# Tough question about non-homestead tax rates



## jackstar (Aug 25, 2007)

Hello Everyone,

I moved up to the Flint area about 4 years ago from out of state and will likely be staying. I enjoy many different outdoor activities and am considering buying a place up north on a lake as a second/vacation home.

Have been digging more into it and am just shocked at how bad the non-homestead tax rates would be on the places I'm looking at as I already have ny homestead exemption on my primary residence. As I'm relatively new to the state, I wondered if there are any ways that this non-homestead rate can be lowered or capped (like a waiver or application?) to make it more reasonable. Is there anything that can be done to get around this or is the rate simply the rate.

The difference in millage rates for the county I'm looking at is 24 homestead and 45 non-homestead.

Thanks for any insight to this question from more veteran Michigan residents, tax, experts, or anybody else!

JS


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## WoW. (Aug 11, 2011)

The PRE (homestead) and Qualified Ag exemption are the same, 18 mils. There is no changing that.

Typically, there is either 100% exemption from the tax or 0% however, it can be anywhere in between, depending upon usage.


So, when you are looking at a prospective purchase, you really do need to consider the uncapping and tax rate to properly determine what your PITI is going to be.


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## jackstar (Aug 25, 2007)

WoW. said:


> The PRE (homestead) and Qualified Ag exemption are the same, 18 mils. There is no changing that.
> 
> Typically, there is either 100% exemption from the tax or 0% however, it can be anywhere in between, depending upon usage.
> 
> ...


WoW,

Thanks for the quick response. Could you explain to me the 0 or 100% issue? One of the places I am looking at right now has been owned by the current people since late 80s and they are looking to sell. There country SEV on the place is laughably low for reasons I don't understand in comparison to what they are asking for the place right now. Even if I got them down some, which I am certain I can, the purchase price would be way higher than the current SEV. They also have it homesteaded as primary residence. If it sells for the new and much higher price, I assume the county will come in, do a new assessment, and taxes will go through the roof. Is there any way to get around that based on what you said?

I really appreciate any insight into this issue as I am pretty new to the state and feel like I am a little behind the eight ball on this particular issue.

JS


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## WoW. (Aug 11, 2011)

jackstar said:


> WoW,
> 
> Could you explain to me the 0 or 100% issue?
> 
> ...




Now, taking this a bit further, what is current SEV and what is asking price?


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## neazor91 (Aug 4, 2008)

You better check into this further. I think the Sev and the taxable value goes to the selling price(what you actually buy it for). They would be one half the selling price. Someone correct me it i'm wrong.

Mike


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## jackstar (Aug 25, 2007)

WoW,

PM sent!


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## jackstar (Aug 25, 2007)

neazor91 said:


> You better check into this further. I think the Sev and the taxable value goes to the selling price(what you actually buy it for). They would be one half the selling price. Someone correct me it i'm wrong.
> 
> Mike


That's what I was assuming too. I figure the township just comes in, looks at purchase price, and then bases it on that. It's quite confusing because I still don't have the nuances of the Michigan tax system down. We just bought our current house and had the homestead exemption that the realtor helped with. Looking into a vacation property is becoming confusing and expensive if the non-homestead rate is really so high!


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## ArrowFlinger (Sep 18, 2000)

MI property taxes are whacked. Neighboring houses of equal value could had dramatically different tax basis. If someone does not move the SEV was capped (which i think was the Headlee Amendment aka prop A) It was a way to slow down tax increases. All it really did was disincentive purchasing a new house when property values were going up. If you think it is bad now, just imagine the people buying 6 years ago. What would have made more sense in to force the assesors to get accurate values and drop the mil rates so the net tax revenue is the same. Then everyone would be paying their fair share instead of the few pay more that the others.

But our government like for us to pay other peoples share, so they will never get it right.


