Million Dollar Homes Leading the Foreclosure Market in Major Cities

Small town south of Houston, TX here...

I have a buddy who just built a 420k home, property taxes just hit 16k/yr.

In my folks neighborhood there's a 12,000 sq/ft house that has a tax appraisal of 1.8 mil, his yearly taxes are 40k/yr.

We have a barndaminium with tax appraisal at 160k we are paying just under 5k yr in property taxes.

I’ve owned a 6 bedroom house for 20 years.
In Vancouver, yearly taxes are about $4k. I rent out all the extra rooms to exchange students or single professionals for under $700 per room which is very affordable and helps pay for all my expenses.

Big homes makes sense if you have big families. In certain cultures such as Asian and Indian people, it’s common for the kids to live at home with parents until they get married. Land is getting scarce and many people do not want the commitment of owning a big home plus having to maintain it.
Millennials are becoming child free and prefer a nomadic lifestyle

In the future, co living will become the normal due to housing cost and land scarcity.

Owning real estate def has its perks.... if you bought 20 years ago lol

People tend to forget about the YEARLY costs of maintaining a home, particularly a "Statement" type of home, when they buy it.

In my Midwestern state the real estate taxes in the great desirable locations are HIGH, which considerably raises the yearly carrying cost of such homes.

Here one need to figure that it will cost you 8% OR MORE of the CURRENT fmv of such houses EACH YEAR (10% is a more accurate number) to pay the taxes, keep it heated, keep it repaired, and keep it updated.

Home worth $1,000,000

*Yearly real estate taxes $40,000ish to $55,000ish/yr depending upon the jurisdiction

*Yearly maintenance including maintenance reserves for replacement of roofs, windows, carpets, wall coverings, etc. $25,000 to $35,000/yr

*Yearly maintenance of pools and hot tub including pool service company and maintenance reserves $10,000 to $20,000/yr (higher number if you HEAT the pool at beginning and end of season - have seen pool heating bills of $40,000/mo!! if heat in winter also)

*Yard service, including seasonal plantings $2,500/yr

*Maid service (who cleans their own million dollar house?) $2,500 to $5,000/yr.

VOILA ... it is EASY to spend $100,000 a year to keep a $1 million dollar home, and TOUGH to get that number below $80,000/yr.

When you BUY a $1,000,000 house, at least around here, you are also buying at least an $80,000 yearly bill to keep that house running.

People tend to forget about the YEARLY costs of maintaining a home, particularly a "Statement" type of home, when they buy it.

In my Midwestern state the real estate taxes in the great desirable locations are HIGH, which considerably raises the yearly carrying cost of such homes.

Here one need to figure that it will cost you 8% OR MORE of the CURRENT fmv of such houses EACH YEAR (10% is a more accurate number) to pay the taxes, keep it heated, keep it repaired, and keep it updated.

Home worth $1,000,000

*Yearly real estate taxes $40,000ish to $55,000ish/yr depending upon the jurisdiction

*Yearly maintenance including maintenance reserves for replacement of roofs, windows, carpets, wall coverings, etc. $25,000 to $35,000/yr

*Yearly maintenance of pools and hot tub including pool service company and maintenance reserves $10,000 to $20,000/yr (higher number if you HEAT the pool at beginning and end of season - have seen pool heating bills of $40,000/mo!! if heat in winter also)

*Yard service, including seasonal plantings $2,500/yr

*Maid service (who cleans their own million dollar house?) $2,500 to $5,000/yr.

VOILA ... it is EASY to spend $100,000 a year to keep a $1 million dollar home, and TOUGH to get that number below $80,000/yr.

When you BUY a $1,000,000 house, at least around here, you are also buying at least an $80,000 yearly bill to keep that house running.

You got a couple of Olympic sized swimming pools in your backyard? WTF
Your neighborhood needs a new "Pool Guy".
$100 - $200/monthly. Add in a pump and filter ever 5-7 years ($1,000) and a refinish ($2,000 - $3,000) every 10-12 years. Where do you get your numbers?

That's about right because there are no services that will help you downgrade and be efficient unless you know about pool mechanics.

80k just for the house doesn't include food, entertainment, gas, shopping, travel, utilities, retirement, and insurances.

Where are people making this kind of money to afford mansions?

Nashville's real estate market is red hot because the city is growing so fast, and those coming from Cali/New York can afford homes multiple times bigger here than from where they came.

My home is 22 years old and we have already replaced the roof and half of our HVAC units---the pro-rata costs that the poster above mentioned is no where close to reality. (Pro-rata in this case means what my cost are compared to a million dollar home for upkeep.)

Why not just live in a cardboard box downtown?

No taxes, no levies, no fees, no annual rate hikes...and close to all high end amenities.

Where’s the problem?

Ca is special

Housing market is fine.

$420,000 home with RE taxes of $16k per year is an effective real estate tax rate of 3.8%/yr of current FMV - not far below what we are paying here in the better suburban school districts - and we are known for having higher taxes then TX.

($16,000 / $420,000 = .0380952/yr or 3.80952%/yr)

Housing market is fine.

5 acres for $10,000 and a $18,000 shed to house conversion. No mortgage. Everything I make is saved. Have more room than a $1,200 a month 1 bedroom apartment.

Fuck the banking system.

I have at least one neighbor and probably more, who pay NO property taxes. Hot Springs, AR has high taxes for goods, etc., but very low taxes on housing. So, if her taxes were $343 in 2016, she paid nothing because a homeowner gets a $350 homestead credit if they live in that home, and only on that property, no matter what else is owned.

Left Houston because who wants to pay that much for a chemical soup accident-waiting-to-happen? Grew up there, loved it, refused to play by those rules as an adult. Country Livin' if you can! This is a tourist town, so a lot of fun happens because it must. The Valley of the Volunteers, we call it. Don't miss the big city and just laugh at MacMansions.

I'm seeing houses flipped and doubled in price and more since moving here in 2011. Glad I bought a 1940 bungalow with charm. A window factory is here outside of town, so replacement can be easy, especially with people giving away double paned windows on craigslist.

Love it here. Democrats, stay away. A lot of conservatives from Texas are moving here. Californians don't last so long, and move back, heh, heh, heh.

Where are you getting 4-5% annually in real estate taxes?

I live in Tennessee with NO state income taxes and property taxes are .4-.5%, not 4-5%. So that's $4-$5k a year. Pool heating bills of $40k/month? WTF---they live in the northern reaches of Alaska?

And the yearly maintenance of $25k-$35k? Again--no. Every 15-20 years you have to put on a new roof but nothing else comes close.

And the Nashville real estate market is red hot----prices still going up.

Why do you think everyone from Chicago is moving to TN.Taxes on a 180k house are 7 to 8k in an average working class suburb.Cook County sales tax is 11%.State income tax is over 5%.We live on the lake MI and water is over 1000 a year in some places.And gues what,it's all headed tour way once they take over.They will overwhelm your schools hospitals and infrastructure.How do you pay for it?Taxes of course.Taxes are heroin to politicians and once the "Chicago way" takes root you will see my friend.

We don't want Shitcago's libtards. Conservatives fleeing only.

Housing is Wayyyyy overpriced in this country and not just on the coast. Compare the wages earned in a year and housing costs per sq foot to from yesterday to today and it is a lot more expensive today.


There are rundown shacks selling for 500k in many places.

With globalist wages the math is not going to work.
Noone will be able to afford it.
People also need to live within their means and not buy these overpriced houses where they will spending 30 years paying it off.


Housing is wayyyyy overvalued in this country.