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I moved to Raleigh, NC, about twenty years ago only because employment options were better here. No other reason.
Here in Raleigh, we have excellent schools, great museums, libraries, street cleaners, leaf pickup, incredibly responsive police officers, EMS, and firefighters, garbage pickup (we do have to pay a big whoppin' $30 for a very large pickup, of say, a couch and a bunch of other stuff), a beautiful modern downtown, a beautiful new aquatic center that is "green" and LEED certified (there are several public pools, but that one is the newest), and we're near lakes, have plenty of parks, are two hours from the ocean and four hours from the mountains.
(Oh, with the education my son received here, from kindergarten to high school, he earned a full pre-med scholarship to the University of Rochester -- yes, in Rochester, New York. He decided he didn't want to become a doctor, and he missed Raleigh. He is now a high school math teacher after receiving a graduate degree in math from NC State in Raleigh.)
I pay the exact same amount of taxes now on my Raleigh house that I did on my Rochester house -- but my Raleigh house is now more than double the value of my Rochester house which has hardly gone up at all in value.
My Raleigh taxes have gone up only $100 (total) in nearly twenty years. I don't know the current taxes of my Rochester house because Rochester doesn't make it easy to find out, but I believe they are three or four times what they were twenty years ago. Rochester makes it difficult to get tax information for specific homes. Raleigh makes it quite easy.
I see the value of many newer Rochester homes are now quite close to Raleigh values. Older city homes, of course, are a steal in Rochester, but you're dealing with a higher crime rate in many neighborhoods.
We also get four actual seasons, but sometimes in winter, we don't have snow. We have cool winters, fresh lovely springs (starting on the first day of spring, March 21), warm summers, and comfortable falls with colorful leaves.
So, again, why are Rochester taxes so high?
Do these taxes include things like the tax on vehicles or other taxes? At the end of the day, the overall cost of living for both areas is about the same, give or take. So, what is the catch down there?
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 01-08-2013 at 08:50 AM..
I'm originally from upstate NY and I'm looking at the possibility of moving to the Rochester area. I currently own a home in a suburb of Raleigh NC with a value of approximately $425-450K and my annual real estate taxes are about $3,800. I've started looking at a few homes in the Pittsford/Penfield areas and I'm a little shocked at how high the taxes are. I knew they'd be higher, but I didn't realize they'd be quite so high. One of the houses I've been looking at is priced around $450K and the annual taxes are close to $17K! While it's true that in NC you have to pay taxes on your vehicles (I pay about $500/year for 2 vehicles valued at around $50K) and food (3%), but I can assure you that it's no where near $13K per year.
I'm still excited about the prospects of moving back and the area overall is very appealing... I guess I'm just a little shell-shocked about the RE taxes.
Any recommendations on suburbs with really good schools in the South or East suburbs of Rochester?
I'm originally from upstate NY and I'm looking at the possibility of moving to the Rochester area. I currently own a home in a suburb of Raleigh NC with a value of approximately $425-450K and my annual real estate taxes are about $3,800. I've started looking at a few homes in the Pittsford/Penfield areas and I'm a little shocked at how high the taxes are. I knew they'd be higher, but I didn't realize they'd be quite so high. One of the houses I've been looking at is priced around $450K and the annual taxes are close to $17K! While it's true that in NC you have to pay taxes on your vehicles (I pay about $500/year for 2 vehicles valued at around $50K) and food (3%), but I can assure you that it's no where near $13K per year.
I'm still excited about the prospects of moving back and the area overall is very appealing... I guess I'm just a little shell-shocked about the RE taxes.
Any recommendations on suburbs with really good schools in the South or East suburbs of Rochester?
Keep in mind that in the Rochester area, you may not have to pay that much for a similarly sized home. Take a look at the average home prices of communities in both areas. Taxes listed aren't necessarily the taxes you would have to pay, as that last person may not have challenged the assessment or you may qualify for certain tax exemptions. I actually compared certain communities in both areas on a COL calculator and Wake Forest had a higher overall COL than Henrietta and places like Cary and Chapel Hill had a higher overall COL than the village of Pittsford. I believe this is on an on average basis though.
