property taxes and building restrictions

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I would like information on areas where there are no building department bureaucrats and where property taxes are low. Any candidates? Thank you.

-- Barbara (weigandt@goldendale.net), November 01, 1999

Answers

I bought 10 acres in the florida panhandle...haven't built yet, but bought it "with no zoning restrictions" and eligible for homestead tax exemption(I've heard two different figures, 25K and 50K, but since the land is appraised at 10K nothing I can afford to put on it would bring it too high) Taxes currently on just the land are 160 a year.

-- Sue Landress (Sulandherb@aol.com), November 01, 1999.

I don't believe Southeastern Oklahoma has any restrictions as long as you are in an unincorporated area. East Texas has people who want to tell you how you must get rid of waste water on any newly constructed homes. The property taxes here (East Texas) are high in relation to what people make, as is car insurance. We pay the same as if we were New York or California. Oklahoma has significantly lower insurance rates and property taxes. Texas public schools stink on ice. In order for a school child to buy a school lunch, he must have a picture ID issued by the school. This is not a free lunch, we pay full price for it. Texas also has a law that if anyone under 18 is even driving a car with a cigarette butt in the ash tray, he will lose his license until he turns 18. It doesn't matter if the butt was placed there by a parent who is accompanying the child. License is gone anyway. AVOID TEXAS!!!

-- A.C. Green (ratdogs10@yahoo.com), November 03, 1999.

I'd like the answer to that too. 25+ years ago I bought 36 acres of raw land in western NY, the taxes at the time were $150. & there were no restricions except that you needed a building permit, ($1.00) outhouses were fine too. When I sold the place 7 years ago the taxes were $1200. and by then you needed a permitn just to break wind. I had by then though, built a small 900 square foot house/cabin, still used an outhouse, had electricity and a well, also a 24x40 pole barn with concrete floor but, the barn had a 10 year tax exemption.

Here in southern Oregon is is a mixed bag, raw land taxes are nothing, we have 17 acres we pay about $35. a year. there is no sales tax which is a plus when buying high money items, cars, trucks, building materials etc. as soon as you build, up the taxes go and they are pretty munch control oriented by permitting and building codes. Me! I just don't tell them what I am doing. If I could stand the cold weather & was a little younger, I would be looking at Maine again, I built a place there without any interference and i think it is still that way.

-- Bob Henderson (redgate@echoweb.net), November 05, 1999.


When I first looked at land in No. Georgia the restrictions were: no swine in the city limits, and if septic tanks were within 100 feet of naturally occuring water you could not get electric service. People moved in and built vacation homes right on the creek banks, damaged the environment, raised the taxes and created building codes and zoning restrictions. When you buy land remember that the rules can change before you build. I'm in Western NC and the restrictions are not too bad, and not really enforced. Tax is $425 per year for 31 acres with old house. Land costs are high for small or flat parcels. I hear parts of East Tennessee are good places to homestead.

-- Kendy Sawyer (sweetfire@grove.net), November 08, 1999.

Bob, I too live in southern Oregon, and have several pieces of land. I have a couple with no houses, and yes, the taxes are low. Like $15 per year. But the reason they are so low is that they are in a "forestry exemption". There is also available an "agricultural exemption". Same tax situation exists for both these exemptions. The land has to be used for ag or forestry, and nothing else. Also, the land for forestry has to have a minimum amount of stocking of commercial timber species to qualify.

Whenever you go to build a house, you have to pay five years back taxes at the full rate, so if you buy a piece that already has this exemption, watch out, because YOU will be the one to pay the back taxes when you build.

Land without one of these exemptions is taxed at the same rate as any other real property, which, if the land is out in the county, and does not have any special taxes on it (like state forestry fire protection tax, city schools, assessment for the county road it's located on, etc., is 1/2 percent of the "true cash value", at least that's what it is in my county.

If you buy a halfway decent one to five acre piece of undeveloped land, expect to pay $40,000 to over $75,000. Taxes on those numbers will be $200 to $375 per year. Taxes are currently rising at 3% per year, which is the max legal amount, unless we vote in a new tax levy.

Beaurocrats here range from very stupid, don't give a damn types, to very rabid boo-rats. It's a bit of a challenge at times. Fortunately, the schizo who was the main inspector retired, and I ge along a lot better with the new guy.

-- jumpoff joe (jumpoff@echoweb.net), January 25, 2000.



I'm in St Lawrence county N.Y. We have 140a HOuse (3 bedroom )and a 40x70 stock barn all (after 3 years) still need much work .taxes are 1300. a year, purchase price 35,000 .We totally gutted the house , new foundation , electrical , plumbing ect.

-- Patty Gamble (fodfarms@slic.com), January 30, 2000.

There are federal building codes so it may be that wherever you go you might find no state, county or local ones but then, surprise, when you least expect it, you will find that the locals have not enacted local codes but adhere to the federal ones. Some states or jurisdictions have the building (and health, zoning, and other) codes and/or restrictions posted, so if you find an area you are interested in, you could do a search and learn more than you might if you actually physically went to the local office/department.

