Interstate Mods - I'll go First

[bugsbunny]

As we get serious in the next two years or so to downsize, we will tell the realtors little house, big barn - or probably more like itty bitty house, gigantic barn!

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by bugsbunny

As we get serious in the next two years or so to downsize, we will tell the realtors little house, big barn - or probably more like itty bitty house, gigantic barn!

I think this is the current trend of the next generation of retirees needs. I have a different name, same idea - Mini-Mouse-house + Gargantulan-garage

Less pain to maintain, more toy to enjoy.

[Hittenstiehl]

Alex that was a very impressive post of organization. Very impressed.

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by Hittenstiehl

Alex that was a very impressive post of organization. Very impressed.

Thank you. It did not happen overnight. 20 yrs. of living in the garage will do that to you (figuratively, of course, my wife still sleeps with me in the regular house)

I am glad I did not post my closet pics. Coz then all you sane folks who are not so obsessed are really going to think I belong in the big-house with big-bird. My wife & I are very compatible, she can make a mess, I can not, she cannot clean, I can. So she makes all the mess in the kitchen, then I take over to clean. So long as she feeds me, I am happy to clean up after her

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Alex AVI

... I said I can live in a, 1,600 sq.ft. home with a 1,000 sq.ft. 4-car garage. The problem is no tract or custom builders would build such a small home with a 4-car garage. And of course wife balked at small home. So, we ended up compromising - I still got my man-cave 1,100 sq.ft 4-car and she got a 3,500 sq.ft. home out of which we really only use 900 sq.ft. So I end up spending all my time cleaning the underutilized parts of house, just coz I am so OCD about cleaning. The 1,100 sq.ft. garage is the MOST utilized space in the house, 100% of the sq. footage is used. And now with AI, I practically live there. I don't even have time to clean the house anymore.

Just so scary crazy your story is just so much like mine

(1) I don't want to have to clean a large house
(2) I don't want to air condition a large house
(3) I don't want to furnish a large house
(4) Most importantly, I DON'T WANT TO PAY REAL ESTATE TAXES ON A LARGE HOUSE THAT I'M NOT USING.

This past week, I just started working with a Nevada company for the first time in my career. At first glance, your tax structure is quite similar to that of Texas - no personal income tax, but you have a franchise structure, and I'm bettin' that your real estate taxes look like a cross between hell and a dog's breakfast.

Depending on our jurisdiction, our annual real estate tax can easily exceed 3%. Some of them approach 4%. We chose our area in part because the taxes are slightly below 3%, but not much.

With a large house, that's a hell of a lot of tax money that is being put toward nothing when it could be put toward something LIKE AN AIRSTREAM INTERSTATE.

Seriously, the incremental annual tax savings on our smaller house vs. a standard issue McMansion pretty much covers all the improvements that we've done to our Interstate in the last 3.5 years. This will be even more true going forward given Trump's changes to the tax code.

The problem in Houston is that EVERYONE is pushing the public toward larger houses. The builders want higher profits. The real estate agents want higher commissions. The munis want higher tax revenues. The furniture stores want higher receipts. It's a hot mess.

Garage space is appraised and taxed at approximately 25% of the rate of "inhabitable square footage". This is a no-brainer.

[Boxster1971]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

.... This past week, I just started working with a Nevada company for the first time in my career. At first glance, your tax structure is quite similar to that of Texas - no personal income tax, but you have a franchise structure, and I'm bettin' that your real estate taxes look like a cross between hell and a dog's breakfast.



Depending on our jurisdiction, our annual real estate tax can easily exceed 3%. Some of them approach 4%. We chose our area in part because the taxes are slightly below 3%, but not much. ....

.

Do I understand right? You are paying 3-4% on the appraised value of your home in taxes each year? That just doesn't sound right to me.

[InterBlog]

Originally Posted by Boxster1971

Do I understand right? You are paying 3-4% on the appraised value of your home in taxes each year? That just doesn't sound right to me.

Yyyyyyup. Read it and weep. This is what we endure in lieu of state income taxes.

Personally I vastly prefer our system, for the simple reason that, unlike income taxes, it cannot be cheated, and because it is a potent stabilizing mechanism - it basically annihilates the kind of senseless real estate speculation that can unhinge the market and cause bubbles such as what almost killed America in 2008. The Texas economy largely kept America afloat for a critical period of time during 2008-2009.

