Why are property taxes so high and complicated in Columbus?

[Shrikant Kakani]

I'm looking to invest in one of the multi-family properties in Columbus and the purchase price is going to be $300K for 4 units. Currently, the owner is paying around $5,400 in property taxes as confirmed from https://treapropsearch.frankli... website. The tax summary is shown in the image attached. My question is how is the "100% tax value" calculated? Is that the purchase price? From taxable income and tax paid, the tax rate is coming out to be 7.2% (5460/75600) which is really high! Assuming 8% property management, 8% repairs & maintenance, 8% cap expenditure, and 5% vacancy, the property is already generating negative cash flow and if the property taxes are increased, it'll be even worse. Is there something I'm missing out on? Any guidance will be helpful :)

PS: I have looked at several other websites for more information on property taxes but it's more and more confusing since each website is stating different facts.

https://smartasset.com/taxes/o...

https://apps.franklincountyaud...

[Jonathan Styer]

The county appraises every property every 6 years. Many times they will reassess upon the sale of a property, but not always; it's hard to give a great answer because of this. This also doesn't necessarily mean that it will go straight to purchase price, I've seen them do that, I've seen it where nothing changes, and I've seen it where the value goes somewhere in the middle. The advice I always give is use the Franklin County Auditor's site. On the property page on the left is a Tax Calculator. Calculate based upon the purchase price and use that to run your numbers. 

The Columbus City Schools are who usually push for the increase when it happens because they want their money. Some folks will purchase LLC's instead of the property to prevent a sale flag with the county auditor, but that takes a special case. Hope this helps.