Home buying thread

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scientia potentia est
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joeboo_sl said:
That's pretty crazy, My house that I posted the taxes for above sounds pretty similar to your rental. Similar square footage, similar value (we're probably $140-$150k if we sold). I'm actually in one of the most expensive tax areas in the KC Metro area because our school district is one of the best in the state, and my property taxes are what, like ~$1700 per year? If I had the same house 5 miles away in a different suburb my property taxes might be $1200 or so. $4000 is ridiculous. Where does that money go? You better have an insane public school district.
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Don't get me started on TX public schools.

In an attempt to totally fuck the state up, the courts have imposed two things on us.

First, the school finance plan basically says that all "rich" school districts send money in excess of $X/pupil to austin, where it is redistributed to "poor" school districts. So that property tax you pay for in your school district? Goes to pay for mexicans in the Rio Grande Valley where they pay like $200/year on their fucking tin hovel. But those ISD's need Employee Fitness Centers and Schools for the Arts:PEYTON WOLCOTT - Is Robin Hood working? A closer look at Texas' MALDEF schools

It's a fucking disgrace. In retaliation my district has lowered property taxes to the state minimum and we collect cash donations to a charity that directly hires more teachers:Mad for Plaid | Highland Park Education Foundation

Secondly, they have totally fucked up UT Austin. It used to be you got auto-admission based on SAT scores. Now you only get auto-admission based on class rank, I believe it is the top 8% now. Well, you can be the top 8% at a rural school out near big bend or you can be top 9% at the best high school in the state, and guess who gets in? UT Austin's rank has been slipping we used to be in the low 40's nationally in the late 90's, now we're in the low 50's and it has been in the mid 50's here and there. SMU has been creeping downwards due to more people opting to go there when they don't get into UT, and has crept all the way down to #61. In 10 years if they don't fix UT SMU will probably pass it. Thats fucking ridiculous.
 
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Tenks

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I decided to actually look at the prices of homes that are actually selling in my city and now I'm concerned I may get a bad deal. All the homes I'm looking at are for sale for ~500k but comps which are actually selling are recently sold for around 380-420k range [similar sq ft, similar lot size mostly.] Possibly people with these desirable properties are just throwing out a stupid number hoping someone bites.
 
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Tenks_sl said:
I decided to actually look at the prices of homes that are actually selling in my city and now I'm concerned I may get a bad deal. All the homes I'm looking at are for sale for ~500k but comps which are actually selling are recently sold for around 380-420k range [similar sq ft, similar lot size mostly.] Possibly people with these desirable properties are just throwing out a stupid number hoping someone bites.
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Local markets are local, only way to know whats going on is to watch the MLS, watch which listings go quickly and try to find out the true sales price afterwards and try to learn the market. It takes time if you want to do it right which it sounds like you are.
 
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Tenks

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Luckily I have about 9mo-1yr before I consider myself a "serious" buyer. So I'm trying my best to figure out whats going for what. But I had suspicions that some of these homes I was interested in were around 75k overpriced -- which seems astronomically overpriced -- and it seems to be about right. Though luckily my home has gone up about 30k from comps. I actually wasn't expecting to make any money off the home since there are so many in the neighborhood. But I bought it for ~180k and comps are going for around 205-210k. Which I don't think is too bad all things considered.
 
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Kedwyn

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You have to be cautious on what you consider comps. Real estate is a fickle bitch and one or two streets can be a major difference in price regardless if the properties are the same square footage or basically similar in construction on the outside.
 
meStevo

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And even then, appraiser might be having a bad day or have a different set of voodoo rules to go by to determine value too.
 
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Tenks

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Kedwyn_sl said:
You have to be cautious on what you consider comps. Real estate is a fickle bitch and one or two streets can be a major difference in price regardless if the properties are the same square footage or basically similar in construction on the outside.
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I'm pretty familiar with the area(s) I'm looking at and take that into consideration as well. Like for one I knowwhythey're so overpriced (pretty big development going on 0.25 miles away with shops/dining/pedestrian bridge/etc planned for the next few years) but even then homes which are also in walking distance are selling considerably less. And this particular place has been on the market like 5 months now. It would be a nice location because I could just walk to my office via a park right behind the house.
 
TJT

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After being nomadic and loving it the past 11 years. I'm going to start looking for house to buy later this year. Something 3/2 with a yard of some kind so I can do all of the cool home projects that now appear to me.

It will have to wait until I get my side job off the ground and complete all of my certifications in the next few months for it. But I figure around the summer I can start looking hard. Probably looking out at Manor/Pflugerville/Round Rock area as I don't feel like paying out the ass for stupid prices in Austin. North Austin properties where I live have increased like 30% in the few years I've lived here. Bonkers shit.
 
AladainAF

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joeboo_sl said:
That's pretty crazy, My house that I posted the taxes for above sounds pretty similar to your rental. Similar square footage, similar value (we're probably $140-$150k if we sold). I'm actually in one of the most expensive tax areas in the KC Metro area because our school district is one of the best in the state, and my property taxes are what, like ~$1700 per year? If I had the same house 5 miles away in a different suburb my property taxes might be $1200 or so. $4000 is ridiculous. Where does that money go? You better have an insane public school district.
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The big image I posted is the one in question. Valued at 141,764 (2015 btw), at a rate of 2.682029 so that works out to ~$3,802 for the year. I'm expecting it to hit $4,000 this year as I expect them to value it in the 150k range. My main residence has a very low tax rate (2.07%). The highest rates in the Austin area are around 3.4%, meaning a simple basic $125,000 home would be taxed $4,250 a year (barring exemptions), or $354 a month.

