How do I find accurate property tax

Question

I am trying to find how much property tax I would pay on any given property. I have a spreadsheet with the property tax amount and I have tried 2 online places and I get 3 different numbers.

What is the best way to get an independent impartial tax rate?

John Daley · Answer

When buying and rehabbing a property, the tax rates can change for a variety of different reasons.  I have purchased properties that were county appraised at $70k, rehabbed them, then appealed the taxes based on my purchase price, repairs, and area comps to reduce their appraised value to $45k.  This is great as I plan to hold it long term.  On the other hand, the county can also increase the taxes based on the improvements you've made...it all has to do with whether the previously assessed value was accurate and what the market values are in that neighborhood.  In Jackson County MO you can appeal the tax assessment within 45 days of purchase (or similar time frame, please double check me on this) and have your taxes adjusted accordingly.  It's safest to estimate taxes based on the market value of the property after rehab and use that as your ballpark.  If your numbers are so tight that there is not enough margin to absorb $100-$400/yr in additional expenses it's probably not worth getting into in the first place.

Carrianne Mucho · Answer

@Joe Koppel

http://kcmo.gov/tax/property-taxes/  Here is the link to KC's tax collector.  It shows a schedule of rates and there is a phone number you can contact them.  If you're looking for absolute confirmation, I'd recommend contacting them with the property address or parcel number and intended sale price to find out.

Marissa Carroll · Answer

Just in general, you can type in the county name and GIS. Larger county GIS systems should have a ton of info. For example, Jackson county MO and Johnson county KS gis sites are incredibly informative.

Elizabeth Wilson · Answer

@Joe Koppel - That's strange.    I simple look at the assessors website for what a property has been assessed and what taxes are due/paid.  I don't even look at the tax rate %.

There should be plenty of Kansas City folks here on BP to help you out.

Best of luck!  Let us know what you learn about all of this!

Joe Koppel · Answer

This is the point...there is no way to know a real number. If I'm evaluating a rental property out of state to buy it would be nice to know with certainty what the tax rate is.

I have looked at many to see what the tax rate is according to the turn key company and it is an accurate number what they paid the year before but if you look up the tax rate online for the county it is a significantly different amount. It can be the difference between making a property worth it or not.

Elizabeth Wilson · Answer

@Joe Koppel -  we buy foreclosures and use the number from the tax assessors website.  Sure it may go up after we rehab it but we've also had them lowered because of mistakes that the other owners didn't take the effort to fix.  There should just be one official tax record.

Joe Koppel · Answer

I can't go by a current tax bill because it was distressed foreclosed property and the last tax bill was for a way smaller price then the current value. I'm surprised that there isn't a site that you can just put in the zip code and get in seconds. There is a site like this but since I can query it several ways and get different numbers I don't know what to trust.

Joe Koppel · Answer

No its out of state KC MO

How do I find accurate property tax

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