Local Info Archives - Page 15 of 34

Idaho Homeowner’s Exemption

October 15, 2018 By Tayson Rockefeller 2 Comments

I figured it was high time to write something about the Idaho homeowners exemption, what it is, and how to take advantage of it.

Like most States, you receive a discounted rate for your property taxes for your primary residence located in Idaho. If you are taking advantage of the Idaho homeowners exemption in Idaho, you obviously can’t take advantage of a tax exemption for a primary residence in another state, and vice versa.

How much will you save?

In a nutshell, you will not be taxed on either 50% of the total assessed value of your home, or $100,000, whichever is less. No, this does not mean you will save $100,000 worth of property taxes.

How much you will save specifically depends on the rate of Taxation (the Mill Levy) in your area. Teton County Idaho has 16 Districts that range from about .6% to about 1% depending where you live for the most recent year and at the time of this article.

So, let’s assume that you have a home that is assessed at $300,000 (the County’s value, not what you paid ie. the market value) and you live in an area where the Mill Levy is 1%. Since $100,000 of the total value is less than 50% of the total value (or $150,000), you are going to save 1% of $100,000, or about $1,000.00 worth of property taxes for that year. Remember, if your home has a higher assessed value, you aren’t going to save any more than that $1,000.

When is the deadline for me to file the exemption to receive the discount for that year?

On existing construction it’s April 15th. For new construction, that deadline is moved to sometime towards the end of November, this year it’s November 26th.

What if there are multiple owners of the house?

An example here would be two people who live together that are not married. As long as both of the occupants can prove residency, they will receive 100% of the exemption allowance. If only one can prove occupancy, you’ll get half.

How do I prove residency?

The county used to accept different forms of proof of ownership such as a utility bill. That requirement has recently changed, you actually have to have the address of the home where you are claiming the exemption printed on your Idaho license.

How do I file for the exemption?

After updating your license with the new address, bring your license or licenses in to the assessor’s office which is located at the second floor of the County Courthouse next to the DMV. Don’t be fooled, you update your license at the Sheriff’s Office, not the DMV!

Short-Term Rental Pricing

September 12, 2018 By Tayson Rockefeller Leave a Comment

Price-fixing:

No, I’m not talking about real estate in general, or even real estate commissions. We all know that real estate prices are a collaboration of all of the local real estate agents who determine the market and the commissions the consumer pays. I’M KIDDING.

What I am talking about, however, is vacation rental costs. In my spare time (which is usually between 10 p.m. and 12 a.m. and 7 a.m. and 8 a.m.) I spend countless hours burning my eyeballs out looking at my over-sized smartphone, usually something real estate related. The other night, that was vacation rental prices in along the Gulf Coast. Why? I don’t know. So, what did I learn?

I learned that unfortunately, vacation rental prices in some areas are way. too. cheap. I was looking at 4 bedroom homes along the Gulf Coast for $89 a night. I thought to myself, “How could this be?”then I remembered that I probably know the answer. The vacation rental market is likely saturated and the market is competitive. I love Airbnb, but when somebody down the road is willing to lease a bedroom for $16.37 for the night with a free light beer in the fridge, it makes it a difficult proposition for everyone else.

Being the proud owner of a vacation rental in the Teton Valley area, and having a great knowledge of property management and vacation rental prices after a decade of property management, it got my wheels turning. Are our prices too cheap? Are we headed towards a competitive market place with not enough to go around?

Again, I know the answer to this too. Yes, our prices are too cheap. And no, I don’t think the market is over-saturated with the exception of shoulder seasons, but I guess that’s like anywhere else. Nonetheless, I took a detailed look at some of Teton Valley’s short-term rental offerings through various vendors to understand how how many mistakes are being made with respect to pricing. No, like the title suggests, I’m not price-fixing. I’m simply educating myself with what my competition charges, and looking at how much activity there is during certain times of the year. During this exercise, (I checked out a few dates in July of next year) I learned a couple of things.

1) Fortunately, there isn’t a huge number of short term rental owners that are under pricing during peak season – but there are a few.

2) There are certainly some marketing mistakes being made. One title was talking about how cool the Fall nights are. I’m not looking in the Fall. I don’t plan my vacations last minute like all of you non-planners, fellow Millennials, and Generation Z’s (or whatever you are).

