Real Estate Madness

[glatt]

I'm in Arlington Virginia, just across the river from D.C. It's insane here.

I live in the ugliest, most run-down house on the block. I'm happy with it, but it really is an eyesore in the neighborhood, and much less of a house than everyone else's. We bought it in 1997 for $194,000. It was assessed for tax purposes last month for $452,400. That would be great news for me if I was selling my house and moving to rural Georgia, but I'm not. Since property tax is based on a percentage of the value of the property, my property taxes keep going up. From 2004 to 2005 my assessment went up about 25%. That means my taxes will go up 25% unless the County lowers the tax rate.

A 25% increase in one year is insane. I got a 5% raise in salary last year. The inflation rate is even less than that. And my property taxes are going up by 25% in one year?!

Here's a breakdown of my house's assessed value over the last 7 years since I bought it in '97 for $194K:

Year / Land / Structure / Total Value
2005 $367,500 $84,900 $452,400
2004 $294,000 $74,400 $368,400
2003 $242,400 $75,300 $317,700
2002 $181,800 $72,300 $254,100
2001 $136,400 $69,500 $205,900
2000 $104,900 $84,100 $189,000
1999 $101,800 $81,100 $182,900
1998 $101,800 $81,100 $182,900
1997 $101,800 $81,100 $182,900

It's looking almost like an exponential curve. No way could we afford to buy this house now. I'm damn lucky we bought when we did.