In French Valley we paid $5k in property taxes (1.8%).
If we had bought our house at the price we ended up selling it, (2005 prices), our property taxes would have been $8k.
(We were moving somewhere one way or another for employment so would have had to pay the new property tax price)
When we left California, we were paying about 2K in state income taxes.
We thought about the Bay Area. Comparable home to what we have here? $1.25 million plus. Even a $750k condo x 1.25% = more than $9k.
So Southern California taxes were/would have been $7k – $10k.
Northern California in a condo listening to our neighbors fight $11k.
In Austin, it’s been $7.5k – $8K.
Plus the salaries are going up from where they were then – and faster than inflation, so we would have had more income tax by now out there. Plus our house is still gaining in value – for now. If we’d have stayed in Temecula, we’d be stuck or sad, one or the other.
Austin, not so bad. Dallas in a cheaper house = $4k taxes per year. Even better.
