TexasCHLforum.com

WildBill wrote:

Topbuilder wrote:

WildBill wrote:

sunny beach wrote:

WildBill wrote:My parents bought their house for $10,000 and paid property tax based on that value. When my mother died the house was worth $650,000. That was below the one million for the death tax, so we didn't have to pay that, but we did have to pay property tax on a $650K house, rather than a 10K house.

Property taxes are paid for a full year in Texas. A change in ownership doesn't require paying for the same year twice.

But a change in ownership requires the new owner to pay higher taxes the next year based on the new sales price, correct? That is my point.

In my dealings with real estate and property, you are charged based on the county assessed value. There is no connection between the sale price and the county figure unless you protest and use that to make your case. The county is not supposed to have access to the actual sale price. The county recorded deed says "10 and no/100 dollars"

I am not familar with the details Texas property taxes, but over a period of time the assessed values go up when average sales prices increase for a certain area. The assessed values are usually a certain percentage of the market actual value. The sales prices that you see on realtor websites are calculated by the property taxes. Perhaps one of the realtors on the forum can explain it better than me.

Property taxes are based on the assessed value, which is calculated using a number of factors such as "comparable sales" (similar properties in similar locations), new construction cost per square foot, size of lot, added value such as pools, privacy fencing, shop buildings, etc...but comparable sales is the top factor. Theoretically, the appraisal SHOULD be the actual market value based on that data for the previous 12 month period, and in an "up market", the appraised value will increase from year to year as the market value goes up. The sales prices you see on realtors websites are NOT calculated by property taxes, but by what they believe the current market value to be...otherwise, the values would never change up or down. I just saw a friends house in Austin that had two offers OVER the asking price in the first 2 days it was listed for sale...that property's appraisal will obviously go up next year when the new sales data is calculated into the appraisal. In a "down market", like what the country has seen the last few years, the County Appraisal District will not usualy lower your appraisal unless you file a protest and request a hearing, where you can present evidence to the Appraisal Board members to demonstrate that your taxable value should be lowered. The purchase price paid years ago has ZERO bearing on the appraised taxable value. The only way you could see a big increase from the value of an estate would be that a persons tax RATE is locked in at whatever it is when they turn 65..they don't stop paying the taxes...their rate just doesn't increase from that point forward. About the only way I could envision a property increasing from $10k to $650k upon death would be if someone had a house on acreage and the land had previously been taxed as agricultural, but at time of death was determined to currently have greatly increased value as commercial property do to its location. I'm not a realtor, but I have considerable experience dealing with property taxes and the Appraisal District Boards.