Thanks for the info/links. There are some impressive schools in the Rochester area!
You make a good point about housing prices. Overall, I think they're less expensive in Rochester, but the houses in the $400-450K range are fairly comparable. The one thing that's different between the houses is that pretty much all the homes in Rochester have a basement and less than 5% of the houses in the Raleigh area have basements.
Do these taxes include things like the tax on vehicles or other taxes? At the end of the day, the overall cost of living for both areas is about the same, give or take. So, what is the catch down there?
Vehicle (personal property) taxes aren't included in real estate taxes. They are extra. That wasn't something I thought about when I moved to SC. Yes, the registration and gas were cheaper, but once you added in my yearly fee, it was far from cheaper. And I only paid county personal property taxes. If I lived in the city next to me, my personal property taxes would have been more than double! And personal property taxes are on everything including cars, pickups, boats, atv's, golf carts, jet skis, etc. So if you like your toys, the bills add up quickly.
Monroe County makes it EXTREMELY easy to view taxes and other information! Just go here and you can look at any piece of resi or commercial property you wish
Sorry, but a few weeks of snow removal per year still doesn't quite justify our higher taxes. Maybe that's something that they should account for before the fact, instead of just piling on? But that would be fiscally responsible, which we know is not quite a politicians forte
As far as what you previously said earlier that I responded to, this is what I was talking about:
None of that justifies the NYS government imposing higher taxes than other areas of the country. Those are perks of this region that can increase the quality of life for those who take advantage of them, and nothing more. Those are reasons to live here, not a reason to pay more for living here.
If you're going to quote someone, get it RIGHT! I didn't post everything you quoted!
And a few weeks of snow removal? It's far from a few weeks! You have to pay for the trucks and their maintenance which is far from cheap. The trucks have to be set up weeks before winter gets here. It's not something done overnight. The employees aren't paid $8 an hour. Their benefits aren't free either. Many are paid overtime because it always seems to snow at night or on a weekend or a holiday which is like double time or more. Salt isn't free either. Neither is the storage of it. Putting it down requires employees and specialized trucks.
If you don't like it here, the borders are open! Feel free to leave! No one is forcing you to stay. I wasn't happy in the Albany area and left. HATED living in SC. Moved back to NY to the FLX and I'm happier than I've been in over a decade. I know what I gave up moving away and I missed so much of it. It was worth it to me to pay more in taxes. My water bill here is less than half of what it was living in SC so not everything is cheaper! Oh and the water tastes like crap there.
You could always run for the legislature if you're so unhappy with how things are being run.
I'm guessing that teacher and school administrator salaries (and pensions) are responsible for a significant share of the tax differential between Raleigh and Rochester. If anyone has the data to confirm my suspicion, please share.
That is definitely a huge factor...though I think teachers get too much of the blame for this. NY teachers are paid pretty fairly, in NC they are paid very low, 2nd lowest in the country I believe. It's the administrator salaries that really make up the brunt of the high school taxes in most Monroe county suburbs.
Fuel costs more here than most other states so the schools/bus companies have that issue as well. Then there's the astronomical heating bills. I'm not sure it evens out with the a/c usage in the South. I know my winter bills are higher in NY than they were in the summer in SC. Little different heating from 11 degrees to 68 vs cooling from 95 to 78 which is what my a/c was set to.
That is definitely a huge factor...though I think teachers get too much of the blame for this. NY teachers are paid pretty fairly, in NC they are paid very low, 2nd lowest in the country I believe. It's the administrator salaries that really make up the brunt of the high school taxes in most Monroe county suburbs.
Does the required educational attainment to be a teacher in NY have something to do with this too? Meaning, are teachers in NC required to have a Master's to teach? I think people forget about this, as you aren't required to have a Master's to teach in many others states. In turn, the pay for teachers may be lower in those states due to a lower educational attainment requirement. You would think it makes sense for someone with a Master's degree would get paid more than someone with a Bachelor's degree in the same field, right? Then, who is going to pay for that? So, that is something that people have to factor in the equation when making such comparisons.
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