Okay, I see sdr answered my question. In ’09 and ’10, my taxes were voluntarily lowered by the assessor beyond what I would have appealed them down to (for the time being). I had appealed in ’07 and ’08 and got the assessment adjusted downwards. I’m now happy with the current assessment (product of 4 consecutive downward adjustments).
The subject of this thread could have done the same thing (if the NV County Assessors are voluntarily adjusting property assessments). I don’t know the laws there.
My insurance is $985 annually for a $366K “replacement value” policy. I believe this is more than adequate to rebuild in the event of a total loss, such as fire.
I don’t think I would have made any money had I added my downpayment $ to my retirement accounts. After all the “gyrations” in recent years, they were underperforming when I went all cash in August of this year. As a matter of fact, a few of them were within “hundreds” of when I bought them in the nineties. I know others who have experienced the same. I don’t have the stomach for it, nor do I have the expertise to “pick” correctly and timely.
I would rather have a postive cash-flow rental in a ‘hood I was familar with than sink “retirement” $$ in the “stock market abyss.”
The “strategic improvements” I made were to replace broken appls and install new flooring, landscaping and sprinkler system (which I bartered for labor). The cash layout was minimal (a few thousand for mat’ls).
