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Dallas
Member
# Posted: 12 Jul 2011 14:58
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If you owned the land prior to building a cabin, how much did the cabin raise your property taxes? That's one of the reasons we've waited so long to build. We're thinking a 14x20ish cabin. Parcel it would go on is 100 acres though, so it would increase the entire value of the land :-(

TomChum
Member
# Posted: 14 Jul 2011 13:35 - Edited by: TomChum
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I don't know how much the cabin raised my taxes. I can probably find the increase due to the cabin somehow, and will look for that.

I built the cabin plus a 24x36 pole building the same year that I purchased the land - consequently the taxes went up a bit that year. I don't know what the 'cabin' contributed to the cost. I bet that if you don't have utilities at your cabin, that the increase in taxable value will be minimal. Also depends what you are referring to as a 'cabin', some people refer to their 1400sf house as a 'cabin'. Mine is 172sf (it's definitely a cabin) and is so small that square-footage doesn't cost much. With 100 acres, you might be able to hide a small cabin well enough to not pay any increase in taxes.

Maybe you could look at it the other way around. If a cabin raises your taxes by $100, then is the "loss of use" of your cabin worth $100/year to you? Would you accept $100/year to "not use" your cabin?

Anonymous
# Posted: 14 Jul 2011 18:29
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Having to pay a few hundred extra dollars a year on property taxes seems like a really poor excuse for not building. You will have many more expences much higher for other things. How are you going to manage that?

MtnDon
Member
# Posted: 14 Jul 2011 22:58
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Where I am located it does not matter how many acres the cabin sits on when it comes to taxable values. The land retains the same assessment. Then the cabin is looked at as an improvement and is valued by size, quality, value of comparable structures in the area, etc. What I'm getting at is the cabin is assessed as n item separate from the land. So our cabin, for example, would be valued the same on one acre or on 100. The 100 acres of land though could be valued at 100 times the value of a one acre plot. But that can vary too. Methods can also vary from one place to another.

I'd ask at the county assessor office about how they value land and buildings and other improvements.

hattie
Member
# Posted: 15 Jul 2011 01:08
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Our taxes were high to start because our land is zoned commercial and we weren't allowed to change that. When we did our reno. most of the improvements were building our motel. We managed to get our taxes divided as 44% business ($543) and 56% personal ($350 after the homeowners grant) - that really helped a lot!!

What we really got hit on was the insurance!!! It is ridiculous!!!! We pay $3,000 per year as the business portion of our insurance. We have a separate policy for our homeowners policy. Since the closest fire hall is only volunteer and is 8 km away, they really nailed us on that! It was the only insurance company that would insure us so we didn't have the luxury of shopping around for a better deal.

hilltop
Member
# Posted: 15 Aug 2011 19:25
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I am like MtnDon mentioned above , land stayed the same , I was taxed on an improvement.
I am about 280 sq ft and no electric, the tax change was almost nothing , I was shocked as I am in a high tax area.
The asessor said no electric makes a big differeance- at least where I am.

smitty
Member
# Posted: 15 Aug 2011 20:24
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Where I am right now, if it is on a permanent foundation your taxes go up. How much I don't know. But everyone around here, builds out buildings, garages, sheds, workshops etc, on skids.
I would imagine this would vary from state to state though.

Malamute
Member
# Posted: 15 Aug 2011 23:30
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Don't know the increase, but total taxes are about $300/year or so for 10 acres, cabin, and a couple outbuildings.

Vince P
Member
# Posted: 18 Aug 2011 11:43 - Edited by: Vince P
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Quoting: Anonymous
Having to pay a few hundred extra dollars a year on property taxes seems like a really poor excuse for not building.

Maybe, but...
Your tax burden depends primarily on the state your property is in. When we bought our NY property in 2006, our taxes were a measly $52/yr. After building my cabin, my taxes are now well over $3000/yr. Add in insurance and I'm around $3900/yr. If you view your cabin from an investment perspective, taxes are something you do not get back if you sell your cabin in the future.
If I were to calculate the money spent on taxes, insurance, maintenance and improvements in a year; it would exceed the amount of $ spent if I were to take a "traditional" family vacation (hotels and restaurants), not to mention I wouldn't be expending the energy I do on the cabin or worrying about it when I'm not there.
So in short, to me (a pragmatist for sure), a cabin with a high tax/insurance cost simply doesn't make sense from an investment or enjoyment aspect. One could rent out their cabin in theory to offset the expense, but that comes with another set of issues.
Even though I have put my heart and soul into the building of my cabin... and as much as it hurts, I will be putting up my cabin for sale within the next year. Being unemployed doesn't help, but when I'm gainfully employed, my long term plan is to get something closer to home with more reasonable taxation.

toyota_mdt_tech
Member
# Posted: 2 Sep 2011 16:21 - Edited by: toyota_mdt_tech
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Quoting: Dallas
If you owned the land prior to building a cabin, how much did the cabin raise your property taxes? That's one of the reasons we've waited so long to build. We're thinking a 14x20ish cabin. Parcel it would go on is 100 acres though, so it would increase the entire value of the land :-(



I have a timber farm classification. It was $32 a year for a smidge over 20 acres. Since the building, they moved 1 acre off as farm status with my building, its now $198 a year. They have me listed as 288 sq feet.

Drennos
Member
# Posted: 13 Jan 2021 08:18
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Quoting: TomChum
I don't know how much the cabin raised my taxes. I can probably find the increase due to the cabin somehow, and will look for that.

I built the cabin plus a 24x36 pole building the same year that I purchased the land - consequently the taxes went up a bit that year. I don't know what the 'cabin' contributed to the cost. I bet that if you don't have utilities at your cabin, that the increase in taxable value will be minimal. Also depends what you are referring to as a 'cabin', some people refer to their 1400sf house as a 'cabin'. Mine is 172sf (it's definitely a cabin) and is so small that square-footage doesn't cost much. With 100 acres, you might be able to hide a small cabin well enough to not pay any increase in taxes.

Maybe you could look at it the other way around. If a cabin raises your taxes by $100, then is the "loss of use" of your cabin worth $100/year to you? Would you accept $100/year to "not use" your cabin?




how to solve the issue of taxes in this case?

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