News and Views on Real Estate

Many people pay there property taxes in the tax year and claim there taxes on their income taxes for that year. For example, the year 2007, you receive your property tax bill in December and pay the tax immediately. You can then claim the property taxes on your income tax. If your wait until January of 2008, you will have to claim the property taxes for 2008. There are different reasons for paying your taxes right away and there are reasons for waiting until the following year. Deciding when to pay your taxes may be determine by thinking about your current tax liability.

If you are in a higher tax bracket in 2008 than you are in 2007, you may want to wait and pay your property taxes in January of 2008. This will help lower your total tax liability in 2008. If you are in a higher tax bracket for 2007 and expect to drop into a lower tax bracket in 2008, you may wish to pay your property taxes in December of 2007 so you can claim it on your income taxes to reduce the tax liability for 2007. Other reasons to wait or pay your taxes may also include other deductions you may or may not have in a given year. (more…)

In Wisconsin the assessment of a mobile home only has to be done from the point of view meaning the outside can be used to assess the mobile home, however an inside assessment does help. Mobile homes only have to be assessed every five years, therefore the assessed value and the market value are with in ten percent of each other. Mobile homes in Wisconsin can be assessed for taxes as personal or real property. This also means a mobile home may be subject to no property taxes.

If you have a mobile home that is on a foundation, it is considered a real property. If it is on wheels or no foundation, it is considered personal property. It also has to be on land owned by the mobile home owner. Therefore, if you do not own the land and there is no foundation to say, it is personal property and not subject to property taxes. Recreational vehicles and campers are not subject to property taxes as well as personal tax liabilities as well. Just because a mobile home has wheels, does not always make it exempt from property taxes. (more…)

When you buy a house or property, the mortgage company that holds your mortgage usually has an escrow account set up, which holds your monthly payment towards your homeowners insurance and property tax. The standard procedure is for the mortgage lender to send you the money in a form of a check in December to pay your property tax. If you do not receive this check by the end of December, you should consult with your mortgage lender. The idea of paying your property taxes before the end of the year, means you can claim it on your current years tax return that you will file in January or February.

People expect to pay their property tax before the end of the year so they can take the tax as a deduction on their taxes. If you do not receive the payment before the end of the year, you will have to wait until the next filing season to claim your property tax, which means this year’s property tax deduction is not available and therefore, you have one less deduction. This means a lot to people that rely on deductions to reduce their total tax liability. You can still claim your mortgage interest, but not the property tax. (more…)

When you receive your property tax bill, you need to go over it very closely. You need to look at the fair market value and the assessed value. These two different things have two different meaning when figuring your property tax liability. Many people have complaints about how the assessment of homes or properties is done. The county assessor does not enter your home or property, they look at the outside for a description of the property to compare to other similar properties in the area to determine your assessed value. This is common practice and may not always be the true assessed value of your property.

Now this assessed value does not take into consideration bad roofs, cracking interior walls, bad foundations, windows that are falling apart or anything else wrong with the house. They also do not see if you have done any repairs or behind the scenes remodeling so to say. All the assessor sees is the outside of the property. If you know your assessed value is outrageous because of deteriorating conditions, you can appeal the property tax assessed value. You would do this to have the assessed value of the home lowered, thus reducing your overall tax liability. (more…)

The answer is more likely no. As long as the cost of living continues to rise, property taxes will continue to rise as well. Even with the housing market right now, the economy is still on the rise. Schools still need money, communities need money and other districts need money as well. If no one would need money, like back in the cowboy and Indian days, then no one would have to pay taxes. Since this will never happen, property taxes are going to continue. Schools and school district are the major holder of the capital funds that are brought in by property taxes.