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## jackstar (Aug 25, 2007)

ArrowFlinger said:


> MI property taxes are whacked. Neighboring houses of equal value could had dramatically different tax basis. If someone does not move the SEV was capped (which i think was the Headlee Amendment aka prop A) It was a way to slow down tax increases. All it really did was disincentive purchasing a new house when property values were going up. If you think it is bad now, just imagine the people buying 6 years ago. What would have made more sense in to force the assesors to get accurate values and drop the mil rates so the net tax revenue is the same. Then everyone would be paying their fair share instead of the few pay more that the others.
> 
> But our government like for us to pay other peoples share, so they will never get it right.


They sure are messed up and as a Michigan resident for only about 4 years I can't make heads or tails of them. One of the vacation lake places I am looking at right now has an SEV of $62k (I guess meaning that the township/county assesses the value at $124k). They are asking 300k for the place!!! They have lived there for a long time so maybe they have some kind of understanding with the local assessor, who knows. But my fear is if I were to buy, the transaction makes it go uncapped, the county comes back in, and sees $$$ signs. At the non-homestead rate of 40+ millage the taxes would be insane. I sure wish I understood this better or there were a simpler system.

JS


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## Dave32 (May 4, 2012)

There are two things that start most of the confusion. 
1) taxable value is different in Michigan than SEV. SEV by law, should be one half the actual value of the property. Since properties don't get appraised every year, the SEV can fail to keep up with the market sometimes, but at a sale it will get reset to something very close to the sales price. The only exception is if the assessor feels the sales price was artificially low for some reason and doesn't represent true value. Then you have to fight about it. Taxable value in Michigan cannot increase more than the rate of inflation or 5% in any year ( whichever is less). That means when we have property values going up more than 5% a year, the taxable value can fall well behind the SEV. 
2) the homestead tax rate, the rate paid on the home you live in, is much lower than the non-homestead rate, or the tax rate on property you don't live in. The agricultural rate is also lower.

So, historical taxes on a property you are looking at are meaningless. If the property used to be part of a larger farm, taxed as agriculture, or if it was someone's homestead and the taxable value had fallen behind SEV, then last years taxes have nothing to do with what you will pay. All you can go on is the sales price and the local tax rate to estimate what your new taxes would be.

Caution. I am not a tax expert, just a guy who has been doing research as I plan to buy land. I might not know all the details.


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## jackstar (Aug 25, 2007)

Dave32 said:


> There are two things that start most of the confusion.
> 1) taxable value is different in Michigan than SEV. SEV by law, should be one half the actual value of the property. Since properties don't get appraised every year, the SEV can fail to keep up with the market sometimes, but at a sale it will get reset to something very close to the sales price. The only exception is if the assessor feels the sales price was artificially low for some reason and doesn't represent true value. Then you have to fight about it. Taxable value in Michigan cannot increase more than the rate of inflation or 5% in any year ( whichever is less). That means when we have property values going up more than 5% a year, the taxable value can fall well behind the SEV.
> 2) the homestead tax rate, the rate paid on the home you live in, is much lower than the non-homestead rate, or the tax rate on property you don't live in. The agricultural rate is also lower.
> 
> ...


Dave,
Thanks for the response. You are saying pretty much what I feared. What a terrible disincentive to own anything other than the one homesteaded/primary residence property in Michigan. I know the market here is rough, but this crazy tax system only seems to make it much worse. Based on what you just said and the local millage rate on the lake area we are looking, we might be paying as much as $5500-6000 a year. That is just plain nuts...how does anyone up north expect to sell a nice vacation property to anyone that can't claim the homestead rate?


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## Dave32 (May 4, 2012)

Here is a nice calculator for estimating taxes with all the local rates already plugged in. Just assume the SEV will be half the sales price to get in the right ballpark. 

https://treas-secure.state.mi.us/ptestimator/PTEstimator.asp


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## GullLkRltr (Dec 13, 2005)

Looks like there's still some confusion here...

