Planning for property taxes when buying a home

Benjamin Franklin once said that taxes are one of only two certainties in this world, so it would be unwise for any buyer to purchase a home without taking them into account.

Property taxes are often one of the most significant expenses facing a homeowner after their mortgage payment. Tara Nicholle-Nelson, writing for HGTV FrontDoor, says the property tax is levied each year based on the value of your home, with the payments going to support the municipal budget and services such as the schools, public works, and police and fire coverage in your community.

In Connecticut, the assessed value is set at 70 percent of the property's fair market value. A community's property tax is set locally by determining how much revenue is needed from the community's taxable property to fund the year's budget.

Buyers should find out how the property tax is calculated in the community of the home they are considering. Marcie Geffner, writing for Bankrate, says the home's value is often based on the recently assessed value or sales price of the property or the value of comparable homes in the area. A real estate agent can usually tell you what the previous owner paid in property taxes, and you can ask if any exemptions were figured into the final cost.

Using this information, buyers can find out how much they'll likely need to pay in property taxes. Craig Dinofrio, writing for the National Association of Realtors, says you can also check the records at the local assessor's office to find out what the property's assessed value is. Once you know this value and the municipality's tax rate, you'll be able to calculate how much you'll pay in taxes on the property. You can also research the year to year changes in the tax rate to see how stable it is and how much it might increase in the future.

Geffner says buyers should find out if the sale of the home will trigger a reassessment or if the municipality is planning a reassessment of home values in the near future. If you plan to make significant renovations to the property, you should also find out if these will lead the tax assessor to increase the home's assessed value.

You can prepare for your property taxes simply by setting aside some money in savings to make the payment, but perhaps the most common strategy to pay the tax is to set up an escrow account. Dinofrio says your lender will estimate your property taxes, and often some other costs such as insurance, and set aside one-twelfth of this cost every month. Under this method, the costs are met with less stress to the homeowner and there is less risk to the lender that the home will go into foreclosure because the owner cannot pay their property taxes.

You should still keep a close eye on the escrow account if you set one up. You'll want to make sure the lender is paying your property taxes on time, since they might just pass the late fee on to you if they miss the deadline. Geffner says you should look for any overcharges in the account and ask for an explanation if they occur.

Several forms of property tax relief are also available for homeowners. Connecticut offers both exemptions, which lower the value of the property subject to tax, and abatements, which reduce the amount of taxes that have to be paid.

Exemptions are available to veterans as well as homeowners who are blind or disabled. Abatements include a "circuit breaker" program to set a cap on property taxes for residents who are totally disabled or over 65 years old and whose income does not exceed a certain limit. Municipalities can also establish programs to offer abatements to non-salaried emergency workers or the spouses of firefighters or police officers who die in the line of duty.

Connecticut allows municipalities to set up tax deferral programs to offer temporary relief from property taxes when the taxes exceed 8 percent of a homeowner's income. When this occurs, the property tax due is placed on the property as a lien and must be repaid with 6 percent interest upon the sale or transfer of the property.

Another option is to appeal the tax assessment if you don't think it fairly reflects the value of the home. Most municipalities have boards or commissions to hear from a homeowner on factors affecting the home's value.