Some areas, as has been mentioned, have much lower taxes. I own land with forestal tax exemptions which is an 85% tax reduction. We do not have to pay a five-year back tax penalty. I think the local officials are quite fair. The minimum acreage is 20 acres and if you build a home you survey off one acre which is taxed at the regular rate while the rest of your land can have the exemption.

In addition to the regulations and codes or whatever on the books, a good thing to look at is if they are enforced or not, and if so, how rigidly.

Also, some states with lax or almost non-existent codes also have poor earning possibilities so while you have some great gains in freedom to do what you want and build the way you want to with little cash outlay because of low-cost land and property taxes, you also better have a personal income stream of one kind or another as you may not be able to find work of any kind in the nearby community. There are always trade-offs.

-- Elizabeth Petofi (tengri@cstone.net), March 30, 2000.


Hi, Bob,

I'm in Southern Oregon also, in Grants Pass. I want to warn folks that, before they come racing out here because of the $35 taxes on 17 acres, and no sales tax. Things may not be quite that simple. I don't know where in southern Oregon you live, Bob, but here in Josephine County, I have owned lots of land which had similar taxes to what you cite. I still have a couple of five acre pieces which have taxes of ten or fifteen bucks a year. But these are under a tax exemption program called a "Forestry Exemption". The land has to be kept in a forested condition, has to have a certain amount of "stocking" (number of trees per acre), and there is a fee of about three times as much as the tax for "Fire Protection" payable at the same time as the taxes (but it's NOT a tax, right?).

This is a great program, insofar as it encourages forest preservation, to a certain extent. The down side, for new land buyers, is that you have to pay five years back taxes (at FULL value) whenever you get a building permit. This is generally done on just one acre of the land, but the price on one acre is enough that the rest of the property doesn't really matter much, tax wise. So if a person is going to hang on to a piece of land for more than five years before building, it pays off the pursue this program.

As far as our not having a sales tax, it's true, although there are "bed taxes" on motel/hotel rooms, and "restaurant taxes" in many towns, which are basically a sales tax of questionable legality, in my opinion. We also have a serious income tax. I pay 9% on my income, and they even tax you on money you never see (the tax you pay Uncle Sam.

I won't get into the rain. If somebody wants to move here, I assume they'll check out the climate first.

JOJ

-- jumpoff joe (jumpoff@echoweb.net), March 30, 2000.


Ha! I just noticed that I'd already written a post here--last January. Guess I should read the whole thing before posting again.... joj

-- jumpoff joe (jumpoff@echoweb.net), March 30, 2000.

Try West Virginia. We have tons of rural no-zoning areas. Which is why I and several neighbors, have businesses in our homes. No extra Business and Occupational taxes out here. I am 30 minutes from a state university, 15 min. from the local college. The city I'm in has about 25,000 folks. Still lots of out of the way land for sale. Check it out. Call 1-800-CALL-WVA for tourist type info.

-- Anne (HealthyTouch101@hotmail.com), March 31, 2000.


I'd second the original question on this thread -- and I'm wondering where to find some hard numbers on the taxes and land prices? I really appreciate hearing/reading what everybody has to say about their own areas, but it is hard to do any comparisons from anecdotes.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), April 14, 2000.

Hi Barbara, I work for the local County Planning Department and can tell you that Lincoln County, MT has no building codes or permit for residential structures. I have a nice country home for sale on 7.5 acres just 4 miles from town in a secluded rural neighborhood. I can't see my neighbors houses from my wooded location. My other neighbor has a 100 acre homestead that will not be subdivided or developed; he raises cows and horses. Our only other neighbor is U.S. National Forest land.

If you'd like more information about my place and the area please contact me anytime. I'd like to sell by owner with no realtor and carry a negotiable contract to a qualified buyer. I remarried and need to sell my home since we don't need 2. It's a great place to live. Thanks for your interest.

Best regards,

Bonnie Smith

-- Bonnie Smith (planning@libby.org), July 10, 2001.


Another late post. The other problem with exemptions and deferments (like for senior citizens) is that usually if the property changes hands through inheritance, the heirs have to pay those taxes. So, your heirs may wind up having to sell some or all of the property that you meant them to have, and just to pay taxes.

Depending upon what you're doing building-wise, and how you match it to what you previously have, most people won't know that it was put on later, especially in the case of decks and a concrete step or two. It's your neighbors you really have to worry about, and them calling the county/city (who is more often than not worried about losing tax revenue than in safety codes). They also don't know, oftentimes what has or hasn't been done. Our friend bought a house that was listed on the tax rolls as having one bathroom--it had two (probably done when the previous owners got a permit to add a garage 20 years ago)! Our local newspaper printed that the county appraiser cannot enter your home without permission, so people don't let them.

I have problems with reassessing property when you improve it anyway, because unless you are selling, you can't say how much your improvements are worth. You've already paid taxes on parts and in some states labor as well, so they should be grateful for that.

No joke, in Davis, CA you are supposed to get a permit to install/ replace a garbage disposal.

-- GT (nospam@nospam.com), August 12, 2001.


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