Why are homes cheaper than Portland? (Vancouver: for sale, real estate, rent)

[joe_obody999]

Why is the median home cost almost half that compared to Portland? I also looked at homes for rent, homes for sale ($250,000 range) and it seems you get a lot more home for your $ whether renting or buying, in Vancouver over Portland. What is the catch, how can this be? And with no state income tax. And with reasonable property taxes. And the crime rate seems on par or even lower than a pretty safe town where I currently live (Duluth MN).

[StealthRabbit]

The true price difference for equivalent will be 20%.(which Vancouver has few of the unique areas that Portland does)

Portland is trendy and a big city, thus a higher price for housing and rents.
Vancouver is a suburb and more tract houses, less identity.

All of this is good for both locales.

I don't consider my $40/day WA property tax 'reasonable' ($14,400 / yr on a house I built for under $100k) YMMV

Typically, taxes on my other homes in WA are about $13/thousand valuations, but Clark County WA values home VERY high. and yyou pay on 100% of the assessors valuation, whether you like it or not. I have fought valuation in court many times and they love to beat us types into submission. (By really raising our taxes / valuations) They index my 20 yr old home to be valued at $240/sf + an upcharge for superb quality and workmanship.. I built it for under $34/sf, and could rebuild it for under $60/sf. I have Formica and linoleum, not granite and tile.

[silibran]

Yes, taxes are higher that we are used to. And going higher.

[StealthRabbit]

No state income tax is GREAT during your earning yrs.

As INCOME becomes less (retirement for most of us), then not so important.

On your way west, you may want to spend a night in tax free SD and domicile there. (one night stay is all that is required). Set up an LLC in Sales tax free MT to own your expense vehicles.

I prefer to keep a no income tax state domicile due to investments and preferential estate taxes / trust execution. Probably will need to eventually swap my domicile from WA to SD cuz I travel alot.

You do have to be wise NOT to trigger domicile in another tax hungry state (like CA).

[bler144]

Originally Posted by joe_obody999

Why is the median home cost almost half that compared to Portland? I also looked at homes for rent, homes for sale ($250,000 range) and it seems you get a lot more home for your $ whether renting or buying, in Vancouver over Portland. What is the catch, how can this be? And with no state income tax. And with reasonable property taxes. And the crime rate seems on par or even lower than a pretty safe town where I currently live (Duluth MN).

My opinion is that much of the difference is that it's not in Oregon. There are limited jobs on the WA side, and working on the OR side means you pay WA property tax plus sales tax plus OR income tax. That's not necessarily insurmountable, but it is a deterrent and eats into the housing savings you're seeing on paper.

The bigger issue right now in my opinion is the commuting challenge. It's not horrible to commute from Vanc's east side to PDX or Portland's east side, but the bulk of jobs are downtown or on the west side. Commuting to the west side (at peak) is horrific, and even downtown can be pretty rough. The I-5 bridge is very slow - 5 miles of stop and go most evenings if you're lucky. If you live east side the 205 bridge is a little better, but even that's increasingly bottling up.

Once you factor in income tax, commute time/stress/cost, Vancouver is less appealing to the average bear as the metro goes. Now, in your case as a self-employed artist, whose earnings are generally going to be on the WA side, and who doesn't have to commute, you don't face those same deterrents and are positioned to take full advantage of the cost differential. And still can pop into Portland off-peak to take advantage of its amenities.

If I worked in Vancouver, I would live there in a heartbeat.

[MASTERPC]

Great points. I have about 25-30 more years of work. Also, knowing that my retirement income won't be taxed by the state is another big draw to move to WA.

I can see for those closer to it (or in it, like you, SR), it's not as attractive. Makes sense and something I didn't know with regard to real estate property tax there. That's exorbitant.