It makes good strategic sense, that's for sure. I guess with the right roommate...
It makes good strategic sense, that's for sure. I guess with the right roommate...
OMG you guys are torturing (and tempting) me...... Just sold the SoCal place (and happy to leave here after the 90 plus degree weather this weekend - My Kingdom for some snow!!!). I love New England and have always longed to move back there so maybe now's the time. I will rent though as once the snow starts flying again SoCal heat waves may look darn good!Originally Posted by catherine
I actually like this one best:
http://www.century21.com/property/24...6259-O10013905
It's only $83000, has a couple of acres, looks like it has a barn, large enough for everyone to gather, or to take in a roommate if need be.
It could be beautiful with some work!
That is probably the only good thing about owning a home in Calif - the property taxes are at a fixed rate of 1% of the purchase price and then can't go up by more than 2% per year. And school taxes, etc... are also tied to that same purchase price amount for the life of ownership. So the percent you pay for those other taxes are based on the purchase price not the fair market price even if many decades later. So if you bought a place for $100K the property taxes would be $1000/year and only go up by approx. $20 each year there after. And you can transfer that tax rate to a new place once you are over 55 as long as the new place you buy is equal to or less then what you sold your old place for. For example: if you bought a place 10 years ago for $100K and now your annual property taxes are around $1200. Then sold it for $500K and bought a new place for $500K you could transfer your old rate of $1200 to the new place rather than have to pay the $5000 (1%) you'd normally pay. That's what many retirees here do. That is one reason I'd probably rent if I lived elsewhere because I wouldn't be able to afford the high increases in property taxes that seems common in other places.
I also think I'd rather live in a state with high income taxes and low property taxes since I live on a fairly small taxable retirement income that - at least in Calif - is below the state income tax amounts so didn't have to pay any taxes (fed or state) this year. Not too many ways to lower your property tax rate but you can usually find ways to lower your income tax rates. Especially in retirement.
Sven
Very cute! It's shocking to see prices so low for so much in places outside of Calif. Not much you can buy around here for that price (a cardboard box maybe :-)!) unless you go far out into the more remote areas of the desert. I am more a city dweller and wouldn't want to own a house with land at all (UGH too much work!) but a nice little cape cod house on a very tiny lot in a city like Burlington, Portland, or Portsmouth would be great. Or just a dinky apt right in the city center would be best for me. I do look at lots of long term vacation rentals up there (usually available from after Labor Day to Memorial day) and they can be a very inexpensive way to live in a new place until deciding where someone would want to live.
My sister was just in Pittsburgh for a vacation and said the urban area was surprisingly beautiful.
I was thinking more along the lines of Arturo...Sven
Well I did say I had "2" roommates :-)!I was thinking more along the lines of Arturo...
I think the roommate thing - or really anything a person does to try to earn some money to pay off debt, mortgage or to save for the future - is best if it's temporary. And that's what I was really trying to say to Redfox. That if she wants to keep the house and the mortgage while trying to pay off the big student loan and other debts, then sometimes some sacrifices and uncomfortableness needs to happen. I didn't really like having roommates or working so much OT or having to get a second job but it was a huge help when I needed help. Now, with only one small dog, I'd choose to sell the house and be debt-free asap rather than go the roommate or second job/OT route again. I just can't imagine loving a place so much that I would sacrifice what little time I have on this earth to have to pay for it and constantly worry when the next axe might fall - such as Redfox's cancer coming back (praying that it won't!). I'm a financial wimp and worry-wart if ever there was one and can't sleep at night if things weight on me financially. And I do need all the beauty sleep I can get too! But I know that other's are made of stronger stuff (you Jane and Redfox for sure - must be living in that PNW climate!) so probably handle those kinds of things better then me. And I know that other's DO love their homes so much that making certain sacrifices - like working for many years longer - would be really worth it to them.
I hate to say it but these are some of the reasons I never re-married. I'm bad at making compromises even on a good day, so it would be very hard for me to have to compromise like you are doing. But if someone loves their home (or 'hood or the memories) then it's hard to get them to change. If I were to marry say the current BF (who's 10 years younger then me and not anywhere near retirement or quitting his job) I'd have to continue living around here for a couple of more decades for his job and family and, yes, his beloved house, that would kill me. And he really wouldn't want to move out of SoCal anyways (unless it's too Hawaii) as he is a total SoCal surfer volleyball beach boy. If it get colder then 70 he may actually freeze to death (IHHO). So choosing to remain single can have it's benefits sometimes :-)! But maybe your DH will see the light someday to. I think taking him to Vermont as often as possible will make that happen. And if he won't go you can always take me :-)!
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