DW wants another house; Is it a good idea?

Parent Cafe
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<p>Wow, $24K for property taxes is really high! I’m so glad ours is “only” a fraction of that. Our income taxes on the other hand are pretty steep. I guess we are glad to have the income, but wow, that’s a lot of property tax!</p>

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<p>^^
You guess? If you need someone to take it off your hands… I’ll even pay the taxes! :p</p>

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<p>OMG, $24K in PROPERTY TAXES? Wow… I almost choked on my dinner! I guess I’m very lucky to pay just a fraction of that amount for my nice house and a horse acre lot. I think we are staying put. :)</p>

64

<p>That’s how it is in Texas. The difference is we don’t pay state income taxes.</p>

<p>My point is, the idea of up-sizing to a bigger house right when the last of your kids is headed off to college seems silly to me. We should be plowing this money into retirement savings. But maybe that’s just me.</p>

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<p>givings- 24K is astronomical! Have you considered arguing the valuation of your home to lower the taxes? (BTW- where, general area, in Texas, if you don’t mind saying?) We are in Houston, and our property taxes are nowhere near this level, proportionally. 3000sq ft, no pool, desirable neighborhood. We argue the valuation each year, especially hard since the real estate market is so bad.</p>

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<p>@ pipmom: We protested once and it didn’t work. The bottom line is that we are in a very desirable neighborhood in the DFW area. Unlike the rest of the country our house has hugely increased in value compared to what we paid. We are thankful for that, but happy to cash out and invest in something other than real estate…maybe college tuition for DS?</p>

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<p>If you think 24K is outrageous, try property taxes in the suburbs of NYC!</p>