I’m negotiating the sale price on a house I’d like to buy. All the listings and info sheets provided by the listing agency for the house quoted the annual taxes. My own investigation confirmed that the amount quoted is after several discounts or credits (retirement, veteran, star, and the like).
I would likely pay 40 – 45% more than listed amount.
What responsibility does a realtor have to be upfront about this difference?
Thanks!
Check with your county tax appraisal office. They will give you the factual numbers BEFORE exemptions, and can give you numbers with the exemptions. They are the bottom-line authority on the actual tax rates and accessments.
I’m including a link below that you may look at. It is for the county I live in.
The left side column’s first choice is "Property Records" click on it.
Then you see two columns:
Real Property and Business Personal Property
Under "Real Property" choose (see my example at the end of this answer) "Address"
You will come up different Real Propertys (homes, mostly)
The left column has "account number’ which you can click on.
Now, you will see the Owner’s Name, mailing address & property address.
Toggle on down and it will state these taxing entities:
Plano City and it’s 2007 tax rate
Collin County and it’s 2007 tax rate
Collin County Com College and it’s tax rate
Plano City’s Independent School District’s tax rate
Those are the percentages that are applied against the Appraised Value.
Now, you will notice that you are given 2 (TWO) values of the home…
The Total Market Value (at the top)
and
Appraised (at the bottom), along with the TYPE of exemptions that the owner uses.
You need to take those 4 taxing entities rates, add them up and multiple against the Appraised Value. Taxes are applied on the APPRAISED dollars.
Now, if the home already has an exemption clause to it, then the number will be adjusted to INCLUDE the exemption, so you’d have to try and find out how much the exemption % or dollar amount is so that you don’t include it in your tax rate (unless you’re going to use the same exemption/s).
I kind of "officially" learned by answering this for you WHICH amount that the taxing entities applied the tax rate to. Now I know because a database I use for tracking homes states the taxes on properties for sale. So, I found one that was a foreclosure, therefore, no exemptions and was able to verify the taxes I was given were dollars BEFORE exemptions.
So, do check and see if the amount of tax you are being quoted is NOT pulling in exemptions that the current owner had applied to that property during the tax year you are accessing.
I hope my answer was clear enough for you to understand!
101008 11:23
PS, I’ll go ahead and give you the address of the foreclosed home for your reference, since this was public property for sale and you are using a link to a government public database.
Address: 2808 CHARTER OAK DRIVE, Plano, TX 75074
Key in just "2808" and "Charter" and it will pull up ok. You should come up with the Total taxing entities rate is 2.073884, and the taxes on this property is $2578 (with rounding, of course).
Formula: Appraised value of home is $124,326 for 2007.
$124326 x 2.073884 (City, College, school, county) = $2578.377
The realtor must provide the best information available to the realtor.
Deception or misrepresentation normally will be found out and is grounds for killing the sales. If found after the sales is complete, the realtor is responsible financially for any harm suffered by you.
If the realtor provided the best information and the information was found to be deceptive or misleading based on Information from the seller, then the seller is financially responsible to you.
References :
none
it is up to the escrow company
References :
In my area Multiple listing system the annual taxes are automatically pulled from the local tax district and they show as the full amount with no exemptions.
If that is not the fact in your area you can double check by contacting the tax district directly yourself. I would also hire an independent home inspector and check out several other things. Any mistake that a court would hold an agent responsible for would require you spend the money to file a court case.
An agent is required to tell you all that data to the best of their knowledge.
References :
Any realtor has a disclaimer that a buyer is to do their own investigation regarding the purchase of any property. 99.99% of all realtors are honest and cannot deceive you.
But their research into specifics are limited to the property itself. They cannot guess if there’s a lawsuit pending, or if the owner received property tax breaks. The tax info comes from county records, which are recorded after all credits, so the number that’s given is accurate.
References :
Check with your county tax appraisal office. They will give you the factual numbers BEFORE exemptions, and can give you numbers with the exemptions. They are the bottom-line authority on the actual tax rates and accessments.
I’m including a link below that you may look at. It is for the county I live in.
The left side column’s first choice is "Property Records" click on it.
Then you see two columns:
Real Property and Business Personal Property
Under "Real Property" choose (see my example at the end of this answer) "Address"
You will come up different Real Propertys (homes, mostly)
The left column has "account number’ which you can click on.
Now, you will see the Owner’s Name, mailing address & property address.
Toggle on down and it will state these taxing entities:
Plano City and it’s 2007 tax rate
Collin County and it’s 2007 tax rate
Collin County Com College and it’s tax rate
Plano City’s Independent School District’s tax rate
Those are the percentages that are applied against the Appraised Value.
Now, you will notice that you are given 2 (TWO) values of the home…
The Total Market Value (at the top)
and
Appraised (at the bottom), along with the TYPE of exemptions that the owner uses.
You need to take those 4 taxing entities rates, add them up and multiple against the Appraised Value. Taxes are applied on the APPRAISED dollars.
Now, if the home already has an exemption clause to it, then the number will be adjusted to INCLUDE the exemption, so you’d have to try and find out how much the exemption % or dollar amount is so that you don’t include it in your tax rate (unless you’re going to use the same exemption/s).
I kind of "officially" learned by answering this for you WHICH amount that the taxing entities applied the tax rate to. Now I know because a database I use for tracking homes states the taxes on properties for sale. So, I found one that was a foreclosure, therefore, no exemptions and was able to verify the taxes I was given were dollars BEFORE exemptions.
So, do check and see if the amount of tax you are being quoted is NOT pulling in exemptions that the current owner had applied to that property during the tax year you are accessing.
I hope my answer was clear enough for you to understand!
101008 11:23
PS, I’ll go ahead and give you the address of the foreclosed home for your reference, since this was public property for sale and you are using a link to a government public database.
Address: 2808 CHARTER OAK DRIVE, Plano, TX 75074
Key in just "2808" and "Charter" and it will pull up ok. You should come up with the Total taxing entities rate is 2.073884, and the taxes on this property is $2578 (with rounding, of course).
Formula: Appraised value of home is $124,326 for 2007.
$124326 x 2.073884 (City, College, school, county) = $2578.377
References :
http://www.collincad.org/