States with Lowest Cost of Living; Cheap Land

One of my brothers and his family are moving from Alaska to Michigan (they've bought the house that his wife's grandmother used to own).  I'd still like to know what the property taxes run there -- as I said in another post above:  "My thought on taxes is that with the economy bad and getting worse, a location with high property taxes is a bad place to be, because even if your property has no mortgage, if you can't pay the taxes you can still lose it.  I'm not so concerned about sales or income taxes, because if you don't have any money to speak of, you don't pay those.  The main thing is to have a piece of land that's paid for, and that you can afford the property taxes on no matter what happens to your income, so you have a place for shelter and to raise your food." 

Kathleen

The taxes in Michigan, largely, depend upon the location you choose.  The closer you get to the big hubs: Greater Detroit area (spans parts of 4 counties), Bay City, Ann Arbor, Traverse City, etc) the higher the cost of land and the taxes. 

We live in farm country and pay around $3000 per year on our small farm (but, we built this home 7 years ago... in a year with a higher tax basis).  We have friends in the North Central LP who pay $1100 per year for their 80 acre homestead.  Many Counties are bringing the taxable values down and people are seeing a reduction in thier property taxes.  On the other hand, I have a friend building a LARGE home in an expensive area and I expect her taxes to be north of $12K per year.

If you select rural communities at least 30minutes from moderate sized cities, you will see wonderful opportunities and low taxes.  Mecosta County is a nice central area and it is within 45 minutes of Grand Rapids, Mt Pleasant and about 1.5 hours from Traverse City, Kalamazoo/Battle Creek and the Lansing Area.  Beautiful country with lots of good agricultural land.

That's interesting -- my brother and his family are moving to Mecosta County!  In fact, IIRC, that's the name of the little town where they've bought my sister-in-law's grandmother's former home.

Kathleen

Also check to see if your state (or state you're looking at) has a special tax status for agricultural land.  In Texas, getting agricultural status on your land can cut your property taxes in half or more, depending on the value of the land and the value of your home (value of home is not affected by ag status).  Also in Texas, once you get ag status you can change from agriculture to wildlife management, which is maintaining and improving habitat for wildlife, which keeps your tax value the same as for ag.  I currently have ag status and am trying to get wildlife management status.  Unfortunately the change is not automatic, there's an approval process. 

There's also special tax status for lumber production; I think most states have these different tax categories for land which is used for ag or forest.

Ludi Ludi wrote:There's also special tax status for lumber production; I think most states have these different tax categories for land which is used for ag or forest.

This is a horrid system because it gives people the impression that farmers and timber are getting a special break or subsidy. The reality is they are being over taxed even at the reduced tax rate. Land should not be taxed. Land soaks up carbon, cleans the air of dust, noise, is scenic which draws tourists, provides a water shed storage, etc. It is people that should be taxed. The homes and such are what put the burden on the system, not the land.

Write your representatives and local papers. Change the system.

I'm pretty happy that my state gives an incentive for people to care for their land for wildlife.

Ludi Ludi wrote:I'm pretty happy that my state gives an incentive for people to care for their land for wildlife.

Perhaps I wasn't clear enough. Right now the states over tax land owners. Real estate taxes are based on "highest use" assessment which is how much the land would sell for completely developed. Yet the land puts no burden on the town and should not be taxed at all. The land is a benefit to the town and the state. Don't tax the land. Tax the activities. A home should be taxed because of the need for roads, plowing, town clerk and most of all schools. Schools are about 90% of our town's budget as an example. The land should not be taxed to pay for the schools.

The current real estate tax system was developed because it used to be that land was wealth. Now people have stocks, bonds, IRAs, 401Ks, etc. Those don't get taxed. I don't have those but my land is my savings, my retirement (never will happen), my insurance, my health plan. And I get taxed on it to pay for other people's kids to go to school and not learn much. That is bass akwards. The land should not be taxed. Or, if you want to tax assets then start taxing everything, stocks, bonds, IRAs, savings accounts, 401Ks, gold, jewelry, cars, furs, etc every year just like land gets taxed.

The real estate taxation system is a means of transferring money from the rural folks to the city folks. They are making us pay for their townie benefits.

That's fine, that's your crusade, go for it! 

Kathleen Sanderson wrote:
That's interesting -- my brother and his family are moving to Mecosta County!  In fact, IIRC, that's the name of the little town where they've bought my sister-in-law's grandmother's former home.

Kathleen

I'm sure they will love it.  Mecosta is surrounded by inland lakes, National/State/County forested lands, and good farmlands.  We have a place about 20 miles north of Mecosta.  It is beautiful, quiet country.

Suzanne

pubwvj wrote:
The real estate taxation system is a means of transferring money from the rural folks to the city folks. They are making us pay for their townie benefits.

I get taxed about $4 an acre per year on my rural land. That goes to a paved road that runs about 4000 feet along side my two parcels and a gravel road that splits them, limited fire/police/ambulance service, snow plowing, and other general services provided by the county. If I put a house on it or make other improvements, the tax bill goes up quickly as you suggested it should (houses are taxed at a higher rate to deal with the fact that houses contain people, and people cause problems). I think the real objection (where one exists) is from the millage rates and assessment system. In my case, the land is considered rural and of low value, the millage is not high, and the taxes are low to match. I don't feel like I am subsidizing the city folk - just maintaining a paved road and plowing it when the snow builds up is pretty expensive. 

I think the taxes on our ag land are similarly low, Jonathan.  They are based on the productive value of the land which is next to nothing.  The home and improvements are taxed at the usual rate, however.

Another vote for Missouri! 
Land is cheap and beautiful, no building codes, and permies seem to be slowly taking over the state... yay!

It all depends on what kind of lifestyle you want to live. 

Personally I think Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas are too fossil fuel dependent and the culture is not ready to adapt to something different.

The great lakes, including Michigan have a lot going for them.  Missouri, Kentucky, and Tennessee are very affordable states with good freshwater streams.

We moved to Missouri from up state NY because of the taxes.  We have 30 acres and the taxes are $15.33.  With a house it'll be around $450.  No  inspectors here, we build the way we want.  Gas is cheap, food is cheap.  The land is beautiful and the 4 seasons are quite nice.  Our land was $1400 per acre with a year 'round creek and spring.  We love it here!

This is for Leah Sattler:  What do you know about southeast Oklahoma?  Near the Arkansas boarder?  I understand that Oklahoma has a personal property tax which means they can tax furniture,garden equipment and other things like that.  True or not true?  I am retireed and would like to move from here on the Gulf Coast of Texas in the Houston area to somewhere like the southeast part of Oklahoma or the southwest part of Arkansas.  Comments?  Advice?  Help?

You can buy land in the $1,000.00-$1,500.00 an acre range in Alabama or Mississippi. I am talking about wooded land, nice tracts.