property taxes on your home (Austin, Round Rock: to rent, unemployment, to buy)

[Skeptical]

Originally Posted by HappyTexan

Property tax can vary from county to county. The further away you get from the big cities the cheaper it is. So much goes into property tax makeup like the ACC tax and not every taxing district is paying it.

So you can't just make a broad statement that Texas prop. taxes are higher than where you are coming from.

My property taxes, in metropolitan Phoenix, are 1/2 of 1%. Where in Texas is there a property tax that low? Also, comparing rural areas of Texas to metropolitan areas of Arizona is not an "even" comparison. Rural areas of Arizona are cheaper than metropolitan as well.

Chuck

[HappyTexan]

Originally Posted by Skeptical

My property taxes, in metropolitan Phoenix, are 1/2 of 1%. Where in Texas is there a property tax that low? Also, comparing rural areas of Texas to metropolitan areas of Arizona is not an "even" comparison. Rural areas of Arizona are cheaper than metropolitan as well.

Chuck

Ok so not to be mean or anything, if you think our property taxes are too high then don't come here. Find another state to move to.

[gigi927]

One other factor on Phoenix v. Austin that is really important to keep in mind is the definition of "metropolitan." Metro Phoenix includes suburbs like Surprise and Buckeye that are 30 to 40 miles out of the city center. Austin metro is nowhere near that size geographically. And, it's pretty fair to say that most of the close-in parts of Phoenix and its suburbs are around 1% for property tax (I lived in Scottsdale for 4 years).

If you went 30 to 40 miles out of Austin city center, I'd venture to say you'd have a lower property tax rate. It might not be 1%, but then you have to factor in housing cost. My folks live in Surprise, AZ, roughly 35 miles out of downtown and their 2500 square foot home is worth about $200,000 - and that is after a $100,000 decrease in value due to the horrible Phoenix housing market. You go out 35 miles out of Austin in most directions and you're going to get way more than a 2500 square foot house on a 7,000 square foot lot. My point is - taxes don't always tell the whole story and make sure you are comparing apples to apples in terms of house location relative to city center.

[Skeptical]

Originally Posted by gigi927

If you went 30 to 40 miles out of Austin city center, I'd venture to say you'd have a lower property tax rate. It might not be 1%, but then you have to factor in housing cost. My folks live in Surprise, AZ, roughly 35 miles out of downtown and their 2500 square foot home is worth about $200,000 - and that is after a $100,000 decrease in value due to the horrible Phoenix housing market. You go out 35 miles out of Austin in most directions and you're going to get way more than a 2500 square foot house on a 7,000 square foot lot. My point is - taxes don't always tell the whole story and make sure you are comparing apples to apples in terms of house location relative to city center.

We don't live in Buckeye or Surprise, which is indeed out in the boonies. We are in a high priced neighborhood in Northeast Phoenix about 3 miles west of Scottsdale road. As I stated before, our house was just valued in the last couple of months at $500,000 and our annual taxes quoted at $2800. That is 0.56%. We are not comparing a rural area of AZ to an urban area of Austin.

We are looking at Round Rock, Cedar Park, and Georgetown, which have lower taxes than Austin proper. We are retiring and it's important that we live reasonably close to medical facilities and shopping amenities, so living on a farm 60 miles out in the country is not an option. Property taxes on a $250,000 house in any of these areas is going to run at $6000 to $7500 depending on subdivision.

I guess I don't understand your point of mentioning Scottsdale, which even if it is 1%, is still far less than the lowest taxed areas of Texas, even the boonies.

By the way, I know what your saying about the bottom falling out of the Phoenix market. Our house would have sold for $725,000 18 months ago.

Chuck

[gigi927]

Well, i was just mentioning Scottsdale to verify that I know what the tax rate is in Scottsdale. (BTW, I lived basically near Scottsdale Rd and Carefree Highway, so I know exactly where you live and I find it shocking that the tax rate is that low there).

My point wasn't that you will be able to find an area of Austin that is going to have cheaper taxes than Phoenix. You won't.

But - over 60% of our property taxes here in Austin are paid directly to our local school districts. That's why we have schools here that put all of Phoenix metro's schools to shame. I mean, it was great to have low property taxes in Scottsdale, but the improved schools, for us, was worth every penny we pay in taxes. Now that's not likely important for you, since you said you were retiring. So probably an even greater reason for you not to consider Austin.

Someone else on this thread was saying they've looked for months and can't find an equivalent house in Austin for half the price and therefore the cheaper housing doesn't make up for the high property taxes - a) that may depend on what one's debt structure is and how much cash you are bringing here. We got a fairly equivalent home here in Austin for about 60 cents on the dollar. So we were able to pay cash for an equivalent home and all we really have are our property taxes. For us, it was not even a wash, it was a significant savings to move here on many fronts.

