Most things in California is bad, but ...

[jimbrewer]

Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
The property tax at my house is something like $1400 a year, not going to complain at all.


FWIW Zillow estimates my house to be worth $928,275 currently.


I'm not so impressed. So a guy with a $1,000,000 bungalow in Santa Barbara pays diddly and the struggling young family in the central valley pays some multiple of that to make up for the windfall. What is the fairness of that?

To make matters worse as I understand it, prop 13 applies to commercial property. So it's possible to hold the commercial property in an LLC trade the LLC any number of times without revaluing the property.

On the other hand, California has a steeply progressive income tax, so a mid-income person pays a lot lower rate than the millionaire, lower overall income tax liability than some southern states.

PS California's budget is rock solid thanks to it's tightwad governor. Right now, California is running a budget surplus equal to Louisiana's entire tax revenues.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Originally Posted By: surfstar
Who cares how "cheap" property tax is when the housing itself is so overpriced!!!

This is "low-end" housing here: $515k 1/1 637 sq ft https://www.redfin.com/CA/Santa-Barbara/872-Highland-Dr-93109/unit-4/home/21597802

I'll pay 10% property tax on a $150k house - no problem!


Here's what $500k gets you here. Almost 4000 sq ft lakefront home. Scroll through the pics,it's really beautiful. Wish I could afford it

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/15132-Wild-Duck-Way-Roanoke-TX-76262/2097792772_zpid/

 

[xfactor9]

Calif homes & RE taxes only seem expensive when you buy the house. They seem very cheap later. My parents still have their first and second homes they bought in the 1970s and 1980s. They seemed expensive at the time, but today they're worth $900k and $600k. They pay $3500 in taxes for both houses combined.

Those 2 same houses would be worth maybe $450k combined, in a cheap place like Texas, but the tax on them would be $13,000.

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted By: jimbrewer
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
The property tax at my house is something like $1400 a year, not going to complain at all.


FWIW Zillow estimates my house to be worth $928,275 currently.


I'm not so impressed. So a guy with a $1,000,000 bungalow in Santa Barbara pays diddly and the struggling young family in the central valley pays some multiple of that to make up for the windfall. What is the fairness of that?

To make matters worse as I understand it, prop 13 applies to commercial property. So it's possible to hold the commercial property in an LLC trade the LLC any number of times without revaluing the property.

On the other hand, California has a steeply progressive income tax, so a mid-income person pays a lot lower rate than the millionaire, lower overall income tax liability than some southern states.

PS California's budget is rock solid thanks to it's tightwad governor. Right now, California is running a budget surplus equal to Louisiana's entire tax revenues.



Yes- ONE OF THE BIGGEST FLAWS OF PROP 13. Corporations in So. Cal (the few that are left) are not paying their fair share. Of course, employment taxes, AQMD, insurance and other things have run the vast majority out of California.

 

[Doog]

I always laugh when California residents boast about how inexpensive it is to live......uncle Jerry sure has you drinking the kool aid.


BTW, property taxes are deductible off of your 1040. So from a financial perspective you want everything to be cheaper than your property taxes.

 

[turtlevette]

Originally Posted By: CKN
Originally Posted By: jimbrewer
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
The property tax at my house is something like $1400 a year, not going to complain at all.


FWIW Zillow estimates my house to be worth $928,275 currently.


I'm not so impressed. So a guy with a $1,000,000 bungalow in Santa Barbara pays diddly and the struggling young family in the central valley pays some multiple of that to make up for the windfall. What is the fairness of that?

To make matters worse as I understand it, prop 13 applies to commercial property. So it's possible to hold the commercial property in an LLC trade the LLC any number of times without revaluing the property.

On the other hand, California has a steeply progressive income tax, so a mid-income person pays a lot lower rate than the millionaire, lower overall income tax liability than some southern states.

