What is attracting California and west coast folks to DFW? (Dallas: new home, purchase)

[USA_Mom]

Originally Posted by lh_newbie

Ok, tossing down the BS card here.

To get the same home I have in CA, I'd have to spend $700K+, which would mean $7K/year in property taxes. I'd also pay income taxes.

In TX, my home's property taxes are $5500 and I have absolutely zero income tax.

That's been my experience as well. A lot of posters (not just on this forum) equate the COST of the house with houses being comparable. I have yet to find a house in California (or in Georgia when we lived there) that had the SAME quality or better, the same square footage or better, the same amount of yard (or better), the same type of parking (i.e., here a 2-3 ATTACHED garage is the norm for the homes we looked at), etc., etc without paying at least $150K more in Georgia and I was NOT in a 'happening' area those were pricier and I could hang it up in California with a 20-30 minute commute to where my husband works (I work at home and have since 1994).

Another thing is I don't think it solely IS COL. I think it's quality of life. Here we *can* afford to go on a 2 week family vacation and several 3-4 day ones without hurting financially. There I had to worry about money for day to day stuff versus saving for vacation (we don't like to charge them). The *only* thing I miss about Cali is the weather (1977-94 in Orange County) and the cost of vegetables (which may have changed). I don't miss the crowds, the taxes, the materialism (although there is that anywhere you go), the traffic (I flew into LAX for a funeral and at 2 a.m. it still took me THREE HOURS to get 30 miles), and well the more me-oriented population..and the rushing. OMG I always felt rushed. *If* costs were comparable I still couldn't move back because of those reasons.

[5stones]

the whole no tax income tax thing is kinda is kinda misleading with the higher property taxes but still better...

500k house in NOVA 5,000 in property tax. income tax was 7,000 (these are rought estimates...would have to get the tax records out for exact)

so total tax...12,000 for VA

Here 300k house property tax just about 7,800 with homestead exemption.

Where people get caugth is assuming the property taxes are going to be about 1-1.5% when they are closer to 2.5%
so you will end up paying more or have a wash if you buy using the same $$ ammount for a house.

500k here would run about 13,000 in taxes so then yes the cost would be higher here than in VA.

But the nice thing is you can spend less and usually get a nice bigger house than hte one in the places of higher cost.

[DWong]

I beg to differ a little on the price of homes here in CA.
Yes they're pricy, however you can almost get the same house in parts of the state (just w/out the land) for maybe a bit more. Just outside of the major metros the cost of housing goes down considerably. 75 miles from major metros you're looking at $350k buying 3,000 sq ft. And there are jobs in our outlying metros that pay almost just as much. Lifestyle is simple and less crowds and traffic. Things to do.. well.. you just gotta go a little further, but you wouldn't notice much of a differnce. Beaches are still an hour or 2, weather is comparable to TX (hotter in summers and mild winters).

So just to clarify, if you want to live 25 miles from the heart of cities, yes insanely pricy. Go about 25 miles, the cost will be 1/4 of what it costs in the city.

[DWong]

Originally Posted by lh_newbie

Ok, tossing down the BS card here.

To get the same home I have in CA, I'd have to spend $700K+, which would mean $7K/year in property taxes. I'd also pay income taxes.

In TX, my home's property taxes are $5500 and I have absolutely zero income tax.

go outside the major metros and you can get the same house in CA than u will same house in TX (just not the land)

[USA_Mom]

Originally Posted by DWong

go outside the major metros and you can get the same house in CA than u will same house in TX (just not the land)

You don't have to spend $350K and be 2-3 hours each way from major job areas in Texas.

[New2Keller]

Originally Posted by DWong

go outside the major metros and you can get the same house in CA than u will same house in TX (just not the land)

Quality of life is sooooo different though. DFW suburbs are safe, family oriented, the schools are great. If you can find a cheap house in CA, it's for a good reason. It's not worth sacrificing my family's safety or education to live in CA anymore. CA is quickly losing their young families and middle class and Texas is gaining it

[lh_newbie]

Originally Posted by DWong

I beg to differ a little on the price of homes here in CA.
Yes they're pricy, however you can almost get the same house in parts of the state (just w/out the land) for maybe a bit more. Just outside of the major metros the cost of housing goes down considerably. 75 miles from major metros you're looking at $350k buying 3,000 sq ft. And there are jobs in our outlying metros that pay almost just as much. Lifestyle is simple and less crowds and traffic. Things to do.. well.. you just gotta go a little further, but you wouldn't notice much of a differnce. Beaches are still an hour or 2, weather is comparable to TX (hotter in summers and mild winters).

So just to clarify, if you want to live 25 miles from the heart of cities, yes insanely pricy. Go about 25 miles, the cost will be 1/4 of what it costs in the city.

But then you're not comparing COMPARABLE homes. I live in a 2576 sq ft, 4 br, 2.5ba on roughly 10K sq ft lot and I am 8 miles from the center of downtown Dallas. My home is appraised at $300K. My home in CA, in a comparable location, would probably cost over a million, so my property taxes would be 1.8x to 2x as much as they are here.

You cannot compare a close-in home with one 50+ miles further away. That's not comparable.

I could move 75 miles away from downtown Dallas and probably get my same home for $150K on 1/2 acre... which with your exemptions, you'd probably pay $3300-3500/year in property taxes in TX. This home in CA would be $350K or more - meaning the property taxes would be the same or more for a comparable home. You really should go to webster.com and look up the meaning of comparable.

Brian

[lpepping]

Originally Posted by 5stones

Here 300k house property tax just about 7,800 with homestead exemption.

That seems a bit high if you are including the homestead exemption. I live in Dallas and pay 2.1% with the homestead which would be about 6300 instead of 7800. Still alot of money though.

[DWong]

Originally Posted by USA_Mom

You don't have to spend $350K and be 2-3 hours each way from major job areas in Texas.

55 miles ain't 2-3 hours Miss. Then not to mention many people do work in those areas as well, making just as much as they would in the major metros.

Riverside and San Bernard counties many consider LA metro anyways.

[DWong]

Originally Posted by New2Keller

Quality of life is sooooo different though. DFW suburbs are safe, family oriented, the schools are great. If you can find a cheap house in CA, it's for a good reason. It's not worth sacrificing my family's safety or education to live in CA anymore. CA is quickly losing their young families and middle class and Texas is gaining it

agree somewhat. Our suburbs are actually less safe than cities unlike in TX. Our city density is growing and we're building up.

Yes it is for a good reason that Riverside and San Bernardino Counties are much less. Still somewhat scenic w/ the mountains and snow, but culturally isn't impressive. But have pretty much everything else within a small driving distance. However, preferrably - I wouldn't live there

And yes TX is losing our younger working class. As I've said many a times, it's too hard to start off here unless you've got a lot of capital or something as backup. Believe me, it took me a while to go from that shoebox to a decent home.