Where do we live?

[daylatedollarshort]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex The Great It is great to know, that you are happy in SF Bay Area. But Prop 13 can be changed some day (though it seems unlikely as of now). Also, county may impose additional tax due to the loss of revenues. For my house in San Jose, property tax went up 12% each year in 2013 and 2014. Currently I pay >$12K annually. Did someone here say $6K is high enough? But otherwise, this area is very nice and I completely agree on that.

I suppose it is possible our property taxes could skyrocket, but they have not in several decades of living here and I'm not aware of any serious proposals that would drastically increase our property taxes in the near future. The federal income tax changes currently being voted on, if passed into law, might have a bigger impact on us. But even then that is what our buffer in the retirement plan is for.

[Stormy Kromer]

Carpediem, we bought our house in 2010, a full 5 years before moving here. We found what we wanted and could afford it so we bought it. I'm sure it would cost 50% more to have built it when we finally moved in 2016.

[GravitySucks]

Plan A was to move to a low cost area, but due to circumstances and procrastination I'm still here in Central NY. I was spending about 4 months a year in California with DGF but never felt that was a viable home for me. Now my DM health is failing I'll probably be here a bit longer.
The high income taxes will drop next year as I will finally qualify for the retiree exemption.
The high property taxes will fall a little at 65.
I don't mind the snow and cold but plan on snow birding to South Carolina this year for a month and maybe the Alabama Redneck Riviera next year.
Late spring, summer, and fall are great here climate-wise. Bicycling and hiking right down the road. Leaf peeping with no travel. Fishing and boating on a large lake 10 minutes away or the Great Lakes 40 minutes away. Adirondack Park and Finger Lake winery's an hour away.
Price of groceries and restaurants seems lower than most places I travel too. A decent array of restaurants though it's no NYC or Washington or Chicago. Not much in the way of great fresh seafood. [emoji20]
Five hours or less drive time to Toronto, NYC, Boston, and Montreal.
I now plan on staying here while DM still needs me.

[gayl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex The Great It is great to know, that you are happy in SF Bay Area. But Prop 13 can be changed some day (though it seems unlikely as of now). Also, county may impose additional tax due to the loss of revenues. For my house in San Jose, property tax went up 12% each year in 2013 and 2014. Currently I pay >$12K annually. Did someone here say $6K is high enough? But otherwise, this area is very nice and I completely agree on that.

The 'county' doesn't impose 'fees,' prop 13 rate changes by the way we vote on bonds ..... in Clayton (thru the tunnel from Oakland) we've never turned down a library / fire / park / school / misc city fund bond. Sounds like San Jose agrees

[Another Reader]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gayl The 'county' doesn't impose 'fees,' prop 13 rate changes by the way we vote on bonds ..... in Clayton (thru the tunnel from Oakland) we've never turned down a library / fire / park / school / misc city fund bond. Sounds like San Jose agrees

Exactly what I was going to say. Two thirds of the voters, many of whom don't own property, have never met a bond issue or parcel tax they didn't like. My bill is now 1.7 percent of my assessed value. What Jarvis envisioned was the rate slowly dropping to 1 percent as the existing bonded indebtedness was paid off. Never happened.

[gayl]

Not true out here where I live. We're 95% homeowners and we vote everything through because we want the enhanced lifestyle.

For what it's worth, if you cause the operating cost of my rental to go up I raise your rent. So if the property taxes go up it goes up for everybody. Homeowners directly and renters indirectly

I thought Jarvis was to have control over any increases in our property taxes. I wasn't actually voting back then so I'm not sure if it was in the original bill that property taxes would never go up more than 2% a year

Reasons why I won't leave the area:
- capped increases
- moderate year round weather
- great art / music / symphony / opera
- family
- Bart ride to international airport
- open area (border state park / unusable terrain -- too steep to build)
- boating

[Bamaman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex The Great my house in San Jose, property tax went up 12% each year in 2013 and 2014. Currently I pay >$12K annually. Did someone here say $6K is high enough? But otherwise, this area is very nice and I completely agree on that.

