Don't Let High Property Taxes Stall Your Home Purchase

Hoang Uyen Nguyen is currently living rent-free in a relative's Eagan, Minn. home, but this 30-year-old TV advertising traffic professional really would like to buy a place of her own. However, high property taxes cause her pause. "I definitely want to purchase a home where I could afford the property taxes," she tells AOL Real Estate.

Many home seekers hope that because of declining home values since the housing bubble burst that not only will they get a good deal on the sale price, but that the property taxes will be lower than they were a few years ago. After all, they are tied to the value of the house, right?

Don't bank on it, says Pete Sepp, a spokesperson for the National Taxpayers Union.

"The interesting thing is property tax collections has continued to grow despite the economic downturn and collapse of housing prices," he tells AOL RealEstate. Third quarter of 2010 there was a slight dip in collection amounts nationally, he said. You can see dips quarter to quarter, at some points over the last few years, but year to year the amount of property taxes collected are still up.