Property Taxes: What to Expect
Are you a first-time homebuyer or someone who hasn’t purchased a home in a long time? Do you find yourself wondering what to expect when it comes to property taxes? This is a common question that tends to come up pretty quickly when the topic of buying a home is addressed. Many first-time homebuyers are cautioned to keep their property taxes in mind when budgeting for their new home, and with good reason. Depending on where you live, your property taxes could be significant, and they could make a big difference in the overall price of your home and your monthly mortgage payment as well. Below, we’ve outlined some important information to help you learn what you can about what to expect and how to prepare for your property taxes.
How is property tax calculated?
Property taxes were created as a way to pay government employees of your town or county (such as police officers, firefighters and others) for their work. Therefore, it’s up to your local government to determine your property taxes. In order to do this, your home and the property it sits on are both assessed based on the market value of other houses that have sold recently in your area. You can also figure out an estimated property tax price by multiplying the tax rate you pay in your area by the value of your home in its assessment. You can do this yourself, and you can also ask your realtor to help you determine the property taxes on any home you’re looking into purchasing. You should have at least some idea of property taxes before you make an offer on your home.
When are property taxes paid?
When you purchase your home, you will need to pay property taxes as part of your closing costs. Depending on how you are buying your home, the way in which you make this payment may differ. For example, in some instances, you’ll need to pay these through a cashier’s check or another similar method. In other instances, you can group the payment into the same check you use to pay the rest of your closing costs. The time of year in which you close on your home will affect how much you need to pay in property taxes at the time, too; the rate will be prorated so that you only pay for the months in which you will own the home in the given year. When the next year begins, your taxes will go up to their normal annual amount.
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Have you ever thought about living somewhere that doesn’t get cold and snowy during the winter? Or have you ever considered spending the long, cold winter months lounging around by the pool or playing a few rounds of golf in the sunshine? When it comes to life in Scottsdale, winter is when this area really shines. There are many great reasons to live in Scottsdale during the wintertime, and below, we’ve outlined some of the most important points that keep year-round residents and snowbirds alike happy all winter long.
Buying a home, whether it’s your first time or your fifth, is a complicated process with a lot of different stages to keep in mind. When you go shopping for a house, it’s not as easy as just looking at a few, picking the one you want and then purchasing it. There are things you need to do before you can ever look at a house in the first place, and there are stages that take place after you pick the house you want to buy, too. If you find yourself confused about these stages or wondering where you are on your own personal homebuying journey, check out the information below.
When you’re looking for a new home, it’s easy to fall into some of the mistakes many other homebuyers just like you have made countless times before. If it’s your first time buying a home, the risk of making a mistake is a lot higher, but even old pros who have been through the routine a few times already may hit a pitfall without even realizing it. It’s important to know what you’re up against when you’re going shopping for a house, and it’s especially a good idea to familiarize yourself with the most common mistakes made by people in your position.
Have you ever sold a house before? Are you going through the process of selling your house right now? Whether you’ve been through it before or this is your first time dealing with the ups and downs of home selling, you probably fully understand the temptation to take the first offer you get on your home. You may have even heard the myth that the first offer is always the best offer you’re going to get. But how true is this? Should you wait around for a better offer to come along?
When you’re buying a home, you’re probably going to spend some time considering the part of town—or the part of the state—where you want to be located. It’s normal to want to consider the location of your new home, but what exactly should you be looking for? It may be challenging to figure out the factors you need to consider when looking for the perfect new place to live. Sure, you know you want to be close to work or near your family, but what else? What could help you find the neighborhood of your dreams? Check out our tips below to help you decide.
When you’re moving to a new home, you may be inclined to take care of the move yourself. After all, you don’t have that much to move, right? Unfortunately, you may find yourself in over your head sooner or later! Even if you could reasonably take care of your move on your own, you may still want to go with a moving company simply because it’s much easier and more convenient. If you choose to use a moving service, there are a few things you need to know to ensure that it goes as smoothly as possible. Check out the tips below to help make your moving service experience a good one.
Purchasing a home can be a stressful experience, whether you’ve been through the process before or not. However, you may not realize the many different legal issues you might want to keep in mind when you get ready to purchase a home. There are a lot of potential scenarios and problems you may encounter during the process of buying your home, so it pays to know a little bit about the possibilities before you ever make your first offer.
Most home inspection will reveal a list of things that need repairs and/or replacements and this is where the second round of negotiations begin. If you are not buying a brand new home, the home will most likely need some cosmetic touches but this is not where your focus should be. Sellers are usually willing to at least make some changes or improvements to the condition of a home before they sell it, and as long as you feel like you’ve got some bargaining power in terms of your offer, it’s a good idea to see if the seller will take care of at least a few of the problems that your home inspection has shown. Below, you’ll find a list of some of the most common issues you should ask about.
When it’s time for you to buy a home, you probably already know you’ve got a home inspection coming up in the near future. It’s very important to get a home inspection done before you finalize anything in the home buying process, but just because the inspection turns up some problems, that doesn’t mean you have to rely on the seller to solve all of them. Check out the list below to help you figure out which home inspection issues you can take care of yourself instead of risking losing the home of your dreams by asking the seller to do it for you.