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New North Texas Homeowners Hit With Unexpectedly High Tax Bills - YouTube
Channel: CBSDFW
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my whole point is is to make sure that
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the public is aware that this practice
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is going on we've got a buyer beware
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tonight for homeowners particularly in
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developing North Texas neighborhoods
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nearly 100 people say that they were hit
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with a hidden cost after they signed on
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the dotted line to the tune of tens of
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thousands of dollars my team reporter
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ginger Allen here tonight with more on
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this warning we are all ears ginger
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we're talking about a pig PID public
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Improvement District and after you see
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this story you'll probably want to get
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out your tax documents and see if you
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two are paying for one with homes and
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businesses popping up all over North
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Texas Dianne and Gary Owen thought
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moving into a new development in Denton
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right next to their son and
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grandchildren seemed ideal until I
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opened up the tax bill and I looked at
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it and I'm thinking why is it so much
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more than what we thought it was gonna
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be in the Owens say they've never heard
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those three letters PID and I'm like
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what is that what is a kid and why is it
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so much money shocked they started
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knocking on the 150 doors in their
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neighborhood they were not upfront with
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the information I I got probably over 75
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homeowners in our complex just here that
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didn't know anything about the pit among
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them I'm mad I'm mad at Robert filling
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Jim and his wife Vanessa who's a realtor
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neighbors came to me hey can you check
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out my house grow cow
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I might go your taxes are way higher
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than what your account was set up but
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your escrow account was set up so it was
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actually after helping all my neighbors
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I was like well crap maybe I should go
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check mine too here's what they were all
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discovering living in a pit allows a
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city or county to charge a builder to
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develop roads water sewage sidewalks etc
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a builder can pass that cost on to
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buyers and you'll see it on your
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property tax
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here at steeplechase where home start at
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about 300 thousand dollars nearly 100
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homeowners say each house was assessed
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nearly 31,000 for the pit an amount they
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could have paid in full upfront at
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closing if they had known about it but
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over time they say the interest could
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have added up to 40 thousand dollars
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more on their property tax for a total
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of 76 thousand dollars living here today
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the i-team has learned
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DR Horton did provide this document
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disclosing the pit to the residents at
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closing but attorney Rachel Kerala says
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that should have happened long before
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then so you now have 100 clients saying
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this and nowhere on the document which
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she says was buried in a stack does it
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show the cost anyone who's watching this
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if you hear the words public Improvement
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District make sure you understand what
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that is and and force the Builder to
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give you the amounts of that that cost
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Randy Gibbons is one of her key
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witnesses he also lives in steeplechase
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but unlike the others he moved in
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knowing there was a pit
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the former current city council member
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says he found out on his own and then
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sent this email to the Builders cells
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Rep assuming she would share the
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breakdown of the additional cost with
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future buyers when you start to hear
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other people didn't know where he
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shocked
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absolutely I was shocked because I knew
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I'd provided that information this
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practice has got to stop
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buyers need to be aware that this is
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happening do you think this is an
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isolated incident I don't I think it's
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probably happening all over Texas I
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think as public improvement districts
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start to become more popular and more
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widely used it will continue to happen
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an attorney for DR Horton says the
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company cannot comment four of these
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cases have gone to arbitration and so
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far homeowners lost three of those
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battles one one that's the owens who you
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just saw in our story
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dr
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horton is now paying for their pit and
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now there are more than 40 more cases
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headed to arbitration because of this so
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this I mean taking a first blush at your
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story it sounds like a little bit of
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he-said she-said
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however at the same time information we
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know is power just you sharing the story
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tonight educates people on knowing more
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about the pit and what it is would you
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agree with that that the buyer needs to
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know and needs to be aware of it and
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what's interesting is we both know about
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all the development around us these are
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becoming more common because of that so
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I think everyone agrees there needs to
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be more clarification or regulation
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about disclosure at the state level
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maybe that would be more helpful
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bottom line here's what I want you to
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take away from this if you own a home go
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look at your tax documents and see if
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app it is on your itemized list PID and
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if you are buying you need to ask is
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this a pig and get the yes or no answer
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in writing and then also get in writing
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how much it will add on to your taxes I
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do want people to know this we reached
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out to about 10 different cities to find
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out in those areas where are the pigs
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and I put that on our website a
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wonderful wonderful so some instant
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information for some people at least
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right awesome ginger thank you i opening
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no question about that if you ever have
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a tip or a question for the CBS 11 i
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team they work for you available anytime
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you can email and that's quickest way i
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team at KTVT dot-com
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