Ok my aunt bought this home from a woman who has several homes, basically you pay her, something kinda caught my attention when I noticed she had been paying 1200 bucks a year in taxes on this home I go to the website of harris county and the property taxes are showing that this company my aunt sends her money too are paying 668.28 a year on taxes on her home. Is this legal what shes doing or no? and what do i need to do? She has been paying 1200 for 5 years now...... Is this company screwing my aunt?
Contract for deed sales are the #1 way to get scammed in real estate especially if the payments are made in cash. They are usually only directed to the old, poor and gullible, because they seem attractive since you usually put little or no money downand don't have to go through a formal qualifying process. The fact is the seller remains the property owner and can declare the the buyer in breech for almost any reason and they buyer loses any equity they think they have in the house. Also the equity in the house is subject to any leins or judgements against the seller and they buyer can lose their equity through absolutely no fault of their own. Get her a lawyer.
Sounds like you're only looking at half the picture. If there's some sort of escrow arrangement then in addition to county taxes there would be school district taxes and, perhaps, even the home insurance premiums. But good idea to call and get some sort of an accounting. I know a guy who does contract for deed on the up and up. He sees it as sort of a service to the community...to people who need that help. But you're right that it can be abused, big time. Of course...we have no idea for sure if this a contract for deed arrangement or if it's merely seller-financed.
Well the taxes I checked included college ad school taxes as well all the taxes you pay every year which came out to about 668.00 Now her paper work she has it states on there she pays 1200 a year for property taxes which includes school and such, I told my aunt this woman was scamming her from the get go but again she does not have alot of money and she is on a fixed income. Another thing is she told me the lady would go up on her mortgage payment every year, and she used to include house insurance in her payment but its been 2 years now that my aunt has had to get her own house insurance because she dropped it. I did not know that once you sign a contract it can be altered or changed without having to sign another... Needless to say your right they can take the house from her anytime and she would lose escrow on it. Sadly she needs a new roof and her insurnace has threatened to drop her if she don't get one which means the lady can then take the home from her.....
What school district does she live in? The HC tax website will not include school district or applicable MUD taxes. THats probably the difference.
You tried the Harris County Tax Office web site or the Harris County Appraisal District web site? The Appraisal District web site will show all of the different taxing jurisdictions that her house is in while the Harris County Tax Office will list just the jurisdictions that it collects for.
Do you have the original paperwork? What type of agreement did she sign? Is she able to claim the tax payments on her taxes? One possible explanation for the difference: Whose name is the house in? If it is the ladies' then she is probably not able to claim homestead exemption on the taxes. Perhaps the taxes on the web site are exempted and the lady is bumping up the taxes to allow for no homestead exemption.
this is what i got from that site Owner Name : ND&D INTERESTS LTD Ownership History... Owner Address : 8515 TRANQUIL PARK DR SPRING TX 77379-6858 Property Address : 14410 BUFFALO SPEEDWAY HOUSTON TX 77045 Legal Description : N 35 FT OF LT 22 & S 20 FT OF LT 23 BLK 2 PLANTATION OAKS State Class Code : A1 -- Real, Residential, Single-Family Homestead Exemption : -- Special Exemption : -- Disabled Veteran Exemption(s) : -- Jurisdiction Codes : 001 040 048 061 Overlapping/Shared CAD : No Notice Date : Capped Account : No ARB Approved : 8/6/2004 Value Status : All Values Certified Valuation 2003 Appraised Change 2004 Appraised 2004 Market Value Land : 13,200 0 13,200 Improvement : 34,800 0 34,800 Ag/Tmbr/Spc : 0 0 0 Total Value : 48,000 0 48,000 48,000 and from the harris county website ND&D INTERESTS LTD DEBRA RIPS 8515 TRANQUIL PARK DR SPRING TX 77379-6858 Taxing Jurisdiction Exemption Taxable Value Tax Rate Taxes Harris County 0 48,000 0.399860 $191.93 Harris County Flood Control Dist 0 48,000 0.033180 $15.93 Harris County Dept. of Education 0 48,000 0.006290 $3.02 Port of Houston Authority 0 48,000 0.016730 $8.03 Harris County Hospital District 0 48,000 0.190210 $91.30 Houston Community College System 0 48,000 0.095977 $46.07 City of Houston 0 48,000 0.650000 $312.00 Total 2004 Taxes Due by January 31, 2005 $668.28 Payments applied to 2004 taxes $668.28 Total Current Taxes Due $0.00 Prior year(s) taxes due (if any) $0.00 TOTAL AMOUNT DUE $0.00 now anyone see a problem if they can read it sorry if its bunched but i pasted....
That location is in Chamption Forest. The total tax rate out there is 2.83077. So if her appraised value is $48,000, then her total taxes should be $1,358 depending on homestead exemptions. Yuu are only looking at the HC tax bill, which does not include the Klein ISD taxes, which based on $48,000, would be $825. $668 county taxes + $825 school district taxes = $1493 ....doesn't appear she is getting screwed.