Some of this tax stuff is deceiving because of the off-book, tiddly-winks way that we pay certain fees. For instance, here are our rates below, but do you see that PID line with zeros in it? That's happening because that particular "tax" is administered differently and paid separately. Account for that, and we are close enough to 3% so that I budget for 3%.

Other local jurisdictions I've looked at are in excess of 3%. There's a certain amount of tax competition that occurs because people want to live in preferred areas, so they are willing to pay higher property taxes in those areas.

[InterBlog]

I missed my edit window on the above, but let me give you another small example of my cost-benefit thinkin'.

Do you remember that there was a poster here recently that had the username Natuzzi? And I noted (I think it was on the Atlas thread) that Natuzzi is the name of a high-end Italian furniture manufacturer.

Well, I know that because we bought a very expensive Natuzzi sleeper sofa. The quality is exquisite - it puts all other such devices to shame.

But the reason why we bought it actually had more to do with property taxes than bling. Conventional thinking would have us buy a house with +1 bedrooms so that we could accommodate guests. But +1 bedrooms comes with a big property tax hit in our area. So instead of doing that, I bought a hella expensive pull-out sofa, one that any guest should feel lucky to sleep on. And when there are no guests, that room doubles as our exercise room.

The corresponding real estate tax savings have almost paid for that expensive Natuzzi twice over by this time. Plus I have this wonderful furniture to show for that money. If I'd instead paid real estate taxes, I'd have less than nothing to show for it, because I would have had to pay the taxes and pay for a conventional big bed in addition to the taxes.

Moral of the story: Small adjustments in behavior and paradigm perception can make a big difference in outcome.

[Lotus54]

We (still) don’t have state income tax, but our property tax rate is about 1.2% Including school levys.

Of course, alcohol is very highly taxed- I’d rather see luxuries like alcohol taxed more than essentials (I brew my own beer, so dont’ Buy much alcohol either).

Our house is quite small and garage isn’t big enough (I have the motorcycle problem...). AND it isn’t worth all that much.
Once reason I could do fine not making a load of money (I could have made well over twice as much in the private sector), way cheaper than the city.
I’ve never lived in a place with AC. Only about 3 days a year do I wish I had it. Living close to the Straits that stays a constant temperature has it advantages.


I do wish my garage was tall enough to bring the Interstate into for working on it etc. That would certainly make things nicer. I am looking into extending it- but may run into zoning issues and setbacks etc. (Live in town)

Mark

[Alex AVI]

Originally Posted by InterBlog

(1) I don't want to have to clean a large house
(2) I don't want to air condition a large house
(3) I don't want to furnish a large house
(4) Most importantly, I DON'T WANT TO PAY REAL ESTATE TAXES ON A LARGE HOUSE THAT I'M NOT USING.

Garage space is appraised and taxed at approximately 25% of the rate of "inhabitable square footage". This is a no-brainer.

#1-#4 - yeah, tell me 'bout it. Ready to downsize, just not downgrade.

Our RE tax fall between 2.5-3.5% of assessed value, which is 35% of current value with 3% max annual cap. It is actually much better than where I came from (Chicago & SF Bay Area). We got 10-12% raise by eliminating state income tax & pay 50% less RE RE tax & paid 50% less for comparable house/location.

[Tincampers]

House = 650 sq ft. Garage = 1200 sq ft. Can’t get the Interstate in the garage so added it’s own carport. TN has no income tax but sales tax is 9.5%. Our RE taxes is $600 for house, garage and 13 acres.

[InterBlog]

Obviously we've got a collection of truly great minds thinking alike here on the house:garage ratio.

And speaking of garages and mods generally, there are mods we do to our Interstates, and then there are mods that we do BECAUSE we've done mods to our Interstates.

Case in point on the latter. Through an unsatisfying sequence of events, we (1) ended up with not one but two de-installed Dometic refrigerators (blog post here). They both re-commenced working after we learned of the burping technique.

We also ended up with (2) a de-installed but fairly new and perfectly good Lifeline AGM battery, expensive little sucker that it is. That because it was displaced by our lithium system.

We also have (3) an ongoing dispute with Sears due to a Kenmore Elite refrigerator that is under warranty that they can't (or won't) fix. Even if we end up taking Sears to court, which is looking more and more likely, we will continue to have an ongoing interim need for a refrigerator.

We also have (4) a very resourceful family member (LB_3) who is sick and tired of living out of just one of the two available Dometics, as we have been doing for three months now.

We also (5) live in one of the country's most vulnerable areas for hurricanes.

