Helo All:
My aunt is considering a sunroom for her home. She asked me to research and find out how the county would treat the additional square footage covered for real estate taxes.
She lives in San Jose Ca (Santa Clara county).
Thanks!
Deguza
I asked this elsewhere but no answers yet.
I am also wondering if and when a workshop gets included in the sq. footage.
Any comments?
re: I asked this elsewhere but no answers yet.
I'm guessing the one place you didn't ask was the county offices of Santa Clara.
What things gets taxed (and how) in the county of Santa Clara, CA is probably very different from what things get taxed in (and how) in Athens County, OH or Yates County, NY or Orleans Parish, LA..
You'll get the most accurate answer directly from those that do the taxing.
Where I live they count everything but at different rates. (SW Florida). You can go look at the property assessor web site to see this in action
leepa.org
do a database search on some common name and walk up and down the street (next higher/lower strap number). If you look at "details" near the bottom of the page it will show you the floor plan they use to assess.
I bet there is a similar site for your area. BTW if you are a privacy person this may be scary.
DerbyDad03 wrote in news:fe046590-bdd0-4f1f-9d7f- snipped-for-privacy@m3g2000hsc.googlegroups.com:
The accessor counts if it's heated. My basement and ground floor enclosed porch (not heated) and garage are not counted. Me thinks DerbyDad is on the money with his answer.
For Yates County, NY, I know the answer. It's: Maybe.
There are three ways to determine value. The assessor uses either replacement cost (based on square footage) or comparables. If it is a s.f. calc, then yes. But it's at a lower rate because it's cheaper to replace. But it also runs a separate depreciation table because it's newer.
If the assessor uses comps, he/she will look at the overall value of the home as it compares to other, similar homes. A sun room is part of the calc. If you were, for example, the ONLY one with a sunroom, it would be added to the value, but only at a partial amount. A $10,000 sun room might only be adjusted by, say, $5000.
If it were in Yates County and it wasn't really a sunroom but a covering for a handicapped ramp, then it wouldn't be assessed at all. So it might depend on the design and what you call it.
In general. A. It won't have much of an impact and B. call your assessor.
My PA sunspace (a $500 32'x12'x16' tall lean-to greenhouse with a $150 building permit :-) was classified "HVAC space," so it didn't increase the tax bill.
Nick
"Phisherman" wrote
Correct to a point and probably what is different, has to do with variations in areas.
I considered my old 'enclosed porch' to be a 4th bedroom but it never was to spec for that for VA code. It is now being refixed to a proper 3 season sunroom (in my southerly area, that is a 4 season use room because we dont get that cold in winter). My taxes list a 3 BR house. This room when finished, will not have heat/AC from the main house (unless you count opening the door) and without that, can not be counted as a 'bedroom'. Also it's slab is 1/2 inch too low (grin). It is not counted for tax purposes as other than porch area but is in the house plans as part of the place (so is the screened back porch).
It will have outlets on every wall (they have to add one to a wall without one as before it wasnt required). It will be wired so I can run a simple portable heat or AC unit in there if I want to. I'll have to figure out venting but we are having one kneewall put in to make that easy later for AC venting.
Neatest thing? I get a write off next year on taxes as the new structure is much more energy efficient than the old single paned plexiglass construction.
Much cheaper than conditioned space in the house. It does not add footage to the house but it does add value. Ask the contractor doing the sunroom but verify with the county.
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