LCOL discoveries

[COcheesehead]

We just closed on our retirement home in a LCOL area. As we transition, we are finding out some interesting things.
The biggest was a reduction in our home cost. Which was about 30% less than a comparable home in the big city.
One I just found out about today was our auto policy dropped by about 15% and we are getting a refund.
The cost of cable and internet is a bit less.
Trash pick up is provided by the city, though we have to pay $1.75/month for recycling.
The cost for trades, electricians, plumbers, locksmith, all were also less than what we were used to paying.
Happy hour pricing is less.
We’ll probably have a few surprises as well, but so far it’s turning out better than I thought.
Loving the lack of congestion, prettier surroundings and better air quality.

 

[Dtail]

Sounds great.
Sometimes the issues are with near to home access to shopping, restaurants and medical.
How are these things situated?

 

[Rianne]

Nice, where is LCOL you found? We're in a university town that offers many services. Our property taxes are stupid high ($5500) for a 2500 sq. ft. 60 yr. old ranch.

 

[COcheesehead]

Sounds great.
Sometimes the issues are with near to home access to shopping, restaurants and medical.
How are these things situated?

We are 3 miles from downtown. The neighborhood is a golf course community and feels more like living in a park, than a subdivision.
Closest grocery is within walking distance. The better grocery store is about a 10 - 15 minute drive, but worth it. Better deli and ready to go options. Bad part is nearest Costco is 2 hours away. There is a Sams though. Might have to switch our membership. There is a clubhouse with some nice food options and a bar just up the street.
Two hospitals. Though we’ve been told more family care docs are needed in town.
A nice regional airport with about 12 direct jet service flights daily to the big hubs of Chicago, Denver, Dallas, LA, etc.
There are some great farm to table type restaurants in downtown. Brewpubs and then the typical chains out near the mall.
The town is big enough for at least one of everything you’ll want in retail, Best Buy, REI, Kohl’s, Home Depot, etc.

 

[COcheesehead]

Nice, where is LCOL you found? We're in a university town that offers many services. Our property taxes are stupid high ($5500) for a 2500 sq. ft. 60 yr. old ranch.

There is a mid size university in town as well. That adds some vibrancy and brings in national music acts and such.
Taxes are lower than what we were paying.
We paid $4200 for about 3000 sq ft in the city and will pay about $2800 for 2500 sq ft here. The schools are the losers though. They seem under funded here.

 

[brucethebroker]

We paid $4200 for about 3000 sq ft in the city and will pay about $2800 for 2500 sq ft here. The schools are the losers though. They seem under funded here.

Guess you had better not plan on having (any more) kids!

Don't forget to check into possible senior citizen property tax exemptions.

 

[Bamaman]

COcheesehead: Sounds as if you have just about anything you need. Low costs and high culture the college provides.

We are in an ultra LCOL place with two major lakes within the city, and two Robert Trent Golf Courses on our street. And out our front door is a 6 mile open water view to the sunset.

It easy to forget how debilitating the big city rush hour traffic is when you have no rush hour.

Congratulations on your choosing your retirement community well.

 

[W2R]

The biggest was a reduction in our home cost. Which was about 30% less than a comparable home in the big city.
One I just found out about today was our auto policy dropped by about 15% and we are getting a refund.
The cost of cable and internet is a bit less.
Trash pick up is provided by the city, though we have to pay $1.75/month for recycling.
The cost for trades, electricians, plumbers, locksmith, all were also less than what we were used to paying.
Happy hour pricing is less.
We’ll probably have a few surprises as well, but so far it’s turning out better than I thought.
Loving the lack of congestion, prettier surroundings and better air quality.

Some things that are expensive here:
House/flood/hurricane insurance and car insurance are both sky high (apparently at least partly due to fabled Louisiana state mishandling of such things). For homeowner's, flood, and wind-and-hail (=hurricane) house insurances, plus car insurance, I pay $4229/year.
Cable internet is probably more than elsewhere ($84/month for 115 Mbps).
Housing is sort of MCOL, less than in an HCOL area but not amazingly low.
Groceries are MCOL so I do better buying non-perishable items and frozen meats and other frozen foods online.

Some things that are cheap here:
Water ($3/month for all I can manage to use)
Natural gas and electricity (sum of both averaging $98/month for my 1500 sf house)
Low to mid level restaurant food, $5-$15 for lunch.
Property taxes, $1701/year for a 1500 sf home. Most middle class people send their kids to Catholic or other private schools.
Free entertainment; lots of street corner musicians and other entertainers; artists, festivals and parades. Fascinating history, architecture, and people.
Tradesmen; plumbers, handyman, lawn guys, etc are very inexpensive here.

Sounds great.
Sometimes the issues are with near to home access to shopping, restaurants and medical.
How are these things situated?

Within a mile, I have a Trader Joes, Whole Foods, two other large chain grocery stores, and dozens of restaurants.
Within a half mile I have the biggest and busiest shopping mall in the New Orleans area.
The best hospital in the area and its medical corridor are a little over 2 miles away.

We have several major universities less than 5 miles from here, such as Tulane, Loyola, and so on.

I would say the issues here are crime and the occasional hurricane. These can be severe disadvantages. But oh well, most of the hurricanes are scary but not catastrophic, and no place is perfect.

 

[LOL!]

