Tag: Taxes

Once again I was poking around seeing what my assessed value was, not that it matters. Those of us who bought our homes before houses were too expensive, have these lovely golden handcuffs in the combo dish of the Assessment Cap Credit, and the Homestead Deduction. That means that people who have been in their homes a long time (and bothered to get the homestead deduction) pay a couple or several hundred dollars a year in property taxes, as opposed to newer folks who pay a thousand to several thousands a year. I say the combo of those tax credits are golden handcuffs because the low tax, is a great incentive to not move. It is a good program, in that it encourages neighborhood stability. It allows long term owners to stay in their homes despite the rise in home prices around them. Provided they bothered to get the homestead deduction in the first place. There are neighbors who I know are living in their homes but don’t have the homestead deduction and are paying the full price in taxes and aren’t protected by the 10% cap.
I was poking around on the Tax Office’s real estate assessment database because a few months back I got a visit (wasn’t home so I called him) from the tax assessor who wanted to know if I made changes. I did, but it seems none of them really matter tax wise. Curiously, being what it is I checked out the assessments of other properties in the area. What owners are taxed at varies, depending on if they are residents or landlords, when they bought, if they are senior citizens or low income, etc. But then I’d see an exceptionally low taxable assessment value in the 10K-20K range, for a small number of owners who bought in the aughts. Not complaining, just observing.
What I will complain about are the dead people paying low property taxes. Mainly because said dead persons are getting the Senior Citizen Homestead Deduction, which means they are paying super low taxes, which is fine if you’re old and typically on a fixed income. However, grammy dies and the kids continue to pay the low tax. This is fine for the first couple of years after a death because of probate and clearing up the estate, which I understand is no easy task. However after say 3 years, the new owners (widow/widower or kids) need to be listed and taxed appropriately. Flipping around on the database there are still a few dead people in the hood paying taxes, according to the Social Security Death Index, which the Office of Tax and Revenue doesn’t seem to bother to check.

I was going to write up properties getting the Homestead or Senior Citizen Homestead deduction with owners names that are listed in the Social Security Death Index, but that was too much work. I didn’t get past 3 northern Truxton block before I got bored.
Instead I’m going to complain about the Senior Citizen Homestead deduction, two dead people and their real estate taxes. I don’t get it. One dead person, who has been dead for over 5 years, but who has been dutifully paying their real estate taxes is charged less than my aunt (alive) receiving the same deduction. Both properties have the same square footage, the dead person’s house doesn’t have AC. Auntie does have AC, one less bedroom and has a bigger yard. However, according to the City, Auntie’s house is worth $100K less than the dead person and the difference in taxable assessment is $80K. Even though being dead is worse, Auntie is blind and suffering from dementia.
I said two dead people, one is our dead tax payer. The other is my late Uncle R, husband to blind Auntie. They are pictured here back when they were young. Sometime in the 1950s they bought a house in SE DC, and lived there. In the 1990s Uncle R died. Currently Auntie is listed as the owner and it is a logical assumption that previously the house was in Uncle R.’s name, if not both their names. Did that transfer or change in name bump up the taxable amount? Even thought my aunt has been living in the house for nearly 1/2 a century? As far as I can tell dead person in Truxton was there from the 1940s or sometime after the 1930 census.
I can’t see why my demented blind widowed aunt pays more in real estate taxes than a dead person for a house worth less.

Well like many people I got my tax bill and my assessment. It seems that, according to the city, my house will be worth almost $10K less in 2010, compared to 2009. Oh well.
I’m not too concerned as it is not a jump but a shuffle. When I bought the house, several years ago, I’ve seen the city assessment of the value jump $50-$100K each year. This might be the first sign that the peak is over. It doesn’t however slow the 10% increase cap, which I noticed continues to go up. I bought the house before prices in the neighborhood shot up, and it is that lower value the cap was based on. That lower value has gone up about 10%.
Looking at my neighbors assessments, and really who doesn’t look at the neighbor’s assessments, the increases and decreases have been minimal on my block. Minimal as in a couple hundred dollars, $1K max, if any change.
Oh for anyone planning to fight their assessment, note that the city is placing a greater value on the land, not the house (aka improvements). So it won’t matter too much if the house next door is nicer. For some odd reason your land is worth $200K and your house is worth $100K. Same with the badly maintained rental up the street. See for yourself at the DC Assessment database.

I was glancing at the 2008 Tax Sale Properties and I noticed some familiar names on the list and so, not to name names, please check. Some of the amounts are small, like a few hundred dollars small, which leads me to believe that your mortgage company didn’t adjust for the taxes. So check. Seriously. Check.
Why was I looking? I was looking to see what empty lots were listed. I want a garden. More realisticly, I want to fantasize about getting an empty lot via a tax sale and turing it into a garden.