When you're deciding how much home you can afford, don't forget to take real estate taxes into account. Often, your taxes will be rolled into your monthly payment along with your mortgage principal and interest, and your homeowners insurance premiums.

Real estate tax rates vary widely across the greater Roanoke Valley, but that's not unusual in a region of our size. Taxes are typically based on the value of your property -- including your home and the land it sits on -- and are assessed by the municipality where you live.

It's important to remember that your assessed value is not the same as an appraisal. The assessed value of your home is calculated solely for the purpose of taxes, while appraisals are used to determine the market value of a property. So if you're considering selling your home and want a ballpark of what your home is worth, an assessment might be a place to start, but it takes a comparative market analysis to determine a list price.

To get a sense of real estate taxes around the region, I've put together a list of localities' websites, so you can check for the most current rates. Rates may change as often as annually.

Visit these sites for more information (towns are in parentheses -- note that in towns, tax is assessed in addition to tax assessed by the county in which the town is located):

Roanoke

Roanoke County (Vinton)

Salem

Bedford

Botetourt County (Buchanan)

Craig County