Photo Scanner: DC Real Property

Saturday, 10 November 2012

DC Real Property

The DC Real Property Sales database can offer a good deal of value for home buyers in the District. By simply entering an address, one can find out a wealth of information about a single-family home, row house or condo, including assessed value, jurisdictional information (e.g. ward, neighborhood, and sub-neighborhood), owner name, and total land area. Many tax systems prescribe longer depreciable lives for buildings and land improvements. Such lives may vary by type of use. Many such systems, including the United States and Canada, permit depreciation for real property using only the straight line method, or a small fixed percentage of cost. Generally, no depreciation tax deduction is allowed for bare land. In the United States, residential rental buildings are depreciable over a 27.5 year or 40 year life, other buildings over a 39 or 40 year life, and land improvements over a 15 or 20 year life, all using the straight line method. The database is regularly updated whenever ownership of a property changes hands in the city, and when updated tax information is available. It also allows users to see if certain properties are receiving the Homestead Exemption and lists the tax payments for the last four years. If all that isn’t enough, the Real Property Sales database allows you to pay your property taxes through its web-based service.