Speaker 1:
Do not miss this video, if you are a Utah Homeowner, or you’re thinking about buying a house in Utah in 2022, because today I am talking about something that took everybody in the industry by surprise this week. And that is property taxes.
Hi, this is Melissa Ballman, and I’m a real estate agent here in the greater Salt Lake City area. What that means: if you’re looking at making a real estate move, I’d love to connect with you. Shoot me a text, send me an email. Do what you got to do, but get in touch with me. But first, today I want to talk about something that shocked so many people, real estate agents, everybody, this week. And that was the assessor’s office came out with property values for 2022 in preparation for your tax bill that’s coming in November. And it is shocking.
Okay, this week, Salt Lake County and Utah County publish the home values. And that is going to be sent for your property taxes. Now, every year you get a notice in the mail with your proposed property tax increase and if it were to stay the same.
I don’t know what they’re doing. They don’t have any of that information available yet. But I would always count on a tax increase because it seems like every year it says “proposed,” and every year it goes through. Just know that I don’t have hard figures for actual increases, but it’s something you need to start considering and planning for. Because even if you have a mortgage, this is really going to impact you, come the end of the year, beginning of 2023, with what you pay on your mortgage.
To give you an example, my townhouse in Draper saw about a $96,000 value increase for 2022. Now, I know that Salt Lake County and Utah county give a 45% discount on what your home value is, if it is your primary residence and for up to one acre of land. Now, I’m sure other counties do something similar, so make sure you read the fine print on those assessor’s pages to see what the rules are outside of Salt Lake and Utah County. So, even though the property was valued $96,000 more, year over year, I will get that 45% credit. And you will too, if it’s your primary residence.
Now, I have a friend in Saratoga Springs that her property value from 2021 to 2022 is now showing almost a $164,000 increase in value. Somebody else I know in Lehigh, a hundred thousand dollar increase in value. You might be asking, “Melissa, why are we talking about property taxes that are due November 30th, and it’s barely June?” Well, the reason for that is you need to be prepared. If you own your home outright, be prepared for a higher tax bill. Maybe it’s only two, three, $400, but you may be one of those people that could see a thousand dollars plus increase in your home value. So, you need to plan ahead. If you have a mortgage, your mortgage company is going to pay that for you at the end of November. And then, come about January, February, you’re going to get a letter from your mortgage company saying, “You had an escrow shortage because of property taxes going up.” And you now are going to see an increase in your mortgage payment to make that up.
So, not only are they going to have to collect what they paid different, that they didn’t plan on in ’21, but they’re also going to add the increase, anticipating that higher amount for 2022. It would not be unreasonable for some people to see a hundred dollars, $200 a month increase on their mortgages next year in ’23. And that can really affect people really badly. So, start counting on that coming.
Now, I want to put that in perspective for you, the two examples I gave you. The friend in Saratoga Springs, who went up almost $164,000 from ’21 to ’22. A typical increase, like the year before, from 2020 to 2021, was about $28,000. You’re talking almost six times what a normal increase was in one year. So, keep that in mind. Most houses appreciate, according to the assessor’s office, 20, $30,000 a year; not a hundred, 200, $300,000, like some people are seeing.
If you have any real estate-related questions, reach out to me. I’m always here to help. You can just Google “Salt Lake County property tax assessor,” and you can look up your own property for Salt Lake County, Utah County, whatever county you’re in. If you haven’t already, make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel. And click the bell. That way, you’re alerted each week, when I drop a new video.
Now, you may be asking, “Well, I can appeal it.” You could. But the way the properties are selling and the values people are getting, I don’t know how successful people will be with that appeal process. And looking at my house and looking at the other two houses that I mentioned, it’s still less than what they could actually sell their property for.
I have heard others saying that the assessor was higher than what they could sell for. So, if you need help with something like that, I’m always here to help you and can help steer you in that direction. I can’t do it for you. But I’m here. Call text, email, whatever’s best for you. But as always, make it a great day.
