It was the best of times (when your house was assessed). It was the worst of times (now)... it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity... it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us...
Two houses in Oakland County Michigan- both priced the same. Both in the same township with the same 
tax base. The difference- The tax amount. To the tune of a tad over $2800/year or $235/month. This is not chump change and it is very important.
When you get pre-approved for a $300,000 sale price, the loan officer had to use some number for taxes. In reality, when you get pre-approved for a mortgage, you're really getting pre-approved for a maximum house payment amount.
In the example above, the difference in taxes is because of the assessments and the fact that one of the houses is in the village and has a village tax. Both are on the same lake. So- how does the that $2800 additional annual tax affect your buying power?
To make the math easy, I'm going to assume an interest rate of 4 3/8%. At a 4 3/8 per cent interest rate $5=$1000 of sale price. Or annual tax. A difference of $235 in house payment equals about $47,000 in purchase price. OR- house A with higher taxes would need to sell for $47,000 less than house B in order to have the same monthly house payment. Or- you can pay $300,000 for house B and have the same house payment as you would if you paid $253,000 for house A.
When I show you houses, attached to the MLS sheet is the public record that gives recent tax information and an assessment history. This will also help you determine what your new taxes will be. So when we're looking at things like size, location, price, we also need to pay attention to the property taxes.
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