Exactly which part of "homesteading exemptions" was it that you didn't understand?
It is true, with the qualification I stated -- it's true except for a few oddball homestead exemptions.
.You are talking about property taxes increasing about 5% per annum over 40 years, not a very large number. Most house values have barely kept up with inflation that period and far behind stock investments. The last tens was a special case with tow significant tax law changes and ultra-cheap loans. But that is correcting now.
Perhaps we have a difference over definition. While it's been a gazillion years since I was in school, and many years since I worked in the title insurance industry, I still think I have some grasp of the difference between owning a homestead and being a home owner. Neither the California law nor the Alaska law have anything to do with homesteading, oddball or not.
Elizabeth Richardson
I am sorry his tone was rude to you. It was unecessary and your reply was very gracious.
Tone aside, it's a matter of terminology. The term for a law or exemption to a law is designed to protect the value or ability of a person to live in his own residence is a "homestead exemption". Most states have (limited) homestead exemptions in their bankruptcy laws, many have provisions which let folks defer property taxes or even not pay some on some portion of the value of their homes. These provisions all may be referred to as "homestead exemptions" in various contexts.
Wikipedia (unless someone goes and hoses it) has a nice page on it:
Again, these laws have nothing to do with bankruptcy laws or a law where a person can exempt his/her house from foreclosure after the spouse has died. In California, property taxes are deferred, meaning they are still due and payable upon sale. This deferral is available to ALL persons 65 and over, including those who own very expensive homes. In Alaska, taxes are forgiven on the first $150,000 valuation. This law applies to ALL citizens 65 and over. Neither of these laws have anything to do with homesteading, but, rather, owning a home. If you "boys" want to talk down to someone, be sure of your facts.
Elizabeth Richardson
But that doesn't invalidate what Dave Meyers said. Regardless of what the term actually used in the laws may be, *colloquially* at least, "homestead exemption" means both "that portion of the assessed value of the primary residence which is exempt from property tax" and "that portion of the equity in the primary residence which can't be seized by creditors".
The latter use was constantly used by the press when it was reporting on the federal bankruptcy law reform a couple of years ago. And the former is used quite often in many states. It is certainly the term used in MA and RI.
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