Heavy Hitters!

I believe the State mandates by law that homes must be reassessed every 3 years. If you've been paying the same tax amount for, let's say 8-10 years, then you weren't paying enough based on what your property was worth.

There would have to have been LOTS of these insane sales in your neighborhood to force such an increase in your assement. I don't believe there were because our market is pretty stable and can't be compared to what the parts of the rest of the country is doing in terms of predatory lending and the housing recession. So basically, there was either a large improvement on the property or you weren't paying enough, based on the market value, for an extended period of time.

As much as I cant believe I am going to say this

CD is dead on right in this case

Again.... there is NO WAY that a property that sold for $91,000 5 or 6 years ago across the street from me could be worth $200,000 2 years ago. This isn't San Jose California. There is NO way to have over a 10% tax increase in a couple of years unless they are looking over the nation as a whole and applying it here. Problem is, we've been losing people.. not gaining them, so property should be stable. I haven't made one improvement myself, and in my opinion $1,500 tax in a neighborhood filled with some every day average nice homes and a LOT of "Ginny Lind" homes just isn't right.

Jerry wrote:

JustMike wrote:Mortgage Companies will not loan more than the appraised value.

How in the world could you consider yourself INFORMED and still make a statement like that?

Dont you realize that loaning MORE than the properties were worth AND loaning money to those who couldnt really afford it was the main REASON for the housing bust? It was the same principle as credit card companies who give credit to people who'll never be able to pay them back.

Just going by personal experience on every house I have ever bought. By the way, what is the difference on what the County appraised your house for compared to how much you could sell it for? I wouldn't be raising too much hell or you may just get what you asked for...... A true reappraisal
instead of a "blanket" increase for the area. The crisis was cause much more by the latter in your statement than the former. Many people have to live in big houses to match their big egos. And, if being informed is now a prerequisite for posting on this board, you may as well shut er down
Since Chisom has actual experience regarding this topic, I believe him to be the most informed. I will yield to his knowledge just as I would yours if we were debating firefighting or writing letters.

In this market... today... there is no way I could sell my house for what they appraised it at. Two years ago?... maybe. But not now.

Keep this in mind: There are two kinds of home owners out there: The first is the person that buys a property in the hopes that they can sell it at a premium in order to make a profit and then apply it to a better house when the time is right. That was me for most of my life.

Then, there's the older person on retirement who wants to stay put. They're out of the buying game and just want to be left the hell alone and die in peace. These are the people that many states protect by freezing the property taxes. Why don't we?

I love the idea of freezing property taxes. I just don't think it will ever happen in this State. And I really don't like what Erik Wells said in his reponse to you. Unless I misunderstood, he said the current thinking is to have the current homeowner keep paying the same rate, but raises should become the retro-active responsibility of the new homeowner. I don't think so.

Maybe you weren't paying enough more than 2 years ago either. Maybe 5 years ago. Get your property appraised if you think the value the county is assessing it at is wrong.

Freezing property taxes won't work because someone can buy a piece of land with a trailer, remove it, and build a 300K house on it. Then the person lives there forever and the county never collects the amount of taxes it needs to sustain the locality. Here in WV, where the market IS stable, you won't have the kind of "flipping" and selling that is going on in Florida where they do end up collecting what they need. So they can afford to wait for a sale. We can't.

Not so! Once the property has been IMPROVED... the tax rate reflects that! You couldnt have some old geezer build a castle on a trailer lot and NOT expect to tax the improvement! I'm talking about old people who do little more than keep their property UP, should have their tax froze.


I cant blame the COUNTY as much as I blame the STATE, as they are the ones that told the county that they were appraising too low for my area.

Here's what I DO know: Once you add up all of the HIDDEN TAXES this state imposes on it's citizens, everything from the highest cell phone tax in the nation to taxing your car until the day you die... you'll soon discover that you can live in MANY parts of the country where you may otherwise think it's too expensive.

My question to you: Are you FOR all the taxes that the state can take-in.. fair or not... or are you just here to argue with me?

I'm not here to argue with you. If that was the case then I could be debunking a whole lot of nonsense you talk. But jeez... the reality is that the PROPERTY tax is most likely a fair one. If you don't think it is, get your place appraised and find out.

Reality is we HAVE to tax something in order to sustain our infrastructure and public works. If it's not property then it will be something else. At least with property you can tax based on what the local market is doing. I.e. booming market like Florida will collect more because they need more to sustain that booming economy. Here, it will naturally be less.

All I'm saying, is if you didn't do any improvements....then you were never taxed enough for an extended period of time.

Jerry you live in a very nice location. And I know my property taxes have not gone up over the past 5 to 7 yrs. Hey I hate it just as much as you do. But from your location how many million dollars homes have been built within a half mile of your house over the past 5 to 7 yrs.

I'm not making a case for anybody I just face the fact and know the people I vote for normally don't get voted into office. So what are you supposed to do? Me I try to make my property look nice and hope if I ever would have to sell that it would go for a fair price.
I'm sure you feel the same way.

Now if the county broke their own poilicy I hope you win your fight. Every year since I bought my house I've just been waiting and finally it happened, I knew it was going to happen and I'm sure you knew too.

It was only a matter of time. Sooner or later the powers at be get their way, friends or not, look at all the local nicities that we have in our area that your tax is going to. I'm sure that statement makes you feel alot better huh.

Hey for the first 2 yrs I had to pay double because the property was classified as rental and I bought right after July. So I really hate those people and I talked till I was blue in the face but no good.

bigJ wrote:Jerry you live in a very nice location. And I know my property taxes have not gone up over the past 5 to 7 yrs. Hey I hate it just as much as you do. But from your location how many million dollars homes have been built within a half mile of your house over the past 5 to 7 yrs.

My advice to you is to not post information that that's totally false:

How many million dollar homes have been built within half a mile from me?

NOT ONE! Not only that, but we have a METH LAB that blew up in the neighborhood! How much more did THAT add to my property value??



Next: While YOUR property taxes may have not gone up.. MINE HAS. I started in the $800 range and now looking at $1,500. Again, it's not that they've gone up that bothers me so... it's HOW MUCH.

Third: On the West Side, there is a sharp dividing line on the hill called "Park Ave." If you turn to the right (towards Edgewood) the property values are stable, or up. If you turn to the left, property values are in the toilet. The assessor is well aware of this fact. Now... do you think that Park Ave is the ONLY boundary in the city? HELL NO! Look at the photos I've posted and tell ME that I live in a million dollar neighborhood!

It never ceases to amaze me that "most" people think governments too big, and getting even bigger by squeezing every last dime from us. Yet... I post that fact here and the liberals all jump-in to defend them.

And since we've all had our say... this topic is closed.

Gazette.... February 5, 2008... By Edward Peeks

Mortgage woes stir action for relief


...the mortgage mess affects the housing industry in West Virginia and financial markets at home and abroad. Real estate sales are reported down about 50 percent from the level of two years ago for new and existing homes in the Mountain State.

FROM FORBES MAGAZINE: THE MOST STABLE HOUSING MARKETS:

#3. Columbus, Ohio
Median home price: $153,900
Annual price change from 2006: -1.2%
Projected price change to 2008: 3.49%

#2. Pittsburgh, Pa.
Median home price: $123,500
Annual price change from 2006: 2.7%
Projected price change to 2008: 3.37%

And we're dealing with a TEN PERCENT PRICE INCREASE?

Hey! We're no Columbus or Pittsburgh!