A Sense of Place vs. Following the $$

[JaneV2.0]

Carillon point, Kirkland, Wa. I took a tour on google maps, street scene. It looks very Posh, all I can say. I noticed that they seem to have a thing about trimming the the(Asian) shrubbery in geometric shapes. For all the preoccupation with Greenspace, it is an exceedingly unnatural environment. If I moved there, I would have to find a place to camp, where tenting is allowed. But, it would still prolly cost $20 a night for a space, limit 5 nights. So, I'd prolly have to sleep behind one of the meticulously-maintained bushes, at at office building, and use their restroom and move every 4-5 days. Stay in the Lirrarrry during the daytime, and read and websurf. It's really not for me.

I'm a little north of there, along the forested shoreline--and our lirrarry system is most excellent. There are parks all over the place, but I doubt anyone camps in them--legally or not.

[Teacher Terry]

Sometimes people can't find jobs in their field so they need to move. That happened to me after I finished grad school. So it was either move or never work in my field after spending 10 years & lots of $ to get there.

[Packy]

One of the first things I did when I arrived to visit Zurra was check out the local lirrrarry. It was a classic old Carnegie grant building downtown, and the front entrance, on the street, was always closed, but the indoor stairwell was still in use. The rear of the building faced the parkin' lot, and you went in through the basement entrance from the lot, then took either the back stairway or elevator to the upper floors. That has all changed, since, because they bought a nearly-new building on the south side, that had been a Payless Cashways, and remodeled it into the new "Main" lirrrarry. This took pressure for space off the downtown lirrarry, so they restored it to its' original configuration, with the entrance on the street functional, again. There are two other branches, one of which is only a mile away from me. They will get a copy of anything across town, if they don't have it. Pretty good, huh? Logistics is everything for littlebittymee; as a reformed "car jock", I don't like to drive needlessly. In the old building downtown, there is a fireplace, and on the mantle is a plaque, dedicated to a lady lirrrarran who was on the staff from 1910-1950. 40 years! Quite a while to be at one place, but she musta liked it.

[JaneV2.0]

Old libraries are a veritable treasure--like the beautiful downtown Portland building. On the other hand, our new branches resemble nothing more than warehouses or maybe minimum security prisons...But at least we have lots of them.

[Gardenarian]

$34,000 on a million dollar house? I thought almost all places had taxes in the 1-1.5% range. No?

I have never had a "home town" but I lived in my last place for 23 years. I didn't move for money, but because my values had shifted and the town and environs had changed - creating a greater and greater chasm between my ideal and my reality. I had wanted to stay in the town until my dd was off on her own, as I hated moving when I was young, but she was happy to try somewhere new. I feel more at home in Ashland than I have anywhere else. Every day I wake up happy just to be here!
I wish I had real roots somewhere; maybe I'll grow them here. There are people I care about all over the country, but I've never had that sense of place that I feel here.

DH has a strong hometown feeling, but doesn't feel called to live in the city where he grew up (in Colorado.) His family has a summer place outside of town, and he and dd visit every summer (I go about every third year.) He still feels very connected, but is happy to be able to live elsewhere most of the year.

DH and I have been talking about burial plans, and it's important to him to end up in his his family plot. What's more important to me is to have a green burial, to go back to the Earth - I don't much care where. I'll have a plaque by dh's, and one also in MY family's plot.

[Gardenarian]

I just looked up the tax rates - here are the highest and lowest by county:

Highest Property Taxes as a Percent of Home Value

Allegany County, NY (3.76%)
Milwaukee County, WI (3.68%)
Kendall County, IL (3.57%)
Sullivan County, NY (3.56%)
Orleans County, NY (3.49%)

Lowest Property Taxes as a Percent of Home Value

Caroline County, VA (0.17%)
Catahoula County, LA and Randolph, AR (0.2%)
Iberville County, LA and Cumberland County, TN (0.21%)
Butler County, PA and Maui County, HI (0.22%)
Elmore County, AL and De Soto County, LA (0.23%)

[iris lilies]

I just looked up the tax rates - here are the highest and lowest by county:

Highest Property Taxes as a Percent of Home Value

Allegany County, NY (3.76%)
Milwaukee County, WI (3.68%)
Kendall County, IL (3.57%)
Sullivan County, NY (3.56%)
Orleans County, NY (3.49%)

Lowest Property Taxes as a Percent of Home Value

Caroline County, VA (0.17%)
Catahoula County, LA and Randolph, AR (0.2%)
Iberville County, LA and Cumberland County, TN (0.21%)
Butler County, PA and Maui County, HI (0.22%)
Elmore County, AL and De Soto County, LA (0.23%)

I'm surprised that New Jersey isn't in that list.

[catherine]

I'm surprised that New Jersey isn't in that list.

I am, too.

So I looked around for real estate in Allegany County, and found a home with a similar market value to mine (350k), and interestingly, the taxes match mine: $8300. But that's just n of 1.

http://www.century21.com/property/87...7-REN017478870

BTW, that house is definitely nicer than mine, especially given it's lakefront. Geez, I'm tempted to make an offer!

[Yossarian]

I wish state and local taxes were not deductible. The rest of us shouldn't have to support such nonsense.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Since I've never itemized in my life I agree. In fact they could get rid of all itemizations and just leave everyone the standard deduction. Why am I paying more than those who itemize anyway? The only itemization I have any sympathy with is medical care - being how costly and out of our control it is to get sick, heaven forbid.