Increasing Property Tax and Assessed Value?

[Wile E. Coyote]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

Sailing has been pretty nice in Greece the last few months. It's not too expensive to live here. (But my 90 days are up).
I actually prefer Croatia (cheaper yet).

My monthly WA property taxes are 2x my highest ever mortgage, whether I'm home or not. Hotels do the housekeeping and laundry and provide breakfast for the same price as my WA property taxes. Assessor needs to step-it-up a bit.

Get back here and pay your property taxes Stealth! LOL

[Ultrarunner]

It takes me about 9 months rent to cover property tax.

The land portion has actually gone down but the improvements way up.

My retired neighbors are all facing difficult decisions as the assessed value/taxes due outpace income.

I remember when I spent about 2500 in landscape materials plus my labor on curb appeal...

It happened to coincide with Assessor visit who commented on how well maintained and nice things looked followed by a very large jump in value...

Property owners really can't do much short of selling and bailing out if folks with deep pockets like the area.

No personal income tax is wonderful for those with high income... not so much for those of modest income.

I expect inflation across the board to be especially hard on seniors with more being inflated out of their homes.

I am glad mom was able to live out her days in her home of 64 years with me making up the shortfall in the later years...

Sad hearing more seniors saying they hope to no longer be around in there suppose to be Golden Years.

[StealthRabbit]

No personal income tax is wonderful for those with high income... not so much for those of modest income.

I expect inflation across the board to be especially hard on seniors with more being inflated out of their homes.

WA state has numerous ways to dig into our pockets. My $35 vehicle tabs are now $82 minimum . Collector plates just went from $42 to $100. Got my DL renewal yesterday. $73 + endorsements = $406 out the door.

SD is looking better, as I haven't had wage income (ie. a raise) for nearly 20 yrs. No pension, just DIY frugal living on single earner income.

SD income tax free residency requires only one overnight night per lifetime. And I can use my Golden Eagle to get $5 overnight camping in National Park. Then I can live anywhere and everywhere, being diligent to not trigger domicile in a high tax state. Living overseas, I got pretty used to hopping around to spread out my domicile obligations. Doubt I'll ever own a property in my old age, being a renter definitely has advantages. I have (9) of (12) tenants who are seniors, several are retired military. They are happy campers and thank me for being able to live in beautiful, safe, peaceful rural homes. I have not informed them of the lastest WA assessment scam (up 17%, as usual). I've not passed on the costs that now have me 'rebuying' props as taxes equivalent to purchase price every 5 yrs. I expect that to soon be an annual cost of WA property taxes. Combined, WA prop taxes are over 5x what I spend on food and entertainment, and 2x my highest ever house payment. I had just hoped to peacefully live a die in a home I had designed and built and milled the woodwork that makes it so homey. Tax assessor assures me his parents will be very comfortable there when he buys it for them at my tax sale and they can finally move up from CA and again be together as a family .

WA State has other plans for my property, than for me to affordability live and peacefully die there. They are keen on the revenue they could rape if they forced me into a skilled nursing care facility. I'm sure the WA bean counters have modeled every way they can skim each resident as clean as possible. It's their role and full responsibility. Why not... Job preservation!

Tis so sweet...

[Wile E. Coyote]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

No personal income tax is wonderful for those with high income... not so much for those of modest income.

I expect inflation across the board to be especially hard on seniors with more being inflated out of their homes.

WA state has numerous ways to dig into our pockets. My $35 vehicle tabs are now $82 minimum . Collector plates just went from $42 to $100. Got my DL renewal yesterday. $73 + endorsements = $406 out the door.

SD is looking better, as I haven't had wage income (ie. a raise) for nearly 20 yrs. No pension, just DIY frugal living on single earner income.

SD income tax free residency requires only one overnight night per lifetime. And I can use my Golden Eagle to get $5 overnight camping in National Park. Then I can live anywhere and everywhere, being diligent to not trigger domicile in a high tax state. Living overseas, I got pretty used to hopping around to spread out my domicile obligations. Doubt I'll ever own a property in my old age, being a renter definitely has advantages. I have (9) of (12) tenants who are seniors, several are retired military. They are happy campers and thank me for being able to live in beautiful, safe, peaceful rural homes. I have not informed them of the lastest WA assessment scam (up 17%, as usual). I've not passed on the costs that now have me 'rebuying' props as taxes equivalent to purchase price every 5 yrs. I expect that to soon be an annual cost of WA property taxes. Combined, WA prop taxes are over 5x what I spend on food and entertainment, and 2x my highest ever house payment. I had just hoped to peacefully live a die in a home I had designed and built and milled the woodwork that makes it so homey. Tax assessor assures me his parents will be very comfortable there when he buys it for them at my tax sale and they can finally move up from CA and again be together as a family .

