A thing I keep seeing people mess up about property tax in Ontario

I was looking at a listing in Hamilton last week and the agent had the property taxes listed at a flat $3,200 a year. A friend almost made an offer based on that number. I told him to check the tax roll on the city website, and sure enough, the current owner was getting a senior's tax deferral. The actual tax bill was over $4,800. People just take the number on the listing as fact, but it's often wrong because of grants, rebates, or old assessments. The seller's situation doesn't transfer to you. I learned this the hard way six months ago when I bought my place and got a nasty surprise. Now I always pull the tax roll myself before I even think about an offer. Has anyone else been caught by a tax bill that was way higher than the listing said?

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2 Comments

ben4025mo ago

Agents are usually right about that stuff.

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mary7685mo ago

It's a tough pill to swallow when they are. They have the market data we just don't see. Still hurts every time.

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