innerloop Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 I'm thinking about buying the house/lot next door to me and I'm wondering if I can get the same tax advantages as an occupied homestead since I'll be treating it as one place i.e. homestead exemption on propoerty taxes, mortgage interest deduction on federal taxes, etc.?I don't want to merge the two properties because I might want to sell the lot down the road separately from my house. And I don't think I'll be able to take the second house route because I would remove the old house that's there now and just have a big side yard.Does anyone have any experience with this situation in Harris County?Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 my parents bought an empty lot next to their current properties and had to combine it with their current homestead to get the homestead advantage on the lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTAWACS Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 my parents bought an empty lot next to their current properties and had to combine it with their current homestead to get the homestead advantage on the lot.This sounds about right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H8S 4 LIFE Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 This sounds about right.Yes, this is correct. Just a little advice for you, though. You will need to remove any fence that seperates the two properties. My brother purchased the lot next door to his when the neighbor's house burned, and they subsequently sold off the property a few years ago. He had the same idea as you, wanting the larger yard area, and nearly doubling his already large corner lot. Come to find out, since there was a fence seperating the back yards (there are no fences in the front yards of Hidden Valley due to deed restrictions) it was still considered 2 different properties with two different addresses and lot numbers, ultimately denying him from obtaining the homestead exemption for the add on property the first year. The fence was quickly removed and the following year there was no issue. I assume the City must have sent out some sort of surveyor, once they accepted the application for the exemption. I found it odd that they knew the fence remained, and were able to deny the exemption based on that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted November 13, 2009 Share Posted November 13, 2009 Yes, this is correct. Just a little advice for you, though. You will need to remove any fence that seperates the two properties. My brother purchased the lot next door to his when the neighbor's house burned, and they subsequently sold off the property a few years ago. He had the same idea as you, wanting the larger yard area, and nearly doubling his already large corner lot. Come to find out, since there was a fence seperating the back yards (there are no fences in the front yards of Hidden Valley due to deed restrictions) it was still considered 2 different properties with two different addresses and lot numbers, ultimately denying him from obtaining the homestead exemption for the add on property the first year. The fence was quickly removed and the following year there was no issue. I assume the City must have sent out some sort of surveyor, once they accepted the application for the exemption. I found it odd that they knew the fence remained, and were able to deny the exemption based on that.my parents had no problem homesteading with a fence in the backyard. as long as they are contiguous, there shouldn't be an issue. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yankee_in_TX Posted December 14, 2009 Share Posted December 14, 2009 my parents had no problem homesteading with a fence in the backyard. as long as they are contiguous, there shouldn't be an issue. Yup (and less than 10 acres, not sure if that holds true for property taxes). And FYI - you can't really 'merge' the land anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannomad Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 You will probably want to combine (merge) both lots as one account with hcad to get the homestead exemption on the entire thing. Both lots will still exist, the only thing that changes is the legal description of your hcad account will include two lots instead of one. However, when/if you want to sell the lot just let hcad know you want to split out the lot and they will separate it back to it's own account... no big deal. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 You will probably want to combine (merge) both lots as one account with hcad to get the homestead exemption on the entire thing. yes that why they started the thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
musicman Posted December 17, 2009 Share Posted December 17, 2009 You will probably want to combine (merge) both lots as one account with hcad to get the homestead exemption on the entire thing. yes that why they started the thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Urbannomad Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 yes that why they started the thread. Huh, what did I miss??? I know that is why the thread was started... that's why I gave a my 2 cents on the question?? Granted the issue of combining for the homestead exemption was already answered. I was speaking more to the original poster's concern of being able to easily split the lot back out in the future when they wanted to sell it. I apologize in advance if I misunderstood your comment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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