Oh, and while we're on the subject, what can I do to lower my real estate tax? Myb assessment has gone up 46% in five years.
Do your comparisons to other homes in your neighborhood. There should be a process with your county to argue the correctness of your assessment. One of my co-workers successfully got his assessment lowered significantly. I can't remember exactly how much but he went to the county's public records office and got the assessments for the other houses in his neighborhood and was able to prove this his assessment was too high.
welcome to the club...