So, long story long...it's unfair to generalize in the direction of Phoenix or in the direction of Austin. Every person's individual life situation and financial picture will affect affordability. Sorry to hear about your appreciation (or lack of) story, Chuck. That really stinks, it really does. We sold 18 months ago in Scottsdale.

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by Skeptical

We are looking at Round Rock, Cedar Park, and Georgetown, which have lower taxes than Austin proper.

People often say this, but you need to check that it is true for a particular area in RR, Cedar Park, or Georgetown. It often is not.

City of Austin proper, as of right now, is 2.1531%, which consists of:

01 AUSTIN ISD................................1.16300
02 CITY OF AUSTIN..........................0.40340
03 TRAVIS COUNTY..........................0.42160
2J TRAVIS CO HEALTHCARE DIST........0.06930
68 AUSTIN COMM COLL DIST.............0.09580

That's from a current property tax bill; the rates are somewhat lower than what you see in traviscad.org, since that still has the 2006 values. The 2007 values can be seen here (for Travis county): Travis County, Texas 2007 Tax Rates
And Williamson county:
http://www.williamson-county.org/tax/Docs/2007Rates.pdf (broken link)

You can compare the ISDs (Leander and RR are higher than Austin), county taxes (Williamson is higher), city taxes (some are higher, some lower than Austin)... but when you add in some of the MUDs and ESDs, it is often much higher than Austin proper.

[Taterhead]

The whole point me posting to this thread was because someone said "We don't have income tax so it even's out" and this is simply not true.

We have looked and looked at homes for 1/2 of what our home cost here and I am not finding any that have the amentites i have have here in this home i own. As you go up in price then yes i see some that have close to what I have here in my home.

Everybody's priorities are a little different and I'm sure that parents who have children in school want the very best in education. However, those costs could be paid just as well by a Texas state income tax which would be spread more equitably across those who have the means to pay.

I really don't believe there is much more to be said on this subject.

Chuck

[hts]

I'm certainly not questioning your decision to move to Austin (it's none of my business), but I am trying to understand the economics of this decision if you're retiring, as you're clearly very interested in the financials.

As a basis of comparison, we currently live in the DC suburbs and are also looking to relocate to Austin. The difference is that we have two young boys (6 & 7) who will be taking advantage of many years of public school. We also own property in Anthem (after having a lot deposit in DC Ranch, looking hard at Desert Ridge, and a number of other large master-planned communities in/around Phx).

Property taxes are very low in Phx, income tax is what it is. On the contrary, no state income tax in Texas, but Austin's property taxes are relatively high. We plan to move to Austin next year and remain until the kids are done with high school (and perhaps college, we'll see), and then down-size/move to AZ (sun city anyone?) for retirement. When our income is relatively high, why not live in a non-state taxing state whose property taxes are going to something we'll take advantage of--public schools? When our income decreases in retirement, why not move to a state with income tax, but low property taxes? I don't mean to be blunt, and I certainly don't intend for this to be taken the wrong way, but I guess what I'm suggesting is that you might be doing it backwards, i.e., with a relatively modest income ($150k) and no kids to take advantage of the relatively high property taxes, you're not going to be able to justify the move strictly on a financial basis.

(As an aside, the reason we're not moving back to Anthem is because of the lousy public schools, and even though there are BASIS and Great Hearts, etc., we think it would be too much of a daily burden to commute our guys back/forth every day).

[Skeptical]

So you think $150K a year is modest? It will not be near that when I retire!

The reason for Austin is, that's where the kids and granddaughter live. Otherwise, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Chuck

[hts]

Chuck,

It's all relative of course. $150k/yr is a lot of money to be sure. That being said, the higher one's household income, the easier it is to justify the economics when considering a state that doesn't levy income tax. I figured you must have an extenuating circumstance (like family) behind this situation.

I hope you didn't misinterpret my previous post, as I was merely trying to simplify the economics surrounding your decision (which you seem to be struggling with). That being said, you'll clearly make this relo decision with your heart, and not with your wallet.

As a point of comparison, we're on the golf course in Anthem (4500 sq ft, 4-car garage, etc.) and our place is appraised right around $950k (comps are currently listed for $1.1-1.2) and we pay $6k/yr in property taxes. We're looking at homes in the $750k in Austin and our prop taxes will likely be closer to $20k!

Originally Posted by Skeptical

So you think $150K a year is modest? It will not be near that when I retire!

The reason for Austin is, that's where the kids and granddaughter live. Otherwise, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Chuck