People need a very hefty income to pay property taxes in the
$ 32,000 annually range. I'm amazed that there are enough people who can do this to fill neighborhoods and still send their children to college, purchase health care, save money and maintain reliable vehicles.
It is always fun to see the houses and the variety of architectural styles, interiors and gardens.
I have friends who grew up on Long Island and now live in the southwest. They tell me that older relatives have property taxes of up to $ 40,000 and do have to sell the house and get out from under this fixed cost. And -here is the thing-it is not that easy to unload an older house-roomy and nice but not
" updated ".
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@Consuelo Some perspective. Obviously many factors in good housing: location, weather, public services, nearby health care, quality schools, shopping, etc. We live in an unincorporated town (not a city by itself, but served by the county) 15 miles inland from Oakland and Berkeley.
Our home is now worth 6-7 times what we paid for it in 1980. We are the beneficiaries of a very healthy business economy, San Francisco and Silicone Valley and Proposition 13, passed by state voters in 1978, limiting property taxes. That's been good for us and bad for public school funding. But our local schools are still very good. Our property taxes are about 1/3 of 1% of our home's market value. A new buyer (reassessed on sale) will pay 3 times the property taxes we pay. But homes here sell very well because of the factors listed above.
I'll give a tip on where to go for great value and quality living and not too far from NYC. Our son has lived in Raleigh NC for 20 years. His home is in a high quality neighborhood, is twice the size of ours and is only worth about 2/3 of what ours is. And believe me, with 3 great universities in the metro area, Raleigh is not MS or AL.
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Anyone who can get rid of a house in NY or NJ is lucky and should take their money and run to a decent low-tax state and live a better quality of life wherever.
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@Jan That all depends on what your definition of "live a better quality of life" is. Move to Alabama? Mississippi? No way. Sure, it's cheap there. For a reason. I live in the SF Bay Area, where taxes are high. Worth it to me. Every penny.
Tell ya what, Jan. You do what suits you, and stop believing that that's what works for everyone else. Stop believing that your idea of "quality of life" is the same as everyone else's. It isn't.
Can I afford most of these homes? Nope. Some of them I wouldn't even want to live in because they're just too big, and some because they're aesthetically displeasing to me. But that doesn't mean someone else would be a fool to buy them.
Some of us are willing to pay higher taxes to support K-12 education and other public services. If you want to move to Selma, Alabama, why not do that? This is America, Jan. You're 100% free to do that anytime you want. And enjoy those low, low taxes...and everything that comes with them.
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@GreenGene
And don't forget, states with no income tax typically have rather high real estate, sales and other taxes, car registration fees and such. There is no free lunch.
"Lower" tax states may be considered when you're retired but they are not places to build careers or even educate your children. So called high tax blue states seem to be more desirable by those measures.
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MONEY PITS : Ever stop to realize there is no shortage of Dream Homes for sale...?
Empty Nesters shirk at paying Property School Taxes for no benefit...! Upon selling, to maintain a similar lifestyle, my estimate is $3000 monthly rental minimum, equating to $100,000 in just three years, which is a lot shorter than estimated Life Expectancy... How long does it take to save $100,000; a lot longer than 3 years...
I smile when I hear a prospective buyer exclaim, "We'll never get tired of this...!" "Never say 'Never'"...!
Please feature slideshows with these stories so that we can more easily pretend we live in these houses.
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The nice homes are a pleasant puruse. Just purused them meself.
The Times is a newspaper. The distribution of homes by value across this land says something just like income tax returns do when disclosed.
Give us some housing news like what just sold for $53,000 and $75,000 and $86,000 across America. Millions of Americans are so housed.
Mel McConnell, Lindsey Graham, and Jim Inhoff would be proud to share how well one can live for less back home. I'd love to puruse those home-for-sale details. Others?
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@stewart bolinger
It was interesting to see what $1,000,000 plus could buy in the New York City area - such a comparison to the beach towns where I live. But I couldn't help but think of the half million or so Americans with no homes at all. The rich-poor divide sure does show up when considering domiciles.
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@stewart bolinger I like this column as is thanks.
I don't read this to find something I wish I'd bought, I read it out of curiosity to see what people are willing to pay. I read it with a sense of wonder sometimes (that people pay so much for a property) and I read it with a sense of incredulity (that a rare property seems like a bargain).
If I want to read "reality real estate" I'll go to Craigslist.
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@Ellen. ...as well as the 60,000 Homeless in your neighboring county of LA...