The True Cost of Foreclosures

Foreclosures are running rampant across the country. According to recent studies, an estimated 1 out of every 300 households was forced into foreclosure last month. If you have not witnessed a foreclosure, you may think the only people affected are the homeowners and banks. However, foreclosures actually affect their entire neighboring community, and can drastically impact local tax revenue.

Decreasing Real Estate Values

There are actually several reasons foreclosed homes are bringing down real estate values. Many foreclosures happen quietly and quickly, where residents in the area do not even realize the house was empty until the foreclosure sale sign is in the yard. However, some homes are littered with huge warning signs, or sit on the market unkempt for months. Since there is usually no one in charge of maintaining foreclosed homes, yards grow tall, pools fog up, and the whole home itself begins to look artificially aged. In order to unload these properties the banks will drastically reduce their asking price. This forces regular sellers to lower their prices in order to stay competitive, and results in deflated real estate values for an entire neighborhood.

Devalued Neighborhoods

In addition to forcing sellers to reduce prices, foreclosed homes can also devalue a neighborhood just by sitting there unsold. As I mentioned before, the banks do not assign someone to look over the property, and if several homes on one street go into foreclosure then it can quickly turn the neighborhood into a ghost town. Once the area begins to decline, real estate values will drop quickly, and residents will find it nearly impossible to sell their homes.

Loss of Local Revenue

When a house has been vacated due to foreclosure, it means that there is no one living in the property, and there is no one to pay local property taxes. This can be disastrous to local government agencies that rely on this revenue. For example, the municipality of Greenville, California received over 40% of its revenue from property taxes and in the past year alone home values have decreased by over 15% due to record foreclosure rates. This had led to a budget shortfall and the town is now desperately struggling to get by without the additional funds full occupancy of its homes would bring.

Reassessed Property Tax Rates

Even if a foreclosed property is sold, the local government is going to get less money then it would have if the original homeowner had stayed. This is because property taxes are based on the value of the property, and if a house sells for significantly less then it had five years ago, then its tax rate will be reassessed and taxpayer will only be required to pay the reduced property tax.

Additional Costs to Local Governments

In addition to the lack of property tax revenue, the overall cost of a foreclosed home can be quite large. According to a study from Chicago, the cost of securing and processing a foreclosure can be as high as $5,400 per property. Furthermore if the property is abandoned for more then a few months, local governments will lose out on utility taxes, and may have to pay for water service, and trash removal. The total estimated cost on a foreclosed property could be as high as $20,000.

Local Service Cuts

With out this valuable revenue from property taxes, many cities are being forced to make up the revenue elsewhere. Local governments are being forced to lay off city workers (including firefighters and law enforcement), cut funding for education, increase retail taxes, and even sell precious historical landmarks. There is not a lot taxpayers can do to prevent these rash actions in their hometowns but sit by idly and hope that they do not get hit with a tax increase.

What can YOU do?

One of the best ways to counterbalance your communities’ loss in city revenue is to directly support your local economy. By making a few changes to your spending habits, and encouraging your neighbors to do so as well, you can make a difference. To learn more about how you can help, be sure to check out an entry I posted a few weeks ago titled 10 ways to help your local economy with your tax refund.

As Home Values Fall, Your Property Tax Bill Probably Should Decline, Too

From Boston.com:

Why is it that so few taxpayers try to reduce their property taxes? As many as 60 percent of US homes may be overassessed, according to the National Taxpayers Union, but most homeowners don't know how the process works or that they can appeal.

You are likely to have more success this year, because in most areas there is a large disparity between assessed values from the boom years and depressed current market values.

Most likely your home's assessment is out of date since it is based on an average of local values that may go back three years. Since the height of the boom market, prices have declined by 20 to 50 percent.

Appealing your assessment is something anyone can do, yet it is important to do some preparation work. I have been able to lower or freeze my home's assessed value several times.

There's often little accountability in how assessors value your property. They make mistakes, and assessments may be wildly inconsistent in your community.

Check your home's legal description. Does it match precisely your house and lot characteristics? There may be errors in the records on the number of finished rooms, lot size, and interior square footage.

The second step is to determine whether you are fairly assessed. You will need to work out whether similar houses sold at lower prices than your home's current market value. Are there any local features that will reduce your property's value? Railroads, highways, landfills, easements, and rezonings (to commercial) count.

You can present these details to your assessor before you file a formal appeal, but don't expect him to give you a reduction. Most states have bodies that deal specifically with real-estate tax appeals at higher levels.

If you don't feel comfortable researching and filing your own appeal, you can hire an attorney. They are usually compensated by taking a percentage of your tax savings. Appeal boards tend to respect the opinion of a certified real-estate appraiser more than yours. Spend a few hundred dollars to present a recent certified appraisal.

Be professional and precisely document your case. Appeals boards are swamped right now. Ocean County, N.J., for example, is facing more than 14,000 appeals this year.

Typically, you will have just a few minutes to make your appeal. Keep in mind you have to meet strict filing deadlines. Don't expect an immediate reduction in property taxes. Taxing bodies still have the power to raise levies or float referendums if they need funds. Your taxes may rise - even in this market.

If the deadline for appeal has passed this year, start building your case for next year. Definitely mount a challenge if you are in the highest property-tax states - such as Massachusetts.

Tax Official Predicts More Protests Of Home Values

A Colorado tax administrator is predicting that more tax protests will take place in the coming months due to real estate values. You can find a snippet of the Associated Press story below, or read the full story at Forbes.com.

Colorado's property tax administrator expects to see more people challenging how much their homes are worth this year, as home prices tumble around the country.

By May 1, property taxpayers will have received notices of the assessed values of their homes as of June 30, 2008. They have until June 1 to protest the value to county assessors. Properties are reappraised every two years.

When the economy was stronger, Colorado housing values generally didn't soar as high as in coastal areas, so they had less room to fall, said JoAnn Groff, property tax administrator for Colorado. Yet some homeowners may question why their values didn't fall more.

"We suspect there will be more protests this year because of national news about declining value. If people don't see a decline, they're going to wonder why," Groff said.

Some homeowners might protest their assessments in a bid to lower tax bills, said Todd Davidson of PropertyTaxSlash.com, which analyzes property values.

In 2007, county assessors received 129,234 protests of different kinds of properties including homes, according to state figures.

Values can vary widely by region and neighborhood.