Hidden Costs of Cheaper States (Pasadena, Hancock: insurance, daycare, house)

[cutgarden]

???? Yes, you are taxed ONCE when you buy the vehicle. If you buy another vehicle, you pay taxes on that vehicle, once.

[burnt]

Originally Posted by jaindow

One thing that I've seen come up often on the board is the desire to move to a cheaper state than MD, and I thought it might be helpful to list some of the "hidden" costs that one might not think to consider, but maybe should consider, before deciding which cheaper state to move to.

For instance, during the time we lived in Louisiana (LA),

• Sales Tax On Food: We paid 9% sales tax on everything we bought, including food.
• Car Insurance: We paid more for car insurance in LA because there was such a high incidence of accidents and uninsured motorists. We were with Nationwide when we moved to LA and they would not insure us anymore. They told us the company did not cover LA since it was such a high risk state (That was ironic and quite hilarious given their name!)
• Health Insurance Premiums: We paid more health insurance premiums and out-of-pocket costs there because the plans we had were not as comprehensive.
• Car Transfers: At the time we transferred an out-of-state vehicle to LA, in addition to the normal fees for transfer, there was another fee for doing so, which was a percentage of the blue book value of your car.

Does anyone else have any suggestions for things to consider?

We paid 5% of our vehicles' values--a couple thousand dollars, in all--to title and register in Maryland. It was much cheaper to do so in Texas and Kansas.

[md to nc]

Unfortunately in NC you do have to pay the $150 highway tax to register your car, then the yearly personal property tax which is a percentage of the blue book value. In my situation, I just bought a new car when I moved here, so I did not have to pay the tax on my old car from MD nor the $150 due to just getting new plates when I bought my car. My other car was already paid for so to pay the $150 was just a part of life and my $99 property tax, well that covered my new sewer tax I had in MD so its equal.

Also my car insurance is about the same only like $30 a month cheaper.

Groceries are a little higher in NC

Insurance is about $50 more a month per family but I didn't compare the plans exactly.

I feel if you want to move and make a better life for your family, the little bit more is worth it. Considering my electric bill went down $250 less per month. That more than makes up for the property tax.

[jfre81]

Please go anywhere but Texas if you're looking for the land of milk and honey. It only gets more expensive the more people move here....works the same way for NC or wherever else.

NC's low property taxes seem to blind people to the constant nickel-and-diming that state does to you. Add to the fact they're looking at converting freeways to toll so they can afford to build more roads - after you're led to believe that highway tax you pay when you buy your car should be paying for that.

[vanyali]

My property tax in NC is about $11,000/yr. Looking at comparably priced (though admittedly smaller) places in MD, my property tax looks like it'll probably go down a few thousand after I move back north.

And yes, food is oddly expensive down here too. I already told this story on another thread, but I moved down here with my husband from NYC, and we had just been remarking that our grocery bills hadn't seemed to go down at all after the move when we found a section of the local paper from the early 1950's stuffed into a hole somewhere in our crawlspace containing a story about how food prices in Charlotte were higher than in Manhattan.

[dkf747]

Originally Posted by kjg1963

If you don't turn in your tags, who's fault is that?

Many other states do not require tags to be turned in at all.

[oldawg]

We currently reside in the DFW area of Texas. Although we don't have an income tax, we pay 8.5% s/t. I just sold a $190k house. My real state tax was over $3k per year and home owners ins. of almost $2k

[vanyali]

Originally Posted by oldawg

We currently reside in the DFW area of Texas. Although we don't have an income tax, we pay 8.5% s/t. I just sold a $190k house. My real state tax was over $3k per year and home owners ins. of almost $2k

$3k $2k/yr is pretty steep on $190k house. I think you win (so far).

[MsMilford]

Originally Posted by cutgarden

???? Yes, you are taxed ONCE when you buy the vehicle. If you buy another vehicle, you pay taxes on that vehicle, once.

Five months ago, we moved from MD to PA. We re-registered our vehicles, that were both purchased in MD, in PA. We are now moving back to MD.

Do we have to pay the 5% tax when we come back? My husband thinks not as we've already paid it when we bought the cars. It seems like we shouldn't have to, but you never know...

[tweezy]

has anyone moved here from columbus ohio if so compare please