[quote=flu][quote=bearishgurl]It is really immaterial whether the OP resides in SEH … or not, svelte. My point was that they are paying (entirely voluntary) MR and HOA dues because they had/have many housing choices in this county.
Here’s a “random” article for you to chew on:
San Marcos Mello-Roos
All homes in San Marcos built between 1988 and present are part of a Mello Roos District (aka Community Facilities District, CFD). A Mello-Roos District/CFD is an area of homes in which homeowners are obligated to pay a special property tax on top of a standard property tax. This special tax is used to help pay for a lot of the same facilities and services that a standard property tax pays for, such as streets, water, sewage and drainage, electricity, infrastructure, schools, parks and police/fire protection.
Instead of chastising me, why don’t you give the Piggs a ballpark estimate of the OP’s monthly MR + HOA dues? After all, you are our “resident expert” on SM, no?
As an “uninformed observer,” I’ll just take a random stab at what the total monthly nut is and you let me know how close I am, okay?
For the OP’s size house:
$225 mo MR and $150 mo HOA dues, totaling a $375 mo dent in their strained budget.
I haven’t even tried to find any listings around there … this is just my guess.
How am I doing, svelte??[/quote]
I don’t know why you keep grinding the axe on homes with HOA or Mello Roos. It’s beside the point of this thread. The person already made the home purchase, and at this point the OP’s financial situation is not the issue, it’s all the other debt that’s the issue. It’s hardly helpful to tell the OP everything he/she should have done 3-4 years ago in as much as people who keep telling you that you should have bought rental property 3-4 years ago.
Looking at the OP’s financial strain, HOA and Mello Roos is the least of their worries. I don’t understand why you continue to try to convince others on your personal preference to live in home that doesn’t have HOA or Mello Roos. Because that’s what it is…Personal preference.
But since this is already unrelated to the OP’s post, I think a post ago, I already shown that if I purchased a $1million home in some parts of SD without mello roos versus in Carmel Valley, my property taxes would actually end up being more than a home in Carmel Valley.
Yes, Mello Roos for my home in Carmel Valley exists. But it’s a flat fee. Other parts of SD pay all these extra bond initiatives that are a % of assessed value. My rentals in Mira Mesa are such an example that have all these ridiculous bond initiatives that don’t exist in Carmel Valley. So for a high cost home, it’s actually less in Carmel Valley than say Mira Mesa if one buys a $1million home in both places.
Don’t believe me? Look it up yourself.
And lastly, to pre-empt what you might say about the deductibility of mello-roos on your taxes, the IRS already ruled that Mello-Roos is deductible years ago, and since CA follows the IRS, it’s deductible as well on your state taxes. Of course, if you’re like me and get hit with AMT every year, it doesn’t matter since for AMT, property taxes paid don’t count.[/quote]
Carmel Valley residents just haven’t voted in any recent bond issues, yet, flu. Most of that bond indebtedness in certain tracts’ tax bills is due to school construction bonds. Just wait until your gargantuan rental/condo complex is built and all those tenants move in and want *new* schools because their kids are sitting on the floor in your existing schools! Tenants will vote in bond issues because they don’t get tax bills and don’t really know or care how much it is.
I agree that MR is likely tax deductible and that is good for “middle-class” and upper MC homeowners. HOWEVER, for “moderate income families” (the OP’s? … again, just guessing) whose annual household income =<$100K, how much writeoff do they really need when they have three kids to use for the standard deduction, totaling five exemptions plus the child tax credit?
$8K? year mortgage interest
$3800? year property taxes
$2700? MR payments
Does the OP in this example have even more deductions than this and can they really use them all?
My mtg interest is currently <$5K per year and my property taxes are ~$4K. I have always had a low/moderate income for 1-3 people and have never taken more than 2 exemptions in any one year (and some years just myself) and I have never been able to use all my deductions, with or without my deductible medical insurance premiums in the mix.
What’s the point of having another tax deduction if you don’t need it?