Don't complain about property taxes. One friend in southern Wisconsin has a 1935 craftsman 1100 square feet house on a 45 ft wide lot, and her taxes are $5500. Another friend in Racine had a $185k townhouse and was paying $6500.

My best friend had a house in North Dallas (University Park.) It is maybe 5000 square feet and covers the 50' lot. When his property taxes hit $50,000, he sold the house and moved into a luxury apartment.

My wife is on disability and Alabama state and city property taxes are $0 on our main residence because of her health problems. I do have to pay $1,178 on our lake house worth $400k, however.

[Breedlove]

Currently we live in Cypress Texas . a suburb of Houston. This spring this house will be sold and we will move to our house in Richards Texas . We bought some land years ago and a few years ago built a home out of a steel barn . We will be 30 minutes from any hospital , 30 minutes from any real civilization Walmart , restaurants ... But daily we see new barniminiums going up . Plenty of backroads for a sportscars or motorcycles.

[gayl]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bamaman Don't complain about property taxes. One friend in southern Wisconsin has a 1935 craftsman 1100 square feet house on a 45 ft wide lot, and her taxes are $5500. Another friend in Racine had a $185k townhouse and was paying $6500. My best friend had a house in North Dallas (University Park.) It is maybe 5000 square feet and covers the 50' lot. When his property taxes hit $50,000, he sold the house and moved into a luxury apartment. My wife is on disability and Alabama state and city property taxes are $0 on our main residence because of her health problems. I do have to pay $1,178 on our lake house worth $400k, however.

so apparently we either pay the bill in property taxes (as a homeowner or pass thru as a renter) or state income taxes ..... I'll keep with it as income taxes as that seems more fair (make more / pay more)

[ohyes]

We have lived in central Arkansas (within 5 miles of the geographical center of the state) for thirty years. Arkansas has some beautiful country and the COL is low.

While we fantasize and talk of moving to other areas, it will not surprise me if we stay here. Our town has three colleges, plenty of restaurants, 25 mi from Little Rock, and an easy day's drive to the coast or a couple cruise ports. It is nice to be "sort of" centrally located in the USA.

If we do move, it will most likely be to NW Arkansas.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gayl so apparently we either pay the bill in property taxes (as a homeowner or pass thru as a renter) or state income taxes ..... I'll keep with it as income taxes as that seems more fair (make more / pay more)

You're right, they'll get you one way or another! I don't know what is more fair.

Our sales tax is 10.0% in New Orleans, or "just" 9.75% out here in the suburbs. Sure seems high but the other taxes are more reasonable.

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ohyes We have lived in central Arkansas (within 5 miles of the geographical center of the state) for thirty years. Arkansas has some beautiful country and the COL is low. While we fantasize and talk of moving to other areas, it will not surprise me if we stay here. Our town has three colleges, plenty of restaurants, 25 mi from Little Rock, and an easy day's drive to the coast or a couple cruise ports. It is nice to be "sort of" centrally located in the USA. If we do move, it will most likely be to NW Arkansas.

Sounds beautiful!! Definitely you should consider staying there. That sounds pretty much ideal.

[aja8888]

Arkansas is a well kept secret. I know a couple of people who are building retirement homes northeast of Fort Smith just outside of the Ozark National Forest. I've done a good bit of oil & gas work east of Fort Smith and that area is pretty also.

[Alex The Great]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gayl so apparently we either pay the bill in property taxes (as a homeowner or pass thru as a renter) or state income taxes ..... I'll keep with it as income taxes as that seems more fair (make more / pay more)

Sorry, I cannot agree on that. Here in California we "enjoy" pretty much all taxes. Also, we do not pass those taxes to renters: homes with a market value >$1.5M rarely rented for more than $4.5K. It is just hard to find people, who would agree to pay $5K per month for the rent.

