Are new home owners paying these high property taxes? (Houston: lawyers, purchase)

[calgirlinnc]

Originally Posted by wheelsup

Trophy Club

I didn't really love Trophy Club the first time we went through there. I've since been back and had a more favorable impression; IDK, maybe I got used to how Texas looks. Byron Nelson High School looks like a country club (don't know about it academically though).

You are right, though; even a $450K home here is not that special, vs. NC where you could be in a beautiful neighborhood for that money. My husband wants to build up cash and talked about selling and buying something for $300K here and I told him he better start looking for a job out of state, because I'm not moving to that here.

[turf3]

Well, Trophy Club isn't Dallas. It's closer to Fort Worth than Dallas and it's way to heck and gone out there from both Dallas and FW.

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by Stelletti

Texas has the 6th worst property taxes in the USA and the figures they are using don't even compare for the DFW area for me. Again, income tax is not that high in most states. Even if you made lets say 75k a year at 4% income tax that would not even come close the difference in the property taxes. The other difference is that that 4% is fixed every year. House prices you have no control over and keep going up.

Well, all I can tell you is to look at ALL costs of living, not just one area. For us, even living in freaking Arkansas would be more expensive than living in Texas - because of income taxes, even though their property taxes are lower.

[wheelsup]

Originally Posted by turf3

Well, Trophy Club isn't Dallas. It's closer to Fort Worth than Dallas and it's way to heck and gone out there from both Dallas and FW.

Yeah we are trying to get away from living in an ant colony. We did visit Addison, Richardson, and other "cities" in that area etc on our way around but I don't know how people deal with it. I'd go nuts.

[wheelsup]

Originally Posted by calgirlinnc

I didn't really love Trophy Club the first time we went through there. I've since been back and had a more favorable impression; IDK, maybe I got used to how Texas looks. Byron Nelson High School looks like a country club (don't know about it academically though).

You are right, though; even a $450K home here is not that special, vs. NC where you could be in a beautiful neighborhood for that money. My husband wants to build up cash and talked about selling and buying something for $300K here and I told him he better start looking for a job out of state, because I'm not moving to that here.

I live in Raleigh. It's tough finding something comparable. Even the areas on the "nicer" side are just plain ugly. And you get to pay tens of thousands in property tax to boot. I don't get it. We are trying to force ourselves to want to like it but it's getting harder.

[turf3]

So, you moved from a city of 465,000 in a metro of 1.3 million, to a city of 1.2 million in a metro of 7.2 million, and NOW you're surprised to find that there are a lot more people and housing is more expensive?


Well all righty then.

[wheelsup]

Originally Posted by turf3

So, you moved from a city of 465,000 in a metro of 1.3 million, to a city of 1.2 million in a metro of 7.2 million, and NOW you're surprised to find that there are a lot more people and housing is more expensive?


Well all righty then.

Population doesn't necessarily dictate home prices. There are areas in the country with less of a population and much higher home prices.

My issue isn't so much the home purchase price but even spending above median for an area, what you get value wise (ugly neighborhoods/homes) and how much it costs to keep it out of the government's hands (property taxes).

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by Teacher Terry

Nevada has low property taxes and no state income tax.

Nevada also has a down trending per-capita GDP and an absolutely horrible state + local aggregate debt problem.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by Stelletti

Texas has the 6th worst property taxes in the USA and the figures they are using don't even compare for the DFW area for me. Again, income tax is not that high in most states. Even if you made lets say 75k a year at 4% income tax that would not even come close the difference in the property taxes. The other difference is that that 4% is fixed every year. House prices you have no control over and keep going up.

That's terrible analysis.

Texas is about 33 or 34th lowest in aggregated state + local tax burden. I will say this, from a tax perspective Texas is less than great for lower earners.

[calgirlinnc]

Originally Posted by wheelsup

I live in Raleigh. It's tough finding something comparable. Even the areas on the "nicer" side are just plain ugly. And you get to pay tens of thousands in property tax to boot. I don't get it. We are trying to force ourselves to want to like it but it's getting harder.

My advice to you is:

Don't compare TX to NC. If you say "well, it's not like North Carolina", then in all honesty you should stay in North Carolina.

There are many things I preferred about North Carolina (scenery, beaches/mountains, roads/driving, houses in that $400K price range), but there are many things I prefer about North Texas (weather, schools, shopping, people).