CT Property Tax

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

In Jackson Hole 200k will get you a timeshare..lol

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

On 1000 sf?

I think 4k

 

[ckofer]

I think 4k

So far we're all paying about $2.50/sf

 

[severine]

See, the problem with the tax dollar/sq ft statement is that even if it appears you were comparing apples to apples, there are those little things that make a difference. How old is the house? (Depreciation) Neighborhood? Lot size? Is it basic construction or does it have the finer touches? (You know vinyl floors and laminate counters versus tile and stone counters, for example...) Is it a colonial, ranch, raised ranch, cape, contemporary, "old style", multi-family, or condo? Is it in a planned-unit development?

We used to get asked all the time by people building new houses for a tax $/sq ft figure and we could not give them one. They had to find a similar house of similar age and neighborhood to get an estimate. Otherwise, it could have been completely inaccurate.

That said, there are some municipalities who have their assessment data available online. We used to use Vision Appraisal for our data (from what I understand, there will be a new company once the revaluation for the 2008 Grand List is complete this fall). Last year's tax bill for my parent's 2384sq ft colonial that was built in 1989 was $4786.95 in Torrington, CT. So that's $2.01/sq ft. The 2020 sq ft three-family house we used to own was $3027.79 - $1.50/sq ft. Same town.

See what I mean?

ETA: to make it more fair, the 1760 sq ft colonial my cousin just sold (same town) was $3430.36 for taxes last year. His house was built around 1925. $1.94/sq ft.

We're still excluding lot size from these calculations, though it does make a difference in the total tax dollars.

 

[FRITOLAYGUY]

Just kidding..lol..does Greenwich have any slums? Is Connecticut still the wealthiest state in the US on a per capita income basis?

Greenwich does actually have some shady spots on Route 1, putnam ave near all the car dealerships. Greenwich gets all the pub but i lived down that way in Stamford. Darien and New Canaan are far nicer, people live in Greenwich to say that they live in Greenwich

 

[MR. evil]

That said, there are some municipalities who have their assessment data available online. We used to use Vision Appraisal for our data (from what I understand, there will be a new company once the revaluation for the 2008 Grand List is complete this fall). Last year's tax bill for my parent's 2384sq ft colonial that was built in 1989 was $4786.95 in Torrington, CT. So that's $2.01/sq ft. The 2020 sq ft three-family house we used to own was $3027.79 - $1.50/sq ft. Same town.
.

Isn't Vision Appraisal the group that tried to asess homes on the shore with huge tax add ons for views of the ocean and the sound? A couple of years ago one of the partners at my firm received a tax bill of $3000 for his home, with a $10,000 view tax added on becuase he lives on the water at Stoney creek down by the sound. Eventually the town backed down and didn't charge the view tax. The really shady thing was that everyone else in town that did not have a taxable view had there taxes lowered.

 

[ckofer]

Isn't Vision Appraisal the group that tried to asess homes on the shore with huge tax add ons for views of the ocean and the sound? A couple of years ago one of the partners at my firm received a tax bill of $3000 for his home, with a $10,000 view tax added on becuase he lives on the water at Stoney creek down by the sound. Eventually the town backed down and didn't charge the view tax. The really shady thing was that everyone else in town that did not have a taxable view had there taxes lowered.

$10,000 in additional tax? Really?

That parallels:

Sir, we were going to charge you $72 for your lift pass today but since you have new skis and new boots, that will be $246. Will that be cash or on a credit card?

ps Carrie - I'm basically curious to see what the square footage vs tax cost is in other areas. I'm building a small commercial building right now and have the opportunity to create additional lease space. Let's say my property tax bill on that is $2/sf. Lease rates on office space around here are $10-12/sf (nothing too fancy). 15-20% of the lease goes to the town. I understand this is oversimplification but I suspect that the range of tax per square foot is narrower than the range used to establish the tax bill since relative values of properties vary greatly by community but the services required to support a certain population don't vary as much.

 

[MR. evil]

$10,000 in additional tax? Really?

That parallels:

Sir, we were going to charge you $72 for your lift pass today but since you have new skis and new boots, that will be $246. Will that be cash or on a credit card?
QUOTE]

Ya, a bunch of towns along the coast line of CT per the recomendation of Vision tried to pull this off a year or two ago. Most of the people in those towns didn;t care as they had their taxes lowered by a couple hundred bucks while they tried to screw anyone with a view.

