US will ban Wall Street investors from buying single-family homes

Re:US will ban Wall Street investors from buying single-fami... by no_wizard on Wednesday January 07, 2026 @05:56PM (#46534427)

You may be interested in learning about the Land Value Tax[0] which will in effect, taxes become more burdensome for leaving land unproductive (e.g., empty housing or land). It also shifts the calculus on home improvements, which means remodeling your home or doing other perhaps large pieces of upkeep will not trigger a property tax increase as it does today, which is better for median home owners as well.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_value_tax

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Re:US will ban Wall Street investors from buying single-fami... by throwaway2037 on Wednesday January 07, 2026 @08:51PM (#46536089)

    > home improvements, which means remodeling your home or doing other perhaps large pieces of upkeep will not trigger a property tax increase as it does today

I have heard this complaint here a few times, but very few specifics. I would call getting your roof replaced or your kitchen/bathroom remodelled as major home improvements. Do these actually property tax increases?

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Re:US will ban Wall Street investors from buying single-fami... by no_wizard on Wednesday January 07, 2026 @08:54PM (#46536122)

In many jurisdictions they do, yes. A general guideline is that if it requires an permit it will typically trigger an assessment and thus increase in property tax

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Re:US will ban Wall Street investors from buying single-fami... by bombcar on Wednesday January 07, 2026 @10:02PM (#46536664)

If everything else is equal, a roof replacement or other maintenance shouldn't appreciably change the value of the house (not beyond the cost of maintenance).

What WILL change your property tax is an addition or similar that makes your house go from X (same as everyone around you) to 1.2X or similar, then you'll proportionally pay more tax.

(It varies by district, but most USA property taxes are calculated by figuring out the budget for the city/county/school district, and dividing it proportionally amongst the valuations of properties/houses. This is often displayed as a percentage of the value, but it is not a percentage TAX - as if everyone's property doubles overnight but the budget remains the same, the property tax dollar amounts would remain the same while the percentage reported goes down.)

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Re:US will ban Wall Street investors from buying single-fami... by dfxm12 on Thursday January 08, 2026 @01:28AM (#46537896)

Depends on how your locality assesses the value of your home. You can probably do a web search for where you live specifically if you want to get into the nitty gritty. In the places I've lived, unless I added more square footage, these won't trigger an automatic property tax increase.

But if the improvements on your house makes the neighborhood more desirable and your neighbor's house sell for a higher price then your locality expects, then your house will be assessed at a higher value the next time the locality does their assessments, which means higher taxes.

Of course, improvements to your home that increase a sale value will affect the taxes, but the buyer has to deal with that.

Do some localities assess homes individually every so often? I wonder...

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Re:US will ban Wall Street investors from buying single-fami... by sokoloff on Thursday January 08, 2026 @04:37AM (#46539126)

In general a roof repair (including a full replacement) won’t trigger a re-assessment but a kitchen remodel will.

A roof replacement isn’t really an improvement so much as expensive maintenance.

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Re:US will ban Wall Street investors from buying single-fami... by mikkupikku on Thursday January 08, 2026 @06:12AM (#46539703)

Imagine actually telling the government that you remodeled your kitchen. Nobody is that dumb, right?

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Re:US will ban Wall Street investors from buying single-fami... by sokoloff on Thursday January 08, 2026 @06:33AM (#46539892)

Some people think the primary purpose of building permits and inspections is to ensure quality work. Others disagree.

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