My tiny little house was $70k in 2004 when we started our mortgage.
I think of it as a $70k house.
That means when we get a bill for near $6k for things like the duct work, I see it as a 8.5% the value of the house and balk at it not adding value commensurately.
But it's NOT a $70k house any more.
Zillow thinks it's $174k now.
The county is taxing us as if it's worth $152.5k
So the ducts were closer to 4%. That fits into "maintenance" rather than "modification" in my brain.
It's strange to be tossing these big numbers around.
Oh, the new ducts do seem to be doing their job. There's that!
Housing prices here in Oz are nuts, compared to those numbers.
ReplyDeleteA house that my wife bought in 1987 for under $50k is now valued at $600k+.
The RBA (Reserve Bank of Australia - the Oz equivalent of the US Federal Reserve, I guess) has an inflation calculator that says the amount of cash to buy the house in 1987 is now equivalent to under $141k).
Proof that government inflation figures should never be trusted, I suppose.
$69,900 in 2004 is $116,076.55 today according to the official inflation numbers.
DeleteAt one point, between then and now, the value of the place was $53k so I am not complaining.
The people who really need to complain are the people who sold us the In-Law's place. The $87k from selling their place in Iowa and buying the house up the street from here is valued at $194 by Zillow and $167k by the county. Inflation says it should only be $106,750.
I'm guessing that would make a big difference in property taxes.
ReplyDeleteWe don't have that tax per se, but pay "council rates" for local government services (rubbish collection, street lighting, road maintenance, security patrols, etc) - about $2,200 per year on the house we live in. It's assessed as a percentage of GRV - Gross Rental Value, how much rent the property could attract over a year - which is reassessed every five years by some department in the state government. I think they pluck it out of their asses, because it never seems to match reality - just like those "official" inflation numbers are believable.