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Tag Archives: taxes

Wayback Wednesday… Property Tax Valuations…

Wednesday, 27 April 2011 08:42
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International Money Pile in Cash and Coins

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It’s that time again.  Last week we got our tax valuation reassessed.  For us, it wasn’t a bad thing and honestly, it hasn’t been for the folks I have talked with.  Let me qualify that… for the amount of tax we pay, it wasn’t a bad thing.

Two years ago, Gwinnett County re-assessed our home.  The jacked us up by about 12%, even though there was NO justification in the comps.  They got away with it because it wasn’t worth the fight for us to carry on.  We disputed it a couple of levels, but eventually dropped it.

Oddly, this was almost exactly two months after the State of Georgia passed a law requiring the counties to consider foreclosures and short sales in the valuation process.  I think it might have been their “last hurrah” before having the valuations that were based in reality.

As mentioned, we got our valuation last week.  And it went down… way down.  in fact, it dropped by more than twice as much as it went up… we were down over 25%.  Good news for the house payment.  Bad news for the value of our house.  Bad news for Gwinnett county… the budget is not going to be happy with all of these lower valuations.

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Wayback Wednesday… It Isn’t About The Money…

Wednesday, 23 February 2011 08:52
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DSCN2953

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It always seem to come down to the money. Whenever we (as exemplified by the government, local, state or federal) encounter a problem, the immediate assumption is that if we throw cash at it, it will be solved. The military, education, the environment or a myriad of other challenges we have faced have all met the same “solution”. Cash.

For local governments, one of the biggest responsibilities and challenges revolves around public education. And real estate is VERY wrapped up in the outcomes.

Last year I wrote a short post about the comparative results between Gwinnett County Public Schools and Atlanta Public Schools. One has dramatically better results than the other. One spends massively more money than the other. One is so bad off that even when they had teachers and administrators changing test scores illegally, the cheat-adjusted scores weren’t as good as the other school system’s scores.

The thing missing from the discussion for too long is looking for results, not just sinking the problem under loads of cash.

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Wayback Wednesday… Let’s Freak Out Some Counties!

Wednesday, 02 February 2011 08:31
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John-beck-tax-foreclosures

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Two years ago I wrote a post about a bill in front of the GA legislature that would require cities and counties to use the values of foreclosures when calculating tax assessments.

It passed… and it was signed… and it became law.

Honestly, I was hoping that there might be some noise from some counties by now, but there really hasn’t been.  Sure, they are complaining about having enough revenue, but they complain about not having enough revenue when they are flush with cash and funding truly stupid projects.  Of course, the other part of it might be that many metro counties re-assessed a LOT of property just before the new law went into effect.

I still think that there will be some background whining from some local governments…  We’ll see.

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Flashback Friday… Tax Credit Gambling

Friday, 12 November 2010 08:24
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Picture of the "Gingerbread House" i...
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This week last year, the biggest news in housing was all about the Tax Credit expansion and extension.  It went from just being for First Time Home Buyers to allowing existing home owners to get a credit also.

Those credits finally expired in April (with closing mostly by June).

Looking back on the market reports for the last year, the effect of the tax credits is pretty obvious.  And I wouldn’t call it all a good thing.  There certainly was an increase in closed sales leading up to the original June deadline.  But, there was a VERY sharp fall off in almost all markets in July through September (and more current data isn’t available yet).  Sales were well below last year for the same periods.  Of course, there was another tax credit at that time, so it may be hard to judge.

The fear for those of us in the real estate business that weren’t thrilled with the credit was that it was “stealing buyers from the future”.  It wasn’t creating new buyers, but just altering the time table.  That theory is borne out by the data we’ve seen so far… sales dumped after the credit expired.

For those that pushed for the credit, there was an expectation that it would “jump-start” the housing market.  It did, but as soon as the cables came off, we saw that the battery was still dead…

Real estate economics - increase in demand in ...
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Personally, I am of the opinion that the way to boost the housing market is with sustainable private sector jobs.  When people aren’t worried about the pay check next month, they are more likely to think about buying a home.

However, right now, interest rates are amazing and home prices are too.  I have been in a few homes in the last couple of weeks with prices that were just shockingly low.  And my mortgage guy is working on a loan for someone WITHOUT perfect credit with a rate in the low 4% range…  Another client (with EXCELLENT credit and a 15 year loan) was in the high 3% range.  (Please keep in mind that there are a LOT of variables that determine your interest rate… talk with a mortgage pro).

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There IS a New Real Estate Transfer Tax in the ObamaCare Law

Tuesday, 20 July 2010 08:35
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Assorted international currency notes.
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One of the forums in which I participate has had stories on both sides of this issue for a couple of months… with the more conservative members saying that there is a 3.8% sales tax on the sale of homes, and those that are more supportive of the President and his policies saying that there isn’t.

Neither side was real specific about their information source… talk radio for some, blogs for others… nobody seemed to be going to the source… the 20,000+ page law signed by the President.  In all fairness, there is a LOT of room in 20,000 pages to hide a lot of little Easter Eggs like this.  And being fair to the other side, if there isn’t a tax, the bill isn’t going to say “there is not a tax” anywhere…

I have an answer…

There is indeed a tax on the sale of real estate.  It doesn’t apply to many people, but it WILL apply to some people that have profit from the sale of their homes. Starting in 2013, those with incomes over $200,000 will have to pay a 3.8% tax on profit from the sale of their primary residence or investment properties.  The exact amount will be based on a formula that includes the profit from the property and the income above $200,000.  The tax is not an income tax, but rather it is a “payroll tax”… officially it is a Medicare Tax.

It does not just apply to real estate, but also applies to investment income and dividends.

The bottom line is that both groups are right… and both are wrong.

But…

It will drive another nail into the luxury real estate market.  It has been in the doldrums for a while.  Adding new taxes will not get it going again.  And if you are thinking that this only affects ‘the wealthy’, think again.  Those homes are not built by ‘the wealthy’.  Those homes are not renovated by ‘the wealthy’.  Those consumers are more likely to hire contractors to do improvements.  And they are more likely to update more often…  They are a driver in the housing sector.  This added tax is NOT putting gas in the tank…

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