PS California's budget is rock solid thanks to it's tightwad governor. Right now, California is running a budget surplus equal to Louisiana's entire tax revenues.



Yes- ONE OF THE BIGGEST FLAWS OF PROP 13. Corporations in So. Cal (the few that are left) are not paying their fair share. Of course, employment taxes, AQMD, insurance and other things have run the vast majority out of California.


Then there are some places I wouldn't live if the house and food were free. Like Utah.

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted By: turtlevette
Originally Posted By: CKN
Originally Posted By: jimbrewer

The property tax at my house is something like $1400 a year, not going to complain at all.


FWIW Zillow estimates my house to be worth $928,275 currently.


I'm not so impressed. So a guy with a $1,000,000 bungalow in Santa Barbara pays diddly and the struggling young family in the central valley pays some multiple of that to make up for the windfall. What is the fairness of that?

Then there are some places I wouldn't live if the house and food were free. Like Utah.




I retired here from So Cal and love Utah. Always voted one of the top states to live in and a robust economy.

 

[Jarlaxle]

The only problem with Utah is November. And December. And January. And February. And March. And probably parts of October and April.

 

[surfstar]

Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Originally Posted By: surfstar
Who cares how "cheap" property tax is when the housing itself is so overpriced!!!

This is "low-end" housing here: $515k 1/1 637 sq ft https://www.redfin.com/CA/Santa-Barbara/872-Highland-Dr-93109/unit-4/home/21597802

I'll pay 10% property tax on a $150k house - no problem!


Here's what $500k gets you here. Almost 4000 sq ft lakefront home. Scroll through the pics,it's really beautiful. Wish I could afford it

http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/15132-Wild-Duck-Way-Roanoke-TX-76262/2097792772_zpid/


lol - wow, that's too much house!

If you bought at the [2009ish] bottom or well before the early 2000s crazy price run up, you love owning in CA!
Now that we've been looking at buying the last year or two - its simply insane around here. Not wanting to commute 2 hrs a day, either, so we're waiting and hoping for a drop or something...

 

[Schmoe]

Only tax deductible if you can itemize. My son got his first California pay check last week and about "dropped" a brick. He's a air traffic controller at LAX. Got a good pay raise, but he said the taxes are killing him. He's also finding out about how expensive the real estate is. He makes over 100K, but he said it's like living in Oklahoma making 40K when you compare things like housing, fuel and just normal everyday expense. He said...this is funny...."they need to send a jar of Vaseline with my paycheck because I'm getting screwed." HAAAAAAAAAAAAA HAAAAAAAAAA

 

[Andrew1972]

Originally Posted By: bubbatime
Originally Posted By: surfstar
Who cares how "cheap" property tax is when the housing itself is so overpriced!!!

This is "low-end" housing here: $515k 1/1 637 sq ft https://www.redfin.com/CA/Santa-Barbara/872-Highland-Dr-93109/unit-4/home/21597802

I'll pay 10% property tax on a $150k house - no problem!


In Florida, you can get a brand new, custom built home, 6 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 5000 square feet, pool, 3 car garage, on 3 acres, for that kind of money.


If the area was akin to Santa Barbara and locale 5 mins from beach I seriously doubt it.

In my area the land seems to be worth at least 50% of property value. My guess in Fl 5-10% at best if not within 5 miles of coast?

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: madRiver
Originally Posted By: bubbatime
In Florida, you can get a brand new, custom built home, 6 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 5000 square feet, pool, 3 car garage, on 3 acres, for that kind of money.


If the area was akin to Santa Barbara and locale 5 mins from beach I seriously doubt it.

In my area the land seems to be worth at least 50% of property value. My guess in Fl 5-10% at best if not within 5 miles of coast?

In most cities in California the closer to the beach the more expensive a house is.

I checked house price of Huntington Beach about 4-5 years ago, every block closer to the beach the house was 50-$100k more for similar size.

