Huh.

[badseed1980]

Whaddaya know. You'd think I'd have figured out before now that Somerville has a residential exemption on property taxes. In the range we're looking at, this would cut property taxes to less than half what I was thinking they would be. Boy, finding out something is LESS expensive than you thought? Pretty sweet! This all happened because instead of going to the real estate office's website, I went to the website for a property we've been looking at, and it listed taxes with a note saying "without residential exemption." Oh? Really? I did some Googling, some checking, some calculating, and ended up happy.

Comments

[pir.livejournal.com]

Good news :) Do allow for the things that get missed or are larger than you expect, though. There's always something, alas.

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

Of course there are, unfortunately. But one thing that is the opposite is a bit of a bright spot. :)

[library-sexy.livejournal.com]

The Residential Exemption is not guaranteed for every year as it look to me like it is voted on each year. For 2008 you need to be the owner and living in the house by 1/1/08 and there is paperwork you need to fill out.

Saving money is always good.

[vanguardcdk.livejournal.com]

Yay on happy surprises! :)

[tisana.livejournal.com]

So...wait..."Residential exemption" from the property tax means you don't pay the tax, right? So would "without residential exemption" mean that you do have to pay the tax because exemption doesn't apply?

[badseed1980.livejournal.com]

No, residential exemption means you pay the tax, but in a lower amount than you would if you owned the property but didn't live in it. The agent listing the property doesn't know if the person buying it is going to be living in it or not, so if they list taxes, they tend to list the entire tax amount, not the reduced amount that would be paid by someone who lived in the property. This site simply notifies you that this is the entire tax amount, NOT including the reduction you get if you live there.