rkkwan

I've live in Southwest Houston on and off for 15 years, and have lived in Washington, DC and RI. Well, seriously, I have never noticed any smog in this part of town, and I have seen smog when I visited LA or Hong Kong.

And while in the summer there are often days with elevated ozone levels, I don't think the numbers are much higher than Rhode Island and probably fewer than Washington, DC.

There are millions of people in Houston, and trust me, air quality is something we never talk about, because it really is NOT an issue. Property taxes, stupid light rail, pathetic Texans (the NFL team) - yes; air quality - no.

Reefmonkey

Like I've said, it's not really smog in the technical sense, and can't be seen when you are at eye level - though sometimes you can notice a faint browninsh tinge along the horizon the few places you can see the horizon from ground level. I agree, the smell is not a problem. It is a little irksome when I hear people who visited Houston once b*tch and say "the air was so dirty - the smog and the smell" when you know they didn't notice anything and they wouldn't have known Houston has an air pollution problem if they hadn't heard about it from Peter Jennings. That being said, I don't want to downplay the health problems it causes - the EPA estimates about 60-80,000 people die prematurely due to air pollution every year. I know my stepson, who has asthma, gets bad and has to stay indoors on ozone alert days. Oh, that's me on my soapbox again.

And the whole smoke from Mexico thing is not that common - the last time it was really bad was about 6-8 years ago.

Reefmonkey

And rkkwan's observation on property taxes is definitely something to think about. They are high here, and keep ratcheting up faster than true market pricing - then when house values take a hit, like when interest rates are high - try getting the county to lower the appraisal - not gonna happen. Like I said, my brother just moved from Virginia - he was right next to Dulles Airport, and he was able to buy a much bigger house in the Katy area for half the sales price of his house in VA, and now he no longer has to pay income tax, but he claims the total cost of living basically balances out when you figure in property tax. He's only lived here since June (and he can be really pessimistic) so I want to see if his opinion changes once he has been here a while.

Yeah, the light rail was ridiculous. I would have been for it if it ran along a useful route, like a major corridor (I-10 West or 59 South), but it was basically one of the ways for that piece of crap mayor, Lee Brown, to secure a legacy. That, and spending taxpayers' money hand over fist to prostitute the city out to pro sports like the crappy Texans. Meanwhile, the police department crime lab is caught in a serious of scandals, the police and fire department pension funds are about bankrupt, and the county hospital district, once hailing the best trauma center in the country, is struggling to keep its doors open. But at least we have three gleaming new sports arenas and a light rail that goes nowhere useful and does nothing to alleviate traffic. Nice going, Mayor Brown!

E

Falafel, I really hesitated before posting, because you've clearly made up your mind to move to either Dallas or Houston...but do you ever drive anywhere from DC, for a getaway or a visit? Having lived in Texas myself, I can tell you that I felt horribly isolated there--the driving distances between cities are enormous, certainly when compared to the East Coast.

qzseattle

Falafel,

The reason I am so concerned about lack of zoning is because I am worried about having a junk yard, machine-shop, strip club or adult video store next to my house. Without zoning laws, I would never be sure what the plot next door would eventually turn into.

Without zoning laws, there is no distinction between a seedy/sleazy area and a family-oriented residential or commercial area. As I mentioned earlier, even in upscale areas such as Galleria, you would see a showy adult store. On Westheimer, you would see a strip club next to grocey store or mom-and-pop store. This ain't kid- friendly! What do you tell your kids when they see a sign and say they want a sex toy?

So, I am a strong proponent of zoning laws. At the very least, there should be laws to regulate "noxious" uses of property such as those mentioned above.