You can see where the money is going by the breakdown there, but it's bullshit still.

City Tax (Pflugerville) - 0.5405: $766.23
ESD (Emergency Services District) - 0.1: $141.76
Williamson County - 0.441529: $625.93
Williamson County RM/FM (Road maintenance for Farm/Ranch roads): 0.04: $56.71
Pflugerville ISD (Schools) - 1.54: $2,183.17
Upper Brushy Creek WCID (Water District) - 0.02: $28.35

The Texas School system is a wet dream for leftist communists. The rich districts all subsidize the poor districts and its a massive fucking disaster clusterfuck that does nothing but make people pay taxes for poor schools to buy sports stadiums and other similar waste.
 
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God damnit Aladain. This is not making me want to buy in the Austin area now. But at the same time I absolutely hate how much the Edward Jones investment account I had since I was 18, haven't put a dime in since 2009, but fucking KILLS me in taxes every year.
 
Joeboo

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Hell, here in Missouri we pretty much just let the poor/inner city school systems rot. Anyone that lives within Kansas City proper sends their kids to private school(unless they are a poor)

Some of the richest areas of the KC metro are within blocks of inner-city blight, and none of those kids go to public school. It's like a double economic barrier for moving into those limited areas, the housing costs are ridiculous, and you also have to budget for sending all of your kids to private school. Public is just not an option at all. The KCMO public school district hasn't been accredited in decades, and they can't seem to keep a Superintendent for more than a year or two before they GTFO of there.

I guess that's the other option to the way Texas does things, lol.
 
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joeboo_sl said:
Hell, here in Missouri we pretty much just let the poor/inner city school systems rot. Anyone that lives within Kansas City proper sends their kids to private school(unless they are a poor)

Some of the richest areas of the KC metro are within blocks of inner-city blight, and none of those kids go to public school. It's like a double economic barrier for moving into those limited areas, the housing costs are ridiculous, and you also have to budget for sending all of your kids to private school. Public is just not an option at all. The KCMO public school district hasn't been accredited in decades, and they can't seem to keep a Superintendent for more than a year or two before they GTFO of there.

I guess that's the other option to the way Texas does things, lol.
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This is no different than any big city, Dallas is the same. Dallas is 55% white, DISD is 2% white.
 
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So we put our $1k deposit in last week and have our design meeting scheduled for Monday.

They are charging me $15k for a 3rd car garage and $650 to close off one end of the game room into a 4 ft "server" closet. I haven't found out how much it will be to put that room on its own breaker. I also don't know how much CAT5/6 throughout the house will be.

It is fascinating that I put $1k down and they are going to build a custom $300k+ house and then hope I follow through and nothing happens between now and then.
 
Eomer

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a_skeleton_03_sl said:
So we put our $1k deposit in last week and have our design meeting scheduled for Monday.

They are charging me $15k for a 3rd car garage and $650 to close off one end of the game room into a 4 ft "server" closet. I haven't found out how much it will be to put that room on its own breaker. I also don't know how much CAT5/6 throughout the house will be.

It is fascinating that I put $1k down and they are going to build a custom $300k+ house and then hope I follow through and nothing happens between now and then.
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Would you not have to make progress payments as the house is built?
 
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a_skeleton_03

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Eomer_sl said:
Would you not have to make progress payments as the house is built?
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Nope, no payments until final inspection and closing is all done.

We can't even lock an interest rate in until a certain amount of days prior that I forget off the top of my head.

Cad_sl said:
Usually not, they'd just sell it as a spec house if you don't buy it.
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Yeah just fascinating that if we make some terrible design decisions they have to hope it sells.
 
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a_skeleton_03_sl said:
Nope, no payments until final inspection and closing is all done.

We can't even lock an interest rate in until a certain amount of days prior that I forget off the top of my head.



Yeah just fascinating that if we make some terrible design decisions they have to hope it sells.
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Development builders like that typically won't do anything too off the wall.
 
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koljec_sl

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AladainAF_sl said:
The big image I posted is the one in question. Valued at 141,764 (2015 btw), at a rate of 2.682029 so that works out to ~$3,802 for the year. I'm expecting it to hit $4,000 this year as I expect them to value it in the 150k range. My main residence has a very low tax rate (2.07%). The highest rates in the Austin area are around 3.4%, meaning a simple basic $125,000 home would be taxed $4,250 a year (barring exemptions), or $354 a month.

You can see where the money is going by the breakdown there, but it's bullshit still...
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The consolation in Texas is supposed to be the lack of a state income tax, but I think that's probably more a contributing factor for your property taxes than a mitigating one.

So this rental that costs $354 a month in taxes alone, what do the tenants pay for it, and at what point is there not enough margin for you to justify being a landlord?
 
Jysin

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koljec_sl said:
The consolation in Texas is supposed to be the lack of a state income tax, but I think that's probably more a contributing factor for your property taxes than a mitigating one.

So this rental that costs $354 a month in taxes alone, what do the tenants pay for it, and at what point is there not enough margin for you to justify being a landlord?
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Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't property taxes pretty much go to the county?

State taxes are collected from other means (sales tax, etc)
 
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