Holland, MI (Grand Rapids, Grand Haven, Zeeland: houses, income, job)

[bls5555]

Can anyone tell me a little about Holland?

General info is what I am looking for. Nice? Good place to raise a family? What's the drive to Grand Rapids like? What can I expect property tax wise on a $175,000 house?

Thanks.

[suydam]

Great area to raise a family.
35-50 minute commute to grand rapids.

Property tax estimator for the entire state: https://treas-secure.state.mi.us/pte...testimator.asp

[bls5555]

Well hell, you just solved my questions on a bunch of places. Thanks a bunch for that link.

Obviously that would be escrowed with my mortgage payment in most cases.

What other types of taxes am I looking at?

I keep hearing that Michigan is a high tax state but on a $140,000 home according to the tax calculator, the taxable value would be $70,000 and give or take school district the prop. tax would be somewhere around $2400.

Now a $140,000 house would nail you for somewhere between $3000 to $3500 in the Illinois suburbs of St. Louis. Where else are they getting you in Michigan? Why also do they take approximately half of the houses value to figure the prop. tax (this is something Ill. does not do they tax the whole value so I guess overall Mich prop. taxes are higher in terms of what you are paying vs. the amount you are paying it on)?

Also, around Holland it has the West Ottawa school district as having the lowest prop. taxes of the 3 (holland and zeeland are the other 2). Is this the worst of the school districts or are they all pretty similar?

EDIT: I just looked at some lansing numbers and those were quite a bit higher.

[suydam]

Originally Posted by bls5555

Well hell, you just solved my questions on a bunch of places. Thanks a bunch for that link.

Obviously that would be escrowed with my mortgage payment in most cases.

What other types of taxes am I looking at?

I keep hearing that Michigan is a high tax state but on a $140,000 home according to the tax calculator, the taxable value would be $70,000 and give or take school district the prop. tax would be somewhere around $2400.

Now a $140,000 house would nail you for somewhere between $3000 to $3500 in the Illinois suburbs of St. Louis. Where else are they getting you in Michigan? Why also do they take approximately half of the houses value to figure the prop. tax (this is something Ill. does not do they tax the whole value so I guess overall Mich prop. taxes are higher in terms of what you are paying vs. the amount you are paying it on)?

Also, around Holland it has the West Ottawa school district as having the lowest prop. taxes of the 3 (holland and zeeland are the other 2). Is this the worst of the school districts or are they all pretty similar?

Ottawa County (Holland, Zeeland, West Ottawa) has lower taxes than Kent County (Grand Rapids).

I don't live in Holland, so I cannot comment on where else you'll be taxed.

Not to point out the obvious, but Michigan has income tax (3.9%, may go up to 4.6%) and sales tax (6%). Our gasoline tax is among the highest in the nation as well so that can get you (especially if you're commuting from Holland to GR).

School districts: You can do fine with all 3 of those (Holland, West Ottawa, Zeeland) I'm sure. If you're a test-score-monitor, Zeeland appears to be the best. You can do your own research at Schools, High School, Public Schools, School District, Public High Schools - SchoolMatters

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by suydam

Not to point out the obvious, but Michigan has income tax (3.9%, may go up to 4.6%) and sales tax (6%). Our gasoline tax is among the highest in the nation as well so that can get you (especially if you're commuting from Holland to GR)

The Income tax rate is kind of hard to compare to most other States because MI uses a flat rate for everybody and has no income "brackets" to determine the rate. That said, I'll trade you any day of the week! Here in Maine any income above $18,500 is taxed at 8.5% I was born and raised in West Michigan and will be returning as soon as job contracts end out here, the 2 main reasons are lower taxes and much better schools.

As for gas taxes, total taxes paid at the pump puts MI at the BOTTOM of taxes paid. There are 35 States that pay more total tax per gallon of Gas; for Diesel there are 48 States that pay more total taxes per gallon. (Federation of Tax Administrators, 1/1/2007 figures) State Comparisons

[magellan]

I would say Zeeland and West Ottawa Schools are comparable, and then Holland Public. Zeeland actually has grown so much they have two fairly new high schools. West Ottawa is a typical suburban district with a lot of nice neighborhoods, and covers the Northern part of Holland/Holland Township over to Lake Michigan. West Ottawa area would put you further from Grand Rapids, and you have to drive a lot more traffic lights to get to I-196 to take to GR.

Technically Michigan is about in the middle of the pack of states when it comes to taxation.

[bls5555]

Originally Posted by suydam

Ottawa County (Holland, Zeeland, West Ottawa) has lower taxes than Kent County (Grand Rapids).

I don't live in Holland, so I cannot comment on where else you'll be taxed.

Not to point out the obvious, but Michigan has income tax (3.9%, may go up to 4.6%) and sales tax (6%). Our gasoline tax is among the highest in the nation as well so that can get you (especially if you're commuting from Holland to GR).

School districts: You can do fine with all 3 of those (Holland, West Ottawa, Zeeland) I'm sure. If you're a test-score-monitor, Zeeland appears to be the best. You can do your own research at Schools, High School, Public Schools, School District, Public High Schools - SchoolMatters

These taxes are sounding VERY similar to Illinois.

Where I live the sales tax is 6.25% and we have the highest Gasoline taxes in the country. Our income tax is a flat 3% though. Overall it sounds like I will be screwed the same in Michigan as in Illinois .

Thanks for all the information everyone.

[allbusiness]

I have a $175,000 home in the city of Holland and my tax bill is less than $2,300/year.

Holland schools are struggling a bit due to being landlocked -- no more buildable sites for homes in the district. Lots of expansion in the rural West Ottawa and Zeeland districts.

Holland is an excellent place to raise a family. And we're becoming a well known retirement mecca too.

My commute to downtown GR from central city Holland is 32 minutes -- great time to catch the news in the morning and wind down in the afternoon.

[Siberia]

Cool calculator you posted...played with the county tax mils and found a huge difference between townships a stone's throw away from each other. For example:

Enter Zeeland township, zeeland school district...33 mil tax rate.

Just up the road north in Grand Haven school district, some counties have 19 mil tax rate.

$1989 per year versus $3388 on a home worth $200,000 (enter $100,000 IN THE CALCULATOR)...WoW!

Does Zeeland have golden urinals and toliet seats at the schools or what...

[Butternut]

What ever happened to the little cabins with a pool out front, close to the park entrance along the shore? I think it was called Eagle Drive Resort at one time. I later heard they changed the name. Is it still there? My daughters and I loved going there back in the eighties. The people were very friendly and welcoming.