Jackstar - Take the current SEV for the property you're thinking of buying which you mentioned earlier to be $62,000. Plug that amount into the tax calculator link provided by Dave32. Add in your county, twp, and school and you'll get a close estimate of what your taxes will be at the non homestead rate.
Price you purchase the property for makes no difference. In your case w/ this property, a low SEV is a good thing since when you purchase that property, the low SEV becomes the new taxable rate...


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## Burksee (Jan 15, 2003)

jackstar said:


> Dave,
> Thanks for the response. You are saying pretty much what I feared. What a terrible disincentive to own anything other than the one homesteaded/primary residence property in Michigan. I know the market here is rough, but this crazy tax system only seems to make it much worse. Based on what you just said and the local millage rate on the lake area we are looking, we might be paying as much as $5500-6000 a year. That is just plain nuts...how does anyone up north expect to sell a nice vacation property to anyone that can't claim the homestead rate?


Yup, its nuts but if you wanna play you gotta pay. Made a huge difference in the type of property we purchased. What's even more nuts is the resident "homesteaders" of the township/county are the only ones that get to vote on whether to raise the tax rate on "non-homestead" property and you guessed it, it never gets voted down.


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## roger23 (Jan 14, 2001)

That is why I sold my Cottage in Michigan $6600 tax for something We only used 3 or 4 months a year. we were lucky we sold before everything fell apart..We could never figure out why tax's were higher than if we lived there year round ..


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## ArrowFlinger (Sep 18, 2000)

jackstar said:


> They sure are messed up and as a Michigan resident for only about 4 years I can't make heads or tails of them. One of the vacation lake places I am looking at right now has an SEV of $62k (I guess meaning that the township/county assesses the value at $124k). They are asking 300k for the place!!! They have lived there for a long time so maybe they have some kind of understanding with the local assessor, who knows. But my fear is if I were to buy, the transaction makes it go uncapped, the county comes back in, and sees $$$ signs. At the non-homestead rate of 40+ millage the taxes would be insane. I sure wish I understood this better or there were a simpler system.
> 
> JS


Sounds like they want to sell it for what it was worth 6 years ago. I'm down over 200k in what would have been peak value of my current house. 

A couple of years ago I bought a 2nd house for my kids to live in while they go to college. I paid more in 1990 for about the exact same house in the same area.

In 2010 houses were going for 1985 prices. But all mills have been doubling or tripling because as Burksee states later in the thread the voting idiots keep approving the millage increases. Guess what. City workers need to take pay cuts like everyone else did to keep their jobs.


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## jackstar (Aug 25, 2007)

GullLkRltr said:


> Looks like there's still some confusion here...
> 
> Jackstar - Take the current SEV for the property you're thinking of buying which you mentioned earlier to be $62,000. Plug that amount into the tax calculator link provided by Dave32. Add in your county, twp, and school and you'll get a close estimate of what your taxes will be at the non homestead rate.
> Price you purchase the property for makes no difference. In your case w/ this property, a low SEV is a good thing since when you purchase that property, the low SEV becomes the new taxable rate...



First of all, thanks to everyone who has joined in on this discussion. Second, GullLk has really thrown me for a curve on this one (and your handle looks like you might be a realtor too!). So what you are saying is the opposite of what I thought...that is, if the SEV is really low right now under the current owners it will stay that way even if the property changes hands for much more money when we buy it? I don't want to misunderstand what you are saying. If the SEV stayed at $62k that would be awesome even with the non-homestead millage rate. What I don't get with this though is the "uncapping" process...how does that work then? Doesn't the assessed rate get uncapped when a purchase takes place? How does the current low SEV stay in place? 

What a great website and thanks to everyone for their help with these tricky questions. I really appreciate it.

