TAXES!

I cant believe that the taxes are so high in Nassau County.. I came accross this house, which looks ok, in S. Merrick, it needs a little work but priced accordingly, but the taxes are almost 8000.00 a year!! OMG!! this is horrible.. because even if we love the house we probably now cant take it because of the taxes!!! did anyone else have this problem when looking?

At first, we actually were high fiving over how LOW our taxes were (or so we thought).
It wasn't until later that we found out our taxes would be much higher than what the previous owner was paying, because he got a tax reduction because he was a veteran.
It was too late for us to back out because we were already IN LOVE with the house, so we just rearranged our finances to cover the taxes. It was worth it, because we love our home and our neighborhood.

Have the real estate agent find out the assessed taxes without any Star rebates - our realtor had that info right on the info page she showed us. Also, make sure the $8000 represents the current taxes, since Nassau just went through that reassessment that has so many residents up in arms.

Star gives rebates that can be increased over the basic amount if you are elderly, a veteran, or low income.

Thanks Karen.. i will ask the agent.. i hope that its not more than 8K.. thats just crazy!!!

And i guess i wont get anything for the star, because we are none of the things you listed below.

Ask if those are the REASSESSED taxes. nassau county is going thru a huge reassessment. That could be the 'before' price. I have read Newsday articles about this happening. Some home have had thousands of dollars in tax increases. Just be aware.
STAR program is for EVERYONE, as long as you LIVE in the house. You cannot have STAR if it is an investment home. Also, there is another level of STAR for senior citzens.

Suzanne, there is a basic rebate you get, just because The others are additional if you qualify - so as long as you apply you should get something.

However, the deadlines are coming up - they are different in different towns, and you have to be the homeowner to apply. I think in Brookhaven it's in March - Islip may be the same too. We closed in April of '01, after the deadline so we could apply for the next year, but have to pay the higher taxes until the new tax cycle - I think that may have been with this new year, since our last tax bill was in Dec.

Suzanne, we have the STAR program, and we save about $800.
Unfortunately, that $8000 quote COULD go up. Like Karen said, have your real estate agent look into it for you.
I hope it all works out, and if not, then YOUR perfect house is out there waiting for you!

Thanks Jenn!!! i hope so.. ill let you know!! we are going to look at it tomorrow!!

So how did the Open Huuse hunting go? We just went to contract on a house in BEllmore that was $335. It was small and older but really cute and perfect for what we need right now. The neighborhood was very important to us.

Many times we found houses that we liked in our price range only to find out that they already had accepted bids and that the realtor would take us as a 'back up bid'. That had to be the most fustrating part to me. With this house, I saw the ad on the computer for the first time on a Sat mroning, and was in looking at it two hours later. The owners said that we were the first people to look and by the next day when we placed our bid, DOZENS of other people had looked a it. I think the KEY is getting in to see the houses you are really interested in ASAP!

THe house hunting went great.. we actually found 2 great houses. one in seaford and one in bellmore, we are leaning more towards the one in bellmore.. we actually might put in an offer tonight.. and CONGRATS on the house!!! Maybe well be neighbors? does your family live in bellmore?

Suzanne ... we got the tax quote without any discounts before we closed ... we even called the county to verify ourselves.

But of course, after we closed, we found out that it was even more. We applied for STAR, so we'll see how that is ... but our taxes are almost $6500 without STAR right now!!! Totally ****s and that's without the reassessment .. it will go up slightly!

And being that we paid a little above the reassessed value, we can't grieve our taxes! Big bite in the big one!! But good luck to you ... I hope you're bid gets accepted and it works out for you guys!!!!

You can check the reassessed value at mynassauproperty.com