I’ve had many questions over the years about property taxes in Greensboro and how they’re figured, how they relate to market value, how a homeowner pays them, etc.,

Seeing as how I’m getting ready to pay our property taxes for this year (gulp) I thought it was a good time to write about the topic.

[I'll be writing about how property taxes are handled in the Guilford County, North Carolina market. Your mileage may vary]

Property taxes are figured by multiplying the tax rate by your property’s tax value. Both of these numbers are determined by the county and/or city. Within Guilford County, as with most places, there are different tax rates depending on location, municipal services available, fire district and various factors. The tax rate can be and usually is adjusted every year and is determined by the city and county budgets. The powers that be figure out how much will be spent on services and so how much must be charged in property taxes.

The tax value is determined once every 8 years. Yes, that’s 8 (e-i-g-h-t) years. That’s the maximum number of years allowable by North Carolina law and Guilford County uses every bit of them. What happens is that appraisals are done on representative properties throughout the county and the surrounding properties are adjusted based on the subject property. Thus is born the tax value.

What can be deceiving to buyers is that the tax value can be pretty far afield from the market value. This is because the tax value is “updated” only once in eight years. Fortunately, in Guilford County, market value (what people have been paying for houses based on market conditions) has steadily increased. You might see a home that sells for $210,000 and the tax value is $168,700.BTW, this is a reason that sites like zillow.com and others don’t necessarily reflect accurate market values on homes. The data is pulled from tax records and Greensboro tax records will show what a municipal appraiser valued a house at in about 2004 or so. You can see properties that have actually sold recently as well. Just be aware that some of the data should be used as a tool in determining the price range of a neighborhood - not the last word on it.

In Guilford County, the city of Greensboro has the highest tax rate. For this, we have trash pick up, city water and sewer services, complete fire and police coverage, street maintenance and various other services. The more remote or rural the part of the county, the lower the tax rate. And for this, properties in the outlying areas may be on well and septic systems, have to pay for trash removal, may have different fire coverage, and so on.

So, what ARE taxes in Guilford County?

For 2007, the top property tax rate is $1.32640/$100 of value. That means if a house is valued at $100,000 and it’s taxed at the City of Greensboro rate, the annual tax bill will be $1,326.40.

If the house is in, say, the Whitsett community (northeast of Greensboro) the annual tax bill will be more like $754.00

You can get more information and detail about all this at the Guilford County tax department site.

And remember that in most cases, your mortgage bill will include your property taxes (and homeowners insurance). In the case of the Greensboro house noted above, your mortgage payment would include 1/12 of the annual taxes, or about $113.

That’s the “T” in the phrase “P.I.T.I“, which is mortgage-speak that the mortgage payment will include Principal. Interest. Taxes. Insurance. The mortgage company collects money throughout the year and when the bill is sent out, they pay it.

All of this can seem confusing if you’ve never had to think about it before. Post a question or email me if you like. And remember that, while only death and taxes are certain in this life, paying taxes is the preferable burden!

Wow. The economic news couldn’t be weirder.

What usually happens is that the real estate market follows whatever the heck is happening in the economy in general. That means, if the economy has taken a hit due to stocks, gas prices, war…whatever….the housing market may follow. But what is happening now is that the real estate market is impacting the economy.

This is bass-ackwards.

But it’s true.

As with many other aspects of modern life, we live in interesting times.

Fine. What does this all mean to you? All you want to do is buy a house. You just want to own the place you’re paying for every month.

What all this means is…..

…Almost nothing. At least, not if you’re intending to buy a house in MOST of the country that isn’t southern California, Florida, Arizona, Michigan and a couple of other places where housing values have dropped in the last few moths.

Greensboro, NC and the surrounding areas have been stable. We’re always stable. We’re pretty boring. And right about now, when real estate drama is making headlines, boring is cool.

There’s plenty of inventory.

Interest rates are awesome (about 6%-6.5%)

Sellers are more freaked than you could possibly be as a buyer.

This is a classical “buyer’s market”. These don’t come along all that often. This is historic.

And it’s in your favor. So go for it.

If you have a job, pay your bills on time and want to own your own home, there have been few better times to try.