How does one find the property tax rate for a certain area?

[stickythighs]

A book I was reading advocated that anyone who was interested in buying land in a rural area find out how much the property taxes on the land are before buying any land.

How does one find out what the property taxes will be for a given amount of land?

 

[Moonbear]

Call the tax assessor's office to find out the taxation rates. Or, one can always ask the seller what the annual taxes are. Better to find out the taxation rate, though, if you're thinking of improving the property...rates can be different if it's undeveloped land vs. land with a house on it vs. used primarily for residential use vs. used for business use vs. used for farming revenue. So, if someone has land they've been farming, and you want to buy it to build a house on it and not farm, you want to know how that will affect the taxation rates, which is something the tax assessor's office can tell you.

 

[Evo]

Most counties have a website that show not only the taxes on a parcel of land, but you can also find out who the owner is and the last price paid for the house/lot, as well as the selling price of properties around it.

 

[Chi Meson]

What area/state are you considering? Most property taxes are controlled by counties, but in New England, and some other states, they are controlled by townships (often just called "towns," townships are sort of mini-counties; it makes local governments horrifically redundant and expensive).

 

[NoTime]

Best to check with the tax assessor.
Not only can your use change things as Moonbear mentioned, but the assessed value can change with your purchase.
Some places take a percentage of the assessed value to apply the taxation rate to, so you need to know that as well,

 

[turbo]

All good advice. I'd like to add that the taxes can vary widely with the intended use of the land. If someone buys a tract of woodland (at least 10 forested acres) and agrees to manage it with the assistance of a state forester (selective cutting, encouraging the growth of desirable tree species) they can get very favorable tax treatment here in Maine. If they decide to clear some of the land for other purposes (such as building a house on it) they can incur penalties, and their tax advantage may be removed as well. Maine charges very low taxes on farm-land, commercial timberland, and in some cases commercial property in general, while socking it to home-owners. For this reason, it's best to speak to the local tax assessors and describe the intended use of the property before deciding to purchase the property. Also, beware the potential for additional development. Years ago, my wife and I bought a small farm-house at auction for less than $20K. The place was run down, but we got a real bargain. They guy who had bought that big former chicken farm with all its buildings and three houses had fallen behind in his payments and was forced to sell the residential buildings to get a preferred farm-land evaluation/tax rate on the remaining property. Eventually, he got into more money trouble and started selling off large lots, and since it was open land on top of the highest hill in town (with great views of the mountains to the West) people paid premium prices for the lots and started building McMansions. Suddenly, our dumpy little fixer-upper started shooting up in appraised value and taxes were way out of proportion to the value of the place because we were in a "desirable" neighborhood. We hadn't moved, of course - the neighborhood grew up around us. We sold the place, took a modest profit and bought in an area where the tax structure was a little more predictable. Remember that the tax assessors can and will increase the assessed value of your property if people start building lavish homes near you, though they will never decrease your assessment if somebody puts a house-trailer right across the road from you.

 

[stickythighs]

What area/state are you considering? Most property taxes are controlled by counties, but in New England, and some other states, they are controlled by townships (often just called "towns," townships are sort of mini-counties; it makes local governments horrifically redundant and expensive).

I'm considering the town of Walnut Grove in Greene County in the state of Missouri.

How much do y'all think that the property taxes would generally approximately be per year for an acre of land in a rural area that does not have a farm or a cabin on it?

And how much would the property taxes be per year for that same acre of land if there was a small cabin on it?

 

[turbo]

I'm considering the town of Walnut Grove in Greene County in the state of Missouri.

How much do y'all think that the property taxes would generally approximately be per year for an acre of land in a rural area that does not have a farm or a cabin on it?

And how much would the property taxes be per year for that same acre of land if there was a small cabin on it?

Contact the tax assessor and ask him/her. That's the only reliable source of information. Asking here won't get you the answers.

 

[LowlyPion]

I'm considering the town of Walnut Grove in Greene County in the state of Missouri.

How much do y'all think that the property taxes would generally approximately be per year for an acre of land in a rural area that does not have a farm or a cabin on it?

And how much would the property taxes be per year for that same acre of land if there was a small cabin on it?

Here are the Tax Levies for Greene County:
http://www.greenecountymo.org/spane/taxingdistricts.htm

Note that Walnut Grove has School District and Library and the Green County Levies for General Revenue and Roads and Bridges plus Missouri takes $.03.

These levies are multiplied by the Assessed Value divided by 100. And the assessed values are roughly 33% on houses and 19% on trailer homes as far as Appraised value goes. Agricultural use looks like Assessed is around 12% of Appraised. Then there are cars and tractors and grain in the field that gets taxed to a minor degree.

http://www.greenecountymo.org/spane/personalproperty.htm

So... I eyeball it very roughly at around .5% of Appraised for the Agricultural Land and about 1.2% of Appraised on the houses and maybe half that if you have a trailer home. (Based on ~ 4.0 x 12% / 100 and 4 x 33% / 100)

Hope that gives you a way to figure what you need to know.

Good luck.

 

[edward]

Any property that is withinn an hours drive of major metropolitan area is going to have a high price tag. Missouri prices aren't bad. The property below would sell for about $3 million in AZ.

http://progressivefarmer.landwatch.com/Greene-County-Missouri-Land-for-sale/pid/382541

 

[lisab]

Any property that is withinn an hours drive of major metropolitan area is going to have a high price tag. Missouri prices aren't bad. The property below would sell for about $3 million in AZ.

http://progressivefarmer.landwatch.com/Greene-County-Missouri-Land-for-sale/pid/382541

:!) Wow... that's beautiful. Fifty-eight acres for just a bit over $200,000. Anyone interested in starting a commune...?

 

[rootX]

:!) Wow... that's beautiful. Fifty-eight acres for just a bit over $200,000. Anyone interested in starting a commune...?

something's fishy: why someone would sell so cheap

maybe it's haunted

 

[LowlyPion]

something's fishy: why someone would sell so cheap

maybe it's haunted

It's not all that cheap. Looks like $3500 an acre. In fact you can get a 10 acre parcel off the same apparent property for just $35,000 from the same broker.

The thing that caught my eye was the house on 10 acres for $86,000. They are advertising a new roof in the last 3 years. Personally I'd think a tornado shelter would be a good investment.