Is Maryland the "wealthiest" state in the country??! (Annapolis: homes, neighborhood)

[sunglo1]

Originally Posted by Digger 68

My Father's wife is from Nebraska just outside Omaha. She came to Maryland in the late 70's, and has said many times no thanks to returning. Although my Father, and her do visit her family there.

I will have to leave Maryland eventually. Just to damn expensive. And I really don't want to. But I will have to.

Yea, you're right about the expenses. Most politicians from both sides in this state - but not all of them- couldn't give a dam about trying to keep our state affordable for seniors. Do you hear any of these jokers at least take a stab at lowering property taxes say for people who been in the state 20 plus years and over a certain age???

[North Beach Person]

Originally Posted by sunglo1

Yea, you're right about the expenses. Most politicians from both sides in this state - but not all of them- couldn't give a dam about trying to keep our state affordable for seniors. Do you hear any of these jokers at least take a stab at lowering property taxes say for people who been in the state 20 plus years and over a certain age???

Property taxes are more of a local issue than a State one.

When you throw in the Constant Yield Rate (which means that only the same dollars can be collected next year as this year) and increasing property values it gets confusing for many people. I've always personally believed that's intentional.

Example:

Assessments go up 10% so the Constant Yield Tax Rate has to decrease 10% to keep dollars equal. The only problem is that costs for government, whether you like it or not go up, and forget about adding dollars to a program that's just the fixed costs. Fixed costs like electric for street lights goes up just like electricity rates for homeowners do. Gas prices go up and the cost to operate the fleet of vehicles goes up. And so on for every category.

Where it gets confusing is here:

Let's say (to make the math easy) that the property tax rate is $1.00/100, so a house assesses at $300K has a property tax load of $3000/year.

So the assessment goes up 10% to 330K. The Constant Yield Tax Rate drops to $0.91/100. But costs to operate the government have gone 5%. So the tax rate has to go up beyond the Constant Yield to around $0.94/100.

The Commissioners (or Town Council) holds the required public hearing and adopts the $0.94 rate.

Here's where it gets duplicitous. When people complain that their taxes went up the officials can say with a straight face that the reason is because the house is worth more and, in fact, the tax rate was cut.

Both are true but most people don't understand that the Constant Yield Rate gives officials the cover.

That's why development, which is touted as "adding to the tax base" almost always means that property taxes for everyone go up. In order to capture that increased tax load from new development the property tax rate has to be increased on everybody.

Also remember that people who have owned their primary residence for more than six months fall under the Homestead Exemption which limits how much the property taxes can go up from year to year (state law mandates no more than 10% although some jurisdictions have set it lower). That's why rentals aren't necessarily a bad thing for jurisdictions because they're not Homestead Exempted. So if assessments go up 15% a year homeowners are limited to a 10% increase while the rentals take the full 15% hit.

The trick for all governments is to get revenue from non-property tax sources. The state has the sales tax while localities have lodging taxes on hotels, utility taxes, etc. All levels of government get a piece of income taxes with the State getting the lion's share.

[Noble Savage]

Now if they'd just quit spending money like a drunken sailor on a Saturday night.

[American Expat]

Originally Posted by Infinite_heights77

I'm listening to a Democratic Governor's debate v/radio. Candidates always speak about how "wealthy" the state of Maryland is compared to other states in the country. How true is this claim?

For sure it's very high income average thanks to the money pouring into the federal government coffers, the DC suburbs are among the higher median incomes in the USA. Wealth is different from income but they are often found in bed together.

[BigCityDreamer]

Originally Posted by Infinite_heights77

Candidates always speak about how "wealthy" the state of Maryland is compared to other states in the country. How true is this claim?

I was checking out some houses near my neighborhood in Silver Spring. 1350 square ft. SFHs are about $425k on average. These were built in the 60s.

Gives you an indication of how high the COL has gotten.

[Digger 68]

Check out some other desirable areas around the country. Home costs in Maryland are a bargain compared to some of these places. Denver, Boulder, Portland, Manhattan New York, San Francisco, Seattle......Any place that can have sustained nice weather is going to be really expensive.
The comment about money pouring into the federal coffers is funny after an enormous tax cut. The money is pouring into Law Firms, Lobbyists, and any business that can influence the Government to steer money their direction. Especially from former Congressmen who wrote laws while in office that would benefit them when they left Government.

[Digger 68]

Originally Posted by BigCityDreamer

I was checking out some houses near my neighborhood in Silver Spring. 1350 square ft. SFHs are about $425k on average. These were built in the 60s.

Gives you an indication of how high the COL has gotten.

My Father paid $55,000 for a Colonial in Cockeysville in 1976. The same kind of house in the same neighborhood was bought by my Childhood Friend's Father in 1971 for $14,000.

Yeah, everything has gone up but wages.

Oh, and that area down near DC has been overpriced for ever. Just read these boards. Everybody keeps moving there.

Sounds like a rancher at just under 1400 square feet.

Another guy I knew in the neighborhood was living in the family home until his mother died and his brother's wanted their piece of the pie (Both are well off, one lives in Switzerland, the other in Texas) so they put almost $50,000 into it and sold it for $275,000 two years ago. And who bought it? A women and her sister from the DC area. Surprise. And it's a rancher that's about 1400 SF. Nice small lot, with a lot of pine type trees. Easy maintenance.

But a recent build in a meh location on a busy corner sells for $500,000? Crazy place. It's the I am from New York, Boston crowd that keeps driving prices up. It's amazing where builders build around here and where people buy, and what they pay.

[BigCityDreamer]

Originally Posted by Digger 68

Oh, and that area down near DC has been overpriced for ever. Just read these boards. Everybody keeps moving there.

Sounds like a rancher at just under 1400 square feet.

What gets me is that Silver Spring is not even considered a particularly wealthy suburb of DC.

If you want to buy a nice house in Potomac or Bethesda, you're really looking at $1.4 million to several million dollars. I have to wonder what people do for a living to afford a house like this:

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...19_rect/13_zm/

[Digger 68]

Originally Posted by bufflove

Well that was a depressing post. 30 years here and you never saw enough of the state to realize 99.95% of it has none of the problems you mention? Hope your next neighborhood is nicer!

The broad sweeping generalizations people make are amusing.

That being said Maryland is an expensive place, but like I said earlier in the thread the desirable places to live in other states are even more expensive.

You could always move to Youngstown Ohio. A poster a while back that it was great......

[santafe400]

One community you never hear mentioned that is among the wealthiest in Maryland is Pikesville.