State 29 has some generally good points about property taxes today. But this story is a little outrageous:
This past weekend I spoke with an old friend who has lived in the suburban San Francisco region for about 8 years. When he bought his brand-new, middle-class house in 1997, it cost $250,000 – an amount which was for him a budget-buster back then even with a 40-year mortgage. Back in 1997 it was either this or a one bedroom apartment in a crappy part of San Jose for $1300 a month. Today, he says, his home has been appraised at about $750,000. He and his neighbors can’t sell unless they want to move out of the area because all the new homes nearby have waiting lists and are usually bid over a million dollars. They could barely afford what they bought in the late 1990s, and there’s no way they could afford anything in the area today. They are stuck.
So, if I have this right, they can sell their house today and walk away with more than $500,000 in cash? Hmm, doesn’t sound very stuck to me. Sounds like a smart investment. They could move to Iowa, buy a house, and live for 3-4 years without having to find a job – that’s what I would do.