Houston Realtor Fransiska Rindorindo Urges Buyers to Take Advantage of Homeowner’s Exemption

As 2018 comes to a close, there is still time to buy a house and save money by qualifying for a Homeowner’s Exemption. Rindorindo is urging homebuyers to take advantage of the Harris County Residential Homestead Exemption.  

According to the Harris County Appraisal District (HCAD), “an exemption removes part of the value of your property from taxation and lowers your taxes.” For example, if your home is valued at $120,000 and you qualify for a $20,000 exemption, you pay taxes on your home as if it was worth only $100,000.

The HCAD Website details different categories of exemptions:

• School taxes: After qualifying for this homestead exemption, the homeowner receives at least a $25,000 homestead exemption on the value of the home for school district taxes.
• County taxes: Harris County provides a 20% optional homestead exemption to all homeowners. For example, if the home is valued at $150,000, the homeowner reduces the taxable value of their property by $30,000.  
• Optional exemptions: Any taxing entity, including a city, county, school or special district, may offer an exemption for up to 20% of a home’s value. No matter what percentage, however, the amount of the optional exemption may not be less than $5,000. As an added bonus, the optional exemption percentage is added to any other homestead exemption for which the applicant qualifies.

“If you want to reduce your 2019 property tax bill, you have until the end of December, 2018, to qualify for a homestead exemption,” Rindorindo said.  “Otherwise, you’ll have to wait until 2020 to qualify.” Buyers must close escrow by December 31, 2018, because the property must be owned as of January 1, 2019, to qualify for the exemption.

“I know some special lenders that can help with this. They can close as fast as 15 calendar days and up to three weeks, compared to the more common 30-day close,” Rindorindo concluded. “Typically, FHA financing takes 30-45 days. With these special lenders I was recently able to close in three weeks when working with first-time homebuyers.”

About Fransiska Rindorindo, RE/MAX Signature

Fransiska Rindorindo works with both buyers and sellers. In addition to English, she speaks German, Indonesian and Spanish. Fransiska is a Certified International Property Specialist and Master Certified Negotiation Expert. For more information, please call (713) 489-1718, or visit www.har.com/Fransiska.

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