 

[severine]

Isn't Vision Appraisal the group that tried to asess homes on the shore with huge tax add ons for views of the ocean and the sound? A couple of years ago one of the partners at my firm received a tax bill of $3000 for his home, with a $10,000 view tax added on becuase he lives on the water at Stoney creek down by the sound. Eventually the town backed down and didn't charge the view tax. The really shady thing was that everyone else in town that did not have a taxable view had there taxes lowered.

Vision Appraisal is a company hired to do a mass appraisal of the properties in town based on sales and type of property. They send people out to do visual inspections to make sure everything is picked up on the records - but they are not responsible for taxing. And the final assessments have to meet the approval of the Assessor. Like I said before, assessments are supposed to be 70% of market value. Argument goes that a house with a view or waterfront property will already have a higher market value than one that does not, all other things considered equal. But if your partner received a separate tax, that was the city doing that, not the appraisal company.

I went through 2 revaluations with Vision Appraisal. I don't recall any shady practices. When the Assessor was shopping for a new revaluation company when I left my job, it was more of a personality conflict and wanting a different interface for the data.

ETA: as for what goes on behind closed doors and recommendations, I definitely can't answer that. They keep that stuff from the peons like me.

 

[ctenidae]

I pay about $6K/year on a 954 sqft garden-level apartment in Boston. That's $6.28 a foot.

Maybe I'll move to CT.

 

[severine]

Location, location, location. You have to remember that the city I've been quoting is about an hour from Hartford in a blue collar area of the state.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torrington,_Connecticut

The median income for a household in the city was $41,841, and the median income for a family was $54,375. Males had a median income of $37,702 versus $28,418 for females. The per capita income for the city was $21,406. About 4.5% of families and 7.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 8.4% of those under age 18 and 6.9% of those age 65 or over.

But come on, now! Our mayor is only 24 years old and was 22 years old when he was first voted into office. You know you're all jealous about that!

 

[MR. evil]

But if your partner received a separate tax, that was the city doing that, not the appraisal company.

I went through 2 revaluations with Vision Appraisal. I don't recall any shady practices. When the Assessor was shopping for a new revaluation company when I left my job, it was more of a personality conflict and wanting a different interface for the data.

ETA: as for what goes on behind closed doors and recommendations, I definitely can't answer that. They keep that stuff from the peons like me.

I didn't mean to imply that they were being shady. But if was Visions that proposed the idea to many of these towns as a way to increase tax revenue.

 

[severine]

Even if they did propose it, the blame still lies with the Assessors and/or Tax Collectors who instituted it. I could give any advice I want to a person, but in the end, they only have themselves to blame for their actions, KWIM?

Trust me, I don't have any personal reason to defend Vision. Much of their staff I dealt with were dim-witted at best. Our former Assessor (who really was an ass) also defected to them after his reign of tyranny. The whole situation you described sounds fishy but then again, tax situations never do seem fair.

 

[loafer89]

The mill rate in Coventry is 27.59 and our property tax was $5,400 last year which is fantasy land taxes compared to our old home in Lake Grove, N.Y where I was paying $12,700 when we left in 2006.

The people here complain about the "high" taxes and when I tell them about the taxes on Long Island they nearly go ino cardiac arrest.

 

[Grassi21]

Just kidding..lol..does Greenwich have any slums? Is Connecticut still the wealthiest state in the US on a per capita income basis?

The section of town bordering Port Chester, NY has some middle to lower income housing. Certainly not a slum but not how you would picture Greenwich.

 

[ccskier]

Sure, we have other ''stupid'' taxes here in MA, but I only pay about 2300/year for a $400k house in Yarmouth. Chatham, a very wealthy town has a tax rate less than $4/thousand. It is nice having the second home owners subsidize it all.

 

[deadheadskier]

Sure, we have other ''stupid'' taxes here in MA, but I only pay about 2300/year for a $400k house in Yarmouth. Chatham, a very wealthy town has a tax rate less than $4/thousand. It is nice having the second home owners subsidize it all.

If your fortunate enough to afford a home in the first place. Second home owners do subsidize the tax base, but in many locales, they drive home prices out of the range of affordability for many locals. Double edged sword

 

[dmc]

I may have to consider buying/renting something in Ct(Stamford). - due to the income tax laws changing between Ct and NY. Or maybe just suffer the tax....

 

[dmc]

If your fortunate enough to afford a home in the first place. Second home owners do subsidize the tax base, but in many locales, they drive home prices out of the range of affordability for many locals. Double edged sword

Yup - eats into the rental pool a resorts too..

 

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

I saw that home prices in Manhatten are going to go down due to the Wall Street crash...no now a 1.4 million apartment will be $1.3 million..doh