Amazon New HQ (50k jobs), MA? (Boston, Springfield: cheap house, store, warehouse)

[bohemka]

Originally Posted by urbanmyth

Boston, Massachusetts an "improvement" over Seattle?! In what universe are you living? New York City is an improvement, Chicago is an improvement; heck, even Atlanta, GA is an improvement.

She specifically said Boston would not be an improvement over Seattle. Your impassioned defense of North Carolina is noted. Have fun.

[WillRunForBeer]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

I'd rather be free to make as much money as I want without being penalized for it. Real estate prices tend to rise, except for when they don't. How quickly we all forget and move on. Do you really think your home price just naturally rises just because?

Pretty much, yes:

S&P US National Home Price Index

1/1975 $25,250
1/1980 $43,440
1/1990 $76,530
1/2000 $100,000
1/2010 $145,000
1/2017 $184,950

The only blip on the radar during the past 42 years was the great recession where the index went from $184, 620 in July of '06 to $134,000 in February '12. By Dec '16 that dip was completely wiped out and the index was back up to $184,720 and stands at $195,050 as of August 2017.

Nothing is guaranteed but that's a pretty consistent trend. Since typical income replacement rates for retirees are between 65%-75% of pre-retirement income (and Social Security benefits are taxed at a lower rate than other income), in most cases income taxes will drop fairly significantly in retirement. For an individual that plans on retiring where they currently live, the higher income tax/lower property tax area is generally more advantageous.

[urbanmyth]

Originally Posted by bugelrex

On the flip side, high taxes and regulations get you Boston, California. House prices so high and traffic so bad, anyone earning less than 150k a year and wasn't fortunate to inherit (or buy before the boom) a house is begging to leave...

You haven't shopped for houses in the places you think are so wonderful, in the kind of neighborhoods and towns where you wouldn't stick out as a lily-white, espresso sipping, Yankee, have you? Once you leave the containment areas for Yankees real estate might be cheaper but then you'll be calling me whining about your neighbors' dogs, sofa on the porch, all night gun range, and chicken slaughtering bizness. And I'd get to tell you that you have to live with it and welcome you to low tax, low regulation business friendly nirvana and that I hope you have no children or elderly parents who want to come live you.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by WillRunForBeer

Pretty much, yes:

S&P US National Home Price Index

1/1975 $25,250
1/1980 $43,440
1/1990 $76,530
1/2000 $100,000
1/2010 $145,000
1/2017 $184,950

The only blip on the radar during the past 42 years was the great recession where the index went from $184, 620 in July of '06 to $134,000 in February '12. By Dec '16 that dip was completely wiped out and the index was back up to $184,720 and stands at $195,050 as of August 2017.

Nothing is guaranteed but that's a pretty consistent trend. Since typical income replacement rates for retirees are between 65%-75% of pre-retirement income (and Social Security benefits are taxed at a lower rate than other income), in most cases income taxes will drop fairly significantly in retirement. For an individual that plans on retiring where they currently live, the higher income tax/lower property tax area is generally more advantageous.

How about inflation?

What else increases in price all the time and is good that it does so?

Do you think this is a good thing? Or suspicious at all in any way?

[jayrandom]

Originally Posted by urbanmyth

You haven't shopped for houses in the places you think are so wonderful, in the kind of neighborhoods and towns where you wouldn't stick out as a lily-white, espresso sipping, Yankee, have you? Once you leave the containment areas for Yankees real estate might be cheaper but then you'll be calling me whining about your neighbors' dogs, sofa on the porch, all night gun range, and chicken slaughtering bizness. And I'd get to tell you that you have to live with it and welcome you to low tax, low regulation business friendly nirvana and that I hope you have no children or elderly parents who want to come live you.

Why is he calling you? Are you two friends or something?

And where exactly are you talking about? Hazzard County?

[CaseyB]

Originally Posted by urbanmyth

You haven't shopped for houses in the places you think are so wonderful, in the kind of neighborhoods and towns where you wouldn't stick out as a lily-white, espresso sipping, Yankee, have you? Once you leave the containment areas for Yankees real estate might be cheaper but then you'll be calling me whining about your neighbors' dogs, sofa on the porch, all night gun range, and chicken slaughtering bizness. And I'd get to tell you that you have to live with it and welcome you to low tax, low regulation business friendly nirvana and that I hope you have no children or elderly parents who want to come live you.

I don't know what sort of place you live in, but I've shopped for houses in high-end golf communities and they are still less expensive than the Boston area.

[bjimmy24]

Originally Posted by CaseyB

I don't know what sort of place you live in, but I've shopped for houses in high-end golf communities and they are still less expensive than the Boston area.

Kudos to you for taking the time to translate that post and respond to it!

[WillRunForBeer]

Originally Posted by bjimmy24

How about inflation?

What else increases in price all the time and is good that it does so?

Do you think this is a good thing? Or suspicious at all in any way?

Of course it's inflation...that's my point!

Income in retirement generally lags inflation (hence the concept of the "fixed income" retiree) while real estate will likely track with (and often above) it. Tough to keep up with an ever increasing property tax bill on a fixed income in retirement.

And it's not just straight inflation-using US inflation statistics since 1996 (when I bought my house), its value today would calculate out to be $381,000. Similar houses in my neighborhood are currently selling for over $500,000 and I'm in a relatively weak market for Massachusetts. Good stuff if I wanted to sell it but it would make staying there post retirement difficult if the majority of my tax bill were property-tax based like New Hampshire for instance.

[bugelrex]

Originally Posted by WillRunForBeer

Pretty much, yes:

S&P US National Home Price Index

1/1975 $25,250
1/1980 $43,440
1/1990 $76,530
1/2000 $100,000
1/2010 $145,000
1/2017 $184,950

The only blip on the radar during the past 42 years was the great recession where the index went from $184, 620 in July of '06 to $134,000 in February '12. By Dec '16 that dip was completely wiped out and the index was back up to $184,720 and stands at $195,050 as of August 2017.

Nothing is guaranteed but that's a pretty consistent trend. Since typical income replacement rates for retirees are between 65%-75% of pre-retirement income (and Social Security benefits are taxed at a lower rate than other income), in most cases income taxes will drop fairly significantly in retirement. For an individual that plans on retiring where they currently live, the higher income tax/lower property tax area is generally more advantageous.

Nationally yes, but I bet there are quite a few rust-belt towns with shocking historical house prices..

If Boston keeps up with innovation, then yes your house will guarantee to go up over time.. maybe not in your lifetime, but its guaranteed to go up.

If Boston starts to resist new industries from entering Boston or restricts their growth, then slowly over time it could turn into Detroit.

[urbanmyth]

Originally Posted by jayrandom

Why is he calling you? Are you two friends or something?

And where exactly are you talking about? Hazzard County?

I'm a Planning Director and get calls from "conservatives" who move to my county from Massachusetts and think they are getting a great deal of land for "cheap" and their taxes are low. Then, they start complaining that it's not like Massachusetts. No kidding. You get what you pay for.