Considering Moving to Waco and Would Like to Know About areas with NO School Districts (Austin: houseboat, established neighborhood)

[GSBones]

Strong likelihood of moving to Waco, and I have a slightly different topic about school districts.
--I'm trying to avoid living in one. My reasoning is, it should have lower taxes.

I'm a gay man about to retire from the Air Force, and my partner and I have Texas pretty high up on the list of where to move to after my retirement. (A combination of factors, weather, income tax, lower COL, family in the area, etc.)

We have no children, and no desire to adopt any, therefore we are not looking for a good school to move close to. Both of our career choices are pretty open, so distance to where we would work isn't a huge factor. Although, there is a pretty strong chance I'll end up at L-3 at some point.

We tend to like established neighborhoods that has had it's interior updated. We have already found quite a few online, so we know that they are out there.

I've seen all the posts about which ISD are good, but I haven't yet to find a map showing the school districts to avoid. If that makes any sense. lol.

Any help?

Thanks.

[Cyborg13]

I've been told by numerous people here that the Midway School District has much higher taxes than the others. I don't know firsthand as I live outside its area, but it seems to be the consensus among people that I talk to. Unfortunately, that is the vast majority of the 76712 zip code, which is where most of the nicest neighborhoods are. As far as finding somewhere with no district, I imagine you'd have to get outside the city limits at least.
L-3 is on the north end of town, so you might try the Elm Mott area (zip code 76640). Come to think of it, that may be outside the boundaries of any school district as it is unincorporated, so that may be right up your alley. Some of it is pretty run down, but you can find some nice places up there too.

[ChristieP]

Every bit of the state is in some school district. If it wasn't, then a child living there would have nowhere to go to public school!

[lonestar2007]

ChristieP is right, it doesn't matter where you live in the state, you will pay school taxes. You can go online and find the various counties you think you might be interested in and check their tax rates. The nicer the neighborhood and homes are, the more the assessment will be and of course, the higher the taxes.

High districts, poor districts, it doesn't matter, it all goes in one pot to be distributed. Check the county's tax rate, then find an area with houses that have low value. You cannot avoid school taxes, but you can pay a lower amount if that's the way you want to go.

[Trainwreck20]

Live on a houseboat .

There are people that do it. There are no property taxes on boats (only registrations) and the cost of a slip with power is relatively low. Ofc, you have to buy a boat and not mind living on one, but hey, there is a guy at our marina that does it.....

[lonestar2007]

LOL And just think, you can get rocked to sleep every night.

[GSBones]

Thanks for the suggestions people.
I understand that there is no place to NOT pay any school tax, but I know some places are higher than others because of schools in the district.
I am currently in IL (close to St. Louis, MO), and there are some very good schools in the area, and with it comes higher property taxes.

[Trainwreck20]

It is, ofc, a combination of rate and value. In the Austin area, the 'best' school district has the lowest school tax rate.....but the home values are through the roof.

[lonestar2007]

We have what is called the Robin Hood plan in TX. Maybe this will shed some insight into it for you.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...,d.b2U&cad=rja

[texasdiver]

The only way to reduce your tax burden is to move outside of an incorporated city. As others have previously mentioned, there are no areas in Texas that aren't within a school district. Some have higher or lower tax rates but they aren't that different so the housing value will affect taxes more than the specific district.

However you can avoid city taxes by moving out of the city. If you look at the typical property tax bill there are line items for school districts, city, and county. If you move out of an incorporated city you lose the city taxes but will still have the other two.

That said, you may incur other costs by moving to a rural area. Water and other utilities may be higher, garbage collection may be higher, internet service may be much higher and slower if you have to get it via microwave transmission as is the case in many rural areas, DirecTV may be your only cable option, and you may only have one choice of electrical provider and that will increase costs. You'll be at the mercy of the local volunteer fire department which are not as fast or professional as the city fire departments. And so forth. So there is a cost to moving to a rural area that when all is said and done, may outweigh the tax benefits of moving outside of the city.

In any event, if you want to be accessible to L3 and live outside of Waco then your best option is probably to look at the China Spring area to the NW of Waco. It is unincorporated so no city taxes. There is a wide spot in the road that is the actual town of China Spring but the whole area feeding into the China Spring schools is really considered China Spring.

On the other hand, if you want a more urban experience and are interested in older neighborhoods then just find a place within Waco proper and don't worry about the slight increase in taxes. There are many old established neighborhoods in Waco that are quite nice and convenient, especially if you aren't worried about schools. You should have a wealth of options within Waco.