Tax Cap Keeping Property Taxes, Cost-of-Living in Las Vegas Affordable
Tax Cap Keeping Property Taxes, Cost-of-Living in Las Vegas Affordable
LAS VEGAS, NV – The news when it comes to Las Vegas real estate, day in and day out, mainly consists of the skyrocketing home prices and scant availability of properties for sale, resulting in a mad scramble for just about any home or condo that a buyer can get their hands on. It’s been like this for a while now due to Vegas’ booming economy and quickly-recovering job and housing market, but what is life in Southern Nevada like once you’re lucky enough to have finally gotten your hands on an abode? Will the cost of living – mainly, property taxes – prove to be yet another hurdle to deal with?
In a word, no. In more words…well, please read on.
Unlike other regions in the United States, such as New York, where high taxes are driving people out to greener pastures (financially speaking), Las Vegas features a strict property tax cap that assures homeowners that their costs will only incrementally increase from year-to-year, keeping their bottom lines manageable. In addition, the sale of a home in Vegas does not trigger a reassessment of the property for tax purposes, therefore the purchase price of any given home will not be adversely affected; this prevents property taxes from being a deterrent from any given property sale in the region.
The tax cap is currently set at three percent and ensures that property taxes can only increase that currently set amount – and not a penny more – in any given year. The cap is re-examined each year by the state, and features a variable rate; in recent year, the property tax cap in Las Vegas has been as low as one percent and as high as eight, although recent trends have seen the rate slowly increasing as if late.
An major advantage of the tax cap is the fact that it currently works hand-in-hand with the fact that most properties in Vegas received their most recent re-assessments at the end of the mid-2000’s recession, a time when property values were at an all-time low; while the market has bounced back and house values are the highest they’ve been in over a decade, the tax cap greatly prevents property taxes from increasing at the same speedy rate.
To really get a sense of how much cheaper the cost of listing in Las Vegas is, one merely has to look it Nevada’s neighbors to see how the other half lives; Mike Scanlin, CEO of IT company Born to Sellrecenly noted that his 2016 move from California’s Silicon Valley to Las Vegas saved him a small fortune in terms of property taxes.
“California has a nice climate, but the state income taxes, property taxes and property values drove me crazy,” he said. “You can make half as much in Las Vegas and save more money. In fact, the money I’m not paying in California state income tax is more than the mortgage on my 2,400 square-foot home.”
As you can see, the appeal to newly transplanted residents of living and working in Las Vegas isn’t just the economy, or the culture, or the job market, or the influx of new businesses and enterprises, or the booming real estate…it’s the quality of life and bang for your buck you can enjoy once you’ve arrived and settled down as well, allowing you to work less and enjoy life more while you’re at it.
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