The additional information makes a lot more sense!! 
It is definitely worth looking at in that case.
And yes, the monstrosity of a house could well be part of the tax bill. I have one of those monstrosities (though for five adults, living three separate lives, the monstrosity works). It is the tax burden, not the barns. Now, if I could only convince the tax assessor that a house with wiring from the 1930s and bathrooms from the 1950s (it is neither to code nor insurable) should not be assessed on square footage and at the same rate as a modern build…
2 Likes
That approach is called “Mass Appraisal” and is the approach most states take. What state are you in?
I’m an Assessor. This is one of the most misunderstood professions I have ever worked in. Nobody ever likes the guy that decides what your share of the tax pie is, and being distrustful of governmental figures is practically an American birthright – we deal with a lot of disgruntled taxpayers. Most have already made up their mind that the Assessors are wrong and no amount of back-and-forth pulls them off the ledge. The irony is most taxpayers think they could sell their home for more than what it is assessed for – they just don’t want to be taxed what they feel their fair cash value is. What they don’t understand is these two figures are proportionate to one another.
Your Assessor is likely taking age/modernity into account, it just may not be obvious on the field cards as it is never a clear line item, but an algorithm. Depending on your municipality’s budget they are likely using one of three different national CAMA systems, and depreciation tables and schedules are a functional part of these CAMA systems, including being able to toggle different depreciation schedules for different portions of the house (IE kitchen, bathroom, etc). Some programs are better than others - but not all municipalities can afford the best ones.
What I find confuses a lot of people is the base rates you mentioned - often because when I try to explain base rates to residents, they interrupt and/or don’t listen so never let me finish. Your house likely has a base rate established by classification style (cape, ranch, contemporary cape, gambrel, etc) that is built into CAMA systems from arms-length sales of other identical styles. In MA, our assessments need to be within 90-110% of full and fair cash market value. Most states have a similar range. The CAMA software takes the sale prices +/- specific factors (including subtracting land cost), and computes what the base rate would be per square foot based on sales analysis. The base rate is only the starting point of the assessed value.
For example, say your town’s base rate for contemporary capes is $150 per square foot. Your home is 2,000 square feet. Your home’s base value would be $300,000 before any depreciation or influence factors. Every single home has some form of additional factor applied to the base rate; could be it’s old, could be the bathrooms are modern, could be it had a $100,000 reno done last year. It is not just that your value is derived from the base rate times square footage; there are dozens to hundreds of other factors pulled in that will +/- the final value of your home, including how many fixtures it has, the grade and condition of the home. whether it has modern (or dated) bathrooms, and how old it is. You could have two capes that have the same exact 2,000 sq foot footprint with two different building values, based on their grade, condition, and age.
One of the flaws of Mass Appraisal, as you are finding, is it does not account for every little nuance of a home and it is a generalized approach over a specific one.
The wiring and being uninsurable are separate (unfortunate) issues from your tax assessment - until you prove you could not sell your home for what it is assessed for, it is considered a valid assessment. You may be able to ask your Assessor if the outdated wiring could be classified as Functional Obsolescence, but be prepared for the answer to be no. In this market we are seeing people buy homes irrespective of any maintenance or outdated design: homes are in such high demand it’s hard to argue functional obsolescence in some counties.
3 Likes
Insurance on all the structures with a roof and associated maintenance. There is serious sticker shock. Also financing such a place. With your current place the house is the collateral and the barn is just an outbuilding so you are probably on a standard residential loan.
A bigger property with more roofs that just the residence will likely put you into an ag lending situation, which can have a higher interest rate and 20% minimum down payment with a shorter loan period.
1 Like
Connecticut. To be fair, I did manage to get the assessor to understand that a ‘bathroom’ in which the toilet is one closet, the sink is in the bedroom, and the shower stall not a tub, mind you!, (from the 1950s) is in another closet…probably ought not to be counted as a full bath on this last re-evaluation. We settled on a three quarter bath and I counted that as a win, since my father had never managed that one, and went home.
