Hello House Hunters. This week, I am going to talk about SR exemptions. Now, this applies to when you are looking at a house, and you see that the property taxes on the home are remarkably low, most likely when you go to the house is kind of going to be a granny house, right?

So seniors can apply to have reduced property taxes. And if you’re purchasing a house that currently has the senior exemption, then this will impact your buying process in two ways. The first is that at the time of closing, your lender and title will agree upon an estimate to use for closing. And that will impact your monthly payment. It will also impact the amount that the lender is collecting in reserves to make your future payment of your property taxes.

So they’ll come up with an estimate, fast forward, when the county actually does the update. And that update can be in a couple of months. I have to say I’ve seen it take years. But I think that was more due to COVID than anything else. You’ll also get information from your lender and the county about the new property tax payment. If the original estimate was higher than the new number, you might get some money back, and your payment might go up. 

And that’s just what happens when you buy a house that has a senior exemption. Okay, reach out with questions.