In most cities close to the beach the land costs up to 70-90% of the property. Some new buyers actually paid to demolish the structure to build a new and bigger one, so house value was negative.

 

[dja4260]

I live in Chicago. My house is 1840 sq ft on what's considered a double chicago lot. My taxes are $6700. This doesn't include water/trash.

My parents house about 3 miles away outside of Chicago, similar in size, taxes were $12,000.

I cannot wait to get out of this state.

 

[yeti]

Originally Posted By: HTSS_TR
Originally Posted By: madRiver
Originally Posted By: bubbatime
In Florida, you can get a brand new, custom built home, 6 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 5000 square feet, pool, 3 car garage, on 3 acres, for that kind of money.


If the area was akin to Santa Barbara and locale 5 mins from beach I seriously doubt it.

In my area the land seems to be worth at least 50% of property value. My guess in Fl 5-10% at best if not within 5 miles of coast?

In most cities in California the closer to the beach the more expensive a house is.

I checked house price of Huntington Beach about 4-5 years ago, every block closer to the beach the house was 50-$100k more for similar size.

In most cities close to the beach the land costs up to 70-90% of the property. Some new buyers actually paid to demolish the structure to build a new and bigger one, so house value was negative.


none of this matters.
when the big one hits, beach front property will be Nevada and Arizona.
nick will set up a stand on the "new" beach, and sell his instrument panel cookies.
all of those that pick on cali. will have to find another state to slam.

 

[grampi]

Chicago, and just IL in general, is a good place to be from...land of ridiculously high taxes and the most corrupt politicians in the country...not to mention, land of the strictest gun control laws AND the highest murder rates...

 

[CKN]

Originally Posted By: Jarlaxle
The only problem with Utah is November. And December. And January. And February. And March. And probably parts of October and April.




The thing is those months are really not a problem when you don't have to go to work in the morning......

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: dja4260
I live in Chicago. My house is 1840 sq ft on what's considered a double chicago lot. My taxes are $6700. This doesn't include water/trash.

My parents house about 3 miles away outside of Chicago, similar in size, taxes were $12,000.

I cannot wait to get out of this state.

We were paying close to $11K in taxes/year for a 3,000 sq ft home, way out in the suburbs on a tiny 0.2 acre lot, and that was a few years back. It's probably gotten even more expensive now.

 

[aquariuscsm]

I almost bought a $150k 3000 sq ft house last year in a really nice Ft Worth suburb on a lake and freaked when I saw the taxes were $2000. I thought it was high! Haha

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: pbm
Originally Posted By: JennyHemi
The housing costs in Cali are comparable to NY, so that part doesn't bother me. But NY/NJ property taxes are insane. You can easily pay $20,000/yr in taxes for a standard, not-so-great home. And sometimes it gets truly ludicrous. I looked at a few homes in one town north of the city, and the property taxes for 2013 (JUST the taxes) were over $500,000.00. On EVERY home in that town.


....and the roads are a disaster despite the high taxes....shame on Gov. Cuomo


Our roads are pretty awful. Until you cross that border into PA.

The potholes on 81 through PA are so bad I was expecting to bend a wheel (and I have 85 aspect ratio tires) or have my popup fall off because it was literally bouncing off the road going 55MPH

 

[HTSS_TR]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: dja4260
I live in Chicago. My house is 1840 sq ft on what's considered a double chicago lot. My taxes are $6700. This doesn't include water/trash.

My parents house about 3 miles away outside of Chicago, similar in size, taxes were $12,000.

I cannot wait to get out of this state.

We were paying close to $11K in taxes/year for a 3,000 sq ft home, way out in the suburbs on a tiny 0.2 acre lot, and that was a few years back. It's probably gotten even more expensive now.

8,000+ sq ft lot is huge for California houses, most single detached houses sit on 4,000-5,000 sq ft lot.

In San Fransisco not many houses have more than 3,000 sq ft lot. Most of them have about 2,000 sq ft lot.