[AC2717]

Originally Posted by Long Pine

There are a few comments above about people not being able to afford to keep their homes due to the escalation in property taxes. I am not an expert on this, but wouldn't the following be a solution to this problem?

Let's say someone bought a lakefront home for $100,000 many years ago and it has now appreciated to be worth $1,000,000 and is completely paid for. For argument's sake, let's say their taxes increased from $1,000/yr to $10,000/yr and that the homeowner does not have sufficient cash flow to afford $10,000 taxes in a year.

Couldn't the homeowner get a home equity loan or home equity line of credit (using their home equity as collateral) and use the proceeds to pay the taxes? For example, let's say they got a $200,000 home equity loan. They would then have to make payments of about $14,000/yr on the loan at 7% interest plus another $10,000/yr in property taxes for a total annual payment of $24,000. So, the $200,000 loan would cover at least 8 years of taxes/interest. In those 8 years, the home would likely have appreciated by at least another $200,000 so the homeowner would still have $1 million in home equity (and could borrow more if necessary to meet future tax obligations). This is just a way of turning a non-liquid asset into a liquid asset. I'm not a banker or accountant though, so let me know if my logic is faulty.

I do not want to start a fight here, you should not have to take out a loan just for taxes, that is crazy. When that comes to a discussion you know the government has gone too far on the taxes, Just because say I, not saying me, bought a place years ago and it appriciated to my benefit, why should the government get more for what I was able to accomplish. Yes I understand raise taxes to run the infastructure of the community, city or town or what ever, but it is getting out of hand these tax rates are.