kymom99
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- May 24, 2008
Elderly friends of my parents had to move because of the high tax rate on their home. They owned the house outright but could not afford the taxes. They moved to a less desirable part of town and from a ranch to a bi-level! Their son convinced them to buy it. Not sure how that ever made sense. The woman ended up living in the basement for several weeks while her Achilles’ tendon healed because she couldn’t walk up the steps to the main part of the house. Very sad after working hard all those years they had to sell what was basically their retirement home.Property taxes is different than owning something. When you have no mortgage on your, you still owe taxes on the property, but that is not debt, that's just life! I wouldn't consider that as debt.
There are definitely areas around us where the taxes on a house can really impact someone's ability to stay in the home or even buy the home. When we moved, we bought a house 3X the price of the one we sold and our taxes went down by 1/3! It is a shame when someone can't stay in their home because of taxes.