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The entire state has horrible taxes for upper middle class workers and retirees. Four major issues caused me to look elsewhere, Taxes, Fires, Crime and no place left I could go out and shoot at targets. The Trump tax bill made it even worse. We paid $19k in property and income tax to the state. Only $10k would be a write-off. That does not include sales tax which was likely $3-4K more. I love many places in CA. They are all under the same tax laws and repressive regime. Of course having a better lifestyle, larger home for less than half the cost, was a big factor. Show me a 3300+ Sq ft home on half an acre right on the golf course for $330k in CA anywhere. Electricity at one quarter the cost, cheap water, was just icing on the cake. Not to mention watching the ducks on the golf course on our morning walks.
Taxes are fine if you get what you pay for. I'd argue many Americans don't, and by that I don't mean the coddled top few. One can argue the quality of life in many higher tax places of the world exceeds that of low tax areas here. HDIs support this.
PS: California has more ducks than NV I bet.
As for taxes, my attitude has always been--I'm fine with taxes as long as I feel I'm getting something for them. If I see bike paths, and park benches, and filled-in potholes and cops on patrol and the fire truck or EMTs show up in a jiffy, and services for old folks--you know, the amenities that make life pleasant and safe--then tax me!
"Every American wants paradise but few want to pay for it".
Sure, there are parts of California where I'd rather blow my brains out than live there. Same is true in NV or just about anywhere.
Some people have no choice as to where they live. If you have a choice, you are a fortunate person.
I don't think most people realize that California is actually a perfect microcosm of the American Experiment. Whatever thing, event, politics, scenery, brilliance, atrocity, or type of person you can point to in America, you will find in CA.
What? They don't have fires and crime in NV? Good luck with that!
As for taxes, my attitude has always been--I'm fine with taxes as long as I feel I'm getting something for them. If I see bike paths, and park benches, and filled-in potholes and cops on patrol and the fire truck or EMTs show up in a jiffy, and services for old folks--you know, the amenities that make life pleasant and safe--then tax me!
Kitchen fires maybe, no wild fires. Very low crime in Pahrump. Las Vegas is just far enough away to keep out the riff raff. You must live in a part of CA I have never visited. I NEVER felt I got my moneys worth out of the taxes I paid in CA. How about 3 calls to complain about a party half mile away with music so loud it shook the house. Finally about midnight the lazy [non-permissible content removed] sheriff goes and tells them to turn down the music. Cities with homeless camped everywhere, defecating on the sidewalks spreading Hepatitis. Is there any city in CA that is safe for a woman to walk at night alone? Services for old folks that are not wealthy in CA is a real joke. Have you checked out the nursing home costs in your part of CA. If they are anything like San Diego, you better have a bundle saved. $10,000 a month is not the best care by far. Forget decent care if you are on SS and Medicare only. Many states treat their elderly better than CA. One of many reasons for older people to get out while you still can.
"Every American wants paradise but few want to pay for it".
My Hawaii paradise is now under several feet of Lava. My ocean front dream home under the lava is about a mile from the water. Glad we got to spend a month there last year before it was destroyed. Happy with our choice for retirement paradise.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1260-Eldorado-Way-Pahrump-NV-8-48/65315957_zpid/?fullpage=true&view=public
I think I'd have a big solar installation if I was there, I'd need the AC on a lot
Do you ever watch Live PD? They are in Nye County frequently, although I seriously doubt anywhere near your neighborhood.
Like any place on earth, you'll have advantages over where you came from, and disadvantages from where you came from.
Take Hawaii for instance. Place drives me nuts and it has some serious problems.
We decided to leave Hawaii right where it is. And you are correct it has many of the same problems we faced in San Diego. Hilo was the last enclave of sanity in the Islands. I gave up on Maui, Oahu and Kauai in the 1980s. Did not spend much time in Hawaii again till the late 1990s. Fell in love with the Hilo Puna area of the Big Island. Great farming, small population, low crime, and the best weather you can find anywhere. After we sold our flower farm we did not go back for about 5 years. The changes were more than we could handle. Traffic was bad all day long. Homeless have taken over all the parks in Hilo. Prices have gone way up almost to CA levels. The peace and tranquility of our beloved Kapoho still existed. Though prices were way over the top. Now they are all covered with lava and all the tide pools are gone. No reason to visit Hawaii again.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=1ZWnrwPSqtoOpdjj5QKaBZPQACQOzv5YD&ll=19.496129898086746,-154.83347169881438&z=15
To listen to some of the locals you would think we are competing with Chicago for crime capitol. If a bicycle is stolen they are ready to form a vigilante party to string up the perp. I have watched the local news site and drunk driving is the worst crime reported. Many of the locals are trying to get the Brothels shut down. I am fine with them on the edge of town. Can't legislate morality. Not sure what gated community you live in. Hard to imagine anyplace with less crime than here. I am sure there are meth labs scattered around. Someone has to feed the drug habits of the cities. I think the negative comments are meant to keep people from moving here. I can't blame them, for not wanting to become Californicated.
https://www.bestplaces.net/comments/viewcomment.aspx?id=92476675-8878-45F5-9216-456B8CA77A18&city=Pahrump_&p=53253800
Now for the worst part about living in Pahrump or should I say Nevada period. The Californians! They are the most terrible people I have ever dealt with in my life. They come to my state because they are unhappy in California and then try and change the laws like they had in California. WHAT? Why would you leave a state you are tired of paying high taxes and strict laws to go to another state and make the laws the same as what you left? IDIOTS!
