[macguy]

Originally Posted by Mike Peterson

When you add additional square feet this is taxed at the current rate which is added to your old tax amount.
The SOH then should kick in again but the damage is already done at this point and the county is going to hit hard with the new tax.

I'm kind of nosey and was looking at my sister-in-laws house on the property appraisers site. I could not believe it. Her tax went from around $4000 to over $13,000. I don't know what she did, and I'm not asking, but she screwed up something. Will refinancing cause a re assessment? The only thing I can think of was the house was in both her mothers name and hers and they took my mother-in-law off. Maybe that change did it.

[Dee74]

Yes, that is exactly what happened. When my dad died I had the same thing happen. Now my (our) home went from 1200 yr to now 4500 in 3 years. Technically it is the same as a sale in the eyes of the tax office.
We also built an addition in 2004 but had to design to fall under the threshold on sq footage that would have opened us up to a whole new assesment. However the taxes stayed low but our insurance quadrupled, now we are in TN looking at property as it is the insurance running us out, at least we get something for our taxes. If we took a major hurricane hit we could spend the next 5 yrs, hire a lawyer trying to get what we were covered for and paid for but you know how insurance companies work, get those premiums dollars but remain profitable by denying as many claims as possible.

Originally Posted by macguy

I'm kind of nosey and was looking at my sister-in-laws house on the property appraisers site. I could not believe it. Her tax went from around $4000 to over $13,000. I don't know what she did, and I'm not asking, but she screwed up something. Will refinancing cause a re assessment? The only thing I can think of was the house was in both her mothers name and hers and they took my mother-in-law off. Maybe that change did it.

[Audacious]

Originally Posted by cariad

And how in the world do you expect middle class America(which is well on it's way to becoming the new poor) to afford higher prices when the problem today is that they can't afford the current prices?

In my opinon this is thinking typical of those speculator and house flipping "get rich quick" investors.

Education and motivation. Both are free in the USA.

[Audacious]

Originally Posted by macguy

The people saying that aren't buyers anyway. They would be afraid to make an offer, even a total lowball offer, because the seller might say yes. Reminds me of when you sell your car and ten people say "I wish I knew you wanted to sell it, I would have bought it". Yea, till it comes time to actually put their hand in their pocket.

Do you have any properties that you wish to sell right now?

[Audacious]

Originally Posted by kort677

all what you say is true, but what is your point? a person who gets in over their head is in over their head regardless of a good real estate market or a bad one. If anyone thinks that they are going to make big bucks in real estate is mistaken, buy what you can afford, think long term and more than likely regardless of what happens in the short term, you will come out ahead. Houses are not cars, you cannot be upside down on a house unless you are thinking too short term, history has shown us and my own real life experience has shown me, that over time RE will almost always be a good investment

Well said.

[Audacious]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

Jim, maybe we do not realize how clever these people are with their steak analogy. If you buy now you very well may be "eating" your mortgage!

Perhaps, or you may be eating lobster instead! It's all viewpoint my friend and only TIME will tell.

[Audacious]

Originally Posted by cariad

My point is that I am not buying because I can't afford to buy, but because I think the houses are overpriced, growth cannot be sustained because the middle class is already living in houses they can't afford -and as I said before- why the heck should I waste my money on a $200,000 house(affordable, but much less house than I had) when I can afford to rent a $400,000 house for less than the mortgage payment,nevermind the taxes and insurance?

Even with the "New Math" your numbers are abit skewered.

[Audacious]

Originally Posted by macguy

The people saying that aren't buyers anyway. They would be afraid to make an offer, even a total lowball offer, because the seller might say yes. Reminds me of when you sell your car and ten people say "I wish I knew you wanted to sell it, I would have bought it". Yea, till it comes time to actually put their hand in their pocket.

OK , I mentioned this to a similar post, what do you have for sale? If you are seeking 2005 numbers then I AM NOT A BUYER, if your property/properties are priced correctly in my market area then I am a buyer. Over to you...

[Audacious]

Originally Posted by hiknapster

You can certainly be upside down on a house. The term use to be only used for cars, but not lately.

For the last 100 years, the day you close you are upside down. But a few years later you are VERY positive. You can cite whatever #'s you care to but you cannot deny the long term benefits of owning real estate. That's why they call it REAL estate.

[Audacious]

Originally Posted by kort677

you can find any article you want that supports your opinion and I could offer many articles that support my opinion, so what? it's like 2 experts contradicting each others opinion in a court case.
but the fact remains that when you pay rent in order to occupy a house that money is paying someone's mortgage, and it isn't yours.
you may be ok with that and there are many people who agree with you and have been life long renters, and they're happy campers, good for them.


I've owned my own homes for over 25 years and have done very well with them, and I have a ton of equity to show for my years of making payments on MY mortgage instead of paying someone else's. Owning has worked for me and I am an advocate of ownership.
you can only do what makes sense for you, good luck and good bye

BRAVO! Same here. You can bring a horse to water BUT.............