Marcus J. in Bartlett: lost $423K in equity in ten years

Marcus and his wife, Leandra sold their 4,400 four-bedroom, five-bath a few steps from Bartlett Hills Golf Club for $502,000 in January.

They bought the home in 2006 for $740,000, or $925,000 in today’s dollars.

The Jaegers’ tax bill on Timber Ridge Drive rose from $11,986 in 2006, or 1.6 percent of their home’s then-value, to as high as $17,737 in 2015 before falling slightly to $16,457 last year. 

All told, they paid about $205,000 in property taxes over a dozen years of Bartlett home ownership, or 41 percent of their sale price.

All told, they paid about $205,000 in property taxes over a dozen years of Bartlett home ownership, or 41 percent of their sale price.

Put another way, while Marcus and Leandra’s home value was cut in half, their property taxes effectively doubled to an effective rate of 3.3 percent, more than twice what they were when they first bought.