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Taxes are not based on the age of the home - instead they are based on assessed market value. It's safe to assume that school and property taxes combined will be roughly 3.75% to 4.25% of the home's market value (i.e. the price you pay for it) per year. That works out to an average of about $8,000 per year in taxes on a $200K house.
It might be tad lower some places and a tad higher in others, but the taxes that the current owner pays should not be used as a metric. My Syracuse home is currently taxed based on a market value of $100K, and I paid $85K for it five years ago. In the current market, with the improvements I've made, it would sell for $150K, and the new owners would be taxed based on the price they paid for the house - not based on what my assessment was.
I agree. This is why I was careful to not say that taxes aren't based on the age of the home... but in many areas, that is a common theme. A $300K 1900-era home *typically* isn't taxed as highly as a $300K new development home. Not nearly.
This does NOT hold true in the city... but for the surrounding suburbs, it was easy to notice while we were househunting.
Taxes must be assessed differently, by area. We bought this house 2 years ago and the previous year's assessment was $80K. We bought it for $127K. The following year, the assessment went up to $80,200. lol - and it's worth about $165K now... but we have made improvements.
I agree. This is why I was careful to not say that taxes aren't based on the age of the home... but in many areas, that is a common theme. A $300K 1900-era home *typically* isn't taxed as highly as a $300K new development home. Not nearly.
This does NOT hold true in the city... but for the surrounding suburbs, it was easy to notice while we were househunting.
Taxes must be assessed differently, by area. We bought this house 2 years ago and the previous year's assessment was $80K. We bought it for $127K. The following year, the assessment went up to $80,200. lol - and it's worth about $165K now... but we have made improvements.
Yes - it is different by area. In many places the new assessment is based very simply on the purchase price paid by the new owner. In others there is an assessed value that doesn't automatically go up when the house changes hands.
Most assessments go up by x % nearly every year (mine in the city has gone up 3% to 5% per year every year since I purchased.) The thing to watch and plan for is when they bump all the assessments in a town to "make them current". Skaneatles did it a few years back and it's killing elderly people with cottages who have owned them for many years and don't have the money for high taxes. Dewitt did it about 12 years ago, and the increase in assessed valuation was really significant. People who went to the trouble of contesting their new valuations got them reduced to as close as only 10% over the original assessment, but those who didn't context got stuck and have stayed there (and gotten bumped up a little more very year).
And that's definitely something to take notice of, when perusing the listings... there was a house, just down the street, selling for nearly $10K less but the taxes were nearly double. The homes were comparable but clearly, the previous owners of that house didn't make a habit of contesting tax increases. Fortunately, my mother used to work for the county dept. of taxation and finance so she helps me contest, every year. That's why the assessment didn't remain $2000 [assessed] higher... just $200 higher. lol
One of my parents' friends is a dentist in Skaneateles and his taxes went from $25K to $50K/year. OUCH! It's not that he couldn't pay it but, when looking at passing the estate to one's children, who would want to give them such a tremendous tax burden? $25K is high enough already, you know?
When we lived in Collingswood, we were paying pretty high taxes for our home (almost $6000 per year on a house for which we originally paid $119,000). It was on a tenth of an acre and it was 1500 sq. ft., and it had no special amenities (it wasn't lakefront or anything). The neighborhood's taxes just kept going up and up, and then there was an assessment and they went up more, and then again... Ugh. Taxes.
Anyway, high taxes are something with which we are familiar and understand that such things are *not* to be taken lightly.
What is the *reality* of dealing with snow in the deep of Winter? Will we need to have a snow blower? A generator? Are there frequent power outages for days at a time? Do we need to stock food for such events?
Some people say, "You get used to dealing with the snow," and some people say, "The snow is much worse than you can imagine." We're looking for clarification.
You will want a snow blower but shouldn't NEED one. A shovel is good for us... but we also LIKE to shovel. The only time power has EVER gone out, for us, is during a particularly large wind/rainstorm, and only in the warmer weather. Even then, only for a few hours. Maybe 4-6 times in my life and all but one under a few hours in duration. There's also no rush to get staples from the store, before a storm... there's no reason you can't get there the next day. The roads are clear.
The snow here is not half as bad as people say. The local highway departments take great pride in keeping the roads clear. We have been here for four winters and have not had any problem getting around at all. The house we bought sounds like it would be just what you are looking for, an 1840's farm house on 3 acres with views of the Pompey Hills, in the F.M. school district. It even came with a fellow who comes and plows in the middle of the night, we rarely see him. He bills us monthly and we wind up paying about $400 per season. Honestly, I shovel a lot less here than back on Long Island, where we came from. Also, don't let the season totals scare you, most of the snow totals are a result of almost daily snow fall, usually less than 6" at a time, mostly light and fluffy lake effect that is easy to deal with. The worst aspect of Central New York winters is the liberal use of salt for ice melting. It does do a number on vehicles. Good luck in your search!
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