[quote=joec]I think Los Altos is a much nicer area than Mountain View as well as a lot of places west of the that freeway that goes N/S west of the 101. Forget which, maybe 280.[/quote]Yes, Los Altos is much nicer than MV. Same goes for Cupertino, Los Gatos, PA, Saratoga, etc. IMHO, the only reason MV is expensive is its proximity to high paying tech workers.
Low property taxes. Relatively low housing cost if you’re willing to settle. Income and sales taxes are high, but they’re similar in most parts of the US that don’t blow chunks.
[quote=spdrun]Low property taxes.[/quote]Exactly. If you play the long game, prop 13 is a miracle. When I retire, my COL will be well less than $1k/month, assuming no inflation. If we see an average of 3% inflation, then it would be <$350/month in today's dollar. If we see a repeat of the 70s/80s inflation, then I'll be golden.
Even if taxes were merely capped at ~1.2% of value with no cap on increases, it would still be a good deal. There are towns in NJ where people pay $10,000 per year tax on a $100,000 house.
All depends in the individual town and state. Some towns in NJ have tax rates similar to California. Massachusetts has a similar law to Prop 13, though the cap is 2.5%, not 1%…
Anyone who moves to Florida is a blithering idiot, BTW. The state is a hot, humid, mostly unwalkable cesspool. It’s known as “G-d’s waiting room” for good reason.
[quote=The-Shoveler]The property tax system in the north east seems designed to push retirees to Florida LOL.[/quote]
I wonder if this is actually a smart idea. Old people tend to not be large spenders and don’t pay as much tax due to not working. The cities and government still has to build infrastructure to support them and their healthcare is clearly more expensive…
They also don’t spend money freely like 18-35 year olds and the reason why marketers always like to get those eyeballs and those are “worth more”…
Tax them highly to push them out somewhere else so you don’t have to worry about them. Sounds like a good plan.
