Retired homeowners on fixed incomes who own their homes outright (or even have a mortgage) complaining about rising RE values making their property taxes unaffordable rings kinda hollow to me.
They can tap into that increased equity through things like equity loans or reverse mortgages to pay those taxes. Does that cut into the eventual inheritance they pass on, sure - and I suppose that’s maybe sad, but then again it’s kind of just life too. I just have a hard time buying the story “My home just increased in value by a whole lot - woe is me, now I’m poor, disadvantaged, and at risk of displacement!” Is there something I’m missing? Am I just heartless?
There are also some avenues for property tax relief from the county.
Again, I may be missing something, but I think this group is pretty well taken care of. They may feel threatened by higher property tax bills, but if their assessment value goes up, the amount of property tax they pay each year will go up by like 1% of the value increase (which is effective Raleigh tax rate.) If a house’s value goes up by $200k, that’s a $200k increase in equity out of thin air, and a $2k increase in annual property taxes. Yeah, um, just tap into that $200k (equity loan etc) to pay the $2k. NBD right?
Renters are the real issue. Renters are undeniably people, and definitely do get caught in the crosshairs of displacement. I’m interested to see if any proposal for how to address that concern comes out of this process, and if it will be a sustainable solution that can be applied elsewhere.