Let's just guess where this place is. I vote for Grand Junction, Colorado.

 

[COcheesehead]

Let's just guess where this place is. I vote for Grand Junction, Colorado.

Buona ipotesi.

 

[Another Reader]

Let's just guess where this place is. I vote for Grand Junction, Colorado.

I was going to say don't see a Costco within two hours, but there is one in Gypsum, in the middle of the state on I-70. That must have been an interesting marketing decision...

 

[COcheesehead]

I was going to say don't see a Costco within two hours, but there is one in Gypsum, in the middle of the state on I-40. That must have been an interesting marketing decision...

There is no I 40 in Colorado.

Costco will place a store within reach of 300,000 people. So...there must be 300,000 within range of Gypsum.

 

[Another Reader]

There is no I 40 in Colorado.

Costco will place a store within reach of 300,000 people. So...there must be 300,000 within range of Gypsum.

Oops. Corrected to I-70.

There isn't even a large chain grocery store in Gypsum. Those Costco people must understand their customer base very well.

 

[COcheesehead]

Oops. Corrected to I-70.

There isn't even a large chain grocery store in Gypsum. Those Costco people must understand their customer base very well.

There’s actually pretty many people within shot of Gypsum. That takes into account Vail, Grand Junction, Aspen.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

Nice, where is LCOL you found? We're in a university town that offers many services. Our property taxes are stupid high ($5500) for a 2500 sq. ft. 60 yr. old ranch.

wow that is high.

We live in dense forest with river frontage on 150 acres, same size house though it is only 12 years old, our property taxes are $800/year [house and land].

 

[footenote]

There is no I 40 in Colorado.

Costco will place a store within reach of 300,000 people. So...there must be 300,000 within range of Gypsum.

Or within traffic levels reaching 300,000. Our LCOL micropolitan of 91,000 has a Costco. It is delightfully easy to shop there nine months of the year. We learned to avoid peak tourists days during the summer. (Usually on Mondays. Never on Fridays.)

 

[Rianne]

wow that is high.

We live in dense forest with river frontage on 150 acres, same size house though it is only 12 years old, our property taxes are $800/year [house and land].

We are the 2nd highest property taxed state in the nation.
https://www.illinoispolicy.org/study-illinois-property-taxes-still-second-highest-in-nation/
Trying to weigh the other benefits of this area to see if it's worth it. Champaign is growing. University is growing and new businesses popping up everywhere. New restaurants, festivals, huge farmer's market and many free activities. I don't know, it's a wash.

 

[Sunset]

Nice, where is LCOL you found? We're in a university town that offers many services. Our property taxes are stupid high ($5500) for a 2500 sq. ft. 60 yr. old ranch.

Also in IL, but not in a nice University town and our taxes are over 2x your rate: $5,000 for 1,000 sq ft home

 

[Rianne]

Also in IL, but not in a nice University town and our taxes are over 2x your rate: $5,000 for 1,000 sq ft home

Well c'mon down! We have lovely forest preserves, very little traffic. Can get from Champaign to Urbana in < 15 minutes. Walk to football, basketball, concerts, grocery stores, Starbuck's etc. And our Middle Fork Forest preserve just got designated as an International Dark Sky Park (only 62 in the world). Sorry, it's nice to be near Chicago. It is a beautiful city. We used to live in Elmhurst.

 

[MarieIG]

Nice, where is LCOL you found? We're in a university town that offers many services. Our property taxes are stupid high ($5500) for a 2500 sq. ft. 60 yr. old ranch.

Amateur. Try $13,500 for 1750 sq ft. 59 yr old three bed, 1 1/2 bath. (That was for 2018, an increase is in the works.)

 

[Rianne]

Amateur. Try $13,500 for 1750 sq ft. 59 yr old three bed, 1 1/2 bath. (That was for 2018, an increase is in the works.)

Yikes! You can't take your property taxes as a tax deduction this year? Am I correct?

 

[Bamaman]

I spent my years working in Eastern Illinois after graduating college. It's just a little too much corn for my liking, and the Winter weather can be miserable.

Alabama property taxes on my almost $400K lake house are $1100 a year.

Our city home is 5,200 square feet, and our property taxes are $0 because my wife is disabled. That's hard to beat.

But our public schools are not in great facilities. Our private schools are 1/4th that of the comparable big city private schools, however.

 

[Scuba]

Property taxes on a 1,568 sq ft condo in So California are $14,350. Used to be around $10K when we bought the place in 2003, but have increased over 40% despite Proposition 13. Lots of voters in LA County and CA like to pass “improvements” that are funded by property taxes. Then they wonder why rents go up so much, and call for rent control to “strike back against greedy landlords.” The average voter here clearly didn’t take Econ 101. :facepalm

 

[wrigley]

I was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. I left right after HS and joined the Navy. My brothers and sisters have all moved to the outlying suburbs, but my mother stayed in the city. When I hear what their property taxes are I cringe. The Navy brought me to Florida in 1993 and after I retired I stayed here. More and more "yankees" are migrating south...…..and taxes are more than likely the biggest reason (not to mention the weather ).

 

[ShokWaveRider]

3200sqft here, $5,500 Taxes, everything we need within 5 minutes away.

PS. Why is walking distance to Starbucks an asset? I find there coffee bitter, over roasted and honestly I do not like it. They are very over rated IMHO.