JS


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## GullLkRltr (Dec 13, 2005)

jackstar said:


> First of all, thanks to everyone who has joined in on this discussion. Second, GullLk has really thrown me for a curve on this one (and your handle looks like you might be a realtor too!). So what you are saying is the opposite of what I thought...that is, if the SEV is really low right now under the current owners it will stay that way even if the property changes hands for much more money when we buy it? I don't want to misunderstand what you are saying. If the SEV stayed at $62k that would be awesome even with the non-homestead millage rate. What I don't get with this though is the "uncapping" process...how does that work then? Doesn't the assessed rate get uncapped when a purchase takes place? How does the current low SEV stay in place?
> 
> What a great website and thanks to everyone for their help with these tricky questions. I really appreciate it.
> 
> JS


In Michigan there are 2 values currently in place on property. One is the "Taxable Value" and the other is the SEV or "State Equalized Value"
The Taxable Value is the amount used for calculating property taxes. The SEV is what they use to determine value 

When a property transfers owners the Taxable Value becomes "uncapped" and it's value then equals the current SEV... So in your example the new Taxable Value would be $62,000 
Yes I've been a Realtor for 22 years...:yikes::coolgleam


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## jackstar (Aug 25, 2007)

GullLkRltr said:


> In Michigan there are 2 values currently in place on property. One is the "Taxable Value" and the other is the SEV or "State Equalized Value"
> The Taxable Value is the amount used for calculating property taxes. The SEV is what they use to determine value
> 
> When a property transfers owners the Taxable Value becomes "uncapped" and it's value then equals the current SEV... So in your example the new Taxable Value would be $62,000
> Yes I've been a Realtor for 22 years...:yikes::coolgleam


PM Sent


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## Dave32 (May 4, 2012)

Tax assessors are not supposed to automatically change the SEV based on the sale price, but they are legally allowed to reasses the property. In practice, a sale for significantly more than double the SEV usually triggers an assessment, and your new SEV ends up very close to half the purchase price. 
SEV is supposed to be based on the true value, and it is hard to deny the value is higher if you just paid that much.


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## jackstar (Aug 25, 2007)

Dave32 said:


> Tax assessors are not supposed to automatically change the SEV based on the sale price, but they are legally allowed to reasses the property. In practice, a sale for significantly more than double the SEV usually triggers an assessment, and your new SEV ends up very close to half the purchase price.
> SEV is supposed to be based on the true value, and it is hard to deny the value is higher if you just paid that much.


Dave,

That would have to happen at the time of the sale though, right. I thought I had a handle on all this but maybe not. If it stays at the lower SEV through the sale, how can they come back later and jack the SEV up? I thought they could only raise the SEV 5% or rate of inflation in one year? Are you suggesting that they would do this as part of the closing/sale process? Thanks for the info. I still can't believe how convoluted and confusing this state's property taxes are!


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## Dave32 (May 4, 2012)

The SEV can change at any time by any amount, but the taxable value is limited on how much it can change each year, EXCEPT the first year after a sale. So if you can get through a year, then you get the capped increases, but both times I have bought property, the SEV was updated right after the sale was recorded, and the taxable value was set to match in that first uncapped year.


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## redshirt32 (Aug 20, 2003)

I don't know exactly how this would play in your circumstance, but we removed prop. from from regular ownership and placed it in an irrevocable trust 3 yr. ago and saw our taxes increase 330 %. Yea what a shock.


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## jackstar (Aug 25, 2007)

redshirt32 said:


> I don't know exactly how this would play in your circumstance, but we removed prop. from from regular ownership and placed it in an irrevocable trust 3 yr. ago and saw our taxes increase 330 %. Yea what a shock.


Simply unreal. I moved to Michigan from out of state 4 years ago. While I certainly understand that all states are different with laws and taxes, this is truly crazy. I honestly don't mind paying my fair share in property taxes and I know that property taxes go to help pay the bills in the local community. I even can understand why you would pay slightly more on a second house (I'm sure the state reasons that if you have the income to buy a vacation house you can pay more). But this is ridiculous. I have worked hard to save enough money to make the down payment for a vacation home up north that my family and I have dreamed about for quite awhile. This non-homestead tax business and the "uncapping" of SEV/taxable value with each transaction (even like moving into a trust like Redshirt!) makes purchasing a second home in this state very difficult. It's almost like a penalty if you can't homestead it.

