Re:How Many Years of Life Does That House Cost?
by pjc50 on Friday September 08, 2017 @05:45PM
(#15204175)
Ah yes; I'm in the UK where local taxes are levied on the occupant not the owner, so you have to pay them even if you rent.
Re:How Many Years of Life Does That House Cost?
by sokoloff on Friday September 08, 2017 @05:47PM
(#15204194)
Interesting. TIL this; thanks.
I like that approach as it makes clear the financial flows and put the tenant in the logical frame of mind of "am I getting what I'm paying for?" when considering new civic projects or other budget items.
Re:How Many Years of Life Does That House Cost?
by pjc50 on Saturday September 09, 2017 @05:12AM
(#15206213)
It would be nice if it worked that way, but local tax rates tend to be a matter for national politics, resulting in all sorts of messed up incentives. National government imposed a freeze on council tax increases for a while. The council tax system also has not had a house revaluation for two decades and the upper "band" is quite low, so it's regressive at the high end.
You have no more principal and interest payments. You still have property taxes (~$1000/mo for me) and most will pay insurance (~$300/mo) and you'll have on-going maintenance; I think it's wise to ballpark the last at 1% of the house market value.
I'm a two-time homeowner and it absolutely fits my family life situation very well, but it's a common fallacy that housing costs go to zero when the mortgage is paid off.