Electrical problem might have ended badly

[RobJ]

That type of pressure connector has not been very reliable on stranded wire.

You said it!

 

[riptides]

To top it off, if you take house plans to the county building department here, they cannot tell you what your property taxes will be until after the house is completed and assessed at market value. YIKES!!! Makes it hard to plan expenses.

That is crazy. How about them looking at assessments in the general area you plan on building. Heck some real estate home searches, or county public records should give them a ballpark figure for you. The one thing you want to do is make sure they get it right for your plans.

You can always upgrade stuff later....

-Mike Z.

 

[MossRoad]

That is crazy. How about them looking at assessments in the general area you plan on building. Heck some real estate home searches, or county public records should give them a ballpark figure for you. The one thing you want to do is make sure they get it right for your plans.

You can always upgrade stuff later....

-Mike Z.

Yeah, that's kind of the rub.... two identical houses from the exterior and both pay the same taxes in the same neighborhood even though one has had granite counter tops, a whirlpool tub, tile floors and a home theater added after the tax appraisal. Come re-sell time, it sells for double the price or more but paid the lower taxes. Anyhow, I don't want to change the subject of the original poster, so lets say the other house had its electrical system upgraded, too.

 

[RobJ]

Yeah, that's kind of the rub.... two identical houses from the exterior and both pay the same taxes in the same neighborhood even though one has had granite counter tops, a whirlpool tub, tile floors and a home theater added after the tax appraisal. Come re-sell time, it sells for double the price or more but paid the lower taxes. Anyhow, I don't want to change the subject of the original poster, so lets say the other house had its electrical system upgraded, too.

Just the way it is around here to. The appraiser never goes inside. They use square footage, exterior building materials, grade of the property, etc. Nothing on the inside.

 

[SnowRidge]

Just the way it is around here to. The appraiser never goes inside. They use square footage, exterior building materials, grade of the property, etc. Nothing on the inside.

Please tell me you are not complaining because the government doesn't demand to come inside your house and inspect it.

 

[MossRoad]

Please tell me you are not complaining because the government doesn't demand to come inside your house and inspect it.

Yeah, kinda sounds that way, doesn't it? It is just one aspect of how unfair and arbitrary the property taxes are assessed. We had a couple of neighborhoods UNDERVALUED by one particular assessor. They all got a most upleasant surprise when that was corrected.

You have to know, in South Bend, IN 40% of all homes are currently vacant. The landlords abandoned them when the taxes increased. 40% sounds crazy, but I assure you, it is accurate. And those abandoned houses soon get vandalized for the copper, aluminum, etc... then the city runs out of tax money, so up it goes again, etc.... horrible situation.

 

[SnowRidge]

The taxes on my Florida property went up 25% in one year.

And it wasn't catch up. They have gone up every year since I bought it. In 11 years, they have increased 571%.

 

[LBrown59]

Just the way it is around here to. The appraiser never goes inside. They use square footage, exterior building materials, grade of the property, etc. Nothing on the inside.

I'm glad they don't- they do enough damage from the outside.

 

[LBrown59]

Please tell me you are not complaining because the government doesn't demand to come inside your house and inspect it.

I would hope he isn't .
They screw up what they do have access to big time - They sure can't be trusted with anything more.

 

[MossRoad]

Well, we've hijacked this thread long enough with tax talk (my apologies ) ... anyone got any more electrical comments?

 

[SnowRidge]

Well, we've hijacked this thread long enough with tax talk (my apologies ) ... anyone got any more electrical comments?

The tax increases have been electrifying!

 

[MossRoad]

The tax increases have been electrifying!

Hahhahaha!!!!

 

[LBrown59]

The tax increases have been electrifying!

Therefore we've never been off topic.
I didn't get a charge out of discovering that the county auditor gave my parents property to the state back in 1965 then charged Mom and Dad real-estate taxes on the property for 24 years after that.

