8/5 Berkeley homeowners: what are the bad things about owning
in Berkeley? -brain
\_ I have some friendss whose property splits thhe oakland/berkeley
border, which made them happy because they could get a number of
permits cheaper in oakland. --scotsman
\_ your friends should be happy, nay, *proud*, to pay the higher
berkeley fees because those fees support the community.
\_ Socialism.
\_ You can't rent it out without dealing with the
city rent control board.
\_ Anyone live near the N. Berkeley BART station? How do you like
your neighborhood? We're thinking of buying there, within a few
blocks (walking distance). Thoughts?
\_ n berkeley is great, by n berkeley bart
\_ Used to rent a few blocks east of there. Nice neighborhood but
busses and emergency vehicles favor taking MLK to I wouldn't
want to buy a place on MLK or Sacramento.
\_ Property taxes are thousands more per year than neighboring cities.
\_ 1.8%/year, versus 1.2% in many other cities. This adds $50/month
This is based on the figure that mortgage,taxes, insurance and
maintainance run you about $750/mo/100k
per $100,000 your house costs over neighboring cities. So a
house in Berkeley is about 7% more expensive to own than a
house that has the same price but is in a different city.
\_ A $500,000 house will cost $3000 more per year in
property tax. This is significant. What do you get for
the extra money?
\_ Probably the biggest thing is public schools; Berkeley's
one of the better districts in the state, Oakland's one
of the worst.
\_ wildly inflated profits when your house appreciates? - danh
\_ does berkeley house prices appreciate faster than
the surrounding cities?
\_ A cable-access show where a bunch of hippie retards do
naked interprative dance and show off their wrinkles.
\_ I could do without http://www.eroplay.com
too. - danh
\_ What's your point? If you can afford a half million
dollar house, you shouldn't complain about paying extra
$3k in property tax. We should have a graduated property
tax schedule so that expensive houses pay a higher rate
of property tax.
\_ not necessarily, some people might have come across
a large wad of cash (inheritance for instance) but
do not have a high income.
\_ The homebuyer should know how much property tax
is owed for the house and should plan according.
If he spends his windfall in one wad and does not
plan for taxes, insurance, and other fees, then
he's an idiot.
\_ Hey asshole: maybe the homeowner did
plan for taxes. The question was what
sucks about Berkeley. Paying more taxes
sucks. STFU.
\_ If you planned for the higher tax, then
you shouldn't complain you can't afford
to pay it. Buy a cheaper house, or buy
it in another city than Berkeley, if you
can't afford the tax here.
\_ This is the most stupid reply I've seen,
I mean really, STFU. -!op.
\_ I take it you're another selfish property
owner who doesn't want to pay his fair share?
But you'll vote Kerry and go to bed at night
with a clear conscience because you've done
your share for democracy. You make me sick.
\_ I agree. Vote Bush!
\_ Ermm. what does Kerry have to do with
local property taxes?
\_ The point is that its $3K less in the city next
door. What am I getting for that extra money? By
the way, why the hell should more expensive houses
pay a higher % of property tax? Property tax is
beautiful in that it is FLAT. People pay more if
they buy a more expensive place. Why raise the RATE?
\_ Because it would be *fair*, the same way the
regular income tax is graduated, despite what some
Republican zealots would like to do otherwise.
Those who have more money, who can afford the big
expensive houses, should pay their fair share to
maintain the community. Instead of making the
poor family who can barely pay the mortgage for a
broken down house in marginal neighborhood pay
more taxes, why not make the fat cat who can
afford it pay more? Sounds reasonable to me.
\_ Fair share? The most fair system is
the same tax rate, be it the income
tax or the property tax. With
income tax, people who makes more
have the luxury (most of the time)
to pay a slightly higher tax rate.
With property tax, most home owners
in the bay area do not have the
luxury to pay a higher property tax
rate. Ask most working family in
the bay area, do they have extra
10k to burn on property tax each
year? This has nothing to do with
fairness. I worked hard to save up
the money to buy the house while at
the same time paying my share of
taxes. With income tax, we are
talking about the top 1%, with
property tax, you are talking about
50% of the home owners (higher than
the medium price). With income tax,
you only pay when you make money,
with property tax, you pay no
matter what. Do you think it's fair
that older people who have worked
all their life has to move out of
their homes into a dirty shit area
because now they cannot pay the
higher property tax rate you
proposed? And what does this have to
do with Kerry or Bush you troll?
\_ Actually, in CA property tax is largely regressive.
Because of Prop 13 the peopel who bought their
houses earlier are paying tax on a price far below
market value. They are paying a lower tax rate
even though they have seen more appreciation and
have more equity than a recent buyer. There are
legitimate public-policy reasons for progressive
taxation, and instituting it in property taxes would
not necessarily raise the average rate, though it
*would* raise it for people with more expensive
houses.
poor family who can barely pay the mortgage for a
broken down house in marginal neighborhood pay
more taxes, why not make the fat cat who can
afford it pay more? Sounds reasonable to me.
\_ Even better, how about we do this? Keep the
property tax rate as it is for houses under
some kind of state or regional median price.
Have a graduated property tax schedule for
houses more expensive than the median, and
use the additional tax revenue to fund schools
and other projects in poorer neighborboods.
\_ You obviously are not a home owner.
Keep dreaming.
\_ I am obviously not a selfish hypocrit.
\_ Have you ever lived in a poor
neighborhood? Do you think more money
is the solution? I for one have lived
in one and a bullet is a much better
solution for some of those fuckers.
\_ I don't like the idea of a high property tax
at all. It discourages savings. It
discourages home ownership. It forces people
to work forever. For instance, I have a
good job and is earning big bucks, and
already bought a nice home. Now I want to
devote the last 5 years of my working life
to charity work, but can't because I want
to keep my house but charity work job pays
very little and high property tax would be
a big hit. High property tax is also bad
for older people and retirees who labored
all their life and should now enjoy the
fruits of their labor in the form of a
nice house. A home is important part of
one's life and highly illiquid in that one
can't just move on a whim; but life circum-
stances changes, and a high property tax
(a recurring cost) would force people to move
when they suffer a bad break. I don't mind
a graduated income tax and inheritance tax,
but property tax should be low (we are
already taxing rent income).
\_ You have no right to save money. You have
no right to live in a nice house. You have
no right to stop working when you can't
afford to.
\_ Very well said, thank you!
\_ I don't think it's a good idea to just tax
income and leave assets (like a house)
un-taxable. Your house needs police and fire
protection whether or not you are retired, and
I think you'd still like schools to run and
roads to be repaired irrespective of how many
of the homeowners are working. For people
who are retired or in your situation, there is
something called a "reverse mortgage". In any
case, you still need money for food and
clothes, so you should just budget for your
property taxes too.
\_ I don't think housing price necessarily
reflects the income level. If you really
want the fat cats to pay more, then
increase income tax on the rich people.
Housing price reflects more than just the
income level, it reflects years of hard
working, saving up, sacrifice, family
contribution, etc. People should not be
punished for that. If you and I make the
same amount but I saved more than you do
and I bought a more expensive house, then
why should I cover your share? Home is not
a luxury, it is a necessarily.
\_ A house is a necessity, but a $750k house is
a luxury.
\_ Your 1500 sq. foot half million dollar house
in Berkeley is certainly a luxury and not a
necessity. Come back to me with that
necessity line when you're in a 10' x 10' hut.
\_ WTF? Can you find ANY DECENT HOUSE under
half a million now a days? shut the fuck up!
\_ Berkeley Hills homes are very nice. You just have to worry about
hill fire. |
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