What Kind of Jobs Do You Guys Have That Allow You to Pay Such High Property Taxes?!

[Cincinnati_Kid]

I know at least 3 groups of friends who own large homes in Boston Edison and Palmer Woods. Several people all paying into the cost and upkeep of the houses. I did energy assessments for all of them to help lower the costs of their utility bills, which are indeed the largest portion of the financial burden. But to save 30% of the yearly bill, they'll have to pony up about 15k-20k on efficiency upgrades.

If you're household isn't pulling in at least 60k a year, you might as well aim for a house 2500sq. ft or less.

Depending on location, 2500 sq ft homes aren't exactly cheap either. Under 2000 sq ft might be the ticket.

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Birmingham has sky-high taxes. Probably the highest in metro Detroit outside of the Detroits and Pontiacs of the region.

The upside is you get a lot for your money. Tons of parks and rec, amazing snow removal, and urban gems like the Shain Park.

It's debatable whether Birmingham is a deal, though. You get a ton of services in Bloomfield Township too, and much lower taxes.

And, in Troy, you get very good [[but not Birmingham-good) services, and super-low taxes. Troy is probably better dollar-for-dollar than most Oakland County suburbs.

I had heard Southfield has the highest property taxes in Oakland County, I could be wrong, wouldn't be the first time.

[EastsideAl]

Actually, property taxes in Detroit are not any higher, and oftentimes lower, than in other major cities around the country. I was a homeowner in both San Francisco and NYC in the past, and my property taxes in both of those places were definitely higher than here in Detroit. And I have relatives in New Jersey where the average property tax is over $6,500 per year, and in some cases a lot higher.

The real problem in Detroit, as is so often noted, is what you get for your money...

[Dexlin]

The real problem in Detroit, as is so often noted, is what you get for your money...

Besides that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the show? NYC and San Francisco are ridiculously priced because they have super valuable land; they are world cities. Detroit can't even begin to justify its property taxes given how cheap land is in the city and the urban experience one receives for your money. Detroit's property taxes are not a reflection of its value, rather, straight-up, a decades'-long political calculation to try and fend off insolvency, and now it's been revealed that Detroit only gets 14% of its entire revenue from property taxes, with even a city like Pontiac, if the News had the facts right, getting upwards of 60% of its revenue from property taxes. It blows my mind that for as physically large as Detroit [[meaning that Detroit was once successful because of the sheer amont of land it had), that they are only collection 14% of their revenue from property values.

[CountrySquire]

A friend who has a 3000 SqFt house in Birmingham pays $10K per year in taxes.

[rondinjp]

A friend who has a 3000 SqFt house in Birmingham pays $10K per year in taxes.

That tax rate is the same for any house over 2500 sq feet in the Grosse Pointes.

[softailrider]

Birmingham has sky-high taxes. Probably the highest in metro Detroit outside of the Detroits and Pontiacs of the region.

The upside is you get a lot for your money. Tons of parks and rec, amazing snow removal, and urban gems like the Shain Park.

It's debatable whether Birmingham is a deal, though. You get a ton of services in Bloomfield Township too, and much lower taxes.

And, in Troy, you get very good [[but not Birmingham-good) services, and super-low taxes. Troy is probably better dollar-for-dollar than most Oakland County suburbs.

You mention that city services in Troy aren't quite up to Birmingham standards, other then the curbside vacuum of leaves that you get in Birmingham, I really don't see any difference at all between the services in Birmingham, Troy or Bloomfield Township. The most important services performed [[to me anyway) Police, Fire and EMS are absolutely top notch in each municipality mentioned.

[milesdriven]

I don't mind paying $1750/year for a 1250 sq. ft. house down in Toledo. Detroit will continue to lose residents until they fix their rates. It would be better to collect $1000 each on 10,000 homes than let them sit and rot.

[Scottathew]

I live in Warren. I bought my house for 155K, it's now worth about 60k. It's 1,150 square feet with a finished basement and detached two car garage. We've got three bedrooms, and the third bedroom will soon have a baby boy in it sometime in January.

Our taxes have gone from $3,000 a year when we moved in, down to $2,000 a year.

I've voted against:

MISD Special Ed. Millage
Warren Library Millage
Zoo Millage


I've voted for:

SMART Millage
Warren Local Road Repair Millage

[Scottathew]

the services in Birmingham, Troy or Bloomfield Township. The most important services performed [[to me anyway) Police, Fire and EMS are absolutely top notch in each municipality mentioned.

Interesting fact: Troy has a volunteer fire department.

I was at my parents house in Clawson when a micro-burst sent every tree in the neighborhood down to the ground. Clawson's small fire department was swamped and Troy's volunteers [[via mutual aide) came down and actually comprised a majority of the response for residents that aren't even theirs.

We also did something that Detroit residents don't seem willing to do at times; we fixed things ourselves. We didn't wait for the city to clear trees out of the streets and call the news to whine about the city not getting to it. On my parents block we formed two teams of about 10 men each that worked from one end of the street down to the other end. We restored street access by cutting up and removing three large trees from the street. We also removed trees off the top of the houses of two elderly residents.

This wasn't unique to the area I was in, I took a walk and saw people helping strangers all throughout the south end of Clawson. We didn't expect or wait for our government to take care of us, we did it ourselves as long as there wasn't a power line in it.

[laphoque]

We also did something that Detroit residents don't seem willing to do at times; we fixed things ourselves.

I cleared out storm drains on my block after a storm so the huge puddle would go down. I always see people sweeping the streets. With twice per year street sweepings the amount of glass in the streets would be even crazier were it not for them. I've participated in clean ups of vacant property. I've volunteered at community gardens. I've cleared paths on Belle Isle. Do I need to give you more counterexamples?

Most people are not active in this country. For whatever reason. Some are. And I am not alone in Detroit.

I'm not trying to say Clawson isn't a wonderful community where people where help each other. Please do not insinuate that Detroit is void of the same spirit.

[wash_man]

Never trust a real estate agent for tax information. Do your own independent research. Here's a link from the State of Michigan for helping with that research. I've found it to be quite accurate. Just remember when entering the SEV, that number is half the purchase price. You can also enter the current taxable value [[doesn't change when ownership changes) for the estimate. This value is public information, usually available onlin.
https://treas-secure.state.mi.us/pte...TEstimator.asp

[Scottathew]

I'm not trying to say Clawson isn't a wonderful community where people where help each other. Please do not insinuate that Detroit is void of the same spirit.

Point taken. I should have made it less of a generalization. My apologies!

[DetroitPlanner]

We also did something that Detroit residents don't seem willing to do at times; we fixed things ourselves. We didn't wait for the city to clear trees out of the streets and call the news to whine about the city not getting to it. On my parents block we formed two teams of about 10 men each that worked from one end of the street down to the other end. We restored street access by cutting up and removing three large trees from the street. We also removed trees off the top of the houses of two elderly residents.

Not many people in Detroit have chain saws to get the trees out of the way. Poor folks can't expend money on things that they have little use for 99 percent of the time.