Property Tax Millstone

"If you have to ask about the taxes . . ."

Where: Park Lane in Minneapolis

What/Where: 4 BR/BA Rambler with over 4,000 square feet just southeast of Minneapolis' Cedar Lake

How much: $799k list price

Who (listed by): Agent/Broker -- Robert Landis

What jumps out at me skimming the stats on this new listing (actually, a cancel-and-relist) isn't the great location, the gorgeous .32 acre lot, or the surprising number of square feet (4,000, but it sure doesn't look it).

Rather, it's the $19,578(!) annual property tax bill that comes with!

That's based on an estimated property tax value of almost $1.2 million, which is sure to go down.

But not until 2011, because of the lag in how property taxes are determined.

In the meantime, the ultimate Buyer is going to have to have some pretty good cash flow.

Call it the housing market version of J.P. Morgan's famous line: 'if you have to ask how much the property taxes are . . . you can't afford them."

P.S.: All levity aside, these kinds of ball-and-chain tax bills are going to present increasingly steep obstacles selling upper bracket homes -- especially in high-tax cities like Minneapolis.

PPS: A cancel-and-relist is when the owner cancels the listing and the Realtor brings it back on new. That's standard procedure after a home's been on awhile -- in this case, since August. It's also standard practice to package that with a major price reduction, also true in this case: the owner dropped the price $100k.

The giveaway that this home has been on the market since Summer? The (very) green grass.