My wife's first snowman...

[murph0]

Interesting. But doesn't the seemingly overinflated housing costs affect renters? As they're essentially paying more and not getting the benefits of the lower interest rates. Is the rental market strong there? Usually with subsidized taxes, rental market seems to be slower.

I still think the best taxing policy I've ever heard of is the one they have in, I believe, San Francisco. Where the taxes are frozen at what they were the time of the purchase. I have an Aunt that moved out there in the 50's, and is still paying only about 1,000 dollars taxes on what is essentially now a 400,000 dollar house.

 

Brian

[lighthouse]

Actually quite the opposite...

 

There are so many houses owned by people that don't live here that rental costs are lower than they would be otherwise. If the owner's costs are lower they can afford to rent for less and still make money. Quite a number of the houses here are owned by folks in the Bay Area who can't afford to buy a house where they live, but can own one here and rent it out at a profit...

 

It winds up being cheap to rent here, and cheap to own here, but expensive to buy for first-time buyers...

[RTBrandy]

Reston Virginia!!??!! Look out for Macac monkeys, there, donut!! Ebola = bad!!

[chrisco37]

Reston Virginia!!??!! Look out for Macac monkeys, there, donut!! Ebola = bad

 

....the "Monkey Building" is no longer a "hot zone". I'm not even sure if it's still there.....

 

Chris