[ayoskillz]

Originally Posted by JayCT

But most of those homes down south do not have basements. As the wife of my college friend who now lives in a Texas pointed out to me, the reason southern homes are so big is that they lack basements for storage and bonus rooms. They need to make up for that. That Trumbull home may be smaller but it likely has a big basement. Jay

Southern homes have bigger attics to store item's. Luckily my attic is a walk in so much easier to get in to and i have access from all upstairs bedrooms

[CTartist]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

Alpharetta GA: 2-3k
Trumbull CT: 7k

Correction on taxes. Average tax bill in Trumbull is $9349 based on the average home price of $402,112 and mill of 33.39

I don't know how to figure out the taxes in GA so I will take your word on the taxes there.

About $6000 (of the $9349) in Trumbull goes to the schools. Do you want me to believe that Alphareta GA has an equivalent school system to Trumbull. Do you further want me to believe that professionals* in the Atlanta area want to live in a town that puts so little to education? I doubt it.

* professionals and teachers always value education

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by JayCT

But most of those homes down south do not have basements. As the wife of my college friend who now lives in a Texas pointed out to me, the reason southern homes are so big is that they lack basements for storage and bonus rooms. They need to make up for that. That Trumbull home may be smaller but it likely has a big basement. Jay

That’s an interesting rebuttal, and I’m not sure what point you’re trying to make. Anyway, with basements comes heavy maintenance. Cracks, leaking, humidity, mold, radon, etc. Often times, as your home ages, it can cost thousands to properly repair a basement. Family who moved to Florida did say they don’t have much storage but did say they have a large attic, and due to the cost of living being less, were able to add on a third garage when building their home to build shelving for extra storage. They added they’re happy to not have to deal with basement headaches.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by CTartist

Correction on taxes. Average tax bill in Trumbull is $9349 based on the average home price of $402,112 and mill of 33.39

I don't know how to figure out the taxes in GA so I will take your word on the taxes there.

About $6000 (of the $9349) in Trumbull goes to the schools. Do you want me to believe that Alphareta GA has an equivalent school system to Trumbull. Do you further want me to believe that professionals* in the Atlanta area want to live in a town that puts so little to education? I doubt it.

* professionals and teachers always value education

I’m not suggesting you believe anything about the schools, but I do know Alpharetta is a highly regarded community in Atlanta and is known across the metro to have good performing schools. Neither you or I can say yay or nay to that without having children in the school system. We can only look on paper at the cost of living differences between two highly regarded communities in their respective metro areas and try to make an apples to apples comparison. Here, it’s clear even the nicer Atlanta suburbs are overall significantly more affordable than in your average southwestern CT community.

[BPt111]

Originally Posted by CTartist

My cousin and her family lived in the Atlanta area for over 10 years. They are now back in CT. She said that the quality towns where professionals live are getting just about as expensive as FFC.

Scroll down on this page and you will see a map of the Atlanta GA area. Start clicking on some of the house icons and you can see that many towns in and around Atlanta have house prices of $500,000 or more.
https://www.myajc.com/business/real-...gvU7k0HSuUfiRI

Down South is getting little bit expensive because too many people up north moving there for cheap prices.

[kidyankee764]

Originally Posted by BPt111

Down South is getting little bit expensive because too many people up north moving there for cheap prices.

That’s part of it, but many southern metros are attracting well paying jobs at a much faster rate than the northeast, Midwest and west. Charlotte, Nashville, Dallas, Austin, Atlanta, etc.

[JGBigGreen]

I think if you do the research into it you will find that Alpharetta schools, as measured by test scores, are equal to or probably better than Trumbull.

Originally Posted by CTartist

Correction on taxes. Average tax bill in Trumbull is $9349 based on the average home price of $402,112 and mill of 33.39

I don't know how to figure out the taxes in GA so I will take your word on the taxes there.

About $6000 (of the $9349) in Trumbull goes to the schools. Do you want me to believe that Alphareta GA has an equivalent school system to Trumbull. Do you further want me to believe that professionals* in the Atlanta area want to live in a town that puts so little to education? I doubt it.

* professionals and teachers always value education

[CTartist]

Originally Posted by kidyankee764

I’m not suggesting you believe anything about the schools, but I do know Alpharetta is a highly regarded community in Atlanta and is known across the metro to have good performing schools. Neither you or I can say yay or nay to that without having children in the school system. We can only look on paper at the cost of living differences between two highly regarded communities in their respective metro areas and try to make an apples to apples comparison. Here, it’s clear even the nicer Atlanta suburbs are overall significantly more affordable than in your average southwestern CT community.

Do they have 2 taxes down there. One for the schools and one for the houses?

Can you post the info on how you know the taxes are $2000 to $3000 and what are they for.

Thanks

[WouldLoveTo]

Originally Posted by JayCT

But most of those homes down south do not have basements. As the wife of my college friend who now lives in a Texas pointed out to me, the reason southern homes are so big is that they lack basements for storage and bonus rooms. They need to make up for that. That Trumbull home may be smaller but it likely has a big basement. Jay

Some southern homes have basements, but they are not as common as they are up here.

As much as I love and use my basement daily, I still need to run a dehumidifier in it when it's warm.
I still see bugs
I do have to be careful of what I store in there because of the above.
Basements are not full time living spaces unless you do a lot of work to them to make them temperate. And they obviously do not have the light that upper floors do, unless you are on a hill and it's a walkout.

Originally Posted by ayoskillz

Southern homes have bigger attics to store item's. Luckily my attic is a walk in so much easier to get in to and i have access from all upstairs bedrooms

I've also seen a lot more "bonus" rooms over garages in newer homes (down south). Seems like most of my northern friends who have opted for newer homes do not have this.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by WouldLoveTo

Some southern homes have basements, but they are not as common as they are up here.

As much as I love and use my basement daily, I still need to run a dehumidifier in it when it's warm.
I still see bugs
I do have to be careful of what I store in there because of the above.
Basements are not full time living spaces unless you do a lot of work to them to make them temperate. And they obviously do not have the light that upper floors do, unless you are on a hill and it's a walkout.




I've also seen a lot more "bonus" rooms over garages in newer homes (down south). Seems like most of my northern friends who have opted for newer homes do not have this.

People have been using basements for storing junk pretty much since homes began having them and for bonus rooms for probably more than 75 years. Your friends don’t need an above ground room because they have a basement and because new construction here tends to be more upscale. Jay