House hunting now-- am I the only one who thinks these property taxes are ridiculous! (Conshohocken: renting, appliances)

[BR Valentine]

Originally Posted by eastwestcoast

Frustratingly, the taxes don't always correlate with school quality. Wealthier areas like Lower Merion can have lower taxes and better schools... someone else probably understands why better than I do, but my suspicion is that the higher home values and greater number of students going to private schools permits more spending per public school student than in less wealthy areas. Also, if schools really don't matter, 2e1m5a's suggestion of living within Philly might be one to consider since you can get a new home with a tax abatement if you look in the right areas. But if your wife makes a large portion of your income, the city wage tax could hit you guys hard.

Edit: just saw your response, sounds like the city is out

The biggest difference between districts such as LM and Radnor and those that have higher residential property taxes is that they have much more commercial real estate to tax and don't have to fund schools and other services almost entirely through residential real estate taxes. School districts which have a lot of land owned by tax-exempt organizations also usually end up with higher residential real estate taxes.

[eastwestcoast]

Originally Posted by alwaysbleedgreen

Your points are valid. I did see a lot of post from people in Jersey on here who claimed their taxes were on par with philly suburbs. I guess its true even though people from philly seem to disagree. Also I feel like you get "more house" for the money In New Jersey.

I do have a question for you, wanted to make sure I understand this correctly
husband + wife-both work in city and live in philly- wage tax for both and property tax only
if
they both work in city and live in suburbs-- wage tax for both and high property taxes too

Is this correct?

Anyone who works in the city or lives in the city pays the wage tax, it is slightly less for someone working in the city who doesn't live there but only minimally. So if you live in the city, you both pay wage tax regardless of where you work. Otherwise, only you pay wage tax because you work in Philly and your wife does not. You'll pay property tax anywhere you own a house, but it could be lower in the city especially if you get a new construction building that qualifies for a 10-year tax abatement on improvements (meaning you only pay taxes on the assessed value of land, not the building).

[Snwmn5]

Property taxes in Philly are still on the lower end of the spectrum. For that price range you're probably looking at around 2,000 in property taxes. Depending on your situation that can offset the wage tax to a degree.

[stylistvg]

Ive been doing the math myself as i plan to move to Philly in a few years. I figured out that living with in the city was far better in terms of taxes. the property taxes were way lower and easily offset the wage tax. If you want peace and greenyard etc and still live in the city look in east falls or my airy

[templeu]

I looked almost everywhere when I was house hunting. At that time it seemed the lowest taxes were in Aston (Delaware County), Broomall/Newtown Sq (Delaware County), and Upper Merion (Gulph Mills - I think this is Montgomery County).

[alwaysbleedgreen]

Originally Posted by templeu

I looked almost everywhere when I was house hunting. At that time it seemed the lowest taxes were in Aston (Delaware County), Broomall/Newtown Sq (Delaware County), and Upper Merion (Gulph Mills - I think this is Montgomery County).

I also found lots of properties in Willow Grove with around $3500 property tax, which is not bad. However regional rail runs 1 hr apart which might not work out for me since I work a flex start time between 10:30am to 2:30p. But the area seem beautiful and family friendly.

[alwaysbleedgreen]

Originally Posted by stylistvg

Ive been doing the math myself as i plan to move to Philly in a few years. I figured out that living with in the city was far better in terms of taxes. the property taxes were way lower and easily offset the wage tax. If you want peace and greenyard etc and still live in the city look in east falls or my airy

we considered this option too, our calculations proved this option more expensive

3.924% wage tax for both husband and wife would $4400 and $2900+ around $2500 property tax =around $9800 for us

[eastwestcoast]

Originally Posted by alwaysbleedgreen

I also found lots of properties in Willow Grove with around $3500 property tax, which is not bad. However regional rail runs 1 hr apart which might not work out for me since I work a flex start time between 10:30am to 2:30p. But the area seem beautiful and family friendly.

If you were okay with the distance north that Willow Grove is, then you might also consider the Glenside/Abington region near one of the busier SEPTA stops. We looked in this area for a while and saw lots of nice houses for moderate prices (but ultimately decided that it was too far from the places we wanted to be close to). I believe both the Glenside station and Jenkintown station have pretty regular train service because multiple lines run through them, but you'd want to be sure to buy in Abington Township rather than Cheltenham Township because it seems to have lower taxes, at least from what we saw.

[HappyRider]

Where in Bridgeport did you see homes for $270K? It is crazy to spend that much in Bridgeport. More like mid 150s.

[alwaysbleedgreen]

Originally Posted by eastwestcoast

If you were okay with the distance north that Willow Grove is, then you might also consider the Glenside/Abington region near one of the busier SEPTA stops. We looked in this area for a while and saw lots of nice houses for moderate prices (but ultimately decided that it was too far from the places we wanted to be close to). I believe both the Glenside station and Jenkintown station have pretty regular train service because multiple lines run through them, but you'd want to be sure to buy in Abington Township rather than Cheltenham Township because it seems to have lower taxes, at least from what we saw.

Thanks for the tip,btw where did you end up buying your house?