Lansing MI Property Tax

[Jacob Greenhoe]

Hello all, I will get an answer on this tomorrow from my lender but this community never surprises me when it comes to being helpful with questions so thought I'd try getting a little more immediate clarity.  I'm in the process of purchasing a property in Lansing, MI and just got my fee worksheet back from the lender.  The amount listed for Real Estate Taxes as a line item in the monthly estimate is $250/mo.  Yikes!  I'm very new to all of this, so I'm hoping that the fee worksheet is indeed just an estimate.  To give some insight on the property, It's 2 br single family 48915 zip code with a purchase price under 50K, so it's not as if it's in a pricey area.  Anyone with some knowledge of the Lansing area that has an idea, I'd more than appreciate your thoughts.  Thank you!

[Greg Scott]

@Jacob Greenhoe  Michigan taxes are tricky because tax increases are capped during ownership.  When the property is sold, they become uncapped and can rise substantially.

When you go to the count / city site and look at the values, there is the key:

- Taxable Value is what the current owner is paying

- State Equalized Value is what is on the state's books as the worth of the property

Taxable Value will never be above SEV and could be substantially below.  Say, for example, the Taxable Value is $50K but the SEV is $100K. When you buy, the Taxable Value will shoot up to SEV (or potentially higher if they base it on the sales price).  In this example, be prepared for your taxes to double.