Have any of you transitioned to a minimalist lifestyle?

[Squirrely]

Is it really worth all that just to live in the tax your eyes out state?
Greg

Yes.

We more than quintupled our original investment with negligible tax exposure, while making it posible to live for practically nothing in a rural setting where we're free to pursue our minimalist lifestyle.

Greg

 

[Squirrely]

If you live in a Mobile structure like a tiny house (on wheels) or an RV or a Motor Home you only pay very small property taxes on the land. When i tore down my cabin in the woods my taxes on the land (only), went down to about $80 a Year. Presently im trying to buy 43 acres of forest land with no buildings and the yearly taxes are under $100 . Makes me want to put the new cabin on some type of movable structure.

Go for it.
Tinyhomes are awesome! I believe minimalist living is the wave of the future.

In our area the minimum size restriction for a non-mobile house is 800 square feet with a width of 20 feet, so the cost of adding a few more hundred square feet was neglible.


Greg

 

[Squirrely]

CA is a big state. Building permit costs vary from county to county. In many parts of the state they can be much more reasonable.

They do vary relative to each other, although the cost of the State, County, and City bureaucracies are built into everything here. I enjoy the challenge of living minimally in an prohibitively expensive area. Our house is the cheapest one in the neighborhood.

Greg

 

[sportbikerider78]

, would put the property taxes at 10.7k per year.

From this experience, we discovered a valuable principle of minimalism.
The government cannot tax business transactions you make with yourself. We reaped all of the profits from being our own bank, our own developer, our own builder, and our own real estate agent.

Greg

In upstate NY, you can pay $12k/yr on a $300-350k house, depending on the county.

I have an employee with a very cheap looking (nothing special) $120k house that pays $5k/yr in taxes. No town, no public transportation,,,out in the country.

 

[Seasoned Oak]

In upstate NY, you can pay $12k/yr on a $300-350k house, depending on the county.

I have an employee with a very cheap looking (nothing special) $120k house that pays $5k/yr in taxes. No town, no public transportation,,,out in the country.

My uncle was essentially driven out of New York state by property taxes. Once from long island ,then again from upstate after some religious groups bought up a lot of RE driving up taxes for the remaining homeowners. Settled in South Carolina were people can actually afford to live.

 

[Squirrely]

In upstate NY, you can pay $12k/yr on a $300-350k house, depending on the county.

I have an employee with a very cheap looking (nothing special) $120k house that pays $5k/yr in taxes. No town, no public transportation,,,out in the country.

I totally believe you. That's the cost of government bureaucracy built into real estate. People believe they're paying for more expensive houses when in reality they're paying for more expensive government.

It's fitting that people should be fully exposed to the consequences of what they created with their feelings of being entitled to someone else paying their bills. This principle applies to insurance, healthcare, education, government, and debt. These are all economically toxic sectors to be avoided at all costs, as they are all enemies of a minimalist lifestyle.

Greg

 

[begreen]

Yes, the LA area is really expensive, though rising municipal expenses are not just in CA. The Seattle area is exploding due to an incredible influx of people moving here. (mostly from CA )

FWIW, the cost of municipal and county systems is built into any governing body. Fire, police, sanitation, health, road, school systems can't run on charity. These folks tried to ignore this basic fact. Hasn't worked out too well for them.
https://www.texasobserver.org/the-rise-and-fall-of-the-freest-little-city-in-texas

Politics is closing down the thread. It's become ashcan material and there is no can.