Tips & Tricks to minimize property taxes?

[Mitchel]

Hi. I'm one of those people smart in some ways but bad with money. Now in my lower 40s, having been mostly self-employed as a contractor, probably been working below what I should have, yada yada, basically I still haven't saved anything for retirement. I'm planning to start saving real soon if I can and I'm thinking my best shot to not become homeless one day is to come up with a super cheap house to live in. I see a lot of property taxes even for cheap houses are thousands per year (I'm in PA). Basically it comes down to about $300 or more per month and if I'm supposed to pay health insurance, food, etc. then just the property taxes alone could be bad for me if I'm living on a super small income.
My plan is to buy a small property and build myself a small crappy house and to the point that I don't owe any money on it. Then try to save for retirement and live somewhere decent but if I can't, then fall back on the small crappy house so that at least I won't be homeless.

Finally to my question. Are there any tips and tricks to keep property taxes as low as possible?
One of my thoughts are ceiling heights. I actually prefer low ceilings and if I make most of the rooms too low (I'm thinking 6' & 5") then perhaps I can have living space that doesn't actually count towards property taxes, like if officially it's a storage room but unofficially it's an office or like a dining room or something. Maybe I can even get away with a dropped ceiling so if I do have to sell it, then I can remove them to increase the value.

What about keeping drywall unpainted, or painting graffiti on the outside of the house (just thinking outside of the box). I really don't know this stuff and I imagine an appraiser might know some good tricks to "hurt" the value of the home but still keep it a decent livable place Many thanks for any advice!

 

[Artemis Fowl]

Lol. Assessors may not necessarily use ANSI standards. I'm not a PA assessor so not sure. It would likely be difficult to secure financing on (also sell) a dwelling with no measurable square footage. Probly not a good idea to purposely build a house with functional obsolescence.

 

[Meandering]

Buy a trailer for cash, no mortgage, live in it, don't take the wheels off. That's the cheapest tax and no mortgage either.

.

 

[Terrel L. Shields]

Finally to my question. Are there any tips and tricks to keep property taxes as low as possible?

Not many. Ceilings won't matter to assessors. Since most never enter the dwelling (not allowed in my state) so interior is a non-issue. They are simply assuming the exterior reflects the interior. So inside you could build a lot higher level of work than exterior and perhaps 'fool' them, but OTOH to sell might require doing some updating. You start by not having central air conditioning. Window air only. Use cheap siding and cheap roofing. Maybe metal roof using a bunch of different colors. Since age is a factor, perhaps finding an old house that needs updates and only updating the interior...Rotting soffits, and most important all, size matters. The smaller the better. 800 SF is literally going to be half that of 1,600 SF. And choose a cheap lot - assessors value land and buildings separately.

Also, i may be wrong but Pennsylvania counties may send you a letter or door knob hanger requesting you fill out information about the heating system, plumbing, number of rooms etc and it is a violation of law to lie on the form. It may also ask about the floor covering so cheap vinyl floor are best (cheapest) and easier to clean than carpet.

You might consider using rolled asphalt over tar paper walls - very old fashion look, especially the old brick pattern stuff. It doesn't last long either so that is a consideration.


Another product is recycled sheets that look like corrugated metal but is 100% recycled plastics. Flexible.

Buy a trailer for cash, no mortgage,

Great solution - buy the lot out of city limits (cities usually add to the property tax) and hey, a 32' travel trailer is very livable for a single person. I worked the oil patch for 20 years doing it. Started with a 22'er. And you can go on vacation taking your home with you.

There is even a rubber like material similar to the corrugated plastic I mentioned. Recycled wood, etc. are options.

 

[JTip]

 

[andrew81]

tldr: make the outside look bad

I am a member of my county board of assessment review and a state certified residential appraiser. This reminds me of a case brought before the board. There was a property with a few acres of hobby farm and a house rated below average condition.

