San Antonio Homes For Sale Today

It’s a lovely 14 September 2011 in San Antonio.

It’s still hot and dry but a cool front is approaching and there’s a chance we’ll see relief from our protracted heat wave and drastic drought conditions. That’s great news for the weather weary citizens of the River City.

There’s also good news for home owners and buyers. The area’s realty market is unusually active for this time of the year.

Sellers should be pleased to hear that pending home sale closings are up and the inventory of available homes is down. That means less competition.

Buyers should be happy to learn that the mid-price for homes for sale hasn’t changed much from last year’s median sales price.

Both home sellers and buyers should know that the market is drifting toward a balanced condition neither favoring buyers nor sellers.

Here’s a simple summary of San Antonio’s single family detached housing market today:

There are 11250 listings.
There 1908 home sale contracts scheduled to close soon.
The average list price of pending sales is $186,626.
The median sold price for recent sales is $149,995.
Homes are selling for 96% of their list price.
It’s taking about 132 days to sell a house. Of course, many well prepared homes are selling much quicker.

That’s all for today’s report.

We’re Stephanie and Randy Kelley, Realtors® of Keller Williams Legacy, San Antonio, Texas. If you have questions, need San Antonio realty or mortgage loan advice or assistance, or just want to chat a bit about the wonderful Alamo City, please call us at (210) 863-2661 or (210) 867-8743, or E-mail us at swkrealtor@aol.com or kelleybus@aol.com. Our SanAntonioHomeQuest.com Realty Solutions Team is always ready to help you with your home buying or selling needs

San Antonio Area Property Tax Rates

They say it's bad for rankings to repeat a blog post, but the question of San Antonio area property tax rates keeps coming up, so, here's my past, but still current blog addressing that subject.

If you're moving to the San Antonio area, you’ll want to know about local taxes and the cost of registering your automobile and insuring your home. Here are the facts.

The area’s sales tax rate averages 8.125% but may vary a little between the various incorporated jurisdictions in and around San Antonio and Bexar County.

The real estate property tax varies between jurisdictions and is influenced mostly by the school tax component. Count on paying approximately 3% of your home's tax appraised value for the more costly school districts to as low as 2% or less for rural areas.

What about homeowner’s insurance? The cost will vary between insurers. As a rule of thumb, count on paying approximately .005 times your home’s value.

And now, what about the cost of bringing a non-Texas registered auto into the area? You’ll pay a registration fee of $60 to $90, a title application fee of $28 to $33 - depending on the county - and a new resident auto tax of $90. You’ll required to have the auto inspected. That will cost approximately $18.00.

Those are the facts.

We’re Stephanie and Randy Kelley, Realtors® of Keller Williams Legacy, San Antonio, Texas. If you have questions, need San Antonio realty or mortgage loan advice or assistance, or just want to chat a bit about the wonderful Alamo City, please call us at (210) 863-2661 or (210) 867-8743, or E-mail us at swkrealtor@aol.com or kelleybus@aol.com. Our SanAntonioHomeQuest.com Realty Solutions Team is always ready to help you with your home buying or selling needs.

About San Antonio Residential Property Taxes

We get lots of  home buyer questions about San Antonio area residential property taxes.

It's understandable why property taxes are a matter of buyer concern.  Almost every buyer we encounter has heard someone complain that Texas real estate taxes are confusing.

Basically, it's not easy to answer property tax inquiries without doing some detailed research. 

Why?

In addition to San Antonio, the largest city in Bexar (pronounced exactly like "bear") County,  there are 20 smaller cities located in the county.   In addition to the cities, there are many other types of Bexar County taxing units, including, but not limited to, 11 independent school districts, 1 metropolitan utility district, a university health system, a community college district, the San Antonio River Authority, and two emergency service districts.

So, here's why a seemingly simple property tax question get complicated. 

In Bexar County, it's not unusual to have a residential property fall within the jurisdiction of one set of taxing units while a neighboring property falls within the jurisdiction of a slightly, or even significantly different, set of taxing units.  It's simply an issue of property location and taxing jurisdiction boundaries.

