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mrslynncaroline__

Property tax question for new builds

6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago

Hello! If you're from Illinois or another highly taxed state, did the property taxes make you think twice before you decided to build? We live in southern Illinois and currently enjoy relatively low property taxes because our home is older. If we build the home we've planned, I estimate that our property taxes would increase from $3,000 per year to $8,000. We were certain we wanted to build, but those property taxes are making me second guess our decision! We farm and Illinois is home, so there is no chance of moving out of state. Anyone else here have the same thoughts?

Comments (16)

  • 6 years ago

    Definitely. New York here. we are still not fully sure what our tax consequences will be. But our home value is going from about 100k to about 300, so 3x taxes. Probably 12k per year.


    We built anyway. Would have has to purchase an existing of similar cost otherwise so unless we move thats what taxes are. We needed to upsize as 900 sq ft wasn’t cutting it with a kid.


    the Appraised value of our build isn’t much more than an existing house of similar size and location. You are not taxed on the build cost but rather the appraised value. So it isn’t the building that increases taxes as much as the increased value due to newness and better finishes. Depending on your location and finishes the difference might not be so much. For us the difference is negligible


    also you don’t have to share appraisals with the town here. If your appraisal is higher you can keep that information To yourself and see what the town estimates.

  • 6 years ago

    Yeah. I'm in Central Texas, and our property taxes here are outrageous. On an assessed value of $270k (tract home), the annual bill is around $8.5k.

    We want to build custom, though, with a budget of almost double our tract home price. Which means double the tax. :-O It's VERY hard to swallow $17k a year in *just* taxes. Now, we don't have state income tax here, so there is that. But still. It stings a little, lol.

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Taxes were a significant reason we left Illinois 5 years ago so I completely understand your hesitation. Wish I had some advice for y

  • 6 years ago

    I'm in DuPage county and $8k taxes would be a dream :) We did a large addition knowing that our taxes would go up. (What I couldn't foresee what HOW MUCH they'd go up, and the fact that I'd lose my husband to cancer the same year and be on my own financially.) If you're interested in a bit more about taxes, I successfully appealed my tax increase last year (they went down a couple grand instead of going up.) So here's more info than you might want, but maybe will be helpful.

    The property tax assessment (at least here) includes the land assessment and building assessment. Land assessment is affected by acreage, location, and probably other factors, but your land assessment shouldn't be affected unless something has changed.

    The building assessment includes neighborhood, square feet, number of bathrooms and full or partial (they count # of fixtures), size of garage, size of basement and whether fully, partially, or not finished, construction type (all brick, frame and brick, etc.), year built, and tax rate. (I did a spreadsheet to compare my house with various comps, and those are the factors I got from the tax records online.) IIRC the tax rate can be affected by things like whether you're a senior citizen or a disabled veteran (those factors knocked out some of my potential comps but I'm not sure whether it was reflected in the tax rate or something else.) Since your project would be an addition, you shouldn't be taxed the same as a brand new home that has all other factors the same. Since your workers will hopefully be pulling permits, the assessors will probably know if you add square footage and bathroom(s) and that's where some of your increase will happen.

    In any case, I'd encourage you to look into appealing your taxes after you build (here the appeals time frame starts around October, and I spent a few weeks prior to gather all the info I used.) If nothing else, it helped me understand more about how mine are calculated. I wish I had done it a few years ago!

  • 6 years ago

    Taxes go up, that is how it works. We went from paying $649 for just a piece of farmland to just over $6K once the house was finished. I am just glad that farmland is so deeply undervalued for tax purposes and they only assessed the new house at about half what we actually paid. If you add up what the land and house actually cost, our taxes would be nearly $15K.


    Yes we thought about it since the taxes on our old home was just under $2K, however this is our dream/forever home and the farm rental income pays for half the taxes so its not so bad.


    What makes me so mad are the dang school taxes. I have never had children using the system yet taxes are so high, and every other year the school claims they need a new pool, or a new gym or a entire new building and the voters seem to blindly give them millions of dollars. Schools are important yes, but they DO NOT need new stuff every year, especially since the numbers of children attending are actually going DOWN every year around here!

  • 6 years ago

    Property taxes were definitely a factor in our decision. We live in Texas with obscenely high property tax rates. We had an opportunity to buy a lot, build a custom house, sell our house and come out with zero mortgage. Sounds great, but our property taxes went from 11K/year to 20K/year, almost doubling. So we had to increase our monthly savings to about the amount of our old mortgage, so it ended up being a financial wash. We get to live in a new, custom home but was still a hard pill to swallow when the annual bill came due. :(

  • 6 years ago

    Thank you all so much for the input! This is very helpful. @gthigpen, we are in a very similar situation as you describe. It's so maddening to think about those property taxes though. You work hard to make something nice for yourself and your neighborhood, and you're penalized for having something nice. The nicer the more penalty. That's how it feels to me anyway.

  • 6 years ago

    Come to Indiana, still under 1%, Thank you governor Mitch Daniels. 4200 sq ft. + 1900 sq ft. Basement= 330k + 3500/year.

  • 6 years ago

    OH @BT how I wish we could! Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky... I would go to any of those states if I could.

  • 6 years ago

    Dallas County = 2.7% Ugh

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    I totally feel your pain, gthigpen. My tax rate is 3.07 per $100 valuation. :-(

    I live outside city limits, but within a governing entity referred to as a "municipal utility district," and the rate is actually higher than if I lived in a nearby city/town. Most unfortunate. Not all MUDs are that high. Just mine. Sigh.

  • 6 years ago
    last modified: 6 years ago

    Yes. We must be crazy!



    Multiply assessed value by total rate.

    The average selling price for a detached re-sale home in our community north of Toronto in October was C$1,150,300 (US$874,228).

    If we do this build, property taxes will rise from C$11K to between C$26,392.88 and C$32,000.

    (That's why I will continue driving my 16 year-old pickup.)

  • 6 years ago

    ODD, your over $3.00/100 is really high! Austin County (Bellville) is just under $2.00/100.

  • 6 years ago

    From TX, and our property tax is pretty high. But you can, and should protest your tax appraisal every year. Sometimes the market is down, and you can show comparables. They dont automatically adjust it. Its It's free to protest and they generally knock down the appraised price. Its It's the same issue whether you are building or buying a more expensive property.

  • 2 years ago

    I see this post was dated years ago, but are there any changes in taxes for new builds? I've tried to look online, but couldn't find anything. Please, help!