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Taxes for that home in TX would be equivalent to a $1.8M+ home in CA, though (and raise every year with the market), so it's not as simple as comparison. The mo

Taxes for that home in TX would be equivalent to a $1.8M+ home in CA, though (and raise every year with the market), so it's not as simple as comparison. The monthly mortgage payment for a $900k in Austin is probably comparable to a $1.2-1.3M home in CA.

AlbertCory 5y ago
Indeed, I've also checked it out. No income tax, but property taxes are at least 2% of the assessed value, and sometimes 3. You'll see that on the Zillow listing.
- hnburnsy 5y ago
  It is nice though that you can control your taxes via choice on a property tax, not much with an income tax. But ultimately it seems like they get you one way or another, through sales, Income, and or property tax.
deleted 5y ago
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kelnos 5y ago
> The monthly mortgage payment for a $900k in Austin is probably comparable to a $1.2-1.3M home in CA. Are you talking about paying property taxes via an escrow account that your mortgage lender takes care of for you? That's not your "mortgage payment", which is a function of your loan size, interest rate, and term, and nothing more. The monthly mortgage payment (assuming same term and interest rate) is the same in CA and TX for the same amount of loan. (I guess we could also talk about things like PMI, but that won't raise your payment by all that much.) Property taxes might be quite a bit higher in TX, but I'm not convinced a $900k home in TX is the equivalent to a $1.2-1.3M home in CA. I would expect that's closer to $1.7-2M, and then the property tax amounts end up being not that different.
- pandaman 5y ago
  Not to mention that the property taxes in TX are not charged on the price but on the assessed value. It's same in CA, I imagine, but the assessed value in CA is >= price, while in TX the price is not disclosed to the government and the assessment lags the market price by quite a lot.
  - thebradbain 5y ago
    Not necessarily true based on the locality. In Dallas, for example, assessed value will (usually, unless you buy in all-cash off-public-market) be set to your market price when you buy it. From there tax basis more or less tracks market value, but it’s possible to protest the assessor to keep it below market value (though it’s time intensive and requires in-person hearings). To get ahead of any artificial attempts at deflating tax basis, Dallas also maintains a comprehensive public lot value database that assigns a land value for tax purposes based on census tract (initially likely a product of redlining, but now based on average census tract market value) — so, similar to a pure land value tax, even if you’re sitting on an unimproved piece of land, you’ll still be taxed similar to the average home in the neighborhood, which has the effect of setting a tax floor. Austin is similar, I believe. Most cities have to, as aside from sales tax property tax is their only source of revenue, because any sort of income tax is constitutionally banned.
    - pandaman 5y ago
      Non-disclousre is the state law in Texas, so unless you report it yourself, how does the county know what did you pay in Dallas? I've looked on Zillow and some houses in Dallas do seem to show price per sq. foot on sales (no total price though) and some don't. Same with Austin, I figure if the price was the public record it would have been shown as same as it shows on houses in CA - the price of the house on every time it's sold so I doubt what you say is true. Perhaps you meant it might be set to the listing price?

AlbertCory 5y ago

Indeed, I've also checked it out. No income tax, but property taxes are at least 2% of the assessed value, and sometimes 3. You'll see that on the Zillow listing.

hnburnsy 5y ago
It is nice though that you can control your taxes via choice on a property tax, not much with an income tax. But ultimately it seems like they get you one way or another, through sales, Income, and or property tax.

deleted 5y ago

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kelnos 5y ago

> The monthly mortgage payment for a $900k in Austin is probably comparable to a $1.2-1.3M home in CA. Are you talking about paying property taxes via an escrow account that your mortgage lender takes care of for you? That's not your "mortgage payment", which is a function of your loan size, interest rate, and term, and nothing more. The monthly mortgage payment (assuming same term and interest rate) is the same in CA and TX for the same amount of loan. (I guess we could also talk about things like PMI, but that won't raise your payment by all that much.) Property taxes might be quite a bit higher in TX, but I'm not convinced a $900k home in TX is the equivalent to a $1.2-1.3M home in CA. I would expect that's closer to $1.7-2M, and then the property tax amounts end up being not that different.

pandaman 5y ago
Not to mention that the property taxes in TX are not charged on the price but on the assessed value. It's same in CA, I imagine, but the assessed value in CA is >= price, while in TX the price is not disclosed to the government and the assessment lags the market price by quite a lot.
- thebradbain 5y ago
  Not necessarily true based on the locality. In Dallas, for example, assessed value will (usually, unless you buy in all-cash off-public-market) be set to your market price when you buy it. From there tax basis more or less tracks market value, but it’s possible to protest the assessor to keep it below market value (though it’s time intensive and requires in-person hearings). To get ahead of any artificial attempts at deflating tax basis, Dallas also maintains a comprehensive public lot value database that assigns a land value for tax purposes based on census tract (initially likely a product of redlining, but now based on average census tract market value) — so, similar to a pure land value tax, even if you’re sitting on an unimproved piece of land, you’ll still be taxed similar to the average home in the neighborhood, which has the effect of setting a tax floor. Austin is similar, I believe. Most cities have to, as aside from sales tax property tax is their only source of revenue, because any sort of income tax is constitutionally banned.
  - pandaman 5y ago
    Non-disclousre is the state law in Texas, so unless you report it yourself, how does the county know what did you pay in Dallas? I've looked on Zillow and some houses in Dallas do seem to show price per sq. foot on sales (no total price though) and some don't. Same with Austin, I figure if the price was the public record it would have been shown as same as it shows on houses in CA - the price of the house on every time it's sold so I doubt what you say is true. Perhaps you meant it might be set to the listing price?