In Michigan small cottages on Lake Michigan are torn down (except for one foundation brick) and "remodeled." (Easier to get a permit to remodel a house than to build new)
The "remodeled" house is a million dollar mansion.
And the house that was torn down wasn't worth a dollar to the new owners.
And guess what? The neighbors' property values shoot up every time that happens.
The downside is that the neighbors' property taxes shoot up too. I'm being taxed right out of my own home of 17 years because they put 15 million $$$ mansions in the corn field next door to me. Development on the land that they purchased 4 years ago for $6 thousand an acre caused the unbuildable lot behind my home (no access) suddenly to be "worth" (according to the assessor) $30 thousand an acre. The mansions are jammed together into a cul de sac with their minimum lots turned into a nature preserve, for which they are not taxed at my rate.
I peruse the ads daily to see where I could move and find that homes in our area that were selling for $120 thousand when I moved here are now "worth" $450 thousand. There was barely a house available in this area over $300 thousand and now there is nothing under $300 thousand. There are more than 150 homes over a million $$$ now. All that inflation is fine, except that $10,000 - $20,000 property tax bills are attached to each of those houses. That's EVERY YEAR.
We appealed to the assessor about our situation and got a very small reduction after 2 years of arguing. For that concession, I had to give up the rights to my lot -- it was "rolled into" my house site. That meant that essentially I LOST money because I had owned the lot outright, but there was a mortgage on the house. They gave me a tiny tax reduction and then turned around and said that they had forgotten to include my barn in the assessment and raised the assessment right back up. Oh, yes, because I now had a new tax number for the combined properties, I lost my homestead status for the year too!
I might mention that this is a rural area, and the city provides only snow plowing, police, and limited fire protection -- no water, sewer, or garbage.
Frankly, I preferred the corn field!
Bloodsuckers!