Let’s finish off our discussion of how the Seattle-area real estate market may be affected next year by the changes to the tax code. In yesterday’s post we discussed the doubling of the standard deduction, and concluded that it is likely to have very little effect. Today let’s look at the other two big changes: The reduction of the mortgage interest deduction cap from $1M to $750k and the capping of local sales, income, and property tax deductions at $10k…
Posts with the property tax tag
ValueAppeal: Drops Property Tax Appeals Business
The minds behind ValueAppeal, a long-time friend of Seattle Bubble, have decided to get out of the property tax appeal business. From the GeekWire story: ValueAppeal CEO Charlie Walsh made the tough decision to shut down the service earlier this year, saying the economics of helping homeowners challenge their tax bills for as little as […]
Why are property tax assessments often so inaccurate?
As a follow-up on last week’s post about how falling home values can still lead to an increasing property tax bill, I thought I would go a little more detail on how the county assessor comes up with that magical home value number on which they base your tax bill. Here’s how the King County […]
How can falling home values = rising property taxes?
Since property tax season has rolled around here in the Seattle area again, I thought it might be a good time to demystify one aspect of property taxes that has often confused home owners during this housing bust. If you’re like many local home owners, the county’s assessment of your home has probably dropped around […]
Tax Assessments Falling Around the Sound
Declining property values are beginning to sink in at tax assessors’ offices around the sound. From the Everett Herald: Slump hits tax value of your home “I don’t think I can remember a year where we’ve decreased residential values countywide since I started working here in 1987,” county assessor Cindy Portmann said. Her chief residential […]
Property Values: Stalled; Property Taxes: Rising
The mythical “fixed payments” for home buyers takes another hit in 2008, as property taxes increase an average of 6.5% across the county. The average King County homeowner will pay about 6.5 percent more in property taxes in 2008, mostly because of voter-approved increases and creation of new taxing districts, Assessor Scott Noble reported Thursday. […]
Huge Property Tax Increase, or Easier Dispute Process?
Haven’t seen this one mentioned on the other local real estate blogs, but it’s definitely of interest to anyone out there that already owns a home (or a home loan, as the case may be). Depending on who you believe, a new bill floating around down in Olympia may either help home owners reduce their […]