# Realestate Taxes



## Ken N Tx (Dec 17, 2014)

Looking at other parts of the country, I can not understand how people can afford home ownership!!

We have a 1800 sq ft house on 4 acres and pay less than $2,000 a year..(look at my album click here)..

What are your Real estate Taxes??


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## rkunsaw (Dec 17, 2014)

Wow, $2,000 a year is a lot. Our house is a similar size and sits on 25 acres with a 6 acre lake. Our real estate taxes are $350 per year.


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## Ken N Tx (Dec 17, 2014)

rkunsaw said:


> Wow, $2,000 a year is a lot. Our house is a similar size and sits on 25 acres with a 6 acre lake. Our real estate taxes are $350 per year.



You must be an exemption, looking at real estate in your area, do you have an Ag Exempt??


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## QuickSilver (Dec 17, 2014)

I pay about $4000 on one house and $2500 on the other.  One is in the City.... the other is very rural.   I will be going in a few weeks to apply for my Seniors discount on my primary residence.


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## oldman (Dec 17, 2014)

You guys are getting off cheap. Pennsylvania has no break for Seniors, unless you are in the low income bracket and then you may apply for a rebate of a few hundred dollars. We have "homestead" here in PA, but any one of any age can apply for it. Basically, it reduces the assessed value of your home by 20%, or in that area. My home is assessed at $360,000.00 and I pay a total, which includes, school, county and township (Yes, we pay 3 forms of real estate tax) $8300.00 per year. Now you know why I have been trying to get my wife to go to Florida full time. 

We get two different real estate tax bills. One is just for the school, then the other bill includes the tax for the county and the township. One comes in September and one comes in January. All that I get for my tax money is my garbage picked up once a week. I know they tell us it goes to pay for all of the services and so on, but the BS that they hand us on taxes is unbelievable. They con us into thinking Seniors are being helped with the lottery and the casinos, but in reality, the politicians are all driving new state cars now that they get "every two years," not to mention the other perks they receive. They only have to serve one term in their elected position or it may be two terms, but then they get their salary and full benefits (insurance) for life. Teachers in this state really have it made. PA must have the best pension plan for teachers in the country. Teachers that retire after 32 years can get up to 80% of their salary for life. So, if a kindergarten teacher retires after 32 years and was earning $60,000.00 they will receive $48,000.00 for life. Pretty sweet, huh? 

Sorry, this subject gets me rolling.


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## rkunsaw (Dec 17, 2014)

Ken N Tx said:


> You must be an exemption, looking at real estate in your area, do you have an Ag Exempt??



No exemption. Everyone get a $300 homestead exemption for the house they live in. If I owned another house I didn't live in, everything else being the same, my taxes would be $650.


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## Falcon (Dec 17, 2014)

My house (1800 sq ft) sits on the side of a hill with a view of the L A harbor. 

 My property tax this year is $1,792.92 payable in 2 installments. But I'm under Prop 13.

 I'm an original owner in the tract.  My neighbors with similar homes have to pay several hundred $$ more.


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## Lon (Dec 17, 2014)

The home that I sold earlier this year before moving into a rental apartment was a two bedroom, two bath, two car garage, 1,850 sq. ft home on a golf course lot with property taxes of $3,875 annually and home owners insurance of $ 850.00 annually, association dues of $1,400 annually. I pay $1,100 monthly for my two bedroom, two bath apartment. Interest on the proceeds from the sale of my home is approximately $2,000 monthly. The apartment includes built in washer/dryer/dishwasher/fitness center/swimming pool/spa/balcony/business center. Do the math/ Am I coming out OK?  Life is good!!


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## Butterfly (Dec 18, 2014)

My property taxes keep on going up.  Of course the property values around here, like most other places, have gone way down.  I'm thoroughly disgusted about property taxes right now, jusat had to pay the second half on Dec.10.  They put these issues on the ballot for new things to do, building a new whatever, or improving this or that, and you vote yes or no.  Of course most people vote yes straight across the board, but the financial burden is borne only by the property owners via real estate taxes, which just keeping going up and up.  Makes me mad that the property owners must bear the entire burden for stuff they don't even use, or even oppose.


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## 911 (Dec 18, 2014)

I agree with you, oldman. We here in Pennsylvania get the royal treatment on taxes.


