Owning a home is a good investment – stereotyped phrase nowadays. It’s also a place to live, place to be with our family. It gives freedom, stability and security to our life. There are some financial expenses – like upkeep, insurance, real estate taxes - which must be paid. If someone plans to move to Arizona, it is indispensable to look after Arizona taxes. Some taxes are lower, some taxes are higher, compared to other states. For example Arizona charges a property tax for automobiles. It is paid along with the vehicle registration. But real estate taxes might be lower.

Owner-occupied residential properties are checked by local assessors in Arizona. They use computerized systems to value residential property for property tax purposes. Besides they use replacement cost new less depreciation or sales analysis method. They choose one of these methods, it depends on technical considerations such as the accuracy of each method for that area and the number of sales available for analysis.

Owner-occupied residential properties and residential rental property are assessed at 10% of full cash value. The average tax rate on homes in Arizona before exemptions and rebates is approximately 1.3% of market value or 13% of assessed value.

It is important to note that Arizona property taxes on owner-occupied residences are levied based on the Assessed Value, not current market value, because people usually get confused about that. The assessed value is always lower than market price, and it is important to use this number when we calculate taxes.