“Not having a mortgage is nice, but I still have to pay the local shakedown/protection racket..... er government once a year.”
Agree 100%. Every time they reassess our home I’m at the courthouse fighting with the assessor, armed with the actual comp sales in the neighborhood. I’m convinced the assessor takes special delight in bumping up the tax values of those homeowners who scrimped, saved, and worked hard to throw off the chains of the mortgage bankers. After all, from his perspective we can afford it having no mortgage!
Our local school kids must be making double digit yearly increases on the SAT tests to match the double digit property tax increase!!
In my county, there are 75% of the populous that have home values off 50 to 70% since the 2007 peak. Out in the country, rural areas, all we ever saw was about a 20% drop. Year after year those living on acreage are carrying twice the load then those in the tightly packed developments do.
Just damn. Same living space can be $3000 a year vs. $1100.
This is Pasco County, Florida, 33523