Taxation w/o representation!

[New Hampshire Native]

Those of us that live here year round pay property taxes, also. We do not have an income tax, so ALL that own property pay taxes on the CURRENT market value of the property. If you make waves, they will realize they assessed you too LOW and your assessment may go up. I would be happy to be assessed on the low side (less taxes). You would either need to rent on the lake for the time you come up, or pay the taxman and have the privacy of your own home. That is the beauty of America, freedom to make choices. You need to ask yourself if it is worth what you pay in taxes to enjoy the property. I bet you won't complain when you sell the property and reap the massive profit it has scored you. I think the tax bill is a non-issue. Just a native's opinion.

[Paugus Bay Resident]

Sounds like 10 - 12% annual appreciation, which has been pretty normal around here.

You might find this helpful. 2004 Property Tax Rates

Tuftonboro's rate is fairly low, but I don't know what the local valuation rate is.

[SAMIAM]

NH Native...you sound like you're happy to pay big taxes.....I don't share your enthusiasm.I'm not a speculator or developer and have no intention of selling for huge profit that you speak of.Most people want to be able to afford to live in their homes and then pass them to the next generation.Increasing taxes have driven two people out of their homes on my road in the last two years.They didn't want to sell.....they are both retired on a fixed income and wanted to spend their last days in the home they've known all of their lives.I'm also a NH native and I'm sick of getting hammered.We have no kids in school,no sewer,our own well,no mail delivery ,no trash pickup,no streetlights or sidewalks.....pproperty owners are supporting everything.......I'd like to see a sales tax,myself.

[secondcurve]

Paugus Bay Resident:

Thank you so much for the link. However, I can't make much sense of it. My husband handled the bills in the past but he passed away recently. Can you estimate the value of my 2006 taxes from the chart, based upon a $425,000 property value?

Thanks again

[itchin for fishin]

Secondcurve,

In NH they are required by law to re-evaluate property values on a regular basis (I believe it is every 5 years but many towns are usually tardy). Before you have heart failure, you will need to find the actual tax rate, (call the town), a lot of times the rate will balance the valuation although I have found myself going up about $300 every time they do it in Nashua.

If you do feel you were overvalued, it may make sense to pay for an appraisal and use this as your leverage.

[Paugus Bay Resident]

secondcurve,

You'd need to find out what the town's valuation (equalization) rate is. This is the percantage of the assesed value that you are being taxed on. Last time I checked (2003), Tuftonboro was taxing at 45.5%. Each town is different. Wolfeboro for example taxed at 93.3% (2003), but the tax rate was $10.94 per thousand.

If that's still the rate, your taxes would be around $3,215

425,000 *.455
-------------- * 16.63
1,000

Using the equalized tax rate is the only real way you can compare taxes on a town by town basis.

As IFF mentioned, if you feel the appraised value is too high, you can certainly file for an abatement.

[phoenix]

another suggestion is to compare with other properties that are similar in your area. When Moultonboro reassessed a couple of years ago there was a web site that listed all properties which made it easier to see how you compared. I first thought i was over assessed but when i compared my house with others in my neighborhood i found that i was fairly treated . Also the tax rate dropped substantially when all houses were reassessed

[Orion]

Dear Secondcurve,
I hope you meant $425K, not M in your original post.

Tuftonborough did a 100% re-evaluation this year, so the tax RATE should go down but the taxes shouldn't go up much, since it appears that the town is very frugally run.

My main concern is with the apparent inconsistency in the evaluation. The booklet in the mail lists all properties and values. It is clear that there are dramatic inconsistencies when comparing like properties. I know it's difficult to launch an army of appraisers and expect everything to be normalized in the end, but it appears that properties done by the same appraiser show this same inconsistency (i.e. higher value, higher quality properties with lower assessment than lesser properties). Maybe this is "normal" whenever a full assessment is done?

[PROPELLER]

Secondcurve, If you can prove that similar properties are selling for less by providing past sales to the assessor then file for an abatement. Be careful though because it could go up even more if you call attention to yourself & then they want to come inside your cottage & they may find things they were not aware of & raise the assessment. Also have you done improvements w/o permits? If so this could also cause you problems. In the end though even if they granted an abatement & it was only a $10-12k difference for example, it may not drop your tax bill all that much.

[jrc]

[QUOTE=Orion]Dear Secondcurve,
I hope you meant $425K, not M in your original post.
QUOTE]
Before the metric system kilograms, kilometers, and kilobytes, and even now in a lot of industries, M was a common symbol for 1000. If I remember it derives from mille (probably spelled wrong), which is latin? for one thousand. Same derivation of a mile from 1000 paces. When I sold pine trees for lumber recently, the price was quoted in M board feet, since it was less than acre I'm sure it wasn't million. BTW I think the milli in million is for a thousand-thousand.

[Lakewinniboater]

Originally Posted by SAMIAM

NH Native...you sound like you're happy to pay big taxes.....I don't share your enthusiasm.I'm not a speculator or developer and have no intention of selling for huge profit that you speak of.Most people want to be able to afford to live in their homes and then pass them to the next generation.Increasing taxes have driven two people out of their homes on my road in the last two years.They didn't want to sell.....they are both retired on a fixed income and wanted to spend their last days in the home they've known all of their lives.I'm also a NH native and I'm sick of getting hammered.We have no kids in school,no sewer,our own well,no mail delivery ,no trash pickup,no streetlights or sidewalks.....pproperty owners are supporting everything.......I'd like to see a sales tax,myself.

Elderly people that live full time in these properties with fixed incomes have a few different choices. 1. They can apply for abatements on their taxes.... which generally are granted. 2. they could do what is called a Reverse Mortgage. They would need to be a minimum of 62 years old and have a minimum of 50% equity.... however, what happens is.... instead of paying a mortgage. The mortgage company sends you a check each month. Instead of being equity rich and cash poor. Retiree's or future retiree's do not need to worry about where they will get the money for food or heat. They can live off of the equity in their house.

The only draw back is for their children. The estate will need to pay off the mortgage or buy the house back from the mortgage company for what was paid out.

The benefits definitely outweigh the idea of buying the house back instead of inheriting it. However, I am sure that the children and grandchildren would rather that you live happily and healthy in remaining years.

[secondcurve]

To all who replied: Thanks! I think I understand the process now. I'm going to the town hall in the next couple of weeks to take a look at recent sales to see where I stand. I'm pretty sure I'm on the high side, but it proably will pay to see all the records at once. Then, I wait until the town announces the rate. I' praying they are as frugal as people mention!