A new owner had recently purchased the property at price lower than the assessment and appealed the assessment based on deferred maintenance. From the exterior it looked below average but livable. They provided interior photos showing many fair to poor condition deferred maintenance items. They said they purchased the property for the land as a hobby farm and had no intention to occupy the home.

We (the board) lowered the assessment to the purchase price based on the evidence provided by the owner.

A few years later. The property sells for more than the prior assessment, but, looks exactly the same on the exterior. The county assessor raised the land value based on land sales, but, the assessment was still short of the recent sale price.

A year or two later, as an appraiser, I am asked by a lender for a mortgage refinance appraisal. The interior had been gutted and remodeled using average to better grade materials.

As an appraiser and a member of the board of review it can be difficult for me to separate my responsibilities. On one hand I know the true condition of the property, but, on the other, I have an ethical obligation not to disclose information found during the appraisal process.

Yes, USPAP allows an appraiser to disclose some non-public information such as property condition. However, as a member of the board of review, the public also needs to trust I will not use either position for the benefit of the other.

I did not inform the county assessor of the interior renovation. If the owner files a complaint to the board, then I will disclose my involvement to the owner, assessor, and recuse myself (because of a potential conflict of interest or lack of impartiality) from the assessment review.

 

[Tiffany Gibbons]

Hi. I'm one of those people smart in some ways but bad with money. Now in my lower 40s, having been mostly self-employed as a contractor, probably been working below what I should have, yada yada, basically I still haven't saved anything for retirement. I'm planning to start saving real soon if I can and I'm thinking my best shot to not become homeless one day is to come up with a super cheap house to live in. I see a lot of property taxes even for cheap houses are thousands per year (I'm in PA). Basically it comes down to about $300 or more per month and if I'm supposed to pay health insurance, food, etc. then just the property taxes alone could be bad for me if I'm living on a super small income.
My plan is to buy a small property and build myself a small crappy house and to the point that I don't owe any money on it. Then try to save for retirement and live somewhere decent but if I can't, then fall back on the small crappy house so that at least I won't be homeless.

Finally to my question. Are there any tips and tricks to keep property taxes as low as possible?
One of my thoughts are ceiling heights. I actually prefer low ceilings and if I make most of the rooms too low (I'm thinking 6' & 5") then perhaps I can have living space that doesn't actually count towards property taxes, like if officially it's a storage room but unofficially it's an office or like a dining room or something. Maybe I can even get away with a dropped ceiling so if I do have to sell it, then I can remove them to increase the value.

What about keeping drywall unpainted, or painting graffiti on the outside of the house (just thinking outside of the box). I really don't know this stuff and I imagine an appraiser might know some good tricks to "hurt" the value of the home but still keep it a decent livable place Many thanks for any advice!

Heck, just buy somebody's 60 year old pole barn and finish one corner inside to live in. That's what people too cheap to live in a real house in rural areas here do, especially one particular county. Unless you pull a permit, the Assessor in that county would never pick it up as anything other than salvage value. Bonus points if it sits back off the road.

 

[sputnam]

Rent

 

[Mitchel]

Hey guys I really love the answers (maybe not the rent one, that's what I'm already doing). @Terrel L. Shields your answer is my favorite, you are painting a really "nice" picture of this dwelling haha but I love all the answers. Believe it or not, these tips have been very valuable to me and I'm going to go for that stuff I think. I'm surprised building away from the road decreases the value, that is a plus for me. Not related but I never understand really rich people building mansions right by the road, I guess so everyone can see them. Me personally I want to be in the woods and have privacy. Thank you very much for the tips! Maybe in 5 years (hopefully less than 10) I will reply with a picture of what I came up with haha.

 

[Meandering]

Well,
if you want to be in the woods, look for an old hunting cabin that might be in need of repairs to buy. That will give you the lowest permanent structure taxes. But also know that the future from the road you are, the more snow you'll have to shovel, so save some money to buy yourself a plow also.

.