A REALTOR has warned homeowners about a crucial form that could keep their mortgage from increasing by hundreds of dollars.
Neglecting to do so had cost one of their clients serious money on their monthly payments.
Jessica Rogers, a real estate expert and a licensed realtor in South Carolina, explained how the client missed filling out the document so all home buyers in the state might keep it from happening to them.
Rogers noted that she was first contacted by the client because they decided to sell the property they’d purchased four years prior, per a clip on her TikTok page.
She told them she would be “more than happy” to help and began going through the process all realtors do to set up the home to be officially listed.
Part of that is filling out certain tax information, which Rogers began to do when she noticed something — the client’s yearly property tax bill was fairly high.
“His yearly tax bill was $3,500 for a single-family dwelling that was his primary residence,” the realtor noted in the video.
“I was like, oh my god, why are your taxes so high?”
Rogers said she even lived a few streets down from where the client’s property was located, and being in a similar situation, her yearly taxes on her residence were only around $800.
After calling up the client and explaining what she’d found, she asked a “critical question.”
The realtor wanted to confirm if when the client moved to the home in South Carolina, they went to the DMV and updated their driver’s license.
Doing so would allow them to then go to a local courthouse and fill out an application form for what Rogers called the 4% primary residence rate.
She noted that in South Carolina, if a home is set to be a primary residence for a new owner, they get a “special rate” of 4% on property taxes.
The realtor stressed that only applies to primary residences, as investment properties and secondary homes would be taxed at 6%.
Because the homeowner was unaware of the application for the 4% rate, they saw an increase of over $300 per month on their mortgage payment and could never figure out why.
Rogers noted that it’s rare the homeowner would not know, as many attorneys and realtors in South Carolina now encourage them to immediately go to the DMV and the courthouse to start the process.
South Carolina 4% Property Tax Exemption
The special 4% property tax assessment ratio is a benefit potentially available to legal residents of South Carolina.
- To apply for the rate, a resident must be the primary owner or occupant of the property, per the South Carolina Department of Revenue.
- They also must’ve been occupying the address for which they desire the exemption for a given period during the tax year.
- Any investment properties, mobile homes, or businesses for profit located on the land will automatically disqualify the resident from the rate.
- Residents 65 and older who are either legally blind or disabled can also qualify for the Homestead Exemption.
- The Homestead Exemption sets aside $50,000 of the value of a property for taxes for qualifying seniors.
It’s unclear why Rogers’ client was never notified of the 4% tax opportunity.
She said they were able to sell the home, but for four years the client paid significantly more than they should have.
Even if they paid the additional cost for half of the time they had the home, at an increase of $300 per month for two years, that’s $7,200 lost.
It’s still less of an increase than some homeowners have seen in recent months.
A resident said they would be forced to get a third job after their payments shot up over $400 per month, or $4,800 annually.
Another was hit with a bill for $7,476 after a mistake from the bank made their mortgage skyrocket.
