Home value and property taxes?

Question

We purchased a house in 2004 for 430K.... since the market declined.... our house is now worth 390K!! This was from a Real estate agent, he also just sold a property next to us. Now, we owe more than we bought it for close to 520K.

Is there a way to get a deduction on our property takes or loan? OR SOMETHING!.... We owe more because some stupid mortgage company suckered my mom into signing a bad loan :(

Answer 1

You can deduct losses on your rental houses.  Not your personal residence.  We are all in the same situation.  My home is way down.  It will get better. I think. /

Answer 2

Regarding the property tax, ask your town or county to reassess you property.  They probably won't want to, since if they did it for everyone, their tax intake would fall, and as we have learned during this election cycle, taxes are good and should only go up (never down, which is bad).  Besides, if you live in a $520 K house you are rich and deserve to pay high taxes (I'm thinking of Obama here). But seriously, this is an issue, and localities often do reassess properties during downturns (it is unfair to be paying tax based on value when the house isn't worth that much), so that really is something to look into, but be aware, it is a slow process, since it's the government doing the reassessing.  

Regarding the value of the house, it doesn't matter if it's down, unless you are trying to sell it.  Just keep paying the mortgage until the price goes back up (think of it this way, you wouldn't ask the bank to raise your mortgage when the value goes up nor would you complain in that case, and from the sounds of it, you bought the place not as a home but as an investment and the value of investments rise and fall, fortunately, home values always tend to rise over time, so just wait it out). If the payments are going up because it's an ARM, keep making the payments until Congress finalizes the rules for the bailout.  From what I understand, you have to be in good standing to qualify.  If you have a fixed rate loan, I don't think the bail applies, but it should matter, since the payments have risen, just wait the market out if you can, prices of homes really do alway go up, it just might take longer than you had hoped.

Answer 3

Ok...calm down, first of all.

Take heart in knowing that ASSESSED value for TAXES and MARKET value for SALE OF REAL ESTATE are 100% UNRELATED.

Even if the property next door sold for a million...if the tax assessor sets the rate, that is what you pay...not taxes on market value.

PS:  Think of it this way...do you think the assessed value has went DOWN for homes that are foreclosed on?  Nope...works the same way in the opposite direction.

PS: NEVER take depreciated costs on value of your current home or rental home...when you go to SELL it, you'll have to pay INCOME TAX on the difference if you sell it for more, between the bottom-line depreciated value (that you reported on the taxes) and what you sold it for.

NEVER do that!!!

Answer 4

Your Mom is blaming the lender.  SHE signed the documents because she wanted to take 'equity' out of the house.  Now she is paying the price for her silly move. If the house had increased to $520K in value, she would STILL have to make the mortgage payment, would she not ?

Meanwhile, the falling value of the property isn't going to reduce your propertyt taxes.  If the municipality reduces the value of your home, then they must do the same for everyone else.  Guess what happens then ?  Yup, the rate charged per thousand of valuation simply goes up.