WA State has other plans for my property, than for me to affordability live and peacefully die there. They are keen on the revenue they could rape if they forced me into a skilled nursing care facility. I'm sure the WA bean counters have modeled every way they can skim each resident as clean as possible. It's their role and full responsibility. Why not... Job preservation!

Tis so sweet...

I just found out about a new Washington State Long Term Capital Gains Tax of 7%.

[xPlorer48]

Originally Posted by rkcarguy

Correct, seems predatory to me.
My grandmother had both SSI and a pension, house paid off, yet was $4000/year over the income limit for a tax break and was losing over $1000/month due to $7,200/year property taxes and $200+/month taxes/fees levied on various utilities. Her home was built new and furnished in 1994 for a total of $180K. Luckily? She passed last fall and still had about 18 months worth of savings left.
We had this discussion at work, only two high earning co-workers who inherited homes and big money were going to be able to stay, the rest (over 50 people) aren't going to be able to retire here. Move out or work until you die.

Our property taxes are surely going to rise in 2024 due to being our turn for the every 4 year reassessment. A nearby property sold a year ago for $1.6 million and raw land several years ago sold for $500,000 for 5 acres. We just have SSA, no pension, some savings and a small home business that allows us to remain here so far. We are frugal to the point of growing much of our produce, buying used not new and not dining out. Our travel expenses are low due to camping. I don’t know how much more to cut back.

Our property is being taken over by weeds in some areas due to us being older and unable to do the hard physical work to manage Mother Nature. We have hired a few young people but they had to return home from college. In the past 11 years we have spent over $75,000 on maintenance and should really redo plumbing and wiring on a 50 year old home. Construction is booming here and tradespeople are busy. One told me they had to raise their rates due to their costs and that wealthy people moving here could afford to pay more. Ouch.

If and when we ever sell, we should get a good price for the place as it is rural but close to town. But, we don’t want to move anywhere else as we were born here and have friends and family locally. I never thought we would live in a million dollar home as we have always been middle class but the incoming wealth has pushed prices up so that even an older home in town is $500.000.

We don’t qualify for senior property tax relief as our income is over the $40,000 threshold. This amount is for any size household so a single person gets the same exemption as a household of more people. Whatcom county’s average household income is $88,147. The median as of 2019 was $70,011. 15 years ago we in the top 10% of our neighborhood’s income; now we are in the bottom 10%. That is what retirement and gentrification do.

[rkcarguy]

Originally Posted by xPlorer48

Our property taxes are surely going to rise in 2024 due to being our turn for the every 4 year reassessment. A nearby property sold a year ago for $1.6 million and raw land several years ago sold for $500,000 for 5 acres. We just have SSA, no pension, some savings and a small home business that allows us to remain here so far. We are frugal to the point of growing much of our produce, buying used not new and not dining out. Our travel expenses are low due to camping. I don’t know how much more to cut back.

Our property is being taken over by weeds in some areas due to us being older and unable to do the hard physical work to manage Mother Nature. We have hired a few young people but they had to return home from college. In the past 11 years we have spent over $75,000 on maintenance and should really redo plumbing and wiring on a 50 year old home. Construction is booming here and tradespeople are busy. One told me they had to raise their rates due to their costs and that wealthy people moving here could afford to pay more. Ouch.

If and when we ever sell, we should get a good price for the place as it is rural but close to town. But, we don’t want to move anywhere else as we were born here and have friends and family locally. I never thought we would live in a million dollar home as we have always been middle class but the incoming wealth has pushed prices up so that even an older home in town is $500.000.

We don’t qualify for senior property tax relief as our income is over the $40,000 threshold. This amount is for any size household so a single person gets the same exemption as a household of more people. Whatcom county’s average household income is $88,147. The median as of 2019 was $70,011. 15 years ago we in the top 10% of our neighborhood’s income; now we are in the bottom 10%. That is what retirement and gentrification do.

Yep, it was sad, my grandmother saying "thankfully I'll die before I run out of money" when she found out she had 6 months to live. Idk how you are only getting 4-year assessments, the state kyboshed that I've been getting hit every year.