The Home Ownership Thread

[Omega Male]

Yes, everyone move to California. It’s a wonderful place to live.

Know you know this but it actually is. We just like to ***** about how much the privilege costs.

 

[imatlas]

All taxes are high by you. WI is probably a lot less than a Chicago suburb but still relatively high in my mind.

Edit: I just saw this article. Chicago suburbs dominate the highest property tax small/mid-sized cities. Milwaukee is #1 for highest large city.
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I'm struck by the prevalence of post-industrial burgs in CT, and wonder if that is the confluence of a steadily shrinking tax base and fixed pension costs.

 

[ValidusLA]

Know you know this but it actually is. We just like to ***** about how much the privilege costs.

Its also a function of age. My parents are 63 and have seen 1000% equity gain on their house. The taxes dont bother them.

I'm 35 with a young kid and pay massive taxes for a failing school system, with only more taxes to look forward to.

 

[Texasmade]

Its also a function of age. My parents are 63 and have seen 1000% equity gain on their house. The taxes dont bother them.

I'm 35 with a young kid and pay massive taxes for a failing school system, with only more taxes to look forward to.

You could always move to some low tax shithole like Kansas or Mississippi.

 

[Fueco]

Our displaced are coming for you. They will drive up your housing, raise your taxes, and eat all your organic produce...and let you know loudly.

I’m from San Jose, and lived in that area until I was 39. It’s a great place to be, but I most likely won’t be going back. Our house would easily be $2.5 million in Cupertino.

 

[double00]

born and raised, at 37 got my clock cleaned by cancer, treatment etc. my kid was 2 then, probably a month from bankruptcy and got **** out of cali.

we own our place here, rebuilding my biz and my back. wouldn't be possible in california. truth.

 

[ValidusLA]

You could always move to some low tax shithole like Kansas or Mississippi.

I could. Instead I shall rage against the dying of the light.

My great-great grandfather came here from Missouri (and Kansas before that) as a **** poor preacher and built a house with his own hands. Would be a shame to regress back.

 

[SixOhNine]

You could always move to some low tax shithole like Kansas or Mississippi Texas.

FTFY

 

[jbarwick]

Our yard guy was coming every week and it looked like the yard never grew in between. Being a cheap ass, I told him to do it every 2 weeks. Now with all of the spring rain we have had, my yard looks like an overgrown field so I had to tuck my tail and tell him to come every week again. Our cleaning + yard costs are 75% more at this house than last house.

As for housing prices, country star Allen Jackson had to take a $4M haircut on his house recently. He had another house he sold a few years ago he had to take a haircut on as well. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1710-Talbot-Trl-Franklin-TN-37069/60277464_zpid/

 

[stro]

we closed without incident. the lender made me sign one stupid indemnification agreement that was drafted by an idiot. the title company and realtor were not amused by my observation that i could draw a line through the stupid words on the page before signing it. my wife was, though. this is the only thing i learned in law school that she still thinks is funny.

i want a level for general use as the one i've been using came in a kit and sucks. what's the most useful length? something in the 2-3 foot range? just get a 4 footer? probably going to go stabila as the local importer seems to have relatively good stock.

here's my cart for some other banging around hand tools as i wander around the condo breaking things with minimal upside. i don't remember how i ended up with this list late last night but the only possible sources were google and youtube. feel free to make fun of it or me, or tell me if i picked an especially dumb size for any of them. (these would also replace the corresponding tools that came with the aforementioned kit, which aforementionedly sucks. but that kit did the job for fifteen years of apartment living and i am grateful for its service.)

 

[brokencycle]

I have 3 sizes of levels. 1', 3' and 4'. I generally find myself grabbing either the 1' or 4' almost every time.

 

[Michigan Planner]

I'm struck by the prevalence of post-industrial burgs in CT, and wonder if that is the confluence of a steadily shrinking tax base and fixed pension costs.

Drawing on what I know of the horrible fiscal situation of the metros in Illinois, I would imagine that's pretty spot on.

Here in Metro Detroit, the property tax rates can vary pretty wildly from city to city but the inner-ring suburbs that have seen their industrial tax base disappear and populations stagnate (or decline) over the past 50 years have crazy high millage rates compared to communities right next door that have fared better... and that's not even taking into account the mess that is the property tax situation in the city of Detroit itself.

On a semi-related note: I've got a long-term population and employment forecast on my desk that our county partnered with a local university to have produced back in the mid '60s and the populations they projected for most of the communities in the county by 1990 were pretty optimistic to say the least. I'm sure a lot of the industrial areas in the Northeast and Midwest had forecast similar continued linear growth into the '90s and then budgeted and made labor contracts accordingly. Well, we know how that worked out!

 

[Van Veen]

Our yard guy was coming every week and it looked like the yard never grew in between. Being a cheap ass, I told him to do it every 2 weeks. Now with all of the spring rain we have had, my yard looks like an overgrown field so I had to tuck my tail and tell him to come every week again. Our cleaning + yard costs are 75% more at this house than last house.

Meanwhile I finally hit the point where I only have to mow once a week.

 

[Michigan Planner]

Yesterday evening I noticed the furnace not igniting so I had somebody out to look at it this morning. It appears that my 35-year-old furnace, which was already a bit too small for our house, is on its last legs. We had to have the pressure switch adjusted each winter over the past couple of years and then today the blower motor wasn't working properly and the gas valve is shot. He was able to get it fired up by literally pounding on the valve but I guess it's time to finally replace it all and do the AC unit (that was installed in 1981) at the same time. Oh well, they've had a good run! At least whatever we replace it with is bound to be much more efficient.

After some mis-measuring on the first tech's part and a cold night in the house last night (it was down to 58º inside when I got up this morning. I loved it, my wife hated it...) our new furnace is up and running and the house has warmed up nicely. The guy should be done hooking up the new AC in the next hour or so as well. Though looking at the extended weather forecast, it will probably be a while before we need to bother using that.

On the bright side, I was checking with our local utilities and we should be inline for about $200 worth of rebates that I wasn't expecting.

 

[sftiger]

As for housing prices, country star Allen Jackson had to take a $4M haircut on his house recently. He had another house he sold a few years ago he had to take a haircut on as well. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1710-Talbot-Trl-Franklin-TN-37069/60277464_zpid/

Probably tough when your house price is 10-25x the average selling price of your neighbors: