[Caymus]

It is not uncommon for insurance and property taxes to count for 50% of home ownership costs. This is contributing to sales of existing home at the lowest level since 1995.

Except for a few cases it seems most of the homes are in relatively modest areas.

The Wall Street Journal article on the Drudge Report was not behind a paywall (at least for me).

wsj.com

[Blueblaze]

I wish I could say that's not normal. But my folks paid insurance and taxes for 50 years on their dream home they built in 1967 for under $20K, with a $100/mo mortgage. When Dad died, we bulldozed the house and sold the LAND for $450K. They'd been paying five times their mortgage for that house, 20 years past the end of that mortgage. If we're lucky, that $450K might cover Mom's assisted living apartment for the next five. And only because the gooberment can no longer steal their monthly ransom from her on a house she paid $20K for.

There is no more evil, corrupt, and regressive tax than property tax. It's the only tax that taxes you -- over and over -- on money you haven't even yet received. And it's decided entirely by some un-elected bureaucrat, the same as the Roman tax collectors did it 2000 years ago in the Bible.

[BrianL99]

Originally Posted by Caymus

It is not uncommon for insurance and property taxes to count for 50% of home ownership costs. This is contributing to sales of existing home at the lowest level since 1995.

Except for a few cases it seems most of the homes are in relatively modest areas.

The Wall Street Journal article on the Drudge Report was not behind a paywall (at least for me).

wsj.com

The Drudge Report is not all that credible.

[jimhoward]

It would certainly be true in the villages I would think as more than half of homeowners pay cash for their homes and have no mortgage.

[Bay Kid]

Taxes. We really don't own our home. Just stop paying your taxes and they will take it for pennies on the dollar.