80% Property Tax Increase... Loosing my Home?

[ukiyo-e]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

Fast forward 10 yrs, lay-offs come, some of us with 30+ yrs of experience get laid off (6wks prior to retirement). The CA transplants are still leisurely employed (weasels)

Ugh, that just bites bigtime. Excuse me for chuckling, though, at your humorous description of a not-funny situation.

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

Oh well life is not fair, on to the next bridge to sleep under. Lower taxes there, often a waterfront view.

Predictable the property taxes in WA are not. Mine went from $800 / yr in 1994 to $12,000 / yr 2007. 50% increase in taxes and 100% in valuation in 2007 alone. My mill levy dropped, but is going back up to cover gov insatiable appetite for spending and growing to meet development demand .

Ouch. This is all quite interesting to me and making me consider more whether I would just be better off just renting if I do move there. I appreciate everyone's stories...it gives me some things to think about.

[stingray427]

Originally Posted by angelbug

Prop 13 seems great, until you find out that your well-to-do older neighbors in their peak earning years are paying 1/6 what you do for property taxes on a house that's 30% larger, simply because they were smart enough to be born earlier and buy a house while you were still in junior high. True story - my neighbors in SF were paying about $700 a year while I was paying $3900, and their house was much larger. But you are right in that at least your taxes are predictable, even if they're applied unfairly. I can't quite imagine two people earning the same salary paying such disparate amounts of income tax!

In the 70's you could still get ahouse in Twin Peaks under $100,000.
In the Sunset the lower cost homes by the beach were $40,000 range.
Golden Gate Heights was $65.000. Thought those were high prices then $400 a month mortgage.
Now look at today

[stingray427]

Originally Posted by StealthRabbit

oh, to be sure there is the same disparity in income taxes based on someone being 'smart' enough' to work in certain overseas occupations that are tax exempt, or employers that subsidize tax rates for employees they relocate, or earners who position their assets in particular ways to shift income, or those using offsets such as section 179's.

and then we come to the disparity in income, where in my case my CA based company required me to pay my own move when I relocated from Colorado to WA (my other choice was to be laid off). They wanted me to keep my low CO wages, but I didn't buy that suggestion. After I moved, CA had excess employees, so they paid their move to WA, + 12 month bonus for pain and suffering of the move, and they retained their CA wages (about 30% higher than WA). They were very poor performers and were threatened to be placed at a comparative wage AFTER 2 yrs They squawked so loud that their retained pay was granted, and all locals got a drop in performance ranking so the CA transplants could occupy the top of the pay curve. Fast forward 10 yrs, lay-offs come, some of us with 30+ yrs of experience get laid off (6wks prior to retirement). The CA transplants are still leisurely employed (weasels)

Oh well life is not fair, on to the next bridge to sleep under. Lower taxes there, often a waterfront view.

Predictable the property taxes in WA are not. Mine went from $800 / yr in 1994 to $12,000 / yr 2007. 50% increase in taxes and 100% in valuation in 2007 alone. My mill levy dropped, but is going back up to cover gov insatiable appetite for spending and growing to meet development demand .

Value of homes here have gone down 75% but the taxes are still the same and haven't come down.