So I guess if you are a degenerate gambler, drug user, drunk or from California - Pahrump is the perfect place to be.
https://www.bestplaces.net/comments/viewcomment.aspx?id=CF5AA934-616C-4FF2-BB8C-7783265D9E69&city=Pahrump_&p=53253800
Back to houses, it is to the point here where I think this listing in my area is a relative bargain - and probably listed low to encourage a bidding war. Cool house and nice location, sadly, there's a good chance it will be knocked down and replaced with an oversized new behemoth.
My dad did enter assisted living in Santa Monica, </$4k/month. He seems content with the people, facilities and care. Nice folks that I"ve met there. But, even as a resident of MA, the taxes/prices give me pause in LA. Even In & Out prices are up from my last visit in December to my visit last month. Oh, the humanity.
'21 Dark Blue/Black Audi A7 PHEV (mine); '22 White/Beige BMW X3 (hers); '20 Estoril Blue/Oyster BMW M240xi 'Vert (Ours, read: hers in 'vert weather; mine during Nor'easters...)
We have some friends in CA that opted for assisted living. It was the upfront cost that turned me off. $100,000, then $3500 a month with only a few meals provided. A retired doctor friend moved into a nice place in LaJolla and pays $10,000 a month with all meals, no nursing care available. He does not have one of the ocean view rooms. Four blocks to the bluff overlooking the ocean. Just does not make sense to me. Most places treat you great until the money runs out.
Maybe that applies to more things in life than just your residence!
Many of the old MSFT millionaires have either already bought or are maybe buying a retirement property elsewhere. Much of the upper end material here isn't selling to locals, rather, to the "investor" visa purchasers who have been making in-roads for a few years, and are now maybe ramping it up now that nepotist Jared was hawking pay-for-play residency not too long ago.
Those taxes are high because the property is worth 8 figures. In terms of a rate, the rate itself isn't high - lower rates here than in many low cost how amenity low human development indicator places, just higher values. I have no problem with an eventual end to such tax deductions and the mortgage interest deduction - it is really just a subsidy for the housing industry, and a penalty for renters.
Here's a rather shameless ad directed at that set
You take just about any occupant of a 1.5 million house and as an experiment cut off three months paychecks---utter crisis ensues.
On the bright side, a smaller percentage of people are upside down on their mortgages than were in 2008. So increase in equity is helping their standard of living. But that doesn't mean they are making more money in wages. They aren't. Even if they sold their $$$ CA house and bought a more affordable NV house outright with the proceeds, they still haven't had an increase in wages. If expenses increased, there's no way for most Americans to cover that.
Absolutely true. Be the same or more in CA or OR. It is the sheer amount of money people are willing to spend to have a home on Lake Washington, or Pacific Ocean. I try to keep my expenses less than half my income. If I die first my wife loses my pension. Living in CA with much higher COL would be a struggle. When all is closed and we only have our properties in NV, we can save money with just my SS check covering expenses. With taxes, insurance and Utilities almost quadruple for a smaller home, it is a no brainer to get out of CA. Here we drive 3-6 miles for groceries, doctor, hospital, dentist, dining. Only downside is our diesels like longer trips. So a trip to Costco every 2-3 weeks is good for our vehicles. No more 30 mile trips for a Drs appt. And NO stinking CRV rip-off.
There are knee-high weeds growing in many gardens and walkways during the summer. After winter snowstorms, the streets are dutifully plowed long before the knee-high snowbanks on many driveways.
An analysis of property assessment records for 60 mansions and townhouses on the once-forested slopes of Highview Place and Highgrove Place shows a whopping $350.416 million combined real estate value — an average of $5.84 million — in the luxury enclaves below Cypress Bowl Road.
The area, developed between 2009 and 2014, was marketed to investors from China. Two-thirds of the names on titles in the B.C. Assessment database are non-anglicized Chinese names. Some of those names are familiar to court watchers in B.C.
https://thebreaker.news/news/west-van-empty-mansions/
That's a nice thing to do for your wife. I think my grandfather did the same, and now my grandmother, in her 90s now, has no problems staying in her house (which is worth dozens of times more than they bought it for in the 60s - but she gets a senior tax exemption) and doesn't have to live like a pauper.
"Extreme vetting", as the authoritarians like to say, is only for 'po folk.
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1340-W-Bluebird-Ave-Pahrump-NV-8-60/122479476_zpid/?fullpage=true
https://www.wral.com/would-you-pay-1-billion-for-this-view-/17729925/
Regarding CA, it's the weather and culture, I suppose. Cool place to visit, but not on my list of places to live, although to touch on that article, it'd be very cool to have a house featured in an old TV show or movie, and the Brady house isn't insanely dear by local standards.
The economic slowdown that many believe is a virtually guarantee by 36 or so months out could also have an impact.
This is just my gut feeling, but if I don't think I would buy locally unless I was planning to hold for at least 5-10 years, and could afford it without hardship. I think a point of resistance is being met, and if a few nations ever stopped the flight of capital, or if ours finally had the guts to vet imported capital, it might cause some issues here.
Zillows at nearly 7 figures, and the house appeared to be a teardown anyway. I wonder if it will be replaced by "luxury" (as in plywood rather than particle board) townhouses for overleveraged tech workers, or a mcmodern mansionette for unvetted money to hide in.
Speaking of that, one of my favorite local houses has hit the market - I see this place every time I cruise in the fintail. I like the style of this old place, and the originality. Sadly, I suspect this is going to be knocked down and replaced by a mcmodern or faux farmhouse, the two leading styles these days.