Home ownership by default
2 years ago spent months getting rid of the house and junk to be full timers. WELL... My mother in law passed and we got her house. The Good. Taxes and utilities about 2k/year. Place to service RV a...
Forum Discussion
westernrvparkowner wrote:
You may want to revisit those expense figures. It is very hard for me to believe that all the utilities and property taxes only equate to $160/month. It is likely your mother in law had some property tax relief (homestead and/or resident senior citizen) that you may not qualify for. Property taxes are very high in Texas (offset by no state income tax). And you are right, unoccupied property is a magnet for crime. I would sell and if you are concerned about having a permanent place in the future, put the money aside from the sale and use it to buy when and where you want to own.
Property taxes in Texas get frozen for those owners over 65 and there's also a Homestead exemption that can come into play. Most likely the mother-in-law had low taxes because of this, but any new owner would face a tax re-evaluation. Now if the new owners are also over 65 their property taxes could be fixed at that point as well.
Compared to various other States I've lived in, worked in and paid taxes in I don't find the overall taxes all that high here in Texas. It depends on where the property is. A friend of mine had a house on a small lot in Dallas County and she was paying more than twice what I pay for a similar sized home on 1/2 acre in Collin County just north of Dallas.
