The Prof and I are looking for a house. We like our current home, but also know
that it is not our forever home.
So, the Prof scours the Internet in search of the “dream house”.
We live in an area that wasn’t crushed by the recent housing
bubble. Property values didn’t
increase or decrease to a considerable degree over the past decade or so. However, the area we live in has several
of the top public school districts in the state. Therefore, the home values can differ greatly depending on
whether or not you are in one of these districts.
The schools make realty in certain districts very
competitive. Luckily, we currently
live in one of those districts and have seen that home value appreciation in
recent years. However, that makes
buying the “dream home” tough.
The biggest hurdle to our home buying process is property
taxes. We’ve found several homes
that were very nice and crossed off a majority of key things the Prof and I
required. However, they also come
with property taxes at over $12k a year.
That’s the steep price of quality public education.
That’s so hard to wrap my head around. For reference, our $170k home has
property taxes of $3,500. We’re
mostly searching for $300k to $400k homes. The mortgage and interest payment associated with homes in
that range would be manageable and wouldn’t hinder our current living situation. ON THE OTHER HAND – those taxes create
some difficulties.
In my experience, that is one thing that real estate agents
do not discuss enough. Several of
their websites only post monthly mortgage and interest estimates. That is deceiving to a potential
homebuyer. Unlike a mortgage, you
cannot pay down the principle of property taxes. They are consistent, every year, and likely to go up every
so often.
Failure to pay your property taxes is a serious issue and
can result in foreclosure.
However, you don’t hear individuals consider the amount of property
taxes when purchasing a home.
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