Some states stick it to everyone.
I live in NY. My house is worth approximately $300K. The taxes are over $10K/year. For that I get to have my own well, septic, garbage (none included in the taxes). I also get to have a high state income tax rate. My road hasn't been paved in the 20+ years I've lived here, instead every couple/few years they put some tar plus loose stone down and let everyone drive on it for a few weeks (with stones bouncing and hitting your car and dust everywhere).
But, the biggest aggravation (to me) is that I get to hear politicians here tell me I'm not paying my 'fair' share.
I like my house, don't even mind the cold weather - but I will eventually be leaving here for greener pastures - 10K/year plus high income taxes goes a long way in other places.
We just moved from Hudson Valley, NY where we lived all of our lives. I get it! We retired. We just sold our last home of 32 years- a saltbox colonial. Originally paid $208,000 for it and put 100's of thousands into it over the years- $100,000 most recently into an almost total remodel of every room. We loved the house, and we had 10 1/2 acres of wooded property and tons of privacy and so forth.
Taxes were close to $10,000. Same with our roads- horrible. Hated what has happened to NY politically. And traffic on main highway was becoming a nightmare.
Only child is in NH so we bought a new construction home less than 1/2 the size of our previous one- one level but with huge walk out basement- on a postage stamp sized lot with homes right next to each other. Like a 55+ community but is not age restricted. Can walk to the big lake and boardwalk. Conveniences 4 miles in any direction. Property taxes are half of NY's. No income or sales tax. HOA fees are $150- clubhouse and pool and snow plowing the road and trash pick up and mowing and upkeep of tiny lots.
House ended up costing us around $275,000 (with appliances). Started at $249,000 but you know how with new builds everything you do is an "upgrade". We do need to do radon mitigation (it is the granite state!). We finally bought a big TV and a little electric stove (no fireplace in this model home- no room). Need to buy a mattress and another ceiling fan. Bought medicine cabinets as builder did not supply mirrors in the bathrooms! And bought towel cars for the bathrooms, things like that. Bought some shelving for the basement, but not going to finish it. One car garage and 2 car driveway. Front porch. House will need some money put into it within the next 2 years, like sealing the garage and basement floors and some other things like maybe a while house generator like we used to have at our last home, but we still have to get used to no income coming in and living on cash for now as directed by our FA, so trying to go slow and be a little frugal. Keeping it simple, this time around.
So we totally downsized but were able to use the furniture we had and got rid of the rest before we moved. This new house is no where near as nice as our big home was in amenities and finishes and so on, but it is the right thing for us at this stage of life. I was determined NOT to spend more on a house than what we got for our former home, which was $317,000. And that was before moving expenses- we had to move twice- once into an expensive rental for 5 months until our new home was completed. Then there was the real estate fees, the atty fees, home inspection fees, etc etc.
One thing I do know- I will never move again. It was really hard at our age. I never want to go through it again but glad we are here now.
