Planning Your Home Buying Based On Property Taxes
There is nothing drier under the sun. Taxes, even property taxes, have such technical jargon attached to them that we all tend to zone out about them. However, you can achieve some genuine things by planning for property taxes.
Home Taxes Can Differ
A city or urban region can divide property taxes on real estate communities in various ways. For example, in the same country, the same district, and even in the same area of town, property taxes can be appointed differently based upon the perceived income of each resident.
This division means that you can end up with one neighborhood having four or five times the property taxes of a more cost-effective block a few streets over.
You may pay off your house, pay off your mortgage early, and still pay thousands more year than you had initially planned. This result is the time when property taxes start adding up, year after year, and your savings account is affected negatively.
Expansions Create Higher Property Taxes
If your city is growing and expanding with new construction homes. Depending on your region, your town may be growing in one or two directions, and it will be different for various cities.
Find out where your expansion is occurring. Consider getting a property off to the side or even in the opposite direction (if this is a safe location). In the beginning, rental properties will cost less in the expanding areas of a town.
This is because your city wants to incentivize people to live there and make that location their new home. However, both rent and mortgage will increase as the population increases, and property taxes will suddenly skyrocket.
You must keep yourself protected when you sell a home and buy a new one. Your home and land are the most essential expense you will have in your life. Your land is not like your car or your TV system. It is the place where you belong.
You must keep yourself on your new property and be satisfied with the finances of the situation. Make sure that your mortgage is fixed-rate, instead of adjustable-rate.
Immediately adjust your windows and seals after your house purchase to preserve all of your heating and cooling. And, make pick a property with very low property taxes.
Agricultural Land (Rural Property) Has The Lowest Property Taxes
If you enjoy frugality, then this is the answer for you when you are buying a home. The USDA has encouraged farming and food development by significantly lowering (by a large margin) the property taxes of agricultural land.
This means that the property taxes that will cover a small house on a small lot in a residential area are often equivalent to the property taxes on 500 acres of land zoned for agricultural, including the house and several buildings.
As you can see, that is a significant discount. It is such a huge dip in the cost of land that you might as well plan a mini-empire on this new large piece of land. You can grow your own food and raise your own meat stock, thus saving yourself even more money on your cost of living.
Perhaps you are not a gardener but would still like the advantages of these lower property taxes. You can buy a much smaller plot of agricultural land (with a house or two included) which is near the city but still zoned for agriculture.
This is a great way to save cost on your home without paying the higher property taxes of an urban or suburban home. There are quite a few mini-plots which are both isolated and grouped close together so you can pick which level of society you would like to have around you, as well.
Buying a home can be stressful. You may think you have considered all of the costs and then another charge appears. Property taxes are one of those additional factors which can be a higher expense down the road. Keep this in mind on your next home purchase.