An issue for those who sell their home and move into an RV is eventually one won’t have the ability or stamina to drive and set up. We have a 20 ft trailer and we see all kinds of rigs when we go camping. The huge RV and fifth wheels are something to watch as folks try to get into their campsites. Where do your friends who are doing this plan to settle once they aren’t comfortable driving? Also getting campsites is an issue. Many book 6 months out and if you don’t get on it first thing you’re out of luck. We have 5 spots we go on a semi regular basis. Three are state parks with the 6 month booking option. The other two are US Forest service campgrounds. All three state parks are full 6 months out unless you just one one random date here and there. The two forest service ones I’ve been looking at for summer. One is totally booked, the other has some availability in early June.
I would say my lifestyle isn’t seriously impacted by property taxes, but those, along with other high taxes in my state/county do make me think about moving during retirement.
That said, when I semi-seriously looked around at other places, I realized we get some things for our $$$, and the area has a lot of the things that are important to me.
Does anyone know of any resource that lets you seriously compare taxes in different states? I’m not talking about something like what Kiplinger puts out @yearly, but something that gives more details about tax rates across the states. When I was looking some time ago, I had a hard time trying to realistically look at the tax differences across states. Some states have taxes I’d never heard of, for example, so I didn’t know to worry about them.
Our property taxes have gone up and in answer to your question, we are fortunate enough that it does not impede our lifestyle. There are so many things I like about living here that I am fine paying more.
I look at it this way: you pay one way or another - either higher property taxes or higher income taxes or less in the way of services. Our kids are grown but we want to live in an area with good public schools (we also have an excellent state flagship university in our city). And I think good schools brings value to the community. And we have a grandchild near so I want her to have good schools. I am all for paying it forward.
Obviously if I were on a tight budget, it would be a problem. But we are lucky enough to have what we need and still pay.
Same here. I feel we get good value for our taxes here. We have wonderful town amenities.
That would be interesting to see as I agree with you that there are taxes you would never consider if you have not been paying them. CT assesses cars each year, and I also pay for garbage hauling, which is not consistent across towns, as far as I know.
It would be interesting, but so difficult because there are so many different ways to get you. Even the personal property (car) tax in VA. Older S’ old car was cheaper up in the NOVA/DC area than in our super low COL area in another part of the state, but his new car is more expensive up there than here. We have a flat rate, while they only tax the value above $3K.
And our trash pick-up is a monthly charge on our utility bill. Locality owns almost all of the utilities here.
But then there’s the hotel tax, the meal tax, etc. that also varies by locality.
There are also places with city, county and state taxes…all three. And that can add up too.
But it’s hard to compare value, because IMHO you also need to look at what you are getting for what you pay. I don’t mind paying for our schools, for example. We have great schools, and that is a good thing. And I would want this even if my kids attended private school. Families buy on our town because of the reputation of the schools.
We are very happy that in California, property taxes are initially based on the home purchase price and then are limited as to increases by law. We used to have some big surprises in the Chicago suburbs when they would reassess. No surprises anymore, whew, and annual increases are small.
Honestly, even general type of comparisons cannot pare down to both a specific area you are interested in and your specific household requirements - the tax breaks or incentives you currently have, and what would be in the other area(s).
There always are things that one doesn’t necessarily think about w/o living in an area. For example, Radon. Not something that is an issue many places, but some places, a home may need special venting for radon coming up through basement or crawl space and affecting home air quality (radon and health issues with high radon levels). Termites. Some people have never lived in an area with termites - but in areas with termites, the costs of termite protection and dealing with termite damage.
Some things are easy to determine - states that exempt military pensions for example.
To me, the biggies are property taxes, special local taxes (including extra mil rates for schools in property taxes), how state taxes work out (if there are any), if you have road toll taxes, sales taxes.
Some states have generous exemptions/itemizations that have state taxes not be that big of a deal. Our state income tax “taxable income” was 1/3 of the taxable income on our federal return - due to in part to generous deductions. For example our LTC insurance payment is 100% deductible on our state income tax.
Many things to look at for a major retirement relocation. I have a friend that is 100% RV - sold their home. So far, they seem to like it (have been doing it for almost 2 years now).
Property taxes may not impede your lifestyle when you are working. But they could once you are on a limited income in retirement. Especially if they go up significantly each year and your income does not.
