Annual. :frown:
RE prices
- Thread starter steveny
- Start date
Yup. I drive through Studio city & NoHo every day.
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Holy cow
So the government of US is getting annual fee for every home in the country...!?So far I was jealous of you guys having so cheap cars. But keep the cars, suddenly my home felt cheap in comparasion :biggrin:
Holy cow
So far I was jealous of you guys having so cheap cars. But keep the cars, suddenly my home felt cheap in comparasion :biggrin:
Property taxes are usually collected by and pay for services in the county in which you live, with some portion going to the state. The Fed gets its taxes the old fashioned way; it takes them from your income.
California's property taxes are approximately 1.2% of assessed property or most recent selling value, which on my place works out to be about $300 per month (We can split it and pay half each time, semi-annually, and it's tax deductible). Not bad for police, firestations, public schools, parks, roads, that sort of stuff.
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With all the talk about the high cost of living in other parts of the country I thought I would start a thread about what 600k-900k buys in my area. Here are a couple of places near where I live. Look at the amount of taxes on each property.
Those homes are practically free! Holy crap those are some rock bottom prices. Taxes are a little scary though. You'll get about 1900-2200 sq. ft. on less than 1/4 acre for $550-650K out where I live.LOL on those listings categories <$70K, $70K - $99K, and $100K+
Probably the best way to compare homes is to look at the price per/ft of finished space,here in NE Pa 2hrs from NYC and 1.75hrs from Phily new construction can be had for 125-160 for decent finishes.Over 180/ft gets you a very nice level of fitout.
California law limits base property tax to a maximum of 1% of a homes assessed value. Local governments and even special districts w/in cities can add more fees to the tax. In the end most CA residents pay somewhere between 1.1% to 1.5% of assessed value for property tax annually.
Which is why I said "approximately 1.2%", which is also the amount that I pay to the LA County Tax Assesors office annually.
Ok - I can undestand the the tech guys can only do well in Bay Area, or Austin, Boston Etc.
But, what about the rest of the California gang. Why do prefer to live there - I know beautiful weather, etc etc. But doesn't the cost of living, housing, traffic, smog, taxes, crime etc etc - negate some of the positives.
Couple of house we have looked at:
http://www.tylerhomes.com/listings.htm?action=details&Type=MLS_Residential&LN=9955324
http://www.tylerhomes.com/listings.htm?action=details&Type=MLS_Residential&LN=9955230
But, what about the rest of the California gang. Why do prefer to live there - I know beautiful weather, etc etc. But doesn't the cost of living, housing, traffic, smog, taxes, crime etc etc - negate some of the positives.
Couple of house we have looked at:
http://www.tylerhomes.com/listings.htm?action=details&Type=MLS_Residential&LN=9955324
http://www.tylerhomes.com/listings.htm?action=details&Type=MLS_Residential&LN=9955230
Wow. Nice homes out there in Tyler, TX. Gotta love the affordability (speaking relative to CA).
Why do I stay in CA? Family (and friends, but they are basically family too). That's the biggest reason. If my family were anywhere else in the country, I'd be there.
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I am not sure what the rate is here because it varies by county and city but the lowest is ~4%
LOL on those listings categories <$70K, $70K - $99K, and $100K+
But wait...those homes are the BEST ones in the area. That is where all the top money makers live. It does not get better than that.
Hmm, maybe it's because I'm strategically placed 1hr 15mins away from Sear Point a.k.a. Infineon and 1hr 30mins away from Laguna Seca? :biggrin:
Otto
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Buying an expensive house is like buying an expensive car, but with more financial upside. Sure, it costs more, but it's worth more when you sell it too. And since homes here appreciate just as much if not more than in most other parts of the country, the bottom line is often better in the long run. The most difficult part is saving up the larger amount needed for the down payment.
Additionally, the payscale is generally a bit higher for similar jobs when compared to most less expensive locales.
OTOH, traffic sucks, no two ways about it. Smog isn't as much of an issue as it was maybe twenty years ago, when it was not uncommon to be able to see a wall of it creeping out from the city.
That is a very interesting point, I didn't think about that. The ceiling is pretty low out there. I saw a listing in the our local paper about a month ago for a $50,000,000 (fifty million) home which was deeply discounted because it was in great need of a remodel. Now that is quite extreme as you can get some amazing homes with beautiful mountain views, on a couple of acres, in the middle of the city for ~$5-$7 million out here. Those homes will be about equivalent to what you have shown, but there is obliviously a long way to go on the upside before you hit the ceiling of luxury.
BTW, thanks for this thread. It is really interesting for me to see the differences in house/$ that you can get across our country.