So, if you are a San Antonio/Bexar County home buyer, how do you go about determining the property tax rate for a particular area or for a specific property?

You might use a factor of 2.2% of appraised value.  That's the median property tax rate; but, be prepared to be disappointed with that factor, first, because the rates are so variable around the county and, second, you'll need to know a property's appraised value if you want to know about the tax bill for a specific property.

If you know the address of a property located in your area of interest, you can go to the
Bexar County Appraisal District website and do a free search for tax information about the property. The results will show the property's taxing jurisdictions and the aggregate property tax percentage rate.

Be prepared to experience some frustration with the site because you have to have the property's address just right or else the program won't find it.

If you don't want to do the research yourself, ask a Realtor® to do it for you.  Realtors® are expert property tax investigators, for both geographic areas and individual properties.

We will happy to answer your Bexar County/San Antonio property tax questions.  Just call or send an email.

We’re Stephanie and Randy Kelley, Realtors® at Keller Williams Legacy, San Antonio, Texas. If you have questions, need San Antonio realty or mortgage loan advice or assistance, or just want to chat a bit about the wonderful Alamo City, please call us at (210) 863-2661 or (210) 867-8743, or email us at swkrealtor@aol.com or kelleybus@aol.com. Our SanAntonioHomeQuest.com Realty Solutions Team is always ready to help you with your home buying or selling needs.

We love to answer questions about San Antonio residential property taxes.




 

San Antonio, Texas, Residential Real Estate Taxes

Looking for information about San Antonio, Texas, real estate taxes?  Look no further.  Here are the basics.

First, here's the good news.  The State of Texas doesn't charge a personal income tax. 

Now, here's the less than good news.  Texas residential property taxes tend to be a bit pricey.

Keep this in mind. The real estate property tax rate is standard for the taxing jurisdiction where a property is located.

So why is it, when neighbors compare their property taxes, they tend to become confused.  They ask questions like, "Why is Joe's property tax so much higher than Jane's, when their houses look the same ?"  

The reason that property taxes seem so different for similar homes is, for the most part, not because the tax rates are different, but because the tax appraised property values are different from property to property.

Also, there will be slight variations in the property tax rate based on the taxing jurisdiction where properties are located.  For example, Joe's property is located in the Northside Independent School District within the incorporated limits of San Antonio. Jane's property is also located in the Northside Independent School District, but in a part of the neighborhood that happens to fall outside the city limits. 

Although both will pay the same Northside Independent School District tax rate, city boy Joe's taxes will also include taxes for San Antonio services that county girl Jane doesn't enjoy.  Consequently, even though Joe and Jane's comparable homes have the same tax appraised value, Joe's property tax will, nonetheless, be higher, because he's getting more services and is subject to a higher overall tax rate.
On the average, a citizen owning a property located in an incorporated Bexar County jurisdiction will pay a yearly property tax that equals approximately 2.7% of the property's appraised tax value.  Home owners in unincorporated areas of the county will usually pay lower property taxes because they enjoy fewer services and, therefore, their basic tax rate is lower.

Texas law requires the local property tax appraiser to reappraise all residential property located within his or her jurisdiction as of 1 January of each year, based on the sales of comparable property during the preceding 12 months. When you become a Texas home owner, you'll receive a property tax reappraisal notice yearly, usually in March or April.

That's the basics for San Antonio, Texas, residential  real estate taxes.

If you need other realty related advice or assistance, we offer the very best.

Click here if you're looking for homes for sale.

Click here for expert advice about selling your home.

We’re Stephanie and Randy Kelley, Realtors® of Keller Williams Legacy, San Antonio, Texas. If you have questions, need San Antonio realty or mortgage loan advice or assistance, or just want to chat a bit about the wonderful Alamo City, please call us at (210) 863-2661 or (210) 867-8743, or E-mail us at swkrealtor@aol.com or kelleybus@aol.com. Our SanAntonioHomeQuest.com Realty Solutions Team is always ready to help you with your home buying or selling needs