Property Tax and Home Value question (sale, assessor, mortgages)

[ErrantVenture]

My wife and I are looking at potetially buying a house in Maine come this summer. In doing some research, I can't seem to find what most states and counties have listed on their websites. The informtation I'm looking for would be yearly tax rates and how much the house was sold for and who currently holds the mortgage. Most states have it listed under either a county auditor or assessor portion of the counties website. I can't seem to find anything like that for Maine.

Any suggestions or help?

[Northern Maine Land Man]

All Maine deeds are recorded in county Registries of Deeds. Aroostook is so big it has two registries, north and south. The Registry is where mortgages, liens and any judgements are also recorded. A few counties have their deeds on line.

Tax rates vary by town. Each incorporated town sets its own budget. Half of Maine consists of townships that are not incorporated as towns. These are the Unorganized Territories and plantations. Their taxes are collected by the state and vary by county.

As a rough approximation, plan on a mil rate of 20. That is $20 tax per $1,000 valuation. On your primary residence you can claim a homestead exemption of $13,500. If you are a veteran over age 65 you can claim an additional exemption of $5,000. If such a person owns a home assessed at $150,000 he would pay a tax based on 131,500. He would pay $2,630 per year to the town.

In the Unorganized Territories the mil rate would be 11. The same home above in the UTs would be taxed at $1446. Why so much less? The UTs have fewer roads to maintain and fewer kids in the schools.

[WhoFanMe]

The York and Cumberland County Registry sites are online, those are two that I look at on a regular basis, I'm not sure about the other counties to see deeds and mortgages. As for purchase dates and sale prices, that information would be available from each city/town's web site or at another outsourced web site that has several New England towns aggregated. Most of the larger cities/towns have this information online, some of the smaller ones do not.

[retiredtinbender]

Try this site: Maine Revenue Services: Property Tax - Statistical Summary

As an alternative, you can contact the assessor in the town your interested in.

[ErrantVenture]

Thanks for the responses. The county in particular I was looking for was York. I will be working out of the Portsmouth NH area, and quite frankly I don't want to live in NH after seeing how high the property taxes were there. It seems I can get a nicer house for my money on the Maine side.

[retiredtinbender]

http://www.maine.gov/revenue/propert...8/section2.pdf

Go down to page 12 & 13 on this PDF. It will list every municipality on York and give the valuations, certified ratio, and mil rate.

[Northern Maine Land Man]

Two years ago Maine was #1 in the nation in tax burden per capita income. NH was # 49. They were #49 because they CHOSE to be #49. Maine was #1 because our legislature chose to be #1.

For the most recent data look up Maine Heritage Policy Center. They have a huge amount of economic data. For example:

Maine Heritage Policy Center | Home

[AustinB]

Originally Posted by ErrantVenture

Thanks for the responses. The county in particular I was looking for was York. I will be working out of the Portsmouth NH area, and quite frankly I don't want to live in NH after seeing how high the property taxes were there. It seems I can get a nicer house for my money on the Maine side.

I trust you will be enjoying paying income tax here, on what you make in NH.

Thanks for your support.

[WhoFanMe]

Originally Posted by retiredtinbender

http://www.maine.gov/revenue/propert...8/section2.pdf

Go down to page 12 & 13 on this PDF. It will list every municipality on York and give the valuations, certified ratio, and mil rate.

Thanks for that link rib, I've saved the .pdf. Fiscal 2008 was a long time ago, make sure you confirm with the town's web site and/or assessing department by phone, as mill rates tend to change annually.

[retiredtinbender]

Originally Posted by WhoFanMe

Thanks for that link rib, I've saved the .pdf. Fiscal 2008 was a long time ago, make sure you confirm with the town's web site and/or assessing department by phone, as mill rates tend to change annually.

The state is usually 1 year off on getting the info and 2-3 years to corrolate and publish. and yes, mil rates change annually due to budgets and town valuation changes.