Owning a house that has jumped $200,000 in value over just three years might sound like a handsome investment return for merely staying put. But Stanley and Alicia Miller aren't popping any champagne corks.
The Millers, who live on a fixed retirement income, are bracing for higher property taxes -- now about $3,000 a year -- on their four-bedroom split-level house in the Kemp Mill Estates neighborhood of Silver Spring. Property values there have risen 85 percent since 2002, among the stiffest increases in Maryland, according to reassessments mailed to residents last month. Valued at $242,000 three years ago, their home on Charlton Court is now assessed at $449,000.
Вот так, повысили на 85% с 2002го. При этом, разумеется, далеко не факт, что эти Миллеры могут продать свой дом за $449,000, это просто им его так оценили:
With higher property taxes, the rising cost of Medicare and concerns about the future of Social Security, the Millers say they expect to dip into savings for the first time if they want to continue a retirement in which traveling and eating out remain affordable.