So Tell Me About Fresno, Ca

[Ming the Merciless]

Originally Posted by WilliamTheIrish

Which taxes are then ones that are killer besides state income tax?

Sales tax is high where I live, not sure about Fresno but its almost 10% here....not sure what it is compared to KS/MO tho...but to me 10% is high.

State Income tax is pretty high, as you mentioned. Especially when there are a couple nearby states with zero state income taxes.

Also (and I am speaking from a business owner here) but business taxes are very high (workers comp...etc)...

Gasoline is pretty high out here.... (again, not sure about Fresno, but I think gas will be 10% higher probably in Fresno than in KS/MO).

We have some BS hotel taxes that get added on to rooms in different parts of the state...

Water is ****ing ridiculous now, not really a tax, but it is a goverment controlled entity and where I live it is ****ing insane....again, not sure about fresno...


The thing about property taxes is once you buy a place, Prop 13 keeps your property taxes locked in at that rate and it cant go up very much...so once you know you are going to be there for a while buying a house might be the best move if it will 1) be cheaper to buy than rent, which may be the case and 2) you can write off your mortgage and 3) if the cost of buying a home is still lower than the cost of building it when you are ready to buy.

Anyhow not to de-rail your thread but buying a place would probably save you tax money, as you'd be able to write off your mortgage and taxes are only about 1% right now ($2000 per year on a 200k home, maybe $175 per month).

Back to the topic at hand, when you get ready to come up to the wine country, PM me or something I can make a list of some bad ass spots.

(summary of taxes: http://retirementliving.com/RLstate1.html#CALIFORNIA)

[WilliamTheIrish]

Originally Posted by Pawnmower

Sales tax is high where I live, not sure about Fresno but its almost 10% here....not sure what it is compared to KS/MO tho...but to me 10% is high.

State Income tax is pretty high, as you mentioned. Especially when there are a couple nearby states with zero state income taxes.

Also (and I am speaking from a business owner here) but business taxes are very high (workers comp...etc)...

Gasoline is pretty high out here.... (again, not sure about Fresno, but I think gas will be 10% higher probably in Fresno than in KS/MO).

We have some BS hotel taxes that get added on to rooms in different parts of the state...

Water is ****ing ridiculous now, not really a tax, but it is a goverment controlled entity and where I live it is ****ing insane....again, not sure about fresno...


The thing about property taxes is once you buy a place, Prop 13 keeps your property taxes locked in at that rate and it cant go up very much...so once you know you are going to be there for a while buying a house might be the best move if it will 1) be cheaper to buy than rent, which may be the case and 2) you can write off your mortgage and 3) if the cost of buying a home is still lower than the cost of building it when you are ready to buy.

Anyhow not to de-rail your thread but buying a place would probably save you tax money, as you'd be able to write off your mortgage and taxes are only about 1% right now ($2000 per year on a 200k home, maybe $175 per month).

Back to the topic at hand, when you get ready to come up to the wine country, PM me or something I can make a list of some bad ass spots.

(summary of taxes: http://retirementliving.com/RLstate1.html#CALIFORNIA)

Just for comparison:

Sales tax in KCMO is just over 7.725%.

If you work in the city there is also a 1% earnings tax on every paycheck.

Unless fuel has jumped in price it was actually +/- .10c per gallon. Been keeping tabs on that. So I think the idea of not having a mortgage may have been a little premature. However, I don't know that I'll stay over two years, so best to go the safe route.

You can bet I'll be looking your way for advice in the near future on golf and other activities.

[Ming the Merciless]

Originally Posted by WilliamTheIrish

Unless fuel has jumped in price it was actually +/- .10c per gallon. Been keeping tabs on that. So I think the idea of not having a mortgage may have been a little premature. However, I don't know that I'll stay over two years, so best to go the safe route.

Absolutely. In fact, I am a little more conservative and would perhaps be inclined to raise that to 5 years. The moment you KNOW youll be there 5 years is the time you wanna pull the trigger...At least in today's market IMHO. Anything less than that involves quite a bit more risk. Anything more than 5 years involves very, very little risk if the property meets a few simple criteria....but yah your logic is very similar to mine in that regard.

Best of luck in your new digs, brother.