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Rounding up and fuzzy math makes it a fraction over 10% every year (except that one, big woo) and that small fraction adds up. Same job, no major improvements, and within price range as mortgage paid off within 5 years. With the fair market values climbing here, there’s no end in sight to our tax increases. Great if I wanted an investment property but this was supposed to be our last home. So, bring on the housing crisis!

You might argue that if the price was reduced for house-holding accounts, then the amount of house-holding accounts would increase, but EA would consider that a huge risk.

You're in the same boat I'm in, we made the mistake of buying in a nice neighborhood where values keep going up, and we are still a few years from being able to lock up some taxes. We don't have to deal with home owners association fees or anything, but we still have to deal with the fact that we bought in a neighborhood that was growing in value much faster than we expected. Quite a few neighbors have had to sell their homes and move elsewhere unfortunately. Somebody the age of our kids wouldn't have a chance in our area.

Our house in Memorial (a desirable area in Houston) went up over five fold in value over 30 years. That is roughly a 5 to 6% annual increase in value compounded every year. Fortunately my salary and perks increased even more during that period.

If you've had 10% increases in your house value for a great many years, count yourself lucky particularly in this housing market. You must live in a desirable area for it to have gone up that much. Either that or it was grossly undervalued or undertaxed when you bought it or inherited it.

My parents were paying low taxes on their Texas house because they were in their 80s and their taxes had been partially frozen since they were 65 (I think school taxes are frozen to help seniors). There was a great jump in taxes on the house (over a factor of two) when one of my siblings inherited the house after both parents died. That tax increase brought the house's tax rate and assessed value back in line with what other folks who were not seniors were paying.

You can always sell your house and move to a more affordable area if you are getting pinched. Don't blame the march of time and inflation and/or your good choice of a house location on Perry.