Need some info an property taxes

[TheDan]

thorkyl, I don't think the title company missed anything. I found some stuff about me being responsible for rollback taxes in the mountain of paperwork I signed. Of course at the time I had no idea what "rollback" taxes were, so this will be an expensive lesson.

TxDad, thanks for the link. I had tried other property searches, but that one is more detailed. It looks like the difference between having the "open space" exemption(which is what it was) and not is about $450/yr. I'm guessing that I'll be owing the county about $2500.

I could still get a couple cows and file for the exemption, but I'm not sure if it'll be worth it. Sure a couple cows would cost less than $2500, but my tank is dry and my grass is dead. I'd have to pay for feed and water. Not sure there will be a cost benefit there. Plus the appraiser could still deny my claim. I have about another week or so to decide on what I'm going to do.

The premise is to keep someone from holding land as Ag use, then converting it to residential/commercial just before building on it. LOTS of developers used to do it that way to avoid taxes as long as possible. Government being what it is, they came up with the "back taxes" "fix"......

That's not the case here... house was built in '75. I find it interesting that their "fix" wouldn't even effect the developers, but does effect the buyers. Just doesn't seem right to me, but hey that's the government for you.

 

[TxDad]

I hope you get it worked out. I know a few people that have land and like you said, they are having problems finding food/water for the cows or what have you. Thats a pain that I sure wouldnt want if I wasnt using them as any kind of income. I hear almost weekly how this person sold of so much cattle cause its hard to find their foods.
Good luck.