When buying property for oneself... what is more important

Question

Hello All!

I need some advice for buying property for myself (resident occupied).

I am in the process of looking at condo's and I want to know what is more important to look at the price or the tax rates?

I know that the higher the tax rates, the better the school district, but we have no kids so I don't care about that. But what else?

What is happening is that I can find a good priced condo in Stamford, CT but the area is not that great, but the taxes and HOA is low as well.

While in other areas, like New Rochelle, NY or Great Neck, NY, the prices a bit higher but the taxes are way up there?

If I look long term, would it make more sense to buy at a higher price and "better" school district? if I want to rent out the property or sell it at some point?

Any advice would be great!

Thanks!

Ilona

James Wise · Answer

Even if you don't have or plan to have children yourself do not discount a good school district. The high qualifty school district will be your friend when it comes to re sale value.

Account Closed · Answer

Hi Ilona,

I like to crunch my numbers and calculate what all my costs will be over the course of 10 years before making any decisions on a big purchase.  I think when you see these numbers you can decide which sacrifices make sense and which don't.

John Santero · Answer

Even though I am in Chattanooga, I lived in all of the paces you listed. Taxes are not the only thing different here. PRICE of the condos play a big factor.

I think the corrolation between higher taxes - better schools should rather be higher prices = higher taxes = better schools. and the location -location-location comment holds!

Place taxes in the pot of expenses with condo fees, parking and utilities with PRICE to figure where you can afford to live-not just one of them. Good Luck- fyi-I would go with Westchester County -lol.

Karin Crompton · Answer

Taxes are certainly something to keep in mind for resale purposes, but I'm confused by your comment that cities/towns with higher tax rates are the ones with better schools. I don't know how it is in NY, but It doesn't play out that way in CT (meaning, there is no such correlation).

Daniel Raposo · Answer

Hi @Ilona Kovacs

I think the question you really need to answer is where do you want to live. New Rochelle, Great Neck and Stamford are individual markets, so when you go to sell later you are really only going to be competing with other properties within each market, not really against the other markets. Typically, property taxes are going to be cheaper in CT towns than in NY towns that are about the same distances to NYC. This is interesting, I don't meet a lot of people checking out this wide of an area, definitely gives you a lot to think about. The most important thing is finding a good deal in a good location within whichever market you decide on. Good luck!

Account Closed · Answer

Location, location, location!

When buying property for oneself... what is more important

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