Thus, you are right that I would very much prefer to live in a master-planned community!

qzseattle

E, what about trips to Dallas, San Antonio, Austin and New Orleans? In eight hours, you can get to the beaches of Florida in Pensacola. Well, I would still agree that you dont have as many options as do in East Coast. As far as I am concerned, since I am moving to Houston from Seattle, "isolation" wouldnt be an issue for me. San Francisco, the closest major city is about 12 hours away. Yeah, Vancouver is nearby but then you need to cross the border.

qzseattle

ReefMonkey, you are right that higher property rate does offset part of the lower cost of real estate in Texas but I wouldnt say that the difference is half or more. On average, property tax is about 2% higher in Houston compared to Seattle area. This means that a $380,000-390,000 house in Seattle would cost the same as $300,000 house in Houston. Of course, you would get a much larger house in Houston for that price.

I dont know what the property tax rate is in Virginia/DC area but Falafel would also save state income tax which I wont since we dont have state income tax in Washigton state either. So I would think that property tax rate shouldnt make too much a difference for him.

Falafel

Property taxes in VA vary by county or city. They range between 0.9% - 1.2%.
In Loudoun County where I live, the property tax is set to 1.04% last time I checked. This rate might sound low to Houstonians until I tell you that a $350,000 will barely buy you a two bedroom condo or a worthless piece of sh** townhouse in a bad area that no body wants.

On my house, it is appraised at $550K and I pay around $5720 per year. I can get my exact House in Houston (minus the basement) in a very nice area for around $300K or less. Can somebody figure out how much I would pay in Harris County on a $300K house?

Actually wait a minute. Houses in my neighborhood are now selling at around 700K. Next year when the county re-appraises the house my tax bill will probably be around $7300 per year!

We also have something called "personal property tax in VA". This is a tax on vehicles. I don't know what the rates are in my county but I pay approximately $200 per year on my 1999 Maxima. (This tax depends on the value of the car as well). The last governor tried to eliminate this tax completely per popular demands but could not. At least he managed to cut the rate by 75% before his term ended! So that $200/year could have been much more!

Plus I wont say how much I pay in income tax to Virginia, but lets just say that it reduces the pay checks by a considerable amount.

Sales tax on the other hand is low in VA. It is currently set to 4.5%
Gasoline tax is also supposed to be low in VA.

bellairegirl

Don't forget that just because Houston doesn't have zoning that many neighborhoods have deed restrictions that would prohibit many of the things you're concerned about. Another option is to live in an incorporated city within Houston, such as Bellaire (hence my screen name), West University, The Villages in the Memorial area (Piney Point Village, Bunker Hill Village, etc). Each of these cities has its own fire dept, police dept, trash pick-up, and other services.

I personally love living in Bellaire -- it has the feel of a small town (with its own Fourth of July parade on Bellaire fire trucks), concerts in the parks, vacation watch of your home by the police, etc. Once in a storm, one of our trees was uprooted and feel across the street. As soon as I realized I called the City of Bellaire and I was told that someone was already on the way. Within 5 minutes 4 city workers came out in the rain and cut up the tree and hauled it away (even the part on our property)! You won't find that everywhere.

I personally like living close to downtown and in a real neighborhood (not a planned community) with look-alike houses far on the outskirts of town, with only chain restaurants nearby.

Susan

Falafel

Susan, you got a good point but it seems like Bellair is not as affordable as other parts of HOUSTON.

The cheapest 4BR home i found on har.com in Bellair was $400K!

Does Bellair have different property tax rate than the rest of the city?

bellairegirl

Yes, Bellaire's tax rate is different (I can't tell you what it is off-hand though, and I'd be surprised if it's cheaper than Houston's). You're right -- you pay for the proximity to everything by being in Bellaire or West University. You will definately get less house for your money here, but it's a trade-off many people choose.

Also, in case it wasn't evident in my post before, Bellaire DOES have zoning. In fact, I served on the city's Planning & Zoning Board for 5 years.

Susan

bellairegirl

I just looked up the property tax rate for the City of Bellaire -- it's 0.480000. That's in addition to taxes paid to Harris County (at a rate of 0.388030), Harris County Flood Control (at a rate of 0.041740), Harris County Department of Education (at a rate of 0.006290), the Port of Houston Authority (at a rate of 0.020000), Harris County Hospital District (at a rate of 0.190210), and the Houston Community College (at a rate of 0.081333).

