[nmnita]

Originally Posted by mrgoodwx

This sounds like apples and oranges to try and compare one state to another without considering the specific location (even specific school district or part of a town). Unless I'm reading it wrong, the Pulaski County AR rate across their districts seems to average about $60/$1000, with property assessed at 20% of value. Thus...a $250k house would be taxed $3000 per year. I'm sure most of AR is below that tax level, but without getting specific, the attempts to compare don't mean much. I can see Nita is in Bella Vista so I would expect the rate to be a lot lower than Little Rock, but not sure where DC is.

Mrboast's example makes it pretty clear that, as income level goes up, the impact of the 7% income tax rate in AR becomes more and more important.

Don't know where you are getting those figures, but the taxes in Ft Smith, when we were house hunting were not much different than here and you can't judge an entire state by one county. Also I would like to know, why you think taxes in Bella Vista would be lower than other places. Have you lived in AR recently, especially NWA?

Nita

[mrgoodwx]

Actually, you are making the same point I was trying to make in that...you can't judge an entire state by one county. Taxes can vary considerably from one place to another within a state. One of the sources I had looked at was about six years old. The following links look pretty up to date. From these, it appears there isn't much difference in rates between Little Rock and Bella Vista. I was a little surprised at that, since I had looked at these things a while back when we were investigating NWA for a possible move. I tried to look at Crawford county rates, but just couldn't find anything up to date.

http://www.pulaskicountytreasurer.ne...illage2008.pdf

The Official Site for Benton County, Arkansas | Collector's Office

[Dr. Foosball]

Originally Posted by nmnita

that's for sure. Plus housing is still crazy. Someone asked me to check a listing they had seen in Encinitas Ca the other day. Encinitas (spelling) is north of San Diego and yes, it is a bedroom community but pretty far from the city: 1300 sq feet, built in 1986 with 3 bedrooms and 1 plus baths on a lot that is 5,000 sq feet: asking price $245,000. Apparently that is a steal for the area. .. Now, we can all be happy we live here or at least somewhat happy..

Nita

This is definitely just as big of a deal as taxes. I bought a 1300 sq ft home in Van Buren for under $60K about 5 years ago.

[hotair2]

Originally Posted by Dr. Foosball

This is definitely just as big of a deal as taxes. I bought a 1300 sq ft home in Van Buren for under $60K about 5 years ago.

I paid very little for my house in Van Buren and still feel like I got ripped off. My house in Denver costs 4 times more than the home in Van Buren, of course I made almost 5 times the amount in Denver. My car insurance was cheaper, cable and phone costs are the same, car tag (personal property tax) is about the same, food was the same, the only big difference was the water bill....not much water in Colorado so it was about 3 times more expensive. Still when you add everything together....Denver was a better deal, and you are in Denver instead of Van Buren. Oh well, I am here now. I have to deal with it.

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by Dr. Foosball

This is definitely just as big of a deal as taxes. I bought a 1300 sq ft home in Van Buren for under $60K about 5 years ago.

that is why we have to look at the overall picture. When we decided to retire or semi-retire, we considered the cost of living for everything as it affected us. Then we visited several places we thought might be interesting. After one visit we would contact a realtor, return and actually look at property. As I have said, what is important to one may not be to another.

Nita

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by hotair2

I paid very little for my house in Van Buren and still feel like I got ripped off. My house in Denver costs 4 times more than the home in Van Buren, of course I made almost 5 times the amount in Denver. My car insurance was cheaper, cable and phone costs are the same, car tag (personal property tax) is about the same, food was the same, the only big difference was the water bill....not much water in Colorado so it was about 3 times more expensive. Still when you add everything together....Denver was a better deal, and you are in Denver instead of Van Buren. Oh well, I am here now. I have to deal with it.

Hotair, I know it isn't anyone's business but just out of curiosity, why would you take a job that paid 5 times less than you were making before and re-locate to an area with everything higher? Our cable is about the same here as in NM, yes, water is cheaper, our car insurance in about 1/2 but we didn't have the tax on food. We did when we first moved to NM, but eventually it was replaced with some other tax.

I know you do not really care for a lot of things here in AR so I wonder why you are here..Again, I am not trying to get nosey, I just always thought you probably moved here because of a good job offer, not the other way around.

Nita

[hotair2]

Originally Posted by nmnita

Hotair, I know it isn't anyone's business but just out of curiosity, why would you take a job that paid 5 times less than you were making before and re-locate to an area with everything higher? Our cable is about the same here as in NM, yes, water is cheaper, our car insurance in about 1/2 but we didn't have the tax on food. We did when we first moved to NM, but eventually it was replaced with some other tax.

