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Old 12-24-2014, 02:59 PM
 
2,790 posts, read 6,093,343 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Westcoastnavy View Post
Less than florida! sorry! :P

But I have been tracking weather for Greenville compared to the SF bay area (east bay where I am) and actually the humidity is not bad. In the summer months it can be quite a bit different (ours drops as SC raises), but in fall and spring it is pretty comparable. This past fall a few days were more humid here than Greenville was.

VTgal, do you live in the Greenville area?
Dew point is the important factor. Keep an eye for the differences in that. The higher the dew point, the more 'stuffy' feeling.
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Old 12-24-2014, 06:05 PM
 
Location: Martinez, ca
297 posts, read 357,151 times
Reputation: 218
Quote:
Originally Posted by Escort Rider View Post
Yikes and holy smoke!!! That's worse than California and more than marginally worse. I wouldn't have guessed that for South Carolina. People often assume that California is a horror story with regard to taxes, and I keep saying that yes, although Calif. is a high-tax state, it simply isn't as bad as many people assume.

Thanks for taking the trouble to post the examples per my request - they really make your point in no uncertain terms.

Ouch, ya that is bad, but while it may cost more for your vehicle, Property taxes more than make up for that. The property tax for my home in California is about $3,550. The taxes on my my property in South Carolina is about $288 (for twice the house and 8 times the land). Which is partially due to ratios and partially due to the insane difference in house values.

And do you remember the governators 1.5 point increase registration thing in like 2009? it only went up .5 points but he wanted to go 1.5, that would have been rough. And a few democrats have talked about raising it again, so It might not be long until California is in the same situation, plus higher property taxes.
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Old 12-24-2014, 06:44 PM
 
Location: On the East Coast
2,361 posts, read 4,845,315 times
Reputation: 4103
Quote:
Originally Posted by MG120 View Post
Sorry for no example, how about these.

2012 VW Passat license renewal for 2014 was 768.00, that does not include the normal fees. Total was just under 900 dollars. Next year it will probably go down to about 600 or so. Total paid so far since new has been just under 3000 dollars.

2008 Corvette, 1134 dollars. Everything as I said is based on value. There is a deduction once you have over 150k miles on the vehicle. A coworker still pays over 150 dollars per year on a 2004 Camry with 208k miles. Total paid since new has been almost 8000 dollars.

Those are some pretty hefty taxes that no one ever talks about.

South Carolina is number 1 in fatalities, 5 in careless driving and 6 or 8 for drunk drivers according to the most recent insurance institute studies.
Not sure I realized that the personal property tax varied that much between counties. We live in Lancaster Co. SC (in the panhandle just over the border from Charlotte) and we don't pay anywhere near those rates. I have a 2011 GMC Terrain with less than 20K miles and I just got my tax bill and it is $332 and this is the year it includes the every other year DMV fee. Although I do admit that it hasn't come down as fast per year as I had hoped, but when it was new it was about $370. We also have a 2003 Chrysler Town & Country with about 160K miles and it's in the $100 range. A 1985 Dodge ES convertible with about 70K miles runs us about $45 per year. Again these all vary depending on if it's the year that they add on the DMV fees.

And yeah, I am totally amazed at the driving incompetence around here. Apparently red lights and stop signs are just suggestions. And then there are those who can't wait 2 seconds to pull out from a side street/road and therefore pull out right in front of you causing you to have to slam on your brakes because they can't possibly be expected to rapidly accelerate to get up to the speed you were going when they decided to pull out. Our daughter is visiting and needed to so somewhere so I had to warn her about everything and she came back and told us she saw a car in front of her pulling out at a green light from our community almost get t-boned because someone ran the red light. That would have been a nice Christmas.

Oh, and once I saw a young woman driving down the 4 lane highway with her right hand on the wheel and her left leg pulled up on the seat so that she could rest her left hand on it and text. Talk about an accident waiting to happen.
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Old 12-25-2014, 01:29 PM
 
8 posts, read 15,884 times
Reputation: 31
reroperty taxes. Do you pay them if you live in a condo in a 55+ community? ie. Laguna Woods Village in Seal Beach, CA. Instead of trying to make the East Coast work for us (in terms of a retirement place), giving a look at southern CA. Like a more urban feel, variety of restaurants/am used to mass transit, etc. but...also want the older community. If we buy a condo, would we be paying property taxes? Or would only our "income" be taxed. We have a gov't pension from my husband + 401k savings + social security. Sell home here on East Coast, buy condo in 55+. One other question; will spread out *all* my questions over the next year! ; ^ ) Who pays if there's a leak in the roof or other such maintenance? btw...Happy Holidays!
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Old 12-25-2014, 02:30 PM
 
Location: SW MO
23,593 posts, read 37,312,623 times
Reputation: 29336
Quote:
Originally Posted by countrykaren View Post
My husband and I will be retiring in 2015. We decided we want to retire in either SC or Fla. WE are both in our early 60's, both of us will have NY state pensions, and since I'm 1 year older I will have SS. My question: Which state will give us more "bang for the buck?" Fla has no state income taxes, so our pension will not be taxed. However, car and homeowners insurance is expensive. Property taxes are also slightly high. Housing also seems slightly higher. SC will tax our pensions since it DOES have state income tax, however insurance, housing and general cost of living seems lower. So which would be better? No tax with higher COL or being taxed with slightly lower COL? Our brains are fried thinking about this.
There's more to a retirement location than mere dollars and cents (that ought to make some heads explode here). The states are very different from one another socially, culturally, topographically, meteorologically, you name it. What's your preference? Have you done your research? Do you really know them?