To steveny,
A great many of us choose to live in California because simply it is the place we've grown up, where our main group of friends live, etc. And while I agree with you that the housing prices are insane, the recent depreciation tells me that there is still some hope. Currently I live with my parents, and both my brother and I contribute to the monthly mortgage (we are both just out of college). With all three incomes, it makes sense that my family remain here though we will eventually have to move out after saving enough.
My parents have often talked about selling for a premium and moving somewhere cheaper, but the reality is that it can be daunting to just leave everything you own. Say they move out somewhere to retire, they might have a nice place to live but they won't know anyone. I suspect this fear of the unknown, combined with a sense of "security" provided by friends/family/familiarity etc. is what keeps the majority of us here.
A great many of us choose to live in California because simply it is the place we've grown up, where our main group of friends live, etc. And while I agree with you that the housing prices are insane, the recent depreciation tells me that there is still some hope. Currently I live with my parents, and both my brother and I contribute to the monthly mortgage (we are both just out of college). With all three incomes, it makes sense that my family remain here though we will eventually have to move out after saving enough.
My parents have often talked about selling for a premium and moving somewhere cheaper, but the reality is that it can be daunting to just leave everything you own. Say they move out somewhere to retire, they might have a nice place to live but they won't know anyone. I suspect this fear of the unknown, combined with a sense of "security" provided by friends/family/familiarity etc. is what keeps the majority of us here.
There is a 70 Million dollar home here. It is owned by Roy Park Jr. a local media mogal. The house is super nice! The fence around the property was over a million dollars. Roy Park Sr. was on the fourtune 500 list at one point.
Pretty much the reason why I live here in upstate NY. If lived on the moon and had to pick a place on the earth to live I sure wouldn't pick upstate ny, if I was looking at the place in the winter. :biggrin:
I go to California quite often and Florida as well. Both places just seem so impersonal to me. Like I am just another person in a sea of people. Here I feel I guess special. Everyone knows me and I know everyone. I also feel safe here and I don't feel safe in California. If one out of every 100 people is nuts or a wreckless criminal there are not as many here as there are in California. I am not paranoid, but when you see a mad gunman mow down 20 people at some restaurant it never happens in a small town like the one I live in. Big cities=big problems IMO.
Not in this area...the appreciation on a house each year is less than the taxes you will pay each year. So between upkeep and taxes the collective value in the end will be less than the amount invested.
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Well-stated, makes perfect sense. I could move out into the desert somewhere and have a house for dirt cheap, but then where would I be? Out in the desert all alone.
In Hawaii where I used to live, they have what is called "legal ohana" properties. Ohana means "family". In this context, "legal ohana" means that there are multiple dwellings on the same lot or property and that the owners had obtained the proper building permits to have multiple dwellings. There were also "illegal ohana" properties, where the real estate listing hinted at the fact that "maybe" the multiple units didn't have permits, but had been built any, buyer beware, disclosure has been met. When I asked one of the locals I worked about having seen these types of listings, both "legal ohana" and maybe not so legal "ohana", he told me that the reason that a number of these properties existed was that over the years, as the children of Hawaii grew up, real estate was so expensive and jobs paid so poorly that the children couldn't afford to ever buy a place, so the parents popped the roof and added another level on top of the existing house, or built another dwelling on the same lot. It was the least expensive route and the only way for the now-grown and married children with their own children to have a place to live without renting their whole lives. Some people got permits and some didn't. I don't think the government enforced the building code that strictly there and was willing to turn a blind eye towards it.
Check out this house for sale on the Big Island. Waimea is quiet and slow, but this property is simply stunning. Look at the colors and the quality of the air and light. Magnificent.
http://www.macarthurhawaii.com/luxury/exquisitewaimeahome/index.html
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So you lied to me... those aren't the BEST homes out there. :wink: :biggrin:
To add to the California vs. other states debate. I can certainly see the draw to living in California... the weather is wonderful. The only reason that I don't live there is because I like the Phoenix area just as much. It gets a bad rep for the summers, but I'm used to it. I could never consider living somewhere it snows (contradiction: it actually snowed in Phoenix a few months ago). I wouldn't even consider moving to the ski town of Flagstaff which is 2.5 hours North of Phoenix. That's just me though. It does make perfect sense to me why people would want to stay living in California - family, friends, weather, metropolitan, near the action, employment, apathy, pretension, etc - everybody has different reasons. On the other hand, I personally couldn't imagine moving somewhere for the sole reason of living in a mansion for just $1mil - especially if I had to deal with cold weather. So yeah, California makes sense to me.
