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Yes, homes in the $250 K range often had property taxes exceeding $7000 per year. Just for an example, here is a listing for $240 K in suburban Rochester, and it has a property tax bill of $9,378
Just picked a couple of quick listing at random, but that was pretty much in line with the property tax bills I had seen when we were considering the area.
Rent in a 55+ community? You pay your rent, utilites, and monthly maintenance fees. All the landscaping/snow removed is done for you. Some have tennis courts, pools, clubhouse.
We are leaving Florida (only came for job) and going back north for retirement. Nine months of brutal HEAT and Humidity is horrible in Florida. Far too many people think "ah, no snow" but unless you have been in Florida in May through November you have no idea what all this heat is like.
My husband is thinking Pa., but I just want to go back to NY. Will have to start checking out 55+ Active Communities. Home ownership becomes a real pain unless you have a lot of $$$$ and can hire people to do the work for you.
When I was looking at retirement places, New Hampshire didn't even come close to making the top ten, regardless of "No Income Tax". The overall tax burden is high, and the cost of living is high as well.
I enjoy the out of doors, and winter poses no personal hardship, but money is money, and new Hampshire's overall "cost" disqualified it pretty quickly as a place in which to retire.
Sorry but Jamestown is closer to being upstate PA than it is Upstate NY.
Not hardly. NY plows even its back roads. PA does not.
Actually, the Jamestown area is considerably more prosperous, socially progressive, and cultured than NW PA once you get out of commuting distance to Erie, PA or Pittsburgh. Rural/small town PA is not called "Pennsyltucky" for nothing. That so many Pennsylvanians come to NY for jobs kind of says it all about the economy there. Towns like Bradford or Kane are pretty sad, but not nearly as grim as the towns in the coal mining areas further south.
We moved to Maine in 2014 to escape the humid heat of Rhode Island, and the high property taxes there. Our property taxes, on 33 acres in Maine (with ranch house) are about $800 a year.
I am happy to be in Maine all year long, but the wife has relatives in Tennessee, so we are spending 2-3 weeks to look at some land down here right now. We dodged a snow storm driving down here from Maine. There are lots of nice properties to look at, and modular homes and mobile homes are allowed in a lot of places here. We both want single-story from now on. I like the idea of having a second home to go to, in the event that laws change in one or both states. TN is retiree friendly!
He's scared to death and has dug his heels in for three years now. I'm hoping he will want to after awhile. Pray for us, Brava, and if you or someone close has had theirs done please post your experience in the 'How's your hip replacement doing?' thread.
Another thing to consider if you're thinking rural, you will have to travel for the better doctors.
There's an old saying up here, 'If you want to die go to Glens Falls Hospital, if you want to live go to Saratoga.'
Nowadays both hospitals rank about the same. Nothing stellar. Albany Med is the best within driving and it's an hour and a half away.
I'm seriously looking at Long Beach/Rockaway (across the bridge from Brooklyn); that's not "upstate," exactly, but it's not "the city," either... Friends recently relocated from Kentucky to Watertown; I think they're still spinning from the combined effects of snow volume on the roof and heating bills!
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