What's Up with the Property Taxes? (Houston: low income, house prices, new construction)

[donblackie]

Originally Posted by houston-nomad

WAIT A MINUTE... you're telling me that the system is designed to benefit the rich? But I thought that poor people only struggle because they are lazy? Confused...

The system is the system. I will tell you growing up I was dirt poor. Refugees from a war torn country as a very young boy.
Hard work, focus, and perseverance over many many years is what I saw that allowed people like me to be high earners. Lots of medical professionals, business owners, engineers, etc I know are from the same background. Now they are benefiting from having no income tax in Texas and living below their means.

So you can go on telling yourself the "system" was built to benefit only the rich but I would say the system is the system and I choose to just focus on controlling what I could control given the cards I was dealt.

[donblackie]

Originally Posted by Sammysh

If you make 100k and live in a 50k house, there's something wrong with you. But I guess you don't actually do that but only use that to prove your non-existing point.

Sure that is extreme but there are people I know that make $600k and live in a $400k home all day.
Does that still prove the point?

[donblackie]

Originally Posted by RG1981

Sure, but like I've said numerous times now, it's not enough to uproot me. I thought the savings would be more than that.

You were focused on property tax. My point is you should be focused on STACKING PAPER. Forget all the other noise. That will be the quickest way to get you out of "just getting by"

[houston-nomad]

Originally Posted by donblackie

The system is the system. I will tell you growing up I was dirt poor. Refugees from a war torn country as a very young boy.
Hard work, focus, and perseverance over many many years is what I saw that allowed people like me to be high earners. Lots of medical professionals, business owners, engineers, etc I know are from the same background. Now they are benefiting from having no income tax in Texas and living below their means.

So you can go on telling yourself the "system" was built to benefit only the rich but I would say the system is the system and I choose to just focus on controlling what I could control given the cards I was dealt.

I'm saying to acknowledge what the system is. Don't pretend that it's not rigged to benefit the rich, then continue to punish the poor for not playing the game as well as the rich. Acknowledge that the rich are benefitting from a system rigged in their favor.

[lipbalm]

Originally Posted by houston-nomad

I'm saying to acknowledge what the system is. Don't pretend that it's not rigged to benefit the rich, then continue to punish the poor for not playing the game as well as the rich. Acknowledge that the rich are benefitting from a system rigged in their favor.

The problem is the poor (I used to count myself one as well) are not given proper financial education, that is what the "system" does. My mother struggled all her life but she was never educated on how or what to invest in rather then buy useless garbage or new cars that drop in value like a stone. It keeps poor people badly informed on what makes good vs. bad life and financial decisions. All you hear from the"system" is buy buy buy even if you can't afford it just buy.

[timtemtym]

Originally Posted by donblackie

Sure that is extreme but there are people I know that make $600k and live in a $400k home all day.
Does that still prove the point?

That was us when we moved to Houston (well not 600k ). We could have qualified for/afforded a house 400k more, but chose a perfectly fine house under our budget in a good area to save money, pay it off quickly, and pay the lower taxes with the lower price. We also bought in an area without HOA, in Houston ISD, and without MUD or any of the other strange things that go along with new areas.

In California, to save taxes, we'd have to lower our income which just doesn't make sense.

Here, we aren't too worried about making a huge profit when we go to sell it. We're taking the tax savings and house payment savings and putting that into investments. If the value goes up at least 6% in 4 or 5 years when we want to sell it, that'll cover the selling expenses.

[donblackie]

Originally Posted by houston-nomad

I'm saying to acknowledge what the system is. Don't pretend that it's not rigged to benefit the rich, then continue to punish the poor for not playing the game as well as the rich. Acknowledge that the rich are benefitting from a system rigged in their favor.

"The system is the system" = isnt that an acknowledgement of the system?
Therefore, if you want to benefit from it wouldnt it make sense to first assess what it takes to gain benefit? IE, start a business, get a high paying job, accumulate wealth etc.

[houston-nomad]

Originally Posted by donblackie

"The system is the system" = isnt that an acknowledgement of the system?
Therefore, if you want to benefit from it wouldnt it make sense to first assess what it takes to gain benefit? IE, start a business, get a high paying job, accumulate wealth etc.

Sure. But of course, if everyone did that, we would stop paying lip service to things like "we love our teachers!" No we don't. We are part of a system that punishes them for their choice to be a teacher. Also, if we follow your logic, nobody would be a teacher. Or police, firefighter, social worker, etc.-- all these jobs that require commitment and training, but don't pay the kind of money it takes to work "the system" in the way it's designed. Also, we have to stop blaming poor people for not being able to get out of poverty. The thumb of "the system" is holding them down, while benefitting those who are already wealthy.

I'm just asking for honesty.

[donblackie]

Originally Posted by houston-nomad

Sure. But of course, if everyone did that, we would stop paying lip service to things like "we love our teachers!" No we don't. We are part of a system that punishes them for their choice to be a teacher. Also, if we follow your logic, nobody would be a teacher. Or police, firefighter, social worker, etc.-- all these jobs that require commitment and training, but don't pay the kind of money it takes to work "the system" in the way it's designed. Also, we have to stop blaming poor people for not being able to get out of poverty. The thumb of "the system" is holding them down, while benefitting those who are already wealthy.

I'm just asking for honesty.

My first response gave my background up front. So when you say, "the thumb of the system is holding them down" what do you mean? As stated, i was a refugee from a country. Forget wealth. Very little money. Didnt speak the language. Parents came here and everything was different culturally. Barely spoke the language. We put our heads down and persevered.

If we followed my logic nobody would be a teacher, firefighter or police? How do you mean? I dont get it. You state there is a system in place that benefits the wealthy but doesnt help the common person. If "the system" were so bad, you are correct, we really would have no teachers, firefighters or police. Correct?

If you start to push an opposite way to the extreme, then wouldnt that do the same for people making good money performing brain surgery? They would opt to spend their time on something else.

[houston-nomad]

Originally Posted by donblackie

My first response gave my background up front. So when you say, "the thumb of the system is holding them down" what do you mean? As stated, i was a refugee from a country. Forget wealth. Very little money. Didnt speak the language. Parents came here and everything was different culturally. Barely spoke the language. We put our heads down and persevered.

If we followed my logic nobody would be a teacher, firefighter or police? How do you mean? I dont get it. You state there is a system in place that benefits the wealthy but doesnt help the common person. If "the system" were so bad, you are correct, we really would have no teachers, firefighters or police. Correct?

If you start to push an opposite way to the extreme, then wouldnt that do the same for people making good money performing brain surgery? They would opt to spend their time on something else.

It's great that your family did well. I'm just saying that we should acknowledge that the "pull yourself up by your bootstraps" ideology doesn't account for the way systems actively work against many people. While other people are getting a big assist.

I don't understand what you're not understanding about my other point.