3) Nobody was offering free light beer with a single bedroom stay.

My point with all of this is that seemingly, our market is not making the mistake that I witnessed in the Gulf Coast. At least not yet. It really, really, (really) needs to stay that way. There were a few advertising between 10 and 20% less than they should be, (others more) but I don’t think that’s going to kill the market. It’s just going to kill their return on investment. But, these are also probably the people who complain about a management fee that would probably be absorbed by proper management.

Anyway, I then looked at rates during shoulder seasons. I had to double-check to make sure that I wasn’t back on the Gulf Coast location, because I learned:

1) At least people are taking the initiative to change their prices during different seasons, but it really doesn’t need to be this dramatic.

2) That one guy who has 500 reviews and is renting his guest house for less than a hotel room is an idiot.

3) Nobody was offering free light beer with a single bedrooms stay.

To conclude, we really need to be careful. Idaho is a very pro property rights state. There likely isn’t going to be any restriction with the exception of subdivision homeowners association restriction on short-term rentals anytime soon. This is a good thing and a bad thing. On one hand it protects our interests as short-term rental investors, but on the other it also invites future competitors. As I mentioned at the outset of this article, we have room to grow. We are gaining popularity as a recreational destination for good reason. But, some of these locations I was viewing on the coast were destinations in their own right. It only takes one guy with 500 great reviews to start a revolution, in a bad way. We need to be fair with ourselves as investors and property owners, and we need to understand that people are willing to pay for clean, comfortable accommodations in one of the most beautiful locations in the world.

On that note, cheers!

What is a Listing “Contingency”?

August 14, 2018 By Tayson Rockefeller Leave a Comment

Somewhat recently, the Teton MLS changed their display rules so that listings which are under contract (now labeled “Pending”, “Pending Contingent”, or “Pending Continue to Show”) still show up in consumer searches such as our websites and realtor.com. In years past, when an offer was accepted on a listing and the agent marked it as “pending” (meaning pending sale) in the local MLS, the listing was removed from advertising platforms so it was no longer visible to the public. Now that consumers are still able to see this information, I get all sorts of questions as to what the contingency is, or what it means. Most often, it is a potential buyer hoping that they can make an offer because there is a contingency and still have an opportunity to purchase the property. Unless there is a form of kick out clause, this usually is not the case. Further, most buyers depending on the language they are used to hearing and their local areas, believe that a contingency is something such as a buyer who must sell a home in another location before proceeding with the sale, but this usually isn’t the case.

Before going further, what is a contingency? Google’s definition is “a future event or circumstance that is possible but cannot be predicted with certainty.”

While I believe the above description is most accurate, I don’t believe it really fits with respect to the real estate definition of a contingency. Further, it is defined differently in different areas of the country, as mentioned above. Here in Teton Valley, it simply means any sort of event that must occur or must be satisfied by the buyer before the earnest money becomes non-refundable. For example, a buyer’s inspection is usually referred to as a contract contingency. Financing, a satisfactory appraisal – any number of things that must occur before the earnest money becomes non-refundable. Note that even if a contingency is not met, the buyer can still close a transaction if the buyer chooses to do so, effectively releasing the contingencies upon closing.

So, now that we have the local lingo down with respect to what a contingency is, it’s easier to remember not to get too excited about a listing because it is labeled as contingent. However, the way it is labeled can help indicate how solid the contract is. Currently, the Teton MLS has three forms of labeling a pending transaction. They are “Pending”, “Pending Contingent”, and “Pending Continue to Show”. In a perfect sense, simply stating “Pending” means there are no contingencies and it is very likely to close. “Pending Contingent” we covered above, and could simply mean the buyer has the right to do an inspection. “Pending Continue to Show”, on the other hand, might be something to ask your agent about. In order to label a listing as Pending Continue to Show, the buyer and seller are supposed to agree that the seller is authorized to do so. Also, there is usually a logical reason for displaying the listing like this, such as an unusual contingency like a buyer who much sell a property before closing on the subject property. In some cases these types of contracts are accompanied with a kick out clause in the event of seller receives a backup offer.

Now that you are armed with this new information, good luck on your search!

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