Relative Tax Rates

[ryan]

I'm in the process of buying a house in the city, and I was shocked to find that the yearly property taxes are going to be around $3300. I expected Buffalo to be cheaper.

Is there a comparison somewhere that shows relative tax rates between cities/counties/states/etc?

[CSense]

The city of buffalo is a deal under two specific criteria...

1. If you don't have children
2. If you find a decent neighborhood

There are only two decent elementary schools (Olmsted EC and Discovery). There are no good Middle schools. As for high school, City Honors is it, Hutch Tech is losing it's standing daily.

Seeing that your anticipated taxes are somehwere around $3,300, you are looking to buy a home around $180,000+ using the 18.24 tax rate, which doesn't include county taxes. Which bodes well in terms of the neighborhood, that is unless you didn't do your homework.

You will roughly pay between 2% to 4% more in suburbia but that has to do with school tax not property tax.

[ryan]

The city of buffalo is a deal under two specific criteria...

1. If you don't have children
2. If you find a decent neighborhood

There are only two decent elementary schools (Olmsted EC and Discovery). There are no good Middle schools. As for high school, City Honors is it, Hutch Tech is losing it's standing daily.

Seeing that your anticipated taxes are somehwere around $3,300, you are looking to buy a home around $180,000+ using the 18.24 tax rate, which doesn't include county taxes. Which bodes well in terms of the neighborhood, that is unless you didn't do your homework.

You will roughly pay between 2% to 4% more in suburbia but that has to do with school tax not property tax.

That's actually all of the taxes, including Erie County, calculated per:
http://www.ci.buffalo.ny.us/files/1_...010TAXRATE.pdf

[CSense]

That's actually all of the taxes, including Erie County, calculated per:
http://www.ci.buffalo.ny.us/files/1_...010TAXRATE.pdf

#1
18.44 city (includes school)
1.75 sewer
5.40 county
25.59 tax rate/$3,300 = $128,956 house value or purchase price

#2
$180,000 (value/purchase price) x 25.59 = $4,602 in annual taxes

[Save Us]

I'm in the process of buying a house in the city, and I was shocked to find that the yearly property taxes are going to be around $3300. I expected Buffalo to be cheaper.

Is there a comparison somewhere that shows relative tax rates between cities/counties/states/etc?

for the house you get it is cheaper, as Csense says it just has to be in a decent neighbor hood. Some Charter schools are decent.

Then again some of the crap that goes on in the Amherst, Lancaster and Clarence public school system isn't so hot either

[ryan]

Well, seeing that I don't plan on having kids for some time I should be alright. If/when I do they're either getting home-schooled or going to a private/catholic school.

For what it's worth, the house is near Starin and Hertel.

[JoeCitizen]

I'm in the process of buying a house in the city, and I was shocked to find that the yearly property taxes are going to be around $3300. I expected Buffalo to be cheaper.

Is there a comparison somewhere that shows relative tax rates between cities/counties/states/etc?

I don't know if there's a chart but I can tell you that the Kenmore/Tonawanda school district taxes will kill you as will Williamsville. The City of Tonawanda taxes are relatively high too. I am told West Seneca and Orchard Park are high

The Sweet Home school district is a deal.

Overall, you won't find cheaper taxes than in the City but you trade off low taxes for a gamble with the public schools. The public schools can be great if you know how to play Magnet School roulette or find a decent Charter School

[Save Us]

Well, seeing that I don't plan on having kids for some time I should be alright. If/when I do they're either getting home-schooled or going to a private/catholic school.

For what it's worth, the house is near Starin and Hertel.

outstanding neighborhood, friendly people, close to everything,

good choice

[Yodan731]

$3300 aint bad, I live near Starin and Hertel and pay $5100. But, you can afford more house in the city, because the taxes are cheaper.

Sweet home might be a deal, but that district is getting pretty bad. Really, only 1 or two of their schools are decent. There are multiple city schools that are ranked higher by Buffalo Business First than some of the Sweet Home Schools. FL Olmsted and Tapestry Charter are two that I can think of in the city that rank very high.

[gorja]

Originally posted by ryan:
I'm in the process of buying a house in the city, and I was shocked to find that the yearly property taxes are going to be around $3300. I expected Buffalo to be cheaper.

Is there a comparison somewhere that shows relative tax rates between cities/counties/states/etc?

Try this-
http://www.erie.gov/ecrpts/pdfs/county_tax.pdf

[nickelcityhomes]

Ryan, Starin and Hertel is a good neighborhood. Values are increasing in some situations. I'm glad you decided to find something in that neighborhood as opposed to the marginal areas near Richmond you mentioned before.

Will the final sale price be less than the current assessed value? If so, you have a strong case when challenging the assessment, as long as the sale was fair market. It becomes more challenging on private sales (not disclosed in the MLS) and REO sales.

If you have a chance, provide the GLA, age, beds, baths, and garage spaces of the house you are buying. It's easy enough to review the tax rates on comparable properties in that area. Maybe you are paying too much, or maybe you should just keep your mouth shut. I'd be interested to see the range of taxes in that neighborhood. Depending upon the exact location, the tax may be heavily influenced by the properties near Depew Ave.