Yesterday I got a property tax “advisory” in the mail that shocked me into a coma. Our property taxes on the new house are $3,900. This motivated me to call the property appraiser’s office this morning to enquire about transferring the homestead exemption. What I learned really has me torched.
Last December 27, my wife and I bought an old house (house B) and started a major renovation. In February we put our then current house (house A) on the market. House A closed on June 29 of this year, we moved out July 4, rented an apartment for a month, and actually moved into house B about August 1.
Now because we weren’t living in the house B on January 1, 2000 we cannot claim homestead exemption on it, however our exemption is still active on house A. So the people that bought our house get to use MY exemption for a tax break while I get NO break even though I have owned a house in this county for 18 straight years and owned TWO of them for the first 6 months of this year.
What a scam!