard with about five acres of woods behind it.