I know you do not really care for a lot of things here in AR so I wonder why you are here..Again, I am not trying to get nosey, I just always thought you probably moved here because of a good job offer, not the other way around.

Nita

I thought I had explained it to you before. My wife became pregnant in Colorado. She wanted to be close to her parents. My wife's grandmother gave my wife a pretty house on a farm so our expenses are pretty much nothing here. But the real reason is that I believe that family is the most important thing. My son will have a chance to get to know his grandparents who are very nice people. Although this is not the best place for me, it is the best place right now for my family. Family comes first. When my son gets older we will probably move back to Colorado.

Please don't think that I believe every place is better than Arkansas. That is just not true. I lived in Atlanta and I would never consider moving back there...especially with a family. Too much traffic, too much crime, and it is just a dirty city. I prefer NW Ark. and Little Rock over a lot of other places in other states that I have been. I just love Denver. It is my favorite place in the whole country. I will be going back twice next year to go skiing. It is just a wondeful place. It is clean. They have a transit system and it is simply a beautiful place. I know it sounds that I hate Arkansas, but it is more that I miss Denver.

[DC at the Ridge]

Originally Posted by hotair2

I thought I had explained it to you before. My wife became pregnant in Colorado. She wanted to be close to her parents. My wife's grandmother gave my wife a pretty house on a farm so our expenses are pretty much nothing here. But the real reason is that I believe that family is the most important thing. My son will have a chance to get to know his grandparents who are very nice people. Although this is not the best place for me, it is the best place right now for my family. Family comes first. When my son gets older we will probably move back to Colorado.

Please don't think that I believe every place is better than Arkansas. That is just not true. I lived in Atlanta and I would never consider moving back there...especially with a family. Too much traffic, too much crime, and it is just a dirty city. I prefer NW Ark. and Little Rock over a lot of other places in other states that I have been. I just love Denver. It is my favorite place in the whole country. I will be going back twice next year to go skiing. It is just a wondeful place. It is clean. They have a transit system and it is simply a beautiful place. I know it sounds that I hate Arkansas, but it is more that I miss Denver.

I have a brother who feels the exact same way. He loves Denver. It's not that anywhere else isn't nice, just that nothing fits him as well as Denver.

[marmac]

Originally Posted by hotair2

I paid very little for my house in Van Buren and still feel like I got ripped off. My house in Denver costs 4 times more than the home in Van Buren, of course I made almost 5 times the amount in Denver. My car insurance was cheaper, cable and phone costs are the same, car tag (personal property tax) is about the same, food was the same, the only big difference was the water bill....not much water in Colorado so it was about 3 times more expensive. Still when you add everything together....Denver was a better deal, and you are in Denver instead of Van Buren. Oh well, I am here now. I have to deal with it.

--"of course I made almost 5 times the amount in Denver "--

Wages are higher in Colorado, but certainly not --5 times--higher.

If you are working at a wage one fifth the pay rate, you must have switched careers.

If a lawyer from Arkansas moved to Denver and worked fast food, I guess he then could say he made--" 5 times the wages "--in Arkansas compared to Colorado.

[hotair2]

Originally Posted by marmac

--"of course I made almost 5 times the amount in Denver "--

Wages are higher in Colorado, but certainly not --5 times--higher.

If you are working at a wage one fifth the pay rate, you must have switched careers.

If a lawyer from Arkansas moved to Denver and worked fast food, I guess he then could say he made--" 5 times the wages "--in Arkansas compared to Colorado.

On average I would say you are probably right. I did not mean to imply that all jobs pay 5 times more. If you worked at a fast food resturaunt in Arkansas and then went to Colorado. No you probably would not make 5 times more. However, if you, using your example, were a lawyer who worked for the state of Arkansas at 36,000 and then went to work in Colorado at a private firm making 150,000 that is not unrealistic. It is not an apples to apples comparison. You would still be a lawyer but in a different field.
As it applies to me, I am still in my same profession, but in a different field because jobs in my field are not plentiful in Arkansas.
How much more or less a person makes in Arkansas varies greatly by profession. Believe it or not, Doctors in Arkansas make more than Doctors in some larger cities. Simply a supply and demand issue. To use your example, Lawyers make a substantial amount less than a larger city...again supply and demand. An engineer, will do quite well in Arkansas, whereas state govenment workers do very poorly by comparison to other states.