[rightwingintelligentsia]

After renting for 11 years, I got the “itch” to buy a home a month or so ago, and started looking, since the price of homes had dropped. I found that not only are property taxes higher, closing costs have increased proportionally since when you close on a property you have to put 12-months of taxes in escrow.

I’ve decided to remain a renter.

An extreme example in my neighborhood is a home that started out at $150K last year, and has dropped in price several times to $97K. Sounds like a bargain, except the property taxes on it are still $5200! That’s almost as much as I pay in rent a year.

[gura]

Read “The Ascent of Money” by Niall Ferguson.

[joe fonebone]

"Sounds like a bargain, except the property taxes on it are still $5200! That’s almost as much as I pay in rent a year."
and this has always been my bitch about property taxes. and the real killer about this, is that in most area's, renters outnumber property owners. So, when a property tax increase comes up on the ballot, guess what happens?? the non property owners, who have no skin in the game, approve the increase....only property owners should be allowed to vote on property tax issues...