The notion of paying $6,000+ per year in taxes on a vacation home, no matter how nice, is crazy. In this economic climate it must be very difficult to sell vacation, hunting, lake property to anyone that does not have the homestead exemption. These crazy tax laws have to be a further disincentive for the already stressed Michigan housing market I would imagine. 

One member on here has been especially helpful in explaining the details of the tax law to me (thanks for taking the time) and I've looked on the Michigan state website to learn as much as I can. It seems that the bottom line is that even though it is "technically" illegal for local assessors to "chase" new property sales and adjust the SEV/TV within one year to attach to the new purchase price, there is really nothing that stops them from doing it and how could you prove it anyway? Even if you appealed and won, you would probably piss off the county offices and the assessor and be a marked man for the rest of your time in that community. As far as I can tell, you can purchase a place and have literally no idea what your real property taxes MIGHT be in a year or two if they come in and blow the SEV/TV through the roof because they are allowed to do this for one year after the sale! Multiple people on here have stories of buying or transferring a place and having their taxes go through the roof to verify this. 

Here's a question. Are there any tax assessors on this website reading this thread? You likely wouldn't want to post publicly, but could you PM me and tell me if what I have written here is off base? We were seriously thinking of buying this winter/spring with the low interest rates, but the taxes might add like $500 a month to our payment!

Anyway, thanks for everyone that has responded. This website is just a wealth of information on almost every topic. I really appreciate it.

JS


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## starky (Jun 19, 2006)

Yeah that on taxing the crap out of part-timers. We are in Lake County- Weber Twp. Thay closed the drop off site and passed a $50.00 per parcel assessment for garbage pickup. We bought an additional 5 acres a couple of years ago and now pay $100.00 p/y for garbage service and we're off a snowmobile trail in the winter that they couldn't get to if they wanted to. I pay as much on the cabin which is 1/3 the value of our home if that.


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## Greenbush future (Sep 8, 2005)

jackstar said:


> They sure are messed up and as a Michigan resident for only about 4 years I can't make heads or tails of them. One of the vacation lake places I am looking at right now has an SEV of $62k (I guess meaning that the township/county assesses the value at $124k). They are asking 300k for the place!!! They have lived there for a long time so maybe they have some kind of understanding with the local assessor, who knows. But my fear is if I were to buy, the transaction makes it go uncapped, the county comes back in, and sees $$$ signs. At the non-homestead rate of 40+ millage the taxes would be insane. I sure wish I understood this better or there were a simpler system.
> 
> JS


My experience is, that the new sale price will be used, but also recent "like" parcels sold in your area. It's a combo of both, at least it was for me. You should be very scared, because the new tax bill will be way way high. You will pay for all the stuff you will never use, and also for what the local homesteaders cant afford. It sucks, it's broken, but maybe Snyder will fix this joke too.


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## Swamper (Apr 12, 2004)

One point that is particularly appalling is when the communities vote on the "non homestead millage renewal", ie additional millage assessed to those who own land there but can't claim homestead exemption (ie don't live there or own more than one parcel of land). Non residents can't vote....taxation without representation. One northern MI township includes trash handling as part of the taxes (get a pass card to take trash to the local landfill free), but non-residents don't get a dump card. And the same township charges the 1% administration fee for handling your taxes and payments, but if you want a receipt mailed back to you, then you have to send in a self addressed stamped envelope. 

Ronald Reagan - "Government's view of the economy could be summed up in a few short phrases: If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it."

