The Home Improvement Thread

[Anathollo]

I did all my beds in river rock (11 tons worth). At the time my thinking was that mulch was a waste of time and money because it needs to be refreshed every season. What I did not anticipate is that the river rocks make it much harder to grow certain plants. They get super hot and don;t do a good job of keeping moisture in the soil. Just something to consider as your planting. Looking back I'd still do the river rock, but I would of bought plants that were more drought tolerant.

That and the rock gets into your grass which isn't fun to runover. I put 2 tons of river rock at my mom's about a decade ago. I have since thrown most of it on the concrete RipRap in the Bayou behind her house because my mom stopped liking it and I was tired of running over it with the lawn mower

 

[Silverback]

I'm only concerned with the dogs knocking it out of the beds, the edging is tall enough to keep it in unless someone or thing moves it.

 

[Taco Loco]

Folks down here are pissed, some tax appraisals have been received already with 300% increases, and that's with Homestead exemption, don't ask me how, I thought the state had a 10% cap per year, unless they going back years and adding it up. I think after the boys graduate from HS, were going to move...

"Wilson County has one of the highest median property taxes in the United States, and is ranked 426th of the 3143 counties in order of median property taxes." Wilson County Texas Property Taxes - 2018

 

[Taco Loco]

Homestead Assessed Value Maximum Increase

A Texas county appraisal district may not increase the appraised value of a homestead by more than 10% in a given tax year. The homeowner's property tax is based on the county appraisal district's appraised value of the home. Technically, a Texas homestead's assessed value is limited to the lesser of either its market value or the sum of the market value of any new improvements and 110% of the appraised value of the preceding year. The 10% increase is cumulative. Therefore, the maximum increase is 10% times the number of years since the property was last appraised.

 

[Taco Loco]

Someone posted about the increase on their one acre lot... 2017 12k to 2018 48k

 

[Silverback]

Mine has gone up between 8-10% each year for the almost 5 years since we built it. We fight it each year and always win, so it only goes up about 5-6%.. still sucks but better than 10%.

 

[Silverback]

View attachment 9478

Someone posted about the increase on their one acre lot... 2017 12k to 2018 48k

Oh fuck no.

 

[tex]

Taxes suck. Mine have gone up 10% every year for 4 years. It's very frustrating to see the county taking in so much more money and nothing to show for it.

 

[Taco Loco]

It's crazy, you never truly own your home.

 

[Silverback]

My neighbors across the street moved here from Seattle. They paid cash for the house but still pay $1100-1300 (rough guesstimate) a month in taxes.

Edit... had to do the math and my guesstimate was too low.

 

[Taco Loco]

"And I can’t believe $48,000 for my house? It’s a Tilson home, nothing custom about it."

, even the trailer trash folks are upset... correction; modular home

 

[tex]

Not sure how it is now but just read an article from 2014 that Tarrant county was the 2nd highest in the state. Texas is the 8th most taxed state.

 

[tx_shooter]

Taxes suck. Mine have gone up 10% every year for 4 years. It's very frustrating to see the county taking in so much more money and nothing to show for it.

Pretty soon you will have a new retractable roof ballpark to show for your tax money. Thanks I think.

 

[tex]

Pretty soon you will have a new retractable roof ballpark to show for your tax money. Thanks I think.

That money is coming from the sales tax increase. It got raised for the cowboys for x number of years. That got extended for the rangers.
The majority of property taxes are school taxes. The high schools here are all getting new indoor sports complexes while my wife can't even get chairs that are not broken or a desk with drawers that close. Plus everything else she has to buy for the class.
I guess it's worth mentioning the school district had to buy a brand new tractor to use once a year for a parade so it didn't look like it got used for its intended purpose.

 

[Taco Loco]

My neighbors across the street moved here from Seattle. They paid cash for the house but still pay $1100-1300 (rough guesstimate) a month in taxes.

Edit... had to do the math and my guesstimate was too low.

At $900 a month you can stay at some swanky RV sites down in the valley, that's what the snow birds do, we drove through a few, could not believe how nice some of them were.

 

[TacoXpo]

That's one thing we have going for us. Prop 13. No more than 2% per year. I have a place that is worth $519,000. Paid 115,000 and current taxable basis after owning it for 30 years is 190,000. Total taxes last year was about $2400

 

[achirdo]

My taxes went up $250/mo this year. Not thrilled. I have a nagging suspicion they will go up by $250/mo next year too. When I bought the house it was appraised at $115k...i payed well over double that. My taxes will be going up for a while.

 

[achirdo]

STRETCH the garage.. add 5' (or more) to the front and get the .5 side addon. DO IT! Go big. I stretched mine a ton. Push it to the limit of the lot.

This. Stretch it as big as you can. Depth is just as important as having 3 bays.

 

[TacoXpo]

My taxes went up $250/mo this year. Not thrilled. I have a nagging suspicion they will go up by $250/mo next year too. When I bought the house it was appraised at $115k...i payed well over double that. My taxes will be going up for a while.

Appraised (for bank typically) or assessed (done by the county to figure the percentage of taxes owed)?

 

[CowboyTaco]

Homestead Assessed Value Maximum Increase

A Texas county appraisal district may not increase the appraised value of a homestead by more than 10% in a given tax year. The homeowner's property tax is based on the county appraisal district's appraised value of the home. Technically, a Texas homestead's assessed value is limited to the lesser of either its market value or the sum of the market value of any new improvements and 110% of the appraised value of the preceding year. The 10% increase is cumulative. Therefore, the maximum increase is 10% times the number of years since the property was last appraised.

Link?

Our assessment has gone up 130k since last year.