Our value went up 30% since last year. What I don’t understand is when I compare neighboring homes. Our direct neighbor has a larger lot, an extra bedroom, and fully remodeled kitchen, bathroom & basement. Their annual taxes are $1200 less than ours (no senior reductions in our city). No one goes INTO the house when re-evaluating. It is strictly based on sizes & rooms.
Assessor doesn’t know about their remodeled walk-out basement. So if I contest by showing ‘comps’ won’t I just get theirs raised, rather than ours lowered?
I tried several years ago, to contest, and the assessor’s office just said my house “COULD” potentially sell for more than their estimate, and ‘threatened’ that if I contested formally, it might go up. HUH?
The unpredictability of annual increases (not voted for) could make budgeting a bit more difficult for quite a few people. In our state, I wouldn’t know the amount I need to set aside for taxes for any given year until mid-February of that year. And the first half of those taxes is due April 30th! For some that would be a very unwelcome surprise.
In our town, the budget vote is the first week of May. But really, the budget is set about three weeks before that because they have to have a town meeting and adjourn to a referendum. First half of the bill needs to be paid by July 30. Second half by January 30.
In our county the assessments are mailed out around July 1 and the tax payments are due by Oct 15. That doesn’t leave a lot of time for appeals. Back when it mattered more to us, we did have a big increased assessment and when looking closer at the floorplan they had on file, they had more of our terrace level (aka “basement” ) listed as finished than was (part of it is storage/unfinished). So we were able to get that adjusted, and, surprisingly, back then, I was able to speak to someone on the phone (an associate knew someone in that office and put me in touch directly with them), and they asked me what kind of ceiling the finished area had. Turns out that the part that had a drop ceiling could be labelled differently (it is too long ago to remember the specifics) but their relabeling that part of our basement also lowered the assessment. Who knew!
The surprising thing, when we discussed our lot size compared to other houses in the neighborhood (ours is small and landlocked), he claimed that having a house on the lake reduced their value!!! I found that hard to believe (and some of those lots are more than double our lot size).
If you own a home and have no mortgage. Your property taxes (and HOA fee) will most likely be your biggest monthly expense. So, planning for retirement costs can be made difficult if these two costs go up unexpectantly.
Our HOA is really just a fence maintenance association - $35/year for upkeep and insurance. It’s the homeowner’s insurance increases (CO has had plenty of disasters) in tandem with tax increases that worry me. We’ll be OK, but since our pensions are low/fixed it will mean drawing down the 401k/IRAs faster. If all goes well, the impact will be to heirs not us.
You have an option - a real estate agent could do ‘comps’ for you to give you an idea of what your house potentially would sell for. If that general value is less than what the assessor states, you could pay for an actual appraisal - in our area it is under $500 in cost – and then you contest it by faxing in the appraisal to the tax assessor’s office. True numbers versus their ‘threat’.
I imagine many do not contest what the assessor office states. At least if you have the numbers with an actual assessment that are lower than their numbers.
Our assessments have gone up by ‘values’, and no real assessment since our home was built 30 years ago. We refinanced and had a real assessment. Within 24 hours of faxing in our actual assessment, our property tax was with a value slightly lower than our actual assessment. It wasn’t as significant as your $$ amount, but for me, it locked down the automatic rate to what is realistic value.
I live in a town with a high property tax (although not the highest in my state). While I grumble when I see the property tax bill. (I mean who likes bills?) I also know that the value of my property has increased tremendously and it’s because the schools in my town have a great reputation and people move here for the schools. The schools are always in the top 20 districts in the various rankings of best public schools, e.g., Niche.
I could sell my house easily, but I have good friends here and groups where I volunteer. I have no interest in moving to a new place where I have no social network. I can’t cite the study (have to look up), but I recently read that one of the keys to longevity was having a social network. So, I grumble and pay the property tax and feel grateful that I can afford it.
I do have a divorced neighbor who will get hit hard by the increase in taxes and insurance. She is in her 70s, took a stressful retail job last year to catch up with expenses accrued when Covid risks prevented her from doing her prior retail job. She and I are already on the lookout for the ideal housemate to share her house expenses, and probably it will become necessity soon. (For house sharing, the best options seem to be pet owners who don’t want to be in an apartment building. And that just won’t work well with her elderly ailing cat, the main reason she’s stayed in the house.)