Swamper


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## fels340 (Nov 9, 2011)

there has been some good information on this thread jackstar. let me tell you my opinion from my personal experience. i have bought 3 different properties up north and helped my bil purchase one also. the sev and taxable will definetly change when you purchase the property. what the current owner is paying has no correlation to what you will pay. don't go into it thinking that you will go to the review board and get your assessment changed. the boards think all downstaters are rich and can afford it. and the reviews are on mondays and tuesdays so you would probably have to take a day off work. they know this. some people try to homestead their property up north but they are cracking down on that. i'm not saying that nobody is doing it but if they review it and you own a home in the town where you work, you will lose. that being said, these properties up north are not selling, especially right now in the winter. if you are really interested in the property, i would figure out what you could afford to pay with the new tax rate and make the people an offer based on that. if they don't take it, just move on because there are tons of properties available for good prices right now and some of these people want to sell badly in part because of this tax issue. that's the best leverage you have so you need to take advantage of it. good luck!


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## jackstar (Aug 25, 2007)

fels340 said:


> there has been some good information on this thread jackstar. let me tell you my opinion from my personal experience. i have bought 3 different properties up north and helped my bil purchase one also. the sev and taxable will definetly change when you purchase the property. what the current owner is paying has no correlation to what you will pay. don't go into it thinking that you will go to the review board and get your assessment changed. the boards think all downstaters are rich and can afford it. and the reviews are on mondays and tuesdays so you would probably have to take a day off work. they know this. some people try to homestead their property up north but they are cracking down on that. i'm not saying that nobody is doing it but if they review it and you own a home in the town where you work, you will lose. that being said, these properties up north are not selling, especially right now in the winter. if you are really interested in the property, i would figure out what you could afford to pay with the new tax rate and make the people an offer based on that. if they don't take it, just move on because there are tons of properties available for good prices right now and some of these people want to sell badly in part because of this tax issue. that's the best leverage you have so you need to take advantage of it. good luck!


It's like you read my mind! This thread has been VERY helpful to me and it again demonstrates how useful this website is on all kinds of information. I guess what it boils down to is....you're going to pay more if you want a place up north! I think you are right about moving now in the winter and also taking the tax increase into account with an offer. I will keep everyone posted about my experience to add some additional knowledge to the board. I have no idea what the outcome will be, but all of the info on this board sure has helped. If anyone else has any insights I would welcome them. Thanks!


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## Big Tiny Little (Jan 30, 2013)

@jackstar - I can identify with your plight. I've been going up to the western UP (live in the Chicago area) for many years but started looking for a place in 2011. Actually, first started with vacant land with the intention of building. Land is relatively cheap compared to other states but the premium for building vs. buying an existing place was too much for me to stomach. 

So, I started looking for existing homes and when I dug into the details, the property tax issue raised an alarm for me. The state calculator, a link to which was already posted, is good to use for an idea of the worst case, using half the expected price you are willing to pay - *IF* - the current owner has owned the property for a while (that is - the assessor will bump the value up when you buy). In the cases where the owner purchased recently at the peak and has been forced to significantly cut the price below what he paid, or even worse, if it's in foreclosure, you can be reasonably sure the assessor won't drop the value that far (less taxes, after all). You'd have to go back and appeal.

I feel bad about the situation - the people I meet up there are really nice but the towns are dying. Would like to stake a claim, but there's no way I'm going to pay as much or more than the property tax on my primary home, even if it is federal tax deductible. Also, state and local governments are the same all over -they significantly expanded during the real estate boom years and have been hesitant to cut during the bust. When push comes to shove, what better way to raise funds than by milking the vacation home owners? They can't vote in the area. That only means more tax increases to come.


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## Sasquatch Lives (May 23, 2011)

The high non-homestead taxes are the only reason I have not bought any up north property. And look at how many properties are for sale!!!!! No wonder very few are selling.


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## Nighthawk (Jan 8, 2010)

redshirt32 said:


> I don't know exactly how this would play in your circumstance, but we removed prop. from from regular ownership and placed it in an irrevocable trust 3 yr. ago and saw our taxes increase 330 %. Yea what a shock.


WOW That would be a shocker. 330 % ??

