Your State Tax Burden

[RunningBum]

I went back and checked, I paid under 2.5% of the assessed value, and about 2% of what I sold the house for.

I put 20% down, but had a 15 yr fixed loan, and paid less PITI on a nice 3BR/2Ba 1850 sq ft home than the 2Br/1Ba 900 sq ft apt rent I had been paying, north of Austin.

 

[NYEXPAT]

Don't forget to factor in house appreciate rates and rising rents over time.

Or the reverse as the case may be!

 

[youbet]

Don't forget to factor in house appreciate rates and rising rents over time.

And also routine care and maintenance of the house........ I'm petty sensitive to this right now as my list of upcoming expenses is growing. Need to have the driveway replaced, the roof is living on borrowed time, etc. We had one bath and the kitchen redone recently and replaced the HVAC system about a decade ago. There's always something.........

 

[Helen]

There's always something.........

I so agree with this. I just had a new retaining wall replaced in the carport, which meant the cement floor and steps into the house had to be replaced too, a new deck in back and new front porch, a new surround shower wall, new glass door for the other shower, two new sliding doors out to the deck, new kitchen floor, two chimneys replaced from the roof up, new fireplace insert, new circuit breaker box, and attic and duct insulation. The roof probably has 10 years left, and the furnance and hot water heater may need to be replaced before then.

Thank God the sucker is paid for. I really should run the numbers and include interest on the mortgage, yard tools, improvements in addition to those mentioned above (paint, fencing, electircal and plumbing repairs), and property taxes. I'm guessing at best I would break even as opposed to renting and this is on house I only paid $100k for 18 years ago.

I'm hoping from here out it will mostly be low cost living.

 

[W2R]

In 2008 I paid (in property taxes, insurance, home maintenance, and home improvement) about 3.5% of what my house is worth. There is some deferred maintenance that I should have done, so maybe that would have made it closer to 4%.

However, I have spent more in previous years when my HVAC had to be replaced and so on. I don't have those figures right now, but I would expect that it isn't unreasonable to allow an average of 5-6% of the value of the house for these expenses. More if the house is a hundred years old and was poorly maintained (mine is just 37 years old and the previous owner maintained it quite well).

My paid off house is still a whole lot cheaper than renting in my location.