OKC Real Estate Market

[Pete]

Houses in my neighborhood are staying on the market longer but the $/SF keeps going up.

For nicely remodeled homes, prices are at least $180/SF and some have sold for over $200/SF.

Six years ago I bought my house for about $125/SF.

[TheTravellers]

Houses in my neighborhood are staying on the market longer but the $/SF keeps going up.

For nicely remodeled homes, prices are at least $180/SF and some have sold for over $200/SF.

Six years ago I bought my house for about $125/SF.

Eight years ago we got ours for $88/SF (on Venice Blvd), supposedly valued around $125/SF now.

[FighttheGoodFight]

I think there are a lot of people still over leveraged on their homes. Gotta sell it at the right price to get out from under it.

[gjl]

And things like property taxes and home owners insurance that are based on home valuations will continue going up.

[warreng88]

When I lived in our smaller house years ago, we saw our mortgage payment go up because our escrow went up. When I pulled the statement to find out why, our property taxes went up pretty substantially. I called Oklahoma County assessor and told them they have the size of our house and number of rooms wrong, which caused the increase. We had added a deck on the back and they thought it was a room and the usable square footage had changed so the price per sf changed as well. They said they could lower it, but it would lower the value of our house on the county assessor. I said I didn't care about that and so the next year, the property taxes went back down. I have told that to other people and most people said they don't think that would work now.

[aDark]

There is a house down the street from me was listed for sale on 7/10/2024 at $499,900. It is a 3/3 2,783 sf built in 1929. On Saturday, they dropped the price down for the fourth time to $429,900.

I think this comment would be very helpful if you are comfortable sharing what neighborhood you live in. Prices across different parts of OKC vary like crazy.

[T. Jamison]

When I lived in our smaller house years ago, we saw our mortgage payment go up because our escrow went up. When I pulled the statement to find out why, our property taxes went up pretty substantially. I called Oklahoma County assessor and told them they have the size of our house and number of rooms wrong, which caused the increase. We had added a deck on the back and they thought it was a room and the usable square footage had changed so the price per sf changed as well. They said they could lower it, but it would lower the value of our house on the county assessor. I said I didn't care about that and so the next year, the property taxes went back down. I have told that to other people and most people said they don't think that would work now.

While your situation is different, this is not uncommon in general. A transaction triggers a revaluation from the Assessor. If the property was undervalued at say $100,000 before you purchased the property for $200,000, the Assessor will revalue the property at $200,000 effective the following tax year. So people pay their mortgage for the first 6+/- months with the taxes at the $100K valuation. Then, the following year their taxes go up substantially and they want to protest them with the Assessor. But then they have a hard time convincing the Assessor's office the property is worth less than they paid for it 6+/- months ago.

[Teo9969]

When I lived in our smaller house years ago, we saw our mortgage payment go up because our escrow went up. When I pulled the statement to find out why, our property taxes went up pretty substantially. I called Oklahoma County assessor and told them they have the size of our house and number of rooms wrong, which caused the increase. We had added a deck on the back and they thought it was a room and the usable square footage had changed so the price per sf changed as well. They said they could lower it, but it would lower the value of our house on the county assessor. I said I didn't care about that and so the next year, the property taxes went back down. I have told that to other people and most people said they don't think that would work now.

I mean it would work today if it were the same situation. They can't assess your home with square footage that doesn't exist. But you can't jus protest only because you don't like the tax.

[gjl]

What are some other web sites for estimated house valuations besides Zillow or the County Assessor?

[warreng88]

I think this comment would be very helpful if you are comfortable sharing what neighborhood you live in. Prices across different parts of OKC vary like crazy.

Crestwood addition. It is bounded by NW 16th/NW 23rd, May/Villa.

[warreng88]

While your situation is different, this is not uncommon in general. A transaction triggers a revaluation from the Assessor. If the property was undervalued at say $100,000 before you purchased the property for $200,000, the Assessor will revalue the property at $200,000 effective the following tax year. So people pay their mortgage for the first 6+/- months with the taxes at the $100K valuation. Then, the following year their taxes go up substantially and they want to protest them with the Assessor. But then they have a hard time convincing the Assessor's office the property is worth less than they paid for it 6+/- months ago.

I was thinking it was years after we bought it because we didn't build a deck until two years after we bought the house. We bought it in October of 2007 and built the deck in Summer of 2009. I noticed our taxes go up in 2010 when we got an escrow letter. Not sure if that helps or not.

[Pete]

Keep in mind that in Oklahoma County, your property tax cannot increase more than 3% a year, regardless of the increase in assessed value.

When you buy a new house, the new assessed value is then set very close to the purchase price.

[T. Jamison]

I was thinking it was years after we bought it because we didn't build a deck until two years after we bought the house. We bought it in October of 2007 and built the deck in Summer of 2009. I noticed our taxes go up in 2010 when we got an escrow letter. Not sure if that helps or not.

I assume your increase was due to the incorrect classification of the deck. I'm just saying that in general this happens to people. A friend of mine in the Tulsa metro bought a house that was taxed as land only when he bought it and was shocked that his taxes went up so much. He asked me to look at it and I had to explain to him that the only way he could get his taxes lowered is if he could convince then that the property was worth less than he paid for it.

I just wanted to add this to the conversation for the benefit of first-time home buyers. Calculate your taxes based on what you will pay for the property, not historical taxes on the property.

[Pete]

I just wanted to add this to the conversation for the benefit of first-time home buyers. Calculate your taxes based on what you will pay for the property, not historical taxes on the property.

Absolutely right.

[gjl]

The Assessor list's both market value and taxable market value by year. Zillow has my market value at 281.4K which I think is stupid low, Assessor has my market value at 361.5K which is probably close to what's right and insurance requires me to carry 420K worth of insurance.

[OKCRealtor]

Also on new construction you want to make sure the lender has property taxes estimated not just the value of the lot.

I had a listing a few months ago where the sellers had bought brand new 2 years ago (closed in early 22) and there property taxes weren't reassessed until '23. Long story short between property taxes going from virtually nothing to $400/mo + homeowners insurance going crazy there payment went from like 1500 --> 2400 basically overnight so they had to sell the house.

I'm not sure how the lender didn't have taxes escrowed in, they seemed to be unaware of the fact and didn't have a large chunk down initially. I wasn't involved in the purchase & it was with a reputable local lender but I was shocked.

[gjl]

I'm hearing of people struggling to stay in their houses just from insurance increases alone.

[FighttheGoodFight]

Ya I shop home and car insurance yearly now. The increases were getting out of hand.

It'll only get worse.

[Teo9969]

Keep in mind that in Oklahoma County, your property tax cannot increase more than 3% a year, regardless of the increase in assessed value.

When you buy a new house, the new assessed value is then set very close to the purchase price.

I believe that it can if material improvements are made to the home.

So if you remodel a kitchen and do it by the book (i.e. you take out a permit), then they can reset your taxable value.