<p>Oh, and the property taxes would be about $5000/year (really good school district.)</p>
<p>In my town the house would not be a tear-down because the property is too small. However, a huge number of houses that are sold here are torn down – usually on properties of one acre, minimum.</p>
<p>^^based on your comments, I would guess you live somewhere along rt 7</p>
<p>DocT, I tried to send you a PM, since not everyone on here needs to know where I live, but your in-box is too full.</p>
<p>See, the prices and the property taxes are in inverse relation.
Like bonds and interest rates. The lower the prop taxes, the higher the house price (per sq ft)- after adjusting for acreage.</p>
<p>We look at the cash flow needed to live in a home. Not just the price. And before the mortgage.</p>
<p>And, yes, maintenance and insurance are a function of local COL, too.</p>
<p>The property tax on my house in upstate NY, assessed at 260K, is $8K/yr. </p>
<p>We now have a property tax cap in NYS but not sure exactly how it works and my school district is challenging it by putting forth a budget which calls for an increase greater then the cap. They need a super majority (60%) to vote yes.</p>
<p>8k on 260,000 is too much…</p>
<p>Home prices would be higher if that property tax was cut. Performersmom is right.</p>
<p>High property tax not necessarily is bad. Whether it is too much or too little is debatable. When I was in NJ, I was paying more property tax, 3.5% on the assessed value. We lived in the meganet public high school district and the teacher/student ratio in the K-6 was fantastic. The Val and Sal all went to Harvard, for example. After moved to CA, the housing price is high and the tax rate is low, as performermom noted, we pay for about the same amount of taxes for an equivalent size of home. However, the quality of public education in CA is in the tanks. High tax, low tax, which is better? you tell me.</p>
<p>“After moved to CA, the housing price is high and the tax rate is low, as performermom noted, we pay for about the same amount of taxes for an equivalent size of home”</p>
<p>If you pay the same amount of taxes…</p>
<p>If it were in my town, you might not get permission to tear down a home like that, and if you did, it would come with pages and pages of restrictions. </p>
<p>(Are you near Wilton, VeryHappy? My grandparents lived there, and I used to love visiting their cottage (truly) in the woods off of Wolfpit Road.)</p>
<p>I am near Wilton. I was just on Wolfpit Road last week.</p>
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<p>Yup, I was paying about the same amount of property tax but the cost of the house was three or more times higher. Sold the house for 280K buying at 800K…and Not the same quality of education.</p>
<p>"8k on 260,000 is too much…</p>
<p>Home prices would be higher if that property tax was cut. Performersmom is right."</p>
<p>Our assessments aren’t based on the price of the home. It’s based on sq. footage. Then it goes up every year a certain percentage based on the school’s budget, the town’s budget, and the county’s budget which are all different percentages. If I sold my home for $350K the property taxes would still be based on the $260K figure. Every ten years or so the town does a re-assessment of all homes. The only time it changes before that is if you add sq. footage. A dump, in my area of the town, in a similar style (ranch) and age (1950’s) and same SFLA (a whopping 1700ish), which has had nothing done to it in years and is falling apart, or my home which has been extensively remodeled inside and out, will pay the same property tax.</p>
<p>Yes…artsloversplus…</p>
<p>But if the taxes are the same…there has to be another reason for the differences in education…or taxes aren’t the same? Maybe after living in homes for 10 years…there is a difference in taxes…</p>
<p>Then again…home prices exploded in Calif…and when homes are turned over they are reassessed most of the time…so that part of property taxes should have been going up more in Calif than most other places.</p>
<p>Emilybee…interesting system…you have there.</p>
<p>I don’t like your system because people can be priced out of their homes.</p>
<p>One reason prop 13 passed was because prop taxes were increasing at a rate that could put people out of their homes.</p>
<p>I am not sure why prop taxes are the taxes used to fund education in so many places.</p>
<p>dstark, what about the recent down turn in CA homes? A lot of town went bankrupt due to the reduction of prop taxes. So, prop 13 is a two edged sward, you can’t win either way.</p>
<p>I think the school tax should be separated from property tax, ppl can vote on whether they want to pay for education. But who am I can make that proposal.</p>
<p>Before the downturn…</p>
<p>Calif education was doing poorly compared to other states…</p>
<p>Calif education did decline after prop 13 passed. There was an initial hit to tax revenues. But…I think property tax revenues increased at 8 to 9 percent a year for over a decade. I am too lazy to look the numbers up.</p>
<p>My favorite tax is the income tax…</p>
<p>I know people hate that tax. :)</p>
<p>“I am near Wilton. I was just on Wolfpit Road last week.”</p>
<p>I work in Wilton.</p>
<p>Wilton looks beautiful from these photos.</p>
<p>[Wilton</a>, Connecticut (CT 06897) profile: population, maps, real estate, averages, homes, statistics, relocation, travel, jobs, hospitals, schools, crime, moving, houses, news, sex offenders](<a href=“http://www.city-data.com/city/Wilton-Connecticut.html]Wilton”>http://www.city-data.com/city/Wilton-Connecticut.html)</p>
<p>Wait, VH, were you referring to New Canaan, no industry, high tax? Yes, my relatives live there…</p>
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<p>Some cities or towns have a lot of industry which reduces the property tax burden for residents.</p>