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## QuickSilver (Dec 18, 2014)

Butterfly said:


> My property taxes keep on going up.  Of course the property values around here, like most other places, have gone way down.  I'm thoroughly disgusted about property taxes right now, jusat had to pay the second half on Dec.10.  They put these issues on the ballot for new things to do, building a new whatever, or improving this or that, and you vote yes or no.  Of course most people vote yes straight across the board, but the financial burden is borne only by the property owners via real estate taxes, which just keeping going up and up.  Makes me mad that the property owners must bear the entire burden for stuff they don't even use, or even oppose.



We get a Senior freeze here. So after this year, my property taxes will not go up.


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## Jackie22 (Dec 18, 2014)

My property taxes are homesteaded, ag exempt and senior freeze, they are $1600 per year, I lease out the pasture for the hay and that just about pays the taxes.


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## Ken N Tx (Dec 18, 2014)

Jackie22 said:


> My property taxes are homesteaded, ag exempt and senior freeze, they are $1600 per year, I lease out the pasture for the hay and that just about pays the taxes.


10 acres ag are $900 here.


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## QuickSilver (Dec 18, 2014)

We have homestead also for our primary residence and get a break... Our Senior freeze and discount is over and above the homestead which I have had since I bought the house 35 years ago.   I do not get the homestead break OR the Senior freeze on my other house..


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## AZ Jim (Dec 18, 2014)

I live in Arizona and spent a few years up in South Dakota.  My taxes here on a much newer, much larger home are half what they were in SD.


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## QuickSilver (Dec 18, 2014)

There is such a big difference in where you live..  We used to own a home down in Southern Indiana.. French Lick to be exact.  We had an acre.. and taxes were $250 a year..  Imagine that!!


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## Bullie76 (Dec 18, 2014)

QuickSilver said:


> There is such a big difference in where you live..  We used to own a home down in Southern Indiana.. French Lick to be exact.  We had an acre.. and taxes were $250 a year..  Imagine that!!


French Lick.......that's Larry Bird's old stomping grounds. I don't know the home town of many famous pro athletes, but that is an easy one to remember.


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## kcvet (Dec 18, 2014)

when I had a house it was almost 1800 a year. i rent now so that goes back in pocket. same with insurance and a big mortgage


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## Georgia Lady (Dec 18, 2014)

In my county in Georgia I am over 62 and have Homestead Exemption, so I just paid $18.43 for year 2014.  My county is a lot like Florida.


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## Don M. (Dec 18, 2014)

We have about 2400 sq. ft, a separate 900 sq. ft. shed/workshop and 40 acres.  Our property taxes were slightly over $1100 this past year, and they generally go up about 10 to 20 dollars per year.  However, compared to what we paid when we lived in Kansas City, that is a minor expense.


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## Ken N Tx (Dec 20, 2014)

One reason I asked, is because a house that I once owned in Illinois is up for sale. There is no way that I could afford this home with the tax!!
.


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## WhatInThe (Jan 24, 2015)

Local taxes here are brutal. It's gotten so bad that houses are being sold at cut throat/cut rate prices or not at all. I saw one house on the market for 6 months in a neighborhood that used to sell in weeks. It was listed for 135k with a $9500 local tax bill. If you are retired or unemployed just the tax bill is chasing people out of a lot neighborhoods &  houses. In years past a senior had to be carried on a coroners stretcher or a wheel chair en route to a home because they couldn't take care of themselves. Now in less than a year in the same block two families in the late 40s/early moved as soon as their kids graduated high school. That scenario is repeating all over the county. Even a lot of boom buyers are out of here unable to flip or pay the tax bill. When you see 2-3 houses for per block which you never saw either you know it's bad.


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## jujube (Jan 24, 2015)

QuickSilver said:


> There is such a big difference in where you live..  We used to own a home down in Southern Indiana.. French Lick to be exact.  We had an acre.. and taxes were $250 a year..  Imagine that!!



I grew up in Indiana.  There used to be a t-shirt that said "French Lick isn't as interesting as it sounds."


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## jujube (Jan 24, 2015)

When my cousin (who's married to a millionaire) told me that their property taxes were almost $40,000 a year, I about passed out.  $40,000 a year?  It still makes me short of breath.


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