Bought a house!

[shakeylegs]

Congratulations Maycooper! A smart and beautiful place to call home. I wish you wonderful neighbors.
I'm curious about property taxes. Here in California we pay about 1.25% of our original appraised value annually. As an owner, are you obligated for property taxes and how are they calculated?

 

[Coop]

Congratulations Maycooper! A smart and beautiful place to call home. I wish you wonderful neighbors.
I'm curious about property taxes. Here in California we pay about 1.25% of our original appraised value annually. As an owner, are you obligated for property taxes and how are they calculated?

There are very few things in the Netherlands that are not taxed. Tax for this house is 2 euro per 2500 euro of the appraised value. so about 160 euro. appraisal is done every few years. Then there is a 55 euro tax just to be connected to the sewer, a 25 euro tax to actually use the sewer and a 245 euro tax to cover the cities expenses for sewage and waste disposal. I think there are a few more taxes, but don't know exactly...

 

[shakeylegs]

I believe at some point, scientists will discover that taxes are the one unifying principle of the universe.

 

[Coop]

yup, only 2 things certain in life.... Death & taxes...

 

[Fallingwater]

MayCooper: I want your house

Nah, just kidding, I'm more of an apartment kind of person. Sure is nice though...

Oh, and for those who say taxes are a principle of the universe: not in Italy, they ain't... our government has HUGE problems with tax evasion. It's hard to find ONE italian who doesn't try to pay less than he should. And yes, I know it's a bad thing...

 

[James S]

yup, only 2 things certain in life.... Death & taxes...

I'm a democratic-libertarian-imortalist. I voted against both those things

but seriously, great place!!! I'm in the process of doing the same thing here. Just made a starting offer on a place just a couple of miles away. I know they wont accept the starting offer so now it's back and forth to find the sweet spot where neither of us is too unhappy. I haven't heard back from them yet, so perhaps I insulted by bidding too low

The US is like anywhere else as far as house prices. The price range wildly depending on the perception of the desirability of the location and such. I could move 6 blocks down the street but get a lot that overlooks the nearby golfcourse and a house with a smaller lot and a smaller square footage coudl cost $75k or even $100k more! I dont know why people seem to value the view of the golf course. I would much rather have a little bit larger wooded lot and no golf course access at all. But then I dont play golf so perhaps I just dont understand. Cities and built up areas are almost always more expensive than rural areas. People that like to live in those areas perceive a lot more value in it.

In the house we're negotiating for I also get the attic room for my playground So I'm as excited as you must be!

 

[dano]

The average price for a house in the Bay Area (Cali) was just on the news...$623,000...

 

[dulridge]

You really, really don't want to know about UK prices. My house is guesstimate (houses are not sold here by square footage) 1000 square feet. About $550K and that is extremely cheap compared to the south, though not much of the rest of the UK.

Knock off 300 square feet (for the same number of rooms - my smallest bedroom is about the same size as my brother's largest room just outside Portsmouth) and double the price at least on the south coast. In London it gets REALLY expensive - my home in a comparable area in London would be several million dollars.

Or try Madrid - that's a very long way from cheap too and incomes are a lot lower. In Madrid most folk expect their children to inherit the mortgage. A friend of mine moved there. He got $60,000 for his small flat here and got hit for 80,000 euros for a smaller flat in the sort of area that you do not leave the flat after dark in Madrid.

 

[Erasmus]

Congratulations Coop! I want to test that guest room Maybe you can also sign up for CouchSurfing to fill the guest room regularly

 

[65535]

In my area (socal) you'll be lucky to find a house for less than $600,000 US.

 

[Manzerick]

Dimenticare!!! :lolsign:

It's hard to find ONE italian who doesn't try to pay less than he should. And yes, I know it's a bad thing...

Sweet new pad Coop!!!

 

[Coop]

In my area (socal) you'll be lucky to find a house for less than $600,000 US.

When was the last time you looked for a house? I just did a search on the first socal real estate website google came up with and found over 200 houses for sale in the $250K-$300K range... hmmmm maybe move to soc... nah, I'll hang around in NL for a bit

 

[daveman]

...Most of you guys will probably not believe how much houses cost in the Netherlands...

I'll believe it, I'm at freaking ground zero in the re bubble.

It's a nice place, this coming from someone who has seen abou 50+ 3500~4000 sf. homes in the past 60 days in So. Cal, you have my envy.

 

[daveman]

As an American currently living in a 9,000 sq foot house with just my dad (hes a doctor so this is nothing more than a trophy home for him to have parties in) i can say i would much rather live in your house than mine, big houses are way to lonely. i loved living in a dorm in a academy.

Insane is your dad's house. The largest home I've been into is about 5000 sf., and was lost for a minute in between the 2 flights of stairs it had to have. I take it your dad's got a 10 car garage to it as well?