It used to be what was needed. Now it's big Christmas wishes and dreams.

Correct.
The process is not timely for those with certain schedules, and we no longer live in a society were communication is limited.

I never met anyone that enjoys paying more for something every year. :confused:
I am glad I can see the improvements my tax contributions are making to the town and I'm happy I own a home in Meredith but that doesn't mean I should enjoy paying more every year. I'm happy with all the improvements Meredith has made. It's made owning a home there much more enjoyable. I hope I can afford to continue to own it for years to come, that's my concern. The past few years with high inflation has cut deep into my retirement spending, esp insurances, so if I seem like I'm complaining too much I apologize.
Voicing a concern on this forum should be accepted, not condemned.
If you're happy with paying more money every year, then I'm happy for you. By the way, I don't "dispise" Government.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

The one hidden danger with places like brooksby is you aren’t actually buying a condo. Said another way there is no security for your “buy in”. If Brooksby goes bust you have an unsecured bankruptcy claim. It’s happened in the past. See the attached article https://www.fa-mag.com/news/american...ust-80550.html

Very interesting. I did not check this before they moved in, but Brooksby has all the qualitative signs of a well financed stable place, and I've had aunts and uncles living there for decades. If I had to do this again, I would check more carefully on their parent, as you suggest. (Separately, I would not say that a condo is risk-free wrt exposure on others' potential financial woes.)

Nevertheless, I would still recommend Brooksby unreservedly to any whose life-stage/financial situation fits

I agree with your assessment. I’ve never heard anyone say anything bad about Brooksby and I have friends whose parents are there and they all say positive things about the community so it is highly likely Brooksby is financially solid. That being said, if I ever wind up considering that community or one like it I’d look at the credit profile of the entity as part of my diligence. On the way in the typical resident is leaving their home that they have often been in for many years while Brooksby is scrutinizing their financial condition so it is typically traumatic
for the soon to be resident and few think to ask about the credit of Brooksby. As a result, I wanted to share what I have learned about the industry.

Sanbornton waterfront. Tax assessment went up 112%, just over $2M now. Taxes went from $20K to $26K a year. Filed an abatement with solid basis of six larger properties and more frontage, denied!

We have 3 seasonal camps with an apartment over a garage on 2 acres with 175' of frontage all built between 1950 and 1974.

Their basis is market value. All dwellings are grandfathered so we can tear down and rebuild with year-round homes or sell the property with the same intent, so getting taxed on what we could do!

My father inlaw had a camp in Sanbornton, not on the water but steps to the town beach. When he passed 10 years ago it was left to his 5 children, the oldest bought the other 4 out. I had just purchased my house in Meredith, I have water rights and a dock. He pays almost twice as much as me in taxes and his property and house is half the size. Across the street from him is a small camp, under 500 sq ft, on 200ft of prime waterfront with an outrageous tax bill.
When we were looking to buy, Laconia and Sanbornton were out of the question because of the high taxes.

Actually, I think you are paying taxes on a valuable piece of land. There is only so much waterfront and two acre lots with 175 feet of frontage and multiple foot prints are much sought after. It would be nice to broaden the tax base so government wasn’t so reliant upon property taxes. Unfortunately, that will never happen because the politicians would use such a change to increase tax receipts. Until something changes property owners are going to bear the burden.

Our State government runs on largely income and sales taxes, that are partially transferred to the municipalities to lower the property taxes.

The only thing currently in the works is court cases to remove the SWEPT retainment and another to possibly increase the State education grants.

Who pays “income tax” in NH?


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Did your assessment go up 112% or 12%? If it actually went up 112% that means it was assessed at less than $1M before.


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Business Profit tax can be thought of as an income tax for business owners. Dividends and Interest is also taxed, so if you live on that - your income is taxed...

I agree! However the State of NH would disagree. They can’t possibly let the public think the State has an “Income Tax”! That would violate all of the politicos campaign promises![emoji33]


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There is a tax on interest and dividends in NH, but it is being phased out, this is the last year of that tax.

BET also includes the income.

The State of NH doesn't have a ''general'' income or sales tax.

Income and sales taxes have the problem that the revenue moves up and down with the economy... while the property tax has stable revenue.

I agree, BPT and BET are definitely income taxes.

I sometimes believe that Nh’rs complain too much about the “income tax” they pay in the form of BET & BPT. First, let us not forget that BET is/can be deducted from BPT and second, a very small percentage of the population are subject to business taxes. BET/BPT are not dissimilar to business taxes in other states.


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NHSC ruled that SWEPT is a uniform rate and thus constitutional.

But found that setting negative rates was unconstitutional - interesting outcome.

I don't really understand the negative rates? Do you? If so could you explain better? How many unincorporated towns do we have?

"Tuesday’s ruling did include a partial victory for plaintiffs. The court held that use of “negative tax rates,” in which the Department of Revenue Administration allows unincorporated towns that don’t have school districts to offset their SWEPT tax with negative rates to effectively raise no SWEPT revenue, is unconstitutional."

Honestly, I don't know.
We have 25 unincorporated places.

https://www.revenue.nh.gov/sites/g/f...-tax-rates.pdf

If you look at Atkinson & Gilmanton Academy Grant (U) that would may be what the court means.
I am guessing they mean the Municipal Rate should be Zero, County Tax Rate should be 2.53 and the Statewide Education Tax Rate should be the 1.22 turned over to the State of NH due to having no local education.

