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Not sure how they assess property values in Park City, but they do it in SF based upon the sale price of similar properties in the past year (or maybe past 6 months). How would you alternatively fund municipal services?
I would fund municipal services through a consumption tax.
I would fund municipal services through a consumption tax.
Aha, good! I think that is how such services must be funded in Europe, because most of Europe known to me has low property taxes (or none in some places), and they do have sales taxes, including VAT.
Way cool, but obviously requiring some navigational skills. I have seen those houseboats on the Erie Canal in Upstate NY - people on them seemed as though they really knew how to live well :-).
“Believe me my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” So says Ratty to Mole in Kenneth Grahame's classic novel 'The Wind in the Willows'.
“Believe me my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” So says Ratty to Mole in Kenneth Grahame's classic novel 'The Wind in the Willows'.
Aha, good! I think that is how such services must be funded in Europe, because most of Europe known to me has low property taxes (or none in some places), and they do have sales taxes, including VAT.
I recommend to create a spreadsheet to compare costs of extended stay hotels and airbnbs to actual ownership of a second residence. Also keep in mind the upkeep that is required for a second home and the time investment in getting it ready each time of winding it up and down.
There are many benefits with temporary housing and keeping the costs down.
I have a retired friend who thought the answer to this was to buy a used RV for $40K. He convinced himself this was better than staying in a hotel. His wife put up with this for a while on trips, but they eventually got rid of it of the RV and instead flew for travel and stayed in hotels. The upkeep and gas costs to run an RV were much more than he expected and they are more comfortable in hotels.
I recommend to create a spreadsheet to compare costs of extended stay hotels and airbnbs to actual ownership of a second residence. Also keep in mind the upkeep that is required for a second home and the time investment in getting it ready each time of winding it up and down.
There are many benefits with temporary housing and keeping the costs down.
I have a retired friend who thought the answer to this was to buy a used RV for $40K. He convinced himself this was better than staying in a hotel. His wife put up with this for a while on trips, but they eventually got rid of it of the RV and instead flew for travel and stayed in hotels. The upkeep and gas costs to run an RV were much more than he expected and they are more comfortable in hotels.
Interesting. I've always suspected that to make an RV pay, one would have to spend a lot more time in it than I'd ever want to. So the important question for me would be, which form of travel is more enjoyable?
IMO, it shouldn't come down to a question of money if you can afford either approach.
Same goes for hotels or Air B and B's vs. owning a second home. It'd be an entirely different experience.
Moguldreamer can comment on that with more insight than I can claim. Moguldreamer, please explain to this person the difference between existing sales taxes in the US, and the consumption taxes that could support municipal services (independently from property taxes) as you proposed.
Interesting. I've always suspected that to make an RV pay, one would have to spend a lot more time in it than I'd ever want to. So the important question for me would be, which form of travel is more enjoyable?
IMO, it shouldn't come down to a question of money if you can afford either approach.
Same goes for hotels or Air B and B's vs. owning a second home. It'd be an entirely different experience.
The issue is not just what is cheaper, but what is more meaningful to you. People are typically very emotionally attached to their long-term home. If you have a second home, you develop the same emotional attachment to both of them. Being forced to sell my second home condo will actually result in a substantial financial gain for me (compared to continuing to maintain that home), but emotional loss will be big. Keeping something that costs you more money makes total sense if you love that something, and have money to keep it. People don't sell their second child because it costs so much money to raise it.
But for people newly contemplating to get a second home at this time, I would not recommend it, because of the climate of demonization and scapegoating of second-home owners as being somehow responsible for high rates of homelessness/low home affordability, and the consequent efforts to drive second-home owners out of communities with extreme taxation. Likewise, I wouldn't recommend buying a second home with a plan to use it part-year as AirBnB, because of widespread efforts to legally abolish AirBnB as a small business option. There isn't anything wrong with second homes in principle, for me it has been wonderful to have it, except the fact that second-home owners are under political attack - most visibly in certain few places, but it looks likely to spread all over the country.
We have our primary residence in SoCal and a second home under construction in North Idaho, almost completed. It is intended as a retirement home, but I am still working part-time, so for now it is our retreat during summer and fall. I've missed a couple of pages in this thread, so I don't know if postal issues have been addressed, but one of our main concerns is how to manage the mail during the 2-4 months we're in Idaho each year.
1.We've tried getting friends or neighbors to take in the mail and hold it for us, but we need access to incoming bills etc, and we really can't impose on friends and neighbors year after year.
2. We've had house sitters sort the mail and send us the bills, but that's a lot to ask, and they don't always know what mail we need to have forwarded.
3. We've tried supplying friends and neighbors with prepaid envelopes for bills to be sent to us, but the envelopes were returned because they were dropped in a mailbox, and thus considered "suspicious." And again, it places a burden on our nice neighbors/friends, especially if they have to go to the P.O. and hand over the envelopes.
4. We've tried just getting the mail held at the P.O., but that doesn't solve the problems with incoming bills and possibly time-sensitive mail.
5. And this year we've tried a temporary change of address to our P.O.Box in Idaho through the USPS, which actually worked fine for regular mail, but some senders such as banks and magazine publishers have a "no forwarding" policy, but have the mail returned. We've had to get in touch with such senders and reestablish our address. One bank even deleted our permanent address, and we had to go in in person and verify our identity!
We have no close family nearby who could help out. So what do other snowbirds/sunbirds/part-timers do? We pay some bills online, but we're opposed to all-automatic payments because of the potential for mistakes and abuse. And you never know if some very important letter requires your attention "within 30 days," or some such condition.
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Create a spreadsheet to compare costs
