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Ninety Days To Go... To Qualify for the Texas Homestead Exemption for Calendar Year 2010.

By
Real Estate Agent with New Home Hunters of Fort Worth and Tarrant County

I bet most of the buyers that either you or I work with love a good surprise.  Not bad ones, but good ones.  The next ninety days offers the "last chance" for buyers to give themselves their very own Christmas Present.

That present comes in the form of the Homestead Exemption here in the State of Texas.

Texas is very big on home ownership.  The higher the rate of home ownership, the more interested those folks are in creating beautiful yards and neighborhoods to live in.

The Homestead Exemption... the Cliff Notes version... works like this.

There are many "entities" that line up to tax each residential home.  Cities, counties, schools, libraries, water districts, local community colleges... and so forth.  Sometimes the list may seem to be endless.

Each of these entities... for the most part... sees a portion of the value of the home in question... become "not taxable" or "tax exempt"... when the owners of that home qualify for, apply for... and then receive... their very own "Homestead Exemption."

When putting all of these "forgiven parts" of the value of each home together... a pretty good chunk of the assessed valuation of the home can end up "not taxable"... or "tax exempt.

An average estimate of the prcentage of tax savings... and remember... this is just an "estimate"... usually comes in at around twelve percent.  So... if the yearly real estate taxes on a home in Texas happens to be about $300 a month.. or $3,600 a year... if the Homestead Exemption hits in at around 12 percent... the total savings for the year could be approximately $36 dollars a month... or close to $400 a year.

In order for a home to qualify for a Homestead Exemption in the State of Texas... it must be "owned" by the owner as of January 1, 2010... and it ust be his or her primary residence.  If the owner takes title any later than that... the home does not qualify for Homestead Exempt status until January 1, 2011.

If you are in the market for a new home, and are ready to go from "Just Looking" to "Let's Get Serious"... call the DFW New Home Hotline at (817) 929-3400 today !

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Comments (4)

Terrie Leighton
Ferrari-Lund Real Estate - Reno, NV
Reno Real Estate Agent ~ Selling Homes in Reno

Great information, Karen Anne for those buyers in your area who want to qualify for the Texas Homestead Exemption to get on it!

Sep 27, 2009 04:18 PM
Karen Anne Stone
New Home Hunters of Fort Worth and Tarrant County - Fort Worth, TX
Fort Worth Real Estate

Terrie:  Thanks so much.  This is something that many Realtors forget about, and many first time home buyers are not aware of.  This is great information, and buyers need to be made aware of it.  Thanks for the kind words.

Sep 27, 2009 04:47 PM
Steve Shatsky
Dallas, TX

Hi Karen Anne... the homestead exemption qualification always seems to motivate a few year-end home buyers!  Thanks for the reminder.

Sep 27, 2009 05:56 PM
Jon Zolsky, Daytona Beach, FL
Daytona Condo Realty, 386-405-4408 - Daytona Beach, FL
Buy Daytona condos for heavenly good prices

Karen Anne,

It was interesting  for me to read about your homestead exemption. Here in Florida it has 3 parts.

1. Protect from losng the  home. It can't be taken from you for any reason except for non-payment of mortgage payments through t he foreclosure proceedings.

2. Reduction in tax

3. Preventing the  property from increasing tax if the values start increasing, It caps the increase at 3% a year

Sep 27, 2009 06:05 PM