 

[RobJ]

Please tell me you are not complaining because the government doesn't demand to come inside your house and inspect it.

Nope, not complaining, just saying it's the same way around here. I really don't like them walking around my property either way. And if they asked to go inside..."got a warrant?" Heck once your house is in the system I bet they don't even get out of the car! In your case as with my old house the whole area went up the max 10% every year. In Harris county I think it can only go up more than 10% if you have new construction, remodel, etc or if they desiginate the area a "transition" neighborhood. IE the West U area in Houston, people buying lots for more than the house is worth (50+yo house), then a tear down and rebuild. they shot up the value on the old houses for this.

The whole appraisal thing is funny, most of us want it low when we live there and high when we sell to justify the asking price. And if a house in a neighborhood sells for double of the comps...I'd say you have a GREAT realtor! My house is worth about 200, if I listed it for 360, or 300, or 275 I'd probably get zero looks no matter what it looked like inside! And personally I would not buy one that far out of wack if all the comps were staying flat.

Right now my house is appraised (by the county) about 20k less than my neighbor, same size house. All I did was go down to the appraisal district and complain. They pulled up the last 5 sold in my neighborhood (didn't factor in sqft, lot size, etc), averaged the price and sqft, calculated my house based on that and said "how about this?". I said deal! This was actaully 4k less than my spreadsheet, pictures, etc I was ready to put on a show with. The whole process took about 5 minutes. This year it went up and I protested. I got my protest time\date but in the mean time my realtor ran a comps for me. Oops, my appraisal is worth 20k less than the actual selling prices. I kept my mouth shut and didn't show up for my protest.

I still wonder why Pineridge didn't want to plug the dehudimitifer back in after the repair? TO keep it back OT that is.

 

[tallyho8]

I didn't get a charge out of discovering that the county auditor gave my parents property to the state back in 1965 then charged Mom and Dad real-estate taxes on the property for 24 years after that.

When I inherited my parents land in the Ozarks, I discovered that the State had claimed 40 of the acres for non-payment of property taxes 39 years earlier even though they continually billed my parents yearly for the taxes which were always paid. A neighbor had not paid his taxes and they took our property by mistake. Though they admitted their mistake, they said it was too late to do anything about it. A few years later they asked for a right-of-way over the corner of our property to log an area otherwise unacessable. I agreed to sell them the r.o.w. if they returned my 40 acres. They did, but I had to agree to hold them harmless for selling the timber off it 20 years ago.

Sorry for the hijack!

 

[riptides]

When I inherited my parents land in the Ozarks, I discovered that the State had claimed 40 of the acres for non-payment of property taxes 39 years earlier even though they continually billed my parents yearly for the taxes which were always paid. A neighbor had not paid his taxes and they took our property by mistake. Though they admitted their mistake, they said it was too late to do anything about it. A few years later they asked for a right-of-way over the corner of our property to log an area otherwise unacessable. I agreed to sell them the r.o.w. if they returned my 40 acres. They did, but I had to agree to hold them harmless for selling the timber off it 20 years ago.

Sorry for the hijack!

U N R E A L. Did you try and take it to the legal system? That's not right.

-Mike Z.

 

[tallyho8]

U N R E A L. Did you try and take it to the legal system? That's not right.-Mike Z.

Hiring lawyers and filing suits 500 miles away from home in another state against the government can be very expensive and time consuming with little chance of winning enough to even pay the lawyers bills. I was just happy to get the 40 acres back.

 

[riptides]

I was just happy to get the 40 acres back.

I see your point. It would take me a while to get over it.

-Mike Z.

 

[RobJ]

I see your point. It would take me a while to get over it.

-Mike Z.

Don't know if I'd ever get over that!!

 

[tallyho8]

Well, I got the land back so I now own the original 160 acre tract. The loss that I regret is that my parents lost about $5000 worth of timber on the property 20 years ago and they could have used the money for a little enjoyment in their last years. I feel for them, not me.