Put all that mess ^^ together and stir vigorously. What comes of it is shown in the attached photo of a work-in-progress. LB_3 got a wild hair yesterday and decided that he wanted to build a Dometic condo. Sort of like a cat condo, except for propane refrigerators instead of cats, and without the beige carpeting up the sides.

It's going to have a roof that will hold a couple of propane bottles, and it will be trimmed out nicely. I will stain and seal it to look like an industrial chic piece of furniture. During the next big hurricane, we'll be able to run a sizable fridge capacity off-grid using propane, but in the meantime, we can plug in and double our current fridge capacity while we continue to do battle with Sears.

This is not the kind of contraption that anyone in their right mind would set out to make intentionally, but given that we already own all the parts, it makes sense. I had originally planned to sell one or both of the Dometics on Craigslist, but I would not get what they are worth, and we don't otherwise have a fridge in our garage, so here we are.

This has wheels, too, so that it can be moved around as needed.

[wachuko]

Your garages put mine to shame...

On the house and garage... I too wanted the same. Even got a property (some 5 acres) 15 years ago with the intent to build my dream home... a small house with a huge garage...



Got as far as to clear 2 acres a few years after I bought it...



Even started making mock-ups









But wife and kids love where we are and the dream of building just faded into nothingness... we sold the property last year and that is how we got the AI...

I ended up getting a low height two post lift and made it work with what I had at home... made several holes on the floor to be able to move it around





Here, helping a friend with his car...



I am always in the garage doing something... but it is a mess... I would take a weekend (or two) and take everything out, clean, organize... only to have to do that again in a few months...





I still tell my wife that for the new house I want something like what I wanted to build in the property... her reaction is always "what new house!!?? We are not moving!"

[rowiebowie]

Not enough garage. But you'e getting close. Those Porsche's need a home as much as you do.


More cowbell.

[rowiebowie]

Interblog,


Your Kenmore situation is past ridiculous. Too bad the fix for your compressor fridge is not as simple as a "burp". Guess there is something to be said for the simple design of absorption fridges.

[bugsbunny]

Awesome recycling and reuse with the fridges! It is nice to have a garage fridge!

[Tincampers]

30x40 pole barn garage. 3 10’ bays and 1 10’ shop area. This is where the Goldwing lives for now. Thinking of converting this area into man cave. Sorry, all my Porsche’s were at the cleaners😎.

[Lotus54]

I don’t want to show my garage.
Two motorcycle full lifts, 3 welders (MIG TIG Gas) Press, SnapOn rollaway, a BUNCH of motorcycles (2 waiting restoration, 1 in the middle of overhaul), air compressor, spares for all the vehicles (fairly well organized), ‘cherry picker’, wheel balancer...dang. Plus all the usual ‘garage’ stuff.

Too hot the last couple of days to do much later in the afternoon (for me). I just mowed the law, already 68º out there! Cooking! (It has been in the 80’s which is darn hot for here).

Maybe I spend too much time out goofing off...

Mark

[Tincampers]

Originally Posted by Lotus54

I don’t want to show my garage.
Two motorcycle full lifts, 3 welders (MIG TIG Gas) Press, SnapOn rollaway, a BUNCH of motorcycles (2 waiting restoration, 1 in the middle of overhaul), air compressor, spares for all the vehicles (fairly well organized), ‘cherry picker’, wheel balancer...dang. Plus all the usual ‘garage’ stuff.

Too hot the last couple of days to do much later in the afternoon (for me). I just mowed the law, already 68º out there! Cooking! (It has been in the 80’s which is darn hot for here).

Maybe I spend too much time out goofing off...

Mark

Ha! Notice how far away I am taking the picture? There is a good reason for that. I’d like to modify the roofline over the middle garage and add a 10’ tall door.

[wachuko]

Originally Posted by rowiebowie

Not enough garage. But you'e getting close. Those Porsche's need a home as much as you do.


More cowbell.

Only three left...and a '81 Fiat Spider rusting outside (keep forgetting to put it on craiglist to get rid of it) got rid of all the motorcycles and kept one (well, two, cousin gave me back the one I gave him, so something else I need to put on craiglist)... Down to one fridge in the garage as well... I am trying, but man I am so bad on this... I would work, fix it and walk away for someone else to clean up and organize... problem is, there is nobody else to do that

I am making sure not to do the same with the AI... any project there gets finished or at a state where the AI is always ready to go...

I just need to address the mount of the inverter...

And figure out why my chassis battery was at 12.1 volts this morning ...and yes, it was plugged into 15amp outlet...