Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Zip, Nada and Zilch


I got an email today from my brother about the state equalized value of his home, his tax burden in respect to that inflated number, and a question.  He wanted to know (very tongue in cheek), what were the chances that he could sell his home at the state's number.  Only one answer came to mind, and it was one of those answers I could hear my dad saying:

"Slim and None, and Slim slit his throat."  Gee, I guess that leaves None.

I had a good laugh over that one, but when I was a kid, it was the last thing I wanted to hear in response to a request.  I'm quite certain my brother didn't hear what he wanted from the tax man either.  The value of homes in this state is shockingly low.  When we sold my parent's home 2 years ago, I was shocked at how little we got, but in hindsight, I'm feeling blessed it sold at all.  I'm convinced that the person who bought it would be unable to get a loan for it with all the money woes these days.  We were blessed indeed.

The SEV (state equalized value) means nothing these days.  I know ours is roughly double what we could get for our own home right now.  The respective tax burden does not reflect the decreased values.  Shocking, I know.

Let me tell you how it will be,
There's 1 for you, 19 for me.
Cuz I'm the taxman...

11 comments:

laurie said...

we are trying to sell doug's mother's house. she needs the proceeds to live on for the rest of her life. it's frightening how much we have already dropped the price, and still hardly anyone is even looking at it, let alone making a bid.

i don't know what she's going to do.

Rudee said...

It's such a bad time to be a seller Laurie. Can you rent the house? She could use the monthly income instead of a lump sum. When we sold my mom's house, in a small town where most of the plastics manufacturers were closing down, it was right at the beginning of this economic slump. Four years prior, the home and property appraised for double what we ultimately got for it.

For you mother in law's sake, I hope you can move it.

Rositta said...

We have market value assessments here that are done every two years. When I got my assessment notice in January I freaked since the value of our house has gone down substantially since Jan /07. Unfortunately the higher assessment combined with a tax increase if very hard especially for some of the elderly on fixed income. I for one am appealing the assessment, I always do that out of principle and i suspect I will be given some reconsideration. Our housing market although bad, is not nearly as dire as the U.S. but buying in the city of Toronto costs twice as much in land transfer tax than anywhere else in the Province. Our Mayor added an extra layer of tax last year which really hurt sales...ciao

debra said...

It's hard times, that's for sure. My inlaws are in their 80's fixed income that has greatly decreased. As we age, our options become so much more limited.

The auditor's value of our home has greatly decreased,too. But the value in our hearts-----ah, that is what has true meaning.

Renie Burghardt said...

It's definately a bad sellers market these days, but a good buyers market. Thank goodness I don't plan on selling anytime soon. I can't imagine how people in California are handling the situation, since homes there were always over valued. Anyone see all the tent cities cropping up there? People who lost joobs and homes are now living in little tents. It's just too sad to even contemplate!

Renie

Rudee said...

Rositta-I hope you get further than my brother did.

Debra-you always have such a positive way of looking at things. My brother has a beautiful home in an idyllic setting. Nature abounds in his neck of the woods.

Renie-I'm sure that's happening here too, but I haven't seen it yet. It's sad.

Betty F said...

We recently got a "revised" appraisal.. SAD SAD SAD... it'll be another 12-18 months before this is reflected on my taxes... WHICH is kind of o.k. because we paid the lower (with no house on the property) rate for an extra 12 -18 months.

Rositta said...

I think I'll get something take off I usually do. I have still have friends in real estate that give me the comparable properties that I need and the assessment office has a pretty good website that lets me see which other properties they compared us to. Very helpful...ciao

Rudee said...

Rositta-I'll have to tell my brother to get the comps. Good idea.

owiatw said...

We had our meeting with the Tax man. The first our of the boards mouth was you can't do that. We did, I looked them straight in the eye and said do you actually think my home is worth $316,000? Do you realize homes that are much larger then ours in a similar sub-division with more amenities are selling for $250,000 and lower? There response was some of those are forclosures...Exactly, that is my competitions!!!!!!
They called yesterday to set up an appraisal. Maybe I struck a nerve!

Rudee said...

owiatw, I hope things go well. Perhaps you should have The Taxman playing on your ipod when they get there.