Home values posted the largest decline in the first quarter since late 2008, prompting many economists to push back their estimates of when the housing market will hit a bottom.

via WSJ.com.

Back in the day, during the frenzy, I knew in my heart that I wasn’t really rich.

Yet the talk was so intoxicating. You could almost believe that a little 1938 cottage on a 50-foot-wide lot could be worth $700,000 or $800,000.

On nights when the wine flowed, when reason gave way to South Florida’s mass insanity, there was talk that the dirt alone, so close to Las Olas Boulevard, was worth a cool million.

None of it was real. Except for the very real property taxes paid by poor chumps in my neighborhood, or any Florida neighborhood, who had paid those crazy bubble prices. Or didn’t qualify for a homestead exemption.

via Fred Grimm – MiamiHerald.com.

The 2010 Property Assessment Manual (PDF) is now available. The first document lists specific updates for the various chapters. Some items of note include Appendix 21.A which provides a summary of significant court decisions and the detailed information regarding exemptions for low income housing in Chapter 22.

via Wisconsin Law Journal

[They will still cheat you, but now you will know what rules they are breaking]

Last August, in the midst of a growing debate about taxes in the United States, I decided I’d had enough. I was sick and tired of the histrionics from both sides of the political fence, and I wanted to find the facts. I spent twelve hours researching the federal budget and the U.S. tax system, and in the end wrote two articles:

via Get Rich Slowly.

U.S. cities will face a collective budget shortfall of at least $56 billion over the next two years, with the current recession not seen hitting bottom until 2011, according to a report on Wednesday.

via Reuters.

[Now they will try to take even more from the property tax payers who acted prudently and did not lose their homes]

One of the common lines of thinking that occurs when Real Estate values are heading downward is that the home owners tax bill must also be coming down too. Part of this misconception occurs because people assume that the fair market value and assessed value are the same.

via Real Estate Blog

Adverse-possession disputes are emotionally charged matters that are pervasive in Wisconsin. Recent cases heard by the Wisconsin Court of Appeals highlight some of the many complications of adverse possession and provide insight into how to prove and defend adverse-possession claims and how to avoid a dispute in the first place.

via State Bar of Wisconsin.

The recession could be creating an unexpected benefit for municipal treasuries by holding down delinquent property tax payments as more homeowners turn to federal programs for mortgage aid.

via JSOnline.

While local governments are seeing their sales taxes receipts decline they are now being faced with a double whammy. Homeowners are starting to see a realistic decline in their property tax bills.

And not a moment too soon.

via The Real Estate Bloggers.

Township Board Trustee Jim Hanson said lawsuits by developers and people who trying to get property taxes reduced are draining the township’s budget.

via MLive.com.