HoustonMark, TX prop taxes are among the highest in the nation. There may be even worse prop tax regimes, but TX is definitely high. I was going to buy a pad in Corpus until I found out about the 3.1% tax. That's absurd! Jay
Come on, we are all traders here. We can look deeper into the numbers. Think about this for a second. Would you rather pay 1.5% on a home in CA that is assessed at a million dollars, or buy that same home in Houston for 200k and pay 3%. I mean think about it. In CA you are paying 15k in taxes for that home and in TX your total tax bill is 6k. Do the math. This is what doesn't make sense. You can't look at the actual percentage. Sure, 1% to 2% sounds cheap until you figure it cost 700k to buy a freaking shack in the ghetto of riverside. Shit if the taxes weren't 2.5% to 3% in TX, the avg property tax bill would be under 1k!!!!!!!!!!! Think about it.
Let's also add some further metrics to the equation. Do you guys want to compare what a gallon of gas cost in Houston compared to the east and west coast? How about a pack of cigs in Chicago to Houston. How about sales taxes? How about what it costs to go to a sporting event or movie?
That picture you posted shows 7 figure houses. From experience the traffic sucks. I 45 is under construction right now so commuting to houston sucks. Lake conroe is also a decent place to live. http://www.lakeconroe.com/property.cfm I have a brother in law that lives there. I am looking to build out there on the lake in the future.
Traffic is a bitch everywhere. Have you seen the traffic on the Kennedy Expressway in Chicago? How about Federal Highway in FL? Southern Cal? Traffic can't be your independent variable here. It has to be something unique. For example, FL has alligators. That's unique to the sunshine state. And let's leave the commute out of this. Most of the members on ET don't commute anyway.
Conroes less crowded than the woodlands, but the commute to Houston is even further. My family has a lake house in the lake livingston area, nice area to build on if you are not looking for metro congestion and drunk conroe boaters. Also don't just look up north woodlands ect. There is development going on to the south of houston out in Pearland. Straight shot to the medical center and down town. Also to the west you have the Katy area, with Cinco Ranch and a few other subdivisions. These take advatage of the westpark tollway to reach Houston in decent time. Then if you want to get a little pricier you can look into living out in the SW Sugarland area. Sweetwater, and Greatwood all have potentially good properties, as they are expanding the freeway and developing from the subdivisions torwards the towncenter which is Sugarlands new downtown. -I've been sent to spread the message.. God blessed Texas-
My problem with the 3.1% tax in Corpus wasn't the total tax paid (as opposed to Cal in the example below), its that it made buying vs renting a non brainer, especially considering the RE mkt there wasn't appreciating at all. For the tax paid + insurance (also sky high), I could rent a really nice apt. That's not even considering the mortgage payments. I agree that if you are simply comparing TX real estate to Cal, then the taxes aren't an issue. Jay