Your property taxes are running about a year and a half behind.

Step 1 - The lag

Ohio bills property taxes in arrears.

Most bills you get are for something you're about to use. Property taxes work the other way around. You occupy the house first, and the county sends the bill for that time much later - roughly six to eighteen months later.

“So the envelope that lands in your mailbox in February 2026 isn't for 2026 at all. It's for the first half of 2025.”

Step 2 - The rhythm

One tax year, two bills, both late.

Exact due dates are set county by county and shift a little each year. Your county treasurer's office publishes the real ones, and some counties grant extensions in reappraisal years.

Step 3 - The problem

Sell the house, and the bill follows the address, not the person who ran it up.

The seller lived in the house for months that were never billed. Then they hand over the keys. A few weeks later the county mails a bill for that period - and it arrives at the house, addressed to whoever owns it now.

Step 4 - The fix

Proration settles the tab on closing day.

Nobody chases anybody for a check later. Instead, the title company works out what the seller owes for their unpaid time and moves it once, at the closing table.

Same dollars, one transfer. The only real question is how far back the seller's share reaches - and that's where the two methods split.

Step 5 - Our example

Everything from here runs on one closing.

Every proration in Ohio is this same move: find the daily rate, then count the days the seller is responsible for. The methods disagree only about which days to count.

Method A

Short proration: settle only what's already been billed.

The seller covers the tax periods the county has actually issued a bill for and that are still unpaid at closing. Anything the county hasn't gotten around to billing yet is the buyer's problem.

Method B

Long proration: settle every day the seller owned it.

Same daily rate, longer count. The seller also covers the stretch that has accrued but hasn't been billed yet - right up to the closing date. Nothing from their ownership carries over to the buyer.

Side by side

On the same house, that's $1,824 of difference.

Same house, same date, same tax bill. The only variable is which method the contract calls for.

Step 6 - Who decides

The purchase contract decides. Not the county, not the title company.

Step 7 - Where you'll see it

Find it on your settlement statement.

On the buyer's Closing Disclosure it usually sits under Adjustments for Items Unpaid by Seller. It is not a check - it reduces the cash you bring to the table.

Step 8 - The fine print

Four things that quietly change the number.

1. 01

   It's an estimate. The proration is built on the most recent known bill, because the real one doesn't exist yet. Some contracts add a true-up clause; most don't, and the estimate simply stands.

2. 02

   Reappraisal years. Ohio counties reappraise on a six-year cycle with an update in between. If your closing lands in one, the next bill can jump well past whatever the proration assumed.

3. 03

   New levies. A levy passed after the proration was calculated shows up on your bill but not in your credit.

4. 04

   New construction. If the last bill was for vacant land, the credit is based on vacant-land taxes - and the first bill on the finished house can be several times larger. This one catches people hard.

The short version

What to actually remember.

1. 01

   Ohio taxes are billed in arrears, so at any closing there's unpaid time the seller owes for.

2. 02

   Proration settles that at the table - seller debit, buyer credit, done in one move.

3. 03

   Short counts only billed periods and favors the seller. Long counts every day of ownership and favors the buyer.

4. 04

   Your purchase contract picks the method - and it's negotiable, so price it before you sign.