Which would be better depends upon many variables and not just finances. Settle where you'll be content and don't settle for less even if it costs a bit more.
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Old 12-25-2014, 04:00 PM
 
Location: Maryland
282 posts, read 380,415 times
Reputation: 338
Quote:
Originally Posted by countrykaren View Post
My husband and I will be retiring in 2015. We decided we want to retire in either SC or Fla. WE are both in our early 60's, both of us will have NY state pensions, and since I'm 1 year older I will have SS. My question: Which state will give us more "bang for the buck?" Fla has no state income taxes, so our pension will not be taxed. However, car and homeowners insurance is expensive. Property taxes are also slightly high. Housing also seems slightly higher. SC will tax our pensions since it DOES have state income tax, however insurance, housing and general cost of living seems lower. So which would be better?
Although a financial planner could do a more detailed analysis, this is a simple one you could do yourself. But remember two things, some rates vary by county/town/city, and garbage in gives garbage out. Estimate each of these items for your particular circumstances and add them all up. You will need to get insurance estimates, etc. for the area(s) you wish to compare. And there are senior exemptions, but since they are typically over 65 I didn't list them.

Sales tax is only on certain items, so you might want to use a number like $15,000/yr x 7%= $1,050/yr

Fl-- SC-- Item
0.0% 6.4% Pension
0.0% 6.4% 401k
0.0% 6.4% Investment
1.65% .39% Real Estate
$$$$ $$$$ Home Insurance
0.0% 1.75% Personal Property (Cars, etc)
7.5% 7.0% Sales Tax

Again, this is not exact and specific towns can vary...
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Old 12-25-2014, 09:44 PM
 
2,790 posts, read 6,093,343 times
Reputation: 2732
Quote:
Originally Posted by CSRSJim View Post
Although a financial planner could do a more detailed analysis, this is a simple one you could do yourself. But remember two things, some rates vary by county/town/city, and garbage in gives garbage out. Estimate each of these items for your particular circumstances and add them all up. You will need to get insurance estimates, etc. for the area(s) you wish to compare. And there are senior exemptions, but since they are typically over 65 I didn't list them.

Sales tax is only on certain items, so you might want to use a number like $15,000/yr x 7%= $1,050/yr

Fl-- SC-- Item
0.0% 6.4% Pension
0.0% 6.4% 401k
0.0% 6.4% Investment
1.65% .39% Real Estate
$$$$ $$$$ Home Insurance
0.0% 1.75% Personal Property (Cars, etc)
7.5% 7.0% Sales Tax

Again, this is not exact and specific towns can vary...
Just to give you an idea about the homeowners insurance in south Florida: I live in a CBS house built in 1956, 1345 sq. ft. I live 12 miles inland, far from the coast. I am paying $4500.00 for 2015 coverage.
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Old 12-25-2014, 10:36 PM
 
5,139 posts, read 8,808,461 times
Reputation: 5248
If you own property in CA, you would pay property tax (not sure why you thought you might not?). CA also taxes pensions, so you would need to investigate whether your govt pension would be taxable or not. Car registration is assessed every year and our gas taxes are very high. There are so many restaurants everywhere to even count, so that wouldn't be an issue for you. The COL here is very high but if you can afford it, the weather is pretty much perfect, lots of activities, beautiful scenery, "getaways" close by (Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, Palm Springs, San Francisco, wine country, mountains, deserts. There's so much to do here.
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Old 12-26-2014, 06:27 AM
 
Location: Close to Mexico
852 posts, read 787,997 times
Reputation: 2610
Quote:
Originally Posted by VTGal View Post
Yikes, so is this a property tax on your vehicle? How much are you paying in car insurance?
After all discounts for multiple policies, safe driver, etc. it runs about 1600 per year for both. This is with USAA and no accidents and no tickets in 30+ years.
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Old 12-26-2014, 06:30 AM
 
Location: Close to Mexico
852 posts, read 787,997 times
Reputation: 2610
Quote:
Originally Posted by Westcoastnavy View Post
Ouch, ya that is bad, but while it may cost more for your vehicle, Property taxes more than make up for that. The property tax for my home in California is about $3,550. The taxes on my my property in South Carolina is about $288 (for twice the house and 8 times the land). Which is partially due to ratios and partially due to the insane difference in house values.

And do you remember the governators 1.5 point increase registration thing in like 2009? it only went up .5 points but he wanted to go 1.5, that would have been rough. And a few democrats have talked about raising it again, so It might not be long until California is in the same situation, plus higher property taxes.
I would be interested in knowing the size of house and property and location.

If you live in a rural area, then yes, your property taxes will be very low. They are still low comparatively speaking to other states/areas. But my property taxes in Columbia are nowhere near that, and I suspect that I have a smaller house/land than you do.
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