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Property/DIY

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Original poster

US house prices

47 replies

goodoldgirl · 10/05/2013 11:08

Reading about the dreadful kidnapping of those three women in Ohio, and noticed that most of the characters the press are writing about seem to own their own houses. And one said that someone had bought their house for $3,000. So I googled house prices in Cleveland, and it's unbelievable - from $1,500 upwards. Yes, one thousand five hundred dollars. And these are big houses. So then I had a look around on google streetview, and they just have so much space compared to us. Incredible.

Am I missing something? Are they all on really short leaseholds or something?

OP posts:

SconeRhymesWithGone · 10/05/2013 20:51

flow4
Ground leases (what would be termed leaseholds) are very uncommon in the US for residential property. Ownership is usually in what is called fee simple absolute, which is a freehold estate.

Also, the figures you are quoting on the history is for the assessed value of the house; that is not the figure for taxes. The assessed value is what the tax assessor thinks the house is worth. The taxes are then essentially a percentage of the assessed value. The taxes were $996 in 2011 for that house.

lljkk · 10/05/2013 20:52

I think in my hometown that property taxes are 1% of sale price*, can see why that isn't viable if the house only sells for $1500, though.

But it means the average would be $3800/yr, like £2200, almost £200/month. One good thing is that it is levied on the property owner, so harder to evade, & gets lobbed in with your rent, none of this council tax form business to fill in for each resident.

*Special discounts for elderly & disabled.

expatinscotland · 10/05/2013 20:56

What Natasha said, it's property tax, and yes, the owner must pay it whether the home is occupied or not. Don't pay it and you get in very serious trouble very fast.

Condos/townhomes have what are called housing association or maintenance fees but are known as factor fees in Scotland. Some of these can be very steep depending on location.

MadeOfStarDust · 10/05/2013 21:05

My friend lives near Jacksonville in Florida and owns a lovely house with a reasonably large yard, in a cul-de-sac $180,000 - it is lovely, the neighbourhood is lovely -it has 5 bedrooms 3 big family rooms , an indoor and outdoor kitchen..... I'm very envious.....

SconeRhymesWithGone · 10/05/2013 21:05

Yes, real estate taxes vary greatly from state to state and even within states. In Florida, we have fairly low real estate taxes and no state income tax. Some of this has to do with the fact that in Florida we rely heavily on sales tax on all sorts of transactions. And because much of our economy is based on tourism, sales taxes are a pretty lucrative source of revenue.

So we try to be very kind to our visitors.

Purplehonesty · 10/05/2013 21:06

www.wkyc.com/news/specials/crime/default.aspx
I think this is why you don't want to move to Cleveland....crime results for the past few days eek!

expatinscotland · 10/05/2013 21:10

'In Florida, we have fairly low real estate taxes and no state income tax. Some of this has to do with the fact that in Florida we rely heavily on sales tax on all sorts of transactions. '

In Texas as well.

Property tax can even vary not insignificantly even within a metropolitan area.

Original poster

goodoldgirl · 11/05/2013 18:38

Thank you everyone - all very interesting indeed. I had no idea that things worked so differently out there. Why would you choose to live on a trailer park then, when you could live in one of those houses? Or are trailer parks less crime-ridden? Because they certainly can't be cheaper - or can they?

OP posts:

expatinscotland · 11/05/2013 18:44

Because they can't afford to buy a house.

Sunnyshores · 11/05/2013 19:01

We looked at moving to US a few years ago - could get a really nice house for half of UK. However when we added on the equivalent of council tax, higher water bills, increased electric due to needing AC and heating a larger area, increased TV/Sky type costs, the cost of joining gyms or tennis clubs (or whatever you fancy), plus some areas had condiminium or gated community charges - then it was much the same cost as living in UK. The better weather may have swung it for me, but for DH the working week is very long and Annual Leave very short!

AliceWChild · 11/05/2013 19:50

Goodoldgirl because some people in the USA are really really poor. They don't have the social welfare system we do.

flow4 · 12/05/2013 08:25

And because they don't have to pay $16,000/year taxes in a trailer.

LynetteScavo · 12/05/2013 08:31

A house is only worth as much as someone is willing to pay for it.....so even though the house is large, and would once have been lovely, if it's in a run down area no one wants to live in, it's not going to be worth very much.

LynetteScavo · 12/05/2013 08:51

I could swap my UK home for this with a bit left over for air fair and a tin of paint. I don't want to though!!!

Original poster

goodoldgirl · 12/05/2013 11:01

Yes, but flow4, if you read what scone has written above, she/he says that the taxes weren't $16,000 for 2011, they were $996. Which is $83 a month. But I appreciate that $83 a month can actually be quite hard to find, so I'm guessing trailer parks have really, really low taxes.

OP posts:

Talkinpeace · 12/05/2013 17:30

When I considered moving to the US, my quote for medical insurance to get equivalent to the NHS was £1250 per month for DH and I and the kids

I'll stay here with the NHS thankyou

MinimalistMommi · 12/05/2013 17:56

That's shocking Talk

Talkinpeace · 12/05/2013 18:17

lower headline tax rates always balance out somewhere along the line ...
the US has no maternity pay, minimal holiday pay, little or no unemployment benefit, dire state funded healthcare and bucket loads of guns
and US property taxes are something that the British find a horrible shock

SconeRhymesWithGone · 12/05/2013 18:18

Many trailer parks are full of rental units, and usually much cheaper than apartments. In others, you may own the trailer (or mobile home, as they are also called) but you might rent the lot it sits on. In these cases, you are not paying taxes directly, but of course your landlord will set rent to cover his taxes. Trailer parks are generally a much cheaper way to live.

There are also some more upscale mobile home parks for retirees, with pools, clubhouses, etc. In Florida, some of these are mainly seasonal residences for "snowbirds," people who live up north and come to Florida for the winter.

expatinscotland · 12/05/2013 18:20

I knew some people who bought trailers/caravans outside places that were traditionally quite expensive to buy in (Boulder, Colorado, for example) in relation to wages.

SquinkiesRule · 12/05/2013 23:17

We are lucky to have good insurance through Dh's work, but if we had to buy it for the family ourselves it would be a lot more than our mortgage payment and would cover only medical, no eye checks or dental. Right now we can have our eyes checked annually (for a small fee) and then buy the glasses and have our teeth checked twice a year with a cleaning for another small fee (you pay even more if you need a filling or anything). Without the insurance both those would be many hundreds per year without the new glasses or any dental work needed.

TerrysNo2 · 12/05/2013 23:46

A friend of mine has just signed a rental contract in Brooklyn, a very small 2 bed flat for $5700 a month

it is a big country!

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