Anyway, sorry to derail OP!
1 Like
A small win! 
1 Like
That is really interesting about how property is assessed, at least where you live. I have no idea how rural property in this area is assessed. I bought this piece of property, added a barn and after a few years got a builder to build the house. I doubt the assessors even know how many bedrooms are in it, much less other details. ( In context I have a 40x70 barn, a 3BR, 3 bath house, fencing, 32 acres and I pay less than $450 a year in property taxes…) I don’t think this is an anomaly. I do remember at one point getting a letter from the tax assessors office valuing my property (and I don’t think it was solely the house) at $150k and if I had any objections I should come by and discuss my objections. Nope. That sounded fine to me. But it is not just me. I see the tax records of persons living up the road on their half acre lots and they pay $2 a year in property taxes. Most of them live in trailers and there is a separate tax for trailers.
However a few months ago I did see a suspicious looking car parking on the roads out here. I could not figure out what was going on. Then I saw “Tax Assessor” printed on the side of the car. I think they were driving around taking pictures. That doesn’t give you that much detail I would think to up an assessment unless somebody added a whole storage building or built a house. So obviously assessments in your neck of the world is done in a much more sophisticated way.
1 Like
If you pulled permits, the Assessors know the number of bedrooms from the permit pulled. For new construction, all the information Assessors have comes off the original plans provided with the permit. In some towns once a COO is issued, an Assessor then goes out with the Building Inspector to verify. Not all towns have the man power to do this, though.
Your home’s value was likely determined by the total cost of the building permit, plus / minus other factors associated with that particular market.
Some states, like in the Carolinas, have County Assessors who have a broad network of counties to maintain. That car was likely them snapping photos for their field cards. Those photos are then uploaded to the specific field card associated with that parcel, and it is done as part of routine maintenance, as over the years conditions of houses can change. We use those photos to verify “yes, that’s a cape” or “no, that house is no longer in good condition for its age”. It’s not used as a gotcha tool to up assessments.
Most towns now have access to aerial imagery software, which has profoundly revolutionized acquiring accurate data - especially on properties where you cannot enter for a variety of reasons. You can measure and it is accurate up to 6 inches. A lot of towns are catching previously unknown buildings or other surprises this way. These drones also fly over routinely, so it is up to date data, which is a boon in a municipality with limited staff.
Just the other day I used the aerial imagery to measure the exact acreage of a plot of land in Chapter. It’s tremendously useful.
2 Likes
In addition to what everyone else has brought up (mowing is the bane of my existence in the growing months), what about the cost of utilities to maintain the indoor? I have no direct experience, but what’s the cost of running lights, etc. in the indoor?
And yeah, just because it’s big and rural doesn’t mean you can get an ag exemption. Where i live, If it’s not in active production, or you don’t have the required number of head per acre (which varies according to species) it’s not eligible for the ag exemption.
3 Likes
A bigger property sounds great, but I wouldn’t want the additional work. Someone need to mow, fertilize, spray the weeds, maintain the fences, maintain the buildings, trim the trees etc.
If you can hire someone to do all the work, then yes it sounds great. Don’t forget to check the septic and well -that both are in good condition and have been maintained because those 2 things alone can be expensive to replace! Second to that check the roofs on the buildings and make sure you can afford replacements when the time comes.
There’s always going to be something that needs to be fixed or maintained. Always.
The thing I don’t like about moving is boxing up and moving all my belongings and it is stressful to move. So if that doesn’t bother you, then go for it! I would love to move but it’s always going to be 5 years in the future and probably won’t change from being “5 years in the future” without a significant change in circumstances.
Oh… make sure to check for termites. I know someone who bought a million dollar property. The barn had termites and basically had to be demolished and rebuilt from scratch.
2 Likes
I have 8 acers of land can someone come and cut the grass and make Hay roles and they can take it for free.
anyone willing to cut and make the roles and take it, you dont need to pay anything.
1 Like
