My mom is inheriting her parents' home likely this year (grandma has been in hospice since last fall and is failing). My mom would ideally like to keep the property, but isn't sure if she can afford the expenses. I have offered to help her try to figure this out, as I'm much more financially oriented than she is. Also she's been taking care of her parents and their affairs for the last 2 years and I'm trying to do anything I can to help her out, as it's been a very difficult time for all of us. She is very close to her mother (my grandma).
On the bright side, it's protected in a trust and while the rest of the estate may turn out to be more complicated, the house situation should be fairly simple. On the down side, it turns out my grandparents were extremely disorganized and it has been incredibly difficult trying to unravel the paperwork trail regarding the property.
Long story short: I have figured out a lot regarding general expenses and upkeep, deferred maintenance that will need to be taken care of, etc. However I'm completely at a loss as to how to figure out what her future taxes will be.
Current property taxes were $2,515.91 for 2016, but we anticipate they will increase greatly in the future. How much is the big question.
(1) My grandfather is a disabled veteran. I'm pretty sure this is the source of the $790.94 exemption that knocked the property tax down from $3,306.85 to $2,515.91. My mom is not a veteran, so obviously not eligible for this. Easy enough to add this back in.
(2) The property is currently assessed as a Single Family Residence on Agricultural land. The house sits on about 80 acres that will also be going to my mom. However the current agricultural assessment is due to the land being leased for cattle grazing. The rest of the ranch (not including the 80 acres) is in a family LLC and will be sold, so we will no longer have access to this agricultural status. My mom is not interested in raising her own livestock (though I could be persuaded! :) ).
(3) We would likely be making some updates to the property, which would probably increase the assessed value. Almost everything, including the roof, is currently original to when the home was built in 1974. I'm also trying to calculate what these costs will be, but that's a different issue for a different post.
(4) The valuation is incredibly confusing. The Actual Valuation is $413,820.00, whereas the Assessed Valuation is only $33,260. I don't understand why these numbers are so different. Is this because of the agricultural status? Or is this normal?
Total Mill Levy is 99.364, plus an annual $2 fee. Looking at the property taxes for the last 7 years shows that they have been similar, raising slightly as would be expected. Before that they are listed mysteriously as $0, which can't be right. My grandparents built the home in 1974 so there is no way to go back and look at a tax history prior to the agricultural and veteran assessments. Most of the neighbors with similar properties have agricultural status, those who do not are in a subdivision type development that is not very comparable, so I'm not sure how helpful looking at their taxes would be.
I have read what I could find on the county assessor's site as well as many basic explanations of how property taxes are levied, but most of this information is aimed at people with traditional single family home situations. The basic tax calculator for the county that I found ended up lower than what the taxes are now, so that's obviously not right.
Any idea why the Actual and Assessed Valuations are so different?
Any suggestions as to how to figure out what property tax my mom is likely looking at paying after losing the veteran exemption and agricultural status?
ETA: Larimer County, Colorado. Very close to Boulder County.