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We recently moved from CT#2 to TN. I agree! The only 2 things that are more expensive for us are water bills, and sales tax. We happened to move to a town where water is liquid gold HA!
But everything else including registering cars, car/home owners insurance, gas prices, electricity rates, property taxes and insurance premiums are less... in some cases, far less.
It always surprises me to see people defend the argument that higher taxes means better services. That is not always the case, and one certainly can't argue that case if they haven't lived anywhere else.
Welcome to TN!!! Glad you're enjoying it. Interesting that your water bill is more, I really wonder why as water is abundant here, lol.
And yes, like I was saying in my earlier post, spouse is from Rochester, NY. There is nothing there they get that we don't have in Knoxville other than really good snowplowing.
For $5k a year for a 150k house (his parents' house, for example) in property taxes, I'd be expecting maids paid for by the city/state.
We pay a little over $100/mo (1300/yr) for a $240,000 house. Zero income, zero car inspection, zero tolls, zero personal property tax. The thing about TN is, it's not cheap bc it's not nice. It's just cheap because everyone is so vehemently financially conservative (including myself).
I really, really like Rochester think it's a really neat place with lots of charm but I would NEVER live there (or anywhere in NY, or in any blue state for that matter).
People there, my BIL for example, pay more in property taxes than their actual mortgage per month on their monthly house payment--that is absolute lunacy. They make about the same income as us yet could only afford a 100k house. We paid more than double that for our house (RE prices aren't too different here vs there) and have nearly the same house payment as them...for a house that is almost beyond comprehension a magnitude nicer.
There is no tax haven in the US. While some States do not tax your income, they make up for it with a high sales tax, That being said. if you are retired and don't earn a lot of money per year via investments, you will be better in the no-tax
States like Texas, Washington, Wyoming, South Dakota, Florida, Alaska.
Welcome to TN!!! Glad you're enjoying it. Interesting that your water bill is more, I really wonder why as water is abundant here, lol.
And yes, like I was saying in my earlier post, spouse is from Rochester, NY. There is nothing there they get that we don't have in Knoxville other than really good snowplowing.
For $5k a year for a 150k house (his parents' house, for example) in property taxes, I'd be expecting maids paid for by the city/state.
We pay a little over $100/mo (1300/yr) for a $240,000 house. Zero income, zero car inspection, zero tolls, zero personal property tax. The thing about TN is, it's not cheap bc it's not nice. It's just cheap because everyone is so vehemently financially conservative (including myself).
I really, really like Rochester think it's a really neat place with lots of charm but I would NEVER live there (or anywhere in NY, or in any blue state for that matter).
People there, my BIL for example, pay more in property taxes than their actual mortgage per month on their monthly house payment--that is absolute lunacy. They make about the same income as us yet could only afford a 100k house. We paid more than double that for our house (RE prices aren't too different here vs there) and have nearly the same house payment as them...for a house that is almost beyond comprehension a magnitude nicer.
The property tax comparison is different likely due to things that I mentioned earlier in terms of teachers, parks, etc. Things like plowing and likely road repair are also different in comparison. NY State also has STAR and other potential property tax exemptions, while TN I believe has personal property tax(correct me if I’m wrong). Of course, it isn’t tit for tat, but I’m saying this to illustrate differences in that regard.
There is the aspect of housing stock age that may come into due to Rochester developing earlier than the Knoxville area.
So, you can have higher tax rates, but pay less in comparison due to higher home prices in other places. This source shows that Knoxville’s median home price to be $41,000 higher than that of the Rochester area. https://www.nar.realtor/research-and...-affordability
So, there is information that shows that there are other factors to consider besides taxes or just looking at states when comparing areas. Of course, personal situations come into play, in spite of the information.
For those claiming they are getting the same services in Tennesee for much less $, I just drove from Atlanta to Chicago and the worst roads I encountered were in Tennesee. Sweet Mother of God, fix the damn potholes along 24! They were the size of small lakes.
For those claiming they are getting the same services in Tennesee for much less $, I just drove from Atlanta to Chicago and the worst roads I encountered were in Tennesee. Sweet Mother of God, fix the damn potholes along 24! They were the size of small lakes.
Was this recently? We have had a ridiculous amount of rain and storms and it has screwed up the roads, everyone is complaining about it. TDOT will get around to fixing it. The roads are good in Tennessee in general.
In any case though, I’ll glady avoid potholes rather than pay extra taxes.
People there, my BIL for example, pay more in property taxes than their actual mortgage per month on their monthly house payment--that is absolute lunacy. They make about the same income as us yet could only afford a 100k house. We paid more than double that for our house (RE prices aren't too different here vs there) and have nearly the same house payment as them...for a house that is almost beyond comprehension a magnitude nicer.
That’s pretty bad - but imagine living downstate New York, or Connecticut, or New Jersey and paying 3x that for a house (since you can’t get even a studio condo for 100k) at the same property tax rate? That’s what makes the coastal NE prohibitively expensive.
For those claiming they are getting the same services in Tennesee for much less $, I just drove from Atlanta to Chicago and the worst roads I encountered were in Tennesee. Sweet Mother of God, fix the damn potholes along 24! They were the size of small lakes.
I drove through Tennessee last August and September, and the roads were fine. My only complaint with the roads in Tennessee is that some of the Interstates desperately need to be widened outside the urban areas. I-24 between Nashville and Chattanooga has become a slog, and I-65 north of Nashville is no picnic either.
For those claiming they are getting the same services in Tennesee for much less $, I just drove from Atlanta to Chicago and the worst roads I encountered were in Tennesee. Sweet Mother of God, fix the damn potholes along 24! They were the size of small lakes.
We were in here in October and thought wow, these roads are amazing compared to Connecticut. Jump forward to a heavy rainy season and we do have a lot of potholes.
They are repairing. I was impressed that TN DOT offers an email and phone number you can report issues in your area.
But is it truly worth it? I often think it is but sometimes I wonder. Public transportation for instance, I only take occasionally. And when I do, I ask why is a publicly run railroad like the Long Island RR so expensive? Why is it $11.50 off peak from Babylon Village to Manhattan ($16 peak)? This is not a private for profit railroad, this a publicly run railroad.
Among other things, people of Long Island wanted that LIRR train engineers make $200,000 salaries and six figure pensions.
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And the bridges and tunnels around New York City? Some of them are charging $12 or so (granted some of them only charge tolls one way). You know how many cars and trucks are crossing them every day? Where is all that money going???
Is it being wasted???
It is going for things like building a new bus terminal in the middle of the most valuable real estate space in the country for $15 billion. Yeah, that's right. $15 billion for a bus terminal.... because building a low-rise low-value added building in the middle of Midtown Manhattan is a great idea.
Heh. PA is the 5th-most-populous state in the nation and only has the 15th-highest tax burden. I will no longer have any empathy for Pittsburghers complaining about their “sky high taxes”.
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