[gayl]

Another Californian and I'll continue to disagree .... we pass on all costs to renters in my corner of the bay

On the >1.5m home, how much would you pay in taxes in other states (12k now)? My home of only 900k has taxes of 3k annually ..... other states are a lot higher. According to what others are posting I'd get slammed elsewhere although it must have hurt for those who had taxes reduced during Great Recession as property values fell only to see them restored ASAP once property reverted to pre-recession values. IMHO still better than:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bamaman ... southern Wisconsin has a 1935 craftsman 1100 square feet house on a 45 ft wide lot, and her taxes are $5500. Another friend in Racine had a $185k townhouse and was paying $6500. ...North Dallas (University Park.) It is maybe 5000 square feet and covers the 50' lot..... property taxes hit $50,000

hate to think what mine would be in Wisconsin / Dallas / NY / NJ

[gayl]

Back to original question:

Quote:

Reasons why I won't leave the area: - capped increases - moderate year round weather - great art / music / symphony / opera - family - Bart ride to international airport - open area (border state park / unusable terrain -- too steep to build) - boating within 1/2 hr

[Scuba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Another Reader Exactly what I was going to say. Two thirds of the voters, many of whom don't own property, have never met a bond issue or parcel tax they didn't like. My bill is now 1.7 percent of my assessed value. What Jarvis envisioned was the rate slowly dropping to 1 percent as the existing bonded indebtedness was paid off. Never happened.

I agree! I'm in LA County and our property taxes are 40% higher than they were 3 years ago. I had budgeted for 20% higher so I'm glad we have a nice buffer in the budget.

[Scuba]

Quote:

Originally Posted by gayl Not true out here where I live. We're 95% homeowners and we vote everything through because we want the enhanced lifestyle. For what it's worth, if you cause the operating cost of my rental to go up I raise your rent. So if the property taxes go up it goes up for everybody. Homeowners directly and renters indirectly I thought Jarvis was to have control over any increases in our property taxes. I wasn't actually voting back then so I'm not sure if it was in the original bill that property taxes would never go up more than 2% a year Reasons why I won't leave the area: - capped increases - moderate year round weather - great art / music / symphony / opera - family - Bart ride to international airport - open area (border state park / unusable terrain -- too steep to build) - boating

I'm sure you're right that rents also increase as property taxes go up, but I honestly don't think many of the people who vote for the propositions funded by property taxes realize that. Even with the triple whammy of double digit state income taxes, 10.25% sales tax, and a five figure property tax bill, we don't intend to move. Weather is too nice, love our friends and the diversity of things to do.

[calmloki]

Long time Oregonian; we did a complete re-do of an old house in a little town near Salem from '95 to '2000. Real pleased with it. In 2008 we started looking for a new place and nearly ended up in a buried dome home on a cliff in Prescott Az - didn't happen and we bought a 2003 build foreclosure home in La Quinta Ca. Very comfortable, single level, Santa Fe style but lacks the soul of an old place. We've been spending about 6 months here and seeing sun in winter, then 6 in Oregon and enjoying the green. Starting to get a bit restless and don't know where is next. Taxes are substantial both places now, but we are like frogs brought to a boil - don't really notice the amount as we're used to it.

[daylatedollarshort]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex The Great Sorry, I cannot agree on that. Here in California we "enjoy" pretty much all taxes. Also, we do not pass those taxes to renters: homes with a market value >$1.5M rarely rented for more than $4.5K. It is just hard to find people, who would agree to pay $5K per month for the rent.

Here in my household income taxes and property taxes are pretty reasonable. YMMV. I see what other members from other states post here for expenses and taxes and ours are actually not half bad, especially considering the good public schools, nice parks, gardens, bike trails, libraries, senior center, parks and recreation centers / classes and other amenities of the area.

Local rents in my corner of the metro area have gone up over 50% in the last 6 years, average home prices have risen under 30%, It may well be harder to find renters paying more than $4.5K for rent on a >$1.5M home, however the median home price for the Bay Area as a whole is $755K, not over $1.5M. Rents have skyrocketed where we are. If you are retired you can live in the outer suburbs outside the commute zone and pay a lot less for housing and property taxes than you would for the same size house within the San Francisco city limits or the South Bay.