[RANT] The State of Texas Sucks for Home Refinancing

Clutch,

Many times when you purchase a home and go to the appraiser you can take the sales contract and they will lower the appraisal to that amount if you can prove the home wasn't sold under duress or is a family member, ect.

Also, here is the tax bill that just past the Texas House and is going to the Senate and is expected to pass:

Property Tax

Reduces the maximum school property tax $1.00 per $100 of property value. Requires property purchasers to report the purchase price of property to appraisal districts, but these reports will be confidential and not subject to public scrutiny.
Fifteen percent of future state excess revenues are dedicated to further buy downs of school property taxes.

Sales Taxes

The sales tax rate will be 7.25 percent. (but sales tax in TX will be an itemized deduction on our Fed1040, so at least we’ll get something back.
The sales tax rate on cars, boats and motors will be 7.35 percent.
An additional 3 percent sales tax will be levied on soft drinks and snack foods, including pastries, donuts, cakes, tortes, bars, cookies, candy, chips, popcorn, pretzels and roasted nuts. This tax is in addition to the 7.25 percent, but does not apply to such items when sold by a restaurant, lunch counter, cafeteria, hotel, or other business for consumption on the premises of the business. (I guess that diet is looking better and better!)
Expands the sales tax base to include car repairs and washes, and bottled water. (Yuck.)

 

What does that make Houston sales tax - almost 10%?? As far as sales tax being deductible, that's assuming you itemize.

Texas has to be one of the most regressive tax states in the nation.

I pity the poor in Texas, especially those with a fetish for tortes and roasted nuts.

 

Sorry about that...wasn't very clear.

The MAX that school tax can be will be $1 per $100. They are lowering it TO $1 not BY $1. They are making up the amount by raising sales tax.

So 1% school tax is pretty good.

A good rule of thumb for getting an idea of how desirable an area is looking at the appraised value compared to selling prices. In areas like Champions or Champions Forest, you have mostly older homes that were originally appraised low that are very desireable because of the location, schools, taxes, ect.

I can tell you, the NW side of Houston around the Champions/Spring/Klein area is booming. Some of the reasons that the prices are getting so steep in the area is that there is just a lack of land to develop in the area that is affordable. 15 years ago, there were new neighborhoods were you could buy reasonable custom homes in the NW area, but now as developers pick the last remaining pockets of land up, they pay a premium and it gets passed to the builder and eventually the buyer.

If you can find a reasonably priced home in the Champions Forest area that is in one of the premium neighborhoods, you'll make a killing on the back end as the area fills up to capacity and demand raises even more.

It is a problem with MUD taxes in new neighborhoods. If they have to put in a new MUD, it has to be paid off, but old MUDs in older areas are already paid off. I guess the good news is that it does eventually drop if you move into a new MUD area.

BTW: Almost any subdivision can have its own MUD and make a offer different exemptions for the homestead. Even subdivisions right next to each other...so you have to check to make sure which specific MUD is for each neighborhood. Windrose is different from Gleanloch which is different than Champions Forest which is different from Champions.

BTW: I checked out a neat house on Jack Rabbit course of Champions golf club just lowered to $245K. Its BY FAR the cheapest house/lot I've seen ON THE COURSE. Might be a good investment to move in for 2 years and sell it to someone who will knock it down when you move out. After 2 years, any profit on your house is tax free up to 500K as long as it was your primary residence.