Irvine Housing Blog

Kick todays featured post to the curb! A lot of sad stories of foreclosure and evictions, but when it comes down to it, the free rent has to end some time. Post like today are “owners” with a sense of entitlement, LV evictions are just people trying to make it day to day. Either case, people will find a way to get by.

The eviction of the 101-year-old for nonpayment of property taxes speaks to the need to find a more equitable way to fund municipal needs than the property tax, a tax you pay over and over on something you already own.

The property tax means you never really own your property. Thanks to the “appreciation” of the past 30 years, a homeowner can easily find himself paying taxes that are twice or more the mortgage and total payment he bargained for when he bought his property.

The principal reason to buy to begin with is to get your housing cost under control and OWN a property; to have something that, once you pay for it, cannot be taken away from you. The property tax is like rent that can be raised endlessly, and it makes home ownership rather pointless.

A more equitable way to tax would be to raise user fees and change the way we charge for municipal services. For example, in Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit, and other old northern cities, single family homes and multifamily homes with 3 units or fewer get free city trash collection, and get billed a flat rate for water no matter how much they use, while large multifamily bldgs. must pay for their own private trash collection and their water is metered. Well, time to meter everyone’s water and make everyone pay for trash collection, which will inspire people to cut waste and practice economy- no more leaving the lawn sprinkler running through a cool damp weekend.

Fees can be raised for licenses and permits, and rates for water and other utilities provided by the city can be raised.

Most of all, the tens of millions of dollars in subsidies and grants typically awarded by most towns and cities for things like evermore big box retail and shopping malls could be steeply curtailed or ended all together. It is totally tragic that a friend here in Chicago, in the suburb of Schaumburg, was taxed out of his home that he could well afford when he bought it 10 years ago, to pay for the glut of failing shopping malls in that municipality, most of which would never have been built were it not for the tax abatements and TIF subsidies offered on the premise that these places would improve the tax base. My friend’s taxes started at a reasonable $2200 in 2010 and were $8800 when he was forced to ditch his house at a loss because he could no longer meet the expense of the place.

This is happening to many paying owners and to many others who paid their mortgages off long ago as cities that overspent and over-committed in the boom years are desperately searching for revenue. Many “bargain” properties don’t look like such good deals when you look at the tax bill, and realize that it could double or triple next year- while (in Chicago at least) a landlord is permitted to raise your rent no more than 5% over the previous year’s.

“I just rented Stober Court to a section 8 government assistance tenant.”

Which one was stober court?

These stories convince me never to buy a foreclosure. You should be able to stick a gun in these deadbeats’ faces and throw them out by force. The idea you had to *pay* that Russian to get out with the cops standing there is outrageous.

People living for free for 2 years are victims? What about people who never bought a house with a liar loan and rented the whole time in some shitty apartment?

And $1350/mo of taxpayer money to rent a house? God help us, no wonder why this country is doomed economically.

What this country has turned into makes me really sad.

One of the big problems with the liberal left is that they are moral cowards.

They cannot ever bring themselves to allow someone to have to live with the consequences of their actions. Instead, they “courageously” go after those who actually produce wealth and use a bunch of hype and shaming tactics to gain the political power necessary to transfer others’ hard-earned money.

It reminds me of what I saw during the Hurricane Katrina event. Tons of pasty-white, obviously well-fed liberals showed up at the White House to wave their little “shame on you” signs at Bush, rather than do something meaningful like help at the Katrina clean-up.

I ceased to look at lefties like actual adults a long time ago. Instead, I consider them to be overripe adolescents.

a story of “walking away my house” here:
http://beta.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/1080374/

Jack
I would think that you loved the protests; Bush was just paying the consequences of his action or lack of action in his job, that is what you are asking for personal consequences.
Then we should go after that water boarding thing correct, we have tried people for war crimes for the same thing, we should not go after the criminals that did this all the way to the top. That is what you are asking for personal consequences.
Then we should go after those corporations that avoid paying taxes, no use of the courts, no roads, no army, no government contracts, nothing that taxes pay for , that is the consequences of their actions.
I think I could start to get behind this consequences thing.

Great stories, love reading about your experiences IR!

Moral confusion is also a common attribute among the liberal left.

I’m sure you would have also preferred waving a little sign to actually helping.

That is the effeminate nature of most lefties - a preference for scolding and shaming, even while they benefit from the actual dirty work done by others. Police, miltary, real volunteers.

Even if I could convince you that the Katrina response was more the fault of the state authorities, even if I could convince you that waterboarding is RIGHT, even if I could convince you that Bush’s economic policies were good, I would not.

Why? Because it would remove all the satisfaction of it angering you. I WANT you to think Bush is a war criminal because it increases my sense of satisfaction that he is going to go “unpunished”.

By the way, we totally stole the 2000 election from Gore. Worked like a charm. And there was nothing you could do about it.

>That is about as sad as it gets. The house was paid off, and the 101 year old woman lived there for 58 years, and now she is homeless.

In fact, Texana Hollis obtained a reverse mortgage in 2002 and used the house as her ATM. Nonpayment of property taxes is a breach of the mortgage contract.

Only the government could give her money on the dilapidating house in Detroit.

Irvine Renter. It is obvious you are part of the sociopathic vipers that destroyed America. You come across as flippant and mean spirited at others misery. You in fact delight in it.

I will inform every associate I have in the area not to do business with you.

I hope you fail miserably.

“... facilitate the occupant’s departure…”

Did you used to work for the DOD’s press department? lol

Ahh yes Section 8…how government funnels middle class tax dollars to rich land owners.

“This house was enjoying the benefits of police and fire protection without its owners paying a fair share of the bill.”

Yes, but most of the property tax bill is for schools.  101-year-old women usually don’t have kids in schools.  Some states have lower property tax rates for retirees.  It would be nice if they had lower rates for people without kids too.