The only way to reduce property taxes and find some relief is to find better ways for schools to utilize smaller amounts of money. One example of poor spending happened in one local community, where the school board approved buying some type of removable flooring for a certain school without considering the time and labor needed to place it and remove between group activities. As a result, the expensive flooring is not used and was offered to another school in the community. This resulted in taxpayer’s money being spent foolishly and is now not available for other needs. (more…)

There are some reasons why people receive a property tax reduction. Veterans, seniors, and low income homeowners can apply for a tax reduction or a tax deferral. Keep in mind that not everyone who applies receives the reduction or deferral. The state and community you reside in may vary from other states and communities. If you do not qualify, you can ask for installment payments on your property taxes. This is one way to avoid foreclosure and possible auction of your property.

For low income homeowners owners, the county treasure’s office or an online source can supply you with a hardship application. You need to have proof of ownership, income documents, identification and proof of residency. You can also receive information on challenging your property tax increase, obtaining more time to pay, how to obtain relief from property taxes in the future and find information from company’s that offer low income financial assistance. (more…)

If you bought your house for $79,000 dollars nine years ago and have never done any work or repairs, is your property still worth the assessed value of $106,000? More than likely, the property is not worth that much for a home built in the early 1900’s. To be honest with yourself, you have to look at other houses with the same age and structure to see if you are paying to much money for property tax.

A property tax reduction is not as easy to obtain, as one would think. If a mortgage appraiser over exaggerated the fair market value price of your home so you could get the refinancing. Could this affect your assessed value? It might not play a big part in the assessed value, but it is considered when rendering the final assessment. (more…)

Many property owners do not want the city assessor to come into the interior of their building. If you have done extensive work, well, then okay, you have a reason. If you have done no repairs and feel the interior of the property is a bit to be desired, you may wish to invite the assessor inside. Make sure you are available to walk around your property with the assessor and point out the bowed walls because the roof needs to be replaced. Point out the unleveled floor because the property has shifted a bit over the years and probably needs some support beams. Point out some good things as well, never dwell on just the bad points. This might help to lower your assessment, thus lower your property tax liability.

Look at your tax card at the county assessor’s office. You might find some interesting things about the assessment of your property. In a home, the assessor may include a room as a bedroom, but in all reality, you cannot fit a bed in the room. You can also see if they note any improvements or structure damages. If you see any information on the tax card that does not appear correct, talk to the assessor and have the corrections made. This is going to help lower your property tax liability as well.

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Wells Fargo home mortgage lenders can be directly contacted by people needing a mortgage in order to purchase property. The services are offered across all fifty states and home mortgage options can be perused online or in a local office. Wells Fargo home mortgage lenders require certain information regardless of the type of mortgage applied for such as social security number, asset details, expenses and gross income.

There are a variety of Wells Fargo home mortgage options available such as reduced paperwork option and combined purchase and renovation financing. Once a mortgage has been applied for, verification of the personal information is undertaken and an automated system then tries to approve the loan application. In cases where approval is not successful, a Wells Fargo home mortgage specialist tries to arrange a different mortgage option for the customer. (more…)

If you are in the market for a new home, perhaps a US Bank home mortgage will fit the bill in financing the house of your dreams. US Bank has offices nationwide, and is ready to assist you in all of your banking needs, including a US Bank home mortgage loan. There are a variety of products to choose from and plenty of information available on their website to help you make informed choices about the best options for you in mortgage services. You can also learn about every step in the mortgage process, from pre-qualifying to closing your mortgage loan.

The Pre-Qualification and Pre-Approval Process

The process of obtaining a US Bank home mortgage begins before you ever even contact a real estate agent to begin the hunt for your new home. The US Bank website provide you with a pre-qualification calculator that will allow you to determine how much house you can afford based on your income level and other monthly debt amounts. This is an important piece of information to take with you on your house hunting search. Not only will narrowing your prospects save you time in your house shopping process, you will not run the risk of falling in love with a piece of property that is out of your price range. You can get a rough estimate about the type of house that you can afford before you ever make the call to a real estate agent to begin looking at homes. (more…)