But I am guessing at best.

LOL, I guess Nitrovandam saw this back in 2019 and called it. Big out of state money moving INTO New Hampshire as caused this issue. It has cost many of the older NH residence to be sold off like you are explaining now about having to sale your Waterfront homes because of cost. And most on here came from another state, and came here with a vast amount of spendable cash bumping old time NH citizens out of their homes because of increase in their taxes etc etc.

This is just KARMA, Coming back around and now effecting you. Its funny how life always comes in a 360 degree circle. Now it's your time to take it on the hiney like NH people had to, and you don't find it very comforting. When Karma bites, it usually leaves a mark.

What Goes around .... Comes around. Please just keep paying until you can't. Then as someone mentioned, You can move to Maine for a few years to take advantage of the lower cost there... UNTIL you can't. Then if Canada becomes our 51st State that would be an option to look at. They have more water frontage then Maine has.

I have a feeling we are not alone. Nobody is explaining it, just reporting it.

I think because, if I read it correctly, its effect would be mainly on Coos County.
That is where the majority of the unincorporated places are.

For the rest of us, it seems the system that we have used for this is staying put.
So local taxes shouldn't be affected by the decision.

https://greatnorthernink.wordpress.c...ce=chatgpt.com

Also,

" ... allowing negative local tax rates under the Statewide Education Property Tax (SWEPT)—which effectively resulted in unincorporated places paying nothing—was unconstitutional. The Court declared that policy violates Part II, Article 5 of the New Hampshire Constitution, because it undermines the requirements of “equal valuation and uniform rate throughout the State”

" ... found that the practice of setting "negative tax rates" for the Statewide Education Property Tax (SWEPT) in unincorporated towns without school districts is unconstitutional. These negative rates allowed such towns to offset their SWEPT tax, effectively raising no revenue for education, which the court deemed a violation of the state constitution’s requirement for uniform taxation under Part II, Article 5.



"What this means
Short term: Unincorporated places that currently have negative SWEPT rates remain in limbo. They’re still effectively exempt from paying, until lawmakers step in.

Next steps: The legislature and governor are tasked with crafting reforms to ensure all properties are taxed fairly in accordance with constitutional standards.

Broader implications: The decision does not impact the larger Rand case challenging the adequacy of New Hampshire’s school funding formula—such matters are still working through the courts and are expected to influence future funding policy


Bottom line: Negative tax rates under the SWEPT scheme are now ruled unconstitutional. The state has until the legislative process plays out to fix the law and ensure consistent, uniform taxation statewide."

https://www.unionleader.com/news/cou...ock_id=1128300

I guess the funding is also below the threshold.

This is just an excuse. As someone who lives full time (retired) in an HOA community that has more than half second home owners I can tell you these people don't even take the time to zoom in on an HOA meeting or vote on the budget on line which takes like a quick minute to do! And they don't read the HOA emails to keep up to date with things they need to know. Baffling to me.

If they truly cared about what is going on here locally there is a lot they can do. Read the local news. Write letters to the editor, the city/town councilmen, etc. Maybe come up a few days before the weekend to attend a meeting and speak up once in a while.

Where there's a will, there's a way if you truly care about issues....if not, don't complain.

Having a home or "just a house to play in" is still a responsibility, whether you have one or two or three or ten homes...

HOA works under a property right.
Municipalities work under a residency requirement.

As I already mentioned there’s still a lot a second homeowner can do.

My other home is in a 670 door gated neighborhood with an HOA. There are a lot of policy and rules issues that homeowners can vote on. There are many committees for safety, activities, amenities, rules, property appearance changes, and other issues that people can serve on. It seems the same small group of people get involved, some serve on multiple committees. Others just complain but don't get involved. I fly down to meetings for a committee I am on several times over the summer.

It was the same growing up in a small New England town. A few people get involved, others couldn't tell you anything about the town management. They just care what day their rubbish gets picked up and if their street gets plowed.

HOA Involvement
 

Some of us still work and have busy lives so the last thing we want to do is get involved with HOAs. Thank goodness we have people who volunteer. Yes, we have had our fair share of former captains of industry wanting to recapture the glory of a past life, but for the most part they are very nice people wanting to help.

We had a situation this weekend in which mailboxes were vandalized. Our association president took the time on Saturday to canvass the neighborhood to see if anyone had a video showing the damage. Unfortunately, our camera didn't show anything.

Yes. Right.

But my point is - regarding taxes- second homeowners pay them also so they have a lot of skin in the game and though they can’t vote they certainly can write letters, go to a town or city meeting once in a while and speak up, contact a state representative, etc.

Am tired of Zoom meetings. Covid is mostly over now. Let's get back to real people meetings. To see board members face to face. In person.

But. People don't get connected to the HOA either Zoom or in person.

It is up to the board to figure out ways to get more people to get involved.

Nope. A board only has to get enough votes in one place to move their agenda forward


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Our board does all meetings in person. They just make Zoom
Available for those that can’t or don’t want to come in person. Believe it or not some people who are in the community at the time of the meeting will Zoom in rather than walk up to the meeting! I kid you not!