Our 4-bedroom house is appraised at $280,000 (we built it 12 yrs ago) and we pay total annual property taxes of $3,435.14. Hope this helps in your calculations.

The website for the City of Bellaire is http://www.ci.bellaire.tx.us/

Susan

mikemo

Hi Mollie,
Yes! I spent 23 Aug - 29 Sept in my house in SMdA (annual prop tax $136.65 US) and I am building a larger permanent place in the Atascadero an 8 min walk from the Jardin there.
My Dallas house (in the RISD) has an appraised value of $332.K and my property tax this year will be over $9,000. None of my three children spent a single day in public school here, so why stay, fight the awful traffic, urban blight, exponentially deteriorating public schools, and high utility and maintenance bills?
M

bellairegirl

I have a correction to my posting from last night. I started thinking that the appraised value of our house has to be above $280,000 by now, so I checked it out. In actuality, the appraised value of our house in 2003 (for the last tax bill) was $350,100, but the taxable value (for which taxes are assessed) was $280,000, not taking into account the land value.

You can check the appraised value of any house in Houston by doing a search on the following website: http://www.hcad.org/Records/Real.asp?search=addr

You simply type in the address, and it pops up. If you click on the acct # you can then pull up the taxes paid in 2003 by following the links to "Harris County Tax Bill."

Susan

Jayne1973

Sorry to go off topic here, but I have a question for mikemo regarding moving to Mexico. How did you decide where to move? Will you remain a U.S. citizen? Just curious as we had kicked around the idea of living there or having a residence there someday.

rkkwan

Just want to say one thing about property taxes. I might have said the same before in a different thread, but will say it again.

Even though the rates maybe higher than in some parts of the country, one should look at the actual number to determine whether it's excessive or not. For example, bellairgirl pays ~$3,500/year for her ~$300K home. While that may seem quite a bit, you have to take account of what the house is worth in Seattle (or wherever). While a $300K home in Seattle may have lower tax rate, an equivalent house that bellairegirl has may be worth $800K in Seattle, and the property tax may be actually higher.

So, don't just look at the rate. Look at the actual number.

Mollie

Mikemo- I have another question on Mexico on which you would be an expert. What are the medical facilities like in the areas where there are quite a few expats? I understand that San Miquel is beautiful, although we've never been there.

Binthair

Please be aware that property taxes in Houston usually consist of two checks, one to the Harris county tax collector and one to the Houston Independent School District. My total taxes are about double the total rate Susan stated (that is I pay over 2% total after my homestead exemption.) This is still preferable to an income tax in my mind, and as mentioned by other posters the valuations are generally lower here than in some parts of the country.

qzseattle

What is homestead exemption?

I thought that tax rate in and around Houston is generally 3-4%. Susan is paying less than 1% and bithhair is paying 2%. That doesnt sound as bad as I thought!

Susan, how is the taxable value for your house is less than the actual value of the house? Also, is the tax assessed on the total value of the house (structure and land), just land or just structure?

bellairegirl

Oh, good point, Binthair -- I just looked up my Harris County tax bill. We also pay a tax to HISD that amounts to about the same as the Harris County tax bill. My husband informs me that we paid about $7,000 in taxes last year.

As to the homestead exemption question and the taxable value question, for the Harris County tax bill, if you claim a homestead exemption (if this is your primary residence), the appraised value for purposes of taxes is reduced by 20%. Also, the homestead exemption protects your house from being seized by creditors.

Here is a link I found to tax rates in some incorporated cities inside Houston:
http://www.westurealestate.com/taxes.htm

My husband also mentioned that some of the outlying areas of Houston are in MUDs (municipal utility districts), and the tax rate paid in a MUD is much higher.

Hope this helps.
Susan