All Forum Posts by: Zachary Dosch

Yes - more good points.

Just to clarify, they aren't just proposing to abolish property taxes just because of the oil but I completely agree with what you are saying.

@Andy Chu I have the same opinion. The last thing I want to see if ND end up like California where Prop 13 has them in a stranglehold.

Out of all taxes, I think property taxes should be abolished last.

It may end up that way but its a little early for that.

I really can't wait to be in a position where I don't have to work my day job and pay the ungodly amount of taxes, ss, and medicare. Capital gains and a small amount of realized income sounds good to me.

I believe that investors like us are absolutely vital to the housing markets. Nobody knows whether a house is over or under valued better than us so we play a big role in keeping the values in check.

A fool and their money will always be seperated but there are more than enough people that know what they are doing to keep things in check and to even undo some of the stupid things that owner occupied properties do.

I believe it was already mentioned but the increased lending restrictions by banks really weed out the bad investors because they are requiring much more skin in the game.

The biggest problem in the future is all these 30 year mortgages locked in at 4%. This is the most insane situation there is but it could be very advantageous when the rates go up because how are the banks going to hold onto all these 4% mortgages when the rates go up to 6%? They won't be able to and will be offering deals to have the loans paid off faster which will be great for us. There shouldn't be any terms longer than 5 years.

My issue is that in North Dakota, property tax funds all the road construction, police department, fire department, and public school. Those aren't the entities that I want to be taking money away from.

The pro Measure 2 people say that we can make it up in increased income tax (there actually isn't a solution in the bill. It basically says that we will figure it out later. Just another reason why I couldn't vote for this bill if I wanted to.). The biggest problem with that is about half of the people pay income tax and everybody is getting the benefits. If it was more of a flat tax or if there was a nonsubjective formula I don't think people would care as much.

This all started because North Dakota is bringing in more money than Davey Crockett with all this oil.

In North Dakota, there is a measure that is trying to abolish property taxes and I was just curious as to what everybody's thoughts are regarding this topic.

Im against against it because its a very poorly worded measure and it leaves out how they are going to replace the lost revenue. They think they can replace it though income and tobacco tax (even though it wouldn't come close) but the real reason the proponents of Measure 2 want this done is there is an abundance of tax revenue from the Oil that is being pumped out of western North Dakota (which isn't going to last forever).

Has anybody seen where abolishing property taxes actually worked out? It would save me a huge chunk of change every year and the home values would take an immediate boost but I really feel like the funding for the roads, police department, fire department, and schools isn't something to mess with.

Thoughts?

Collecting rents should be a lot easier in the near future mainly through automatic payments that can be set up. Most people aren't using this because there is a fee attached to it but its becoming more cost efficient and it will save a lot of time and headaches. Banks online software is becoming better at communicating with other banks software. One less major thing to worry about.

The smart grid stuff is very interesting. Its basically a way to make the production and consumption of electricity much more efficient. Charging tenants consumption of power based on when they use it will become popular because the power companies will start charging the land lord accordingly. It should allow energy costs to be lowered though people just being more mindful of when they are using the power and how much they are actually using. They will also be able to see which appliances are using the most power rather than getting a bill that 99.9% of tenants don't know how its currently calculated.

Ive also been frustrated at the rate that new efficiencies have yet to be developed in construction of properties. You mean to tell me that they can't reduce the cost of a building and the time it takes to put up?

What about a foreclosure in Santa Maria?
http://www.homepath.com/search.html?st=CA&ps=10&cno=083&listingid=33288895

A smart grid for energy consumption will be the next step. Efficiency will be the key.

Its insane up here!