My parents jointly owned non homestead lakefront property/cottage in NE Lower for over 40 years and AFTER my Dad passed in 2007 we transferred 1/2 ownership into his trust and 1/2 into Moms trust (still alive) and the taxable rate increased 16.7 %. The tax value is still way below the assessed by some 20K or so. True numbers. Lakefront tax $$$ is especially a kick in the butt.


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## Rudi's Dad (May 4, 2004)

Our Republican Governor is talking about getting the vehicle registration fees increased, and increasing gas tax.
I though Republicans were all about NOT raising taxes, but lowering them thru cutting expenses.

I sold off some non homestead property, taxes were a big part of why.

Tax wise, this State is NOT friendly to anyone these days, it seems.


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## WinMag (Dec 19, 2004)

Rudi's Dad said:


> Our Republican Governor is talking about getting the vehicle registration fees increased, and increasing gas tax.
> I though Republicans were all about NOT raising taxes, but lowering them thru cutting expenses.
> 
> I sold off some non homestead property, taxes were a big part of why.
> ...


 When the treasury sees decreasing revenue, govenors look for ways to get the money back. It doesn't matter whether they are republican, democrat or otherwise.

I'm now trying to decide whether to sell my lakefront cottage and property up north. I bought it 10 years ago with the intention of doing a complete remodel but time is too scarce and taxes are going crazy. 

For what I pay in taxes, I could buy a nice RV and use it instead.


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## Rudi's Dad (May 4, 2004)

WinMag said:


> When the treasury sees decreasing revenue, govenors look for ways to get the money back. It doesn't matter whether they are republican, democrat or otherwise.
> 
> I'm now trying to decide whether to sell my lakefront cottage and property up north. I bought it 10 years ago with the intention of doing a complete remodel but time is too scarce and taxes are going crazy.
> 
> For what I pay in taxes, I could buy a nice RV and use it instead.


Politicians have a short memory. This year will be the first year retirement income will be taxed by the State (how much depending on your current age). They havent even waited to know how much it will be. 
NOT ENOUGH.. I say they should wait till the tax season is over. 
People cant find jobs in Mi, and the income and property taxes are too high, (maybe they lowered business taxes too much?)
No wonder everyone is leaving this State.


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## evil_opie (Jan 31, 2005)

Has anyone looked into "legal seperation" just on paper? Actually called separate maintenance in MI, and from what I understand it is just seperation from bed and board. Allowing you and your wife to homestead 2 properties and remain married. You can be "working" on your marriage for the rest of your life. You or your wife would have to change your address and voters registration card to the cottage. You can still file taxes jointly and enjoy all the rest of the benefits of marriage, just be seperated on paper. Ayone??​


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## feedinggrounds (Jul 21, 2009)

evil_opie said:


> Has anyone looked into "legal seperation" just on paper? Actually called separate maintenance in MI, and from what I understand it is just seperation from bed and board. Allowing you and your wife to homestead 2 properties and remain married. You can be "working" on your marriage for the rest of your life. You or your wife would have to change your address and voters registration card to the cottage. You can still file taxes jointly and enjoy all the rest of the benefits of marriage, just be seperated on paper. Ayone??​


 Must be what some public officials up here do, trying to identify a lot up here for poss purchace and noticed property next to said lot is owned by public official...100% homestead exempt. The problem is the official does not live at this property, lives across town hmm... checked prop where official lives you guessed it 100% homestead exempt. How does that work? I tried to homestead a cabin right next door I bought as guest lodging and was turned down. Butts right up to my garden. Not the first official that has done this up here, must be a benefit that comes with the job.​


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## Big Tiny Little (Jan 30, 2013)

@evil opie - I guess it depends on how easy it is for you to sleep at night. I'd be kinda cautious doing anything "creative" when it comes to taxes. Getting away with it for years is fine, until one is caught - then the legal fees, back taxes, fines - could put everything in jeopardy. Given that the economy is getting worse, governments at all levels are only going to get more hungry and will be sure to double and triple check everything to make sure they're getting the last cent squeezed out of the turnip..


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