In the process of relocating to Houston. Looking for a house. Learning that property taxes & insurance are insane in Houston. Seeing >$16k property taxes and >$6k insurance, not including flood insurance. Auto insurance is higher too. Is this normal?
So much money is thrown away in property taxes & insurances here. It seems ridiculous.
@f5 EXCELLENT assessment. McKinsey (along with another) was on a rampage in 2024/2025 with this reorg. Bottomline the vision was offshore everything for cost reason, then layer AI (Part 2 coming) in 2027. Cut the bottom 10% each year, replace with new mid career and limited new college hires (new are just unprepared). Strategically from a P/L view, this is the right thing to do. From a Organization Chevron way perspective...that is gone. We face 2030 serious declines in revenue and must base decisions on merit both projects, expansions and people for the future. Without giving anything away, India and offshore with grow...its almost a 3 for 1 in cost savings. As I keep saying Strategically Chevron will move away from northern California in total. Look for lowering headcount till 2030.
Wait until you get your July electric bill.
bring nose clips and smoke cigars to deal with Houston sewage stench
@km, you got triggered by a troll but sure let everyone know just who you are and how weak and gullible with your fiction based narrative on a site about layoffs.
@a9
Patri@t, you are unaware of the massive tax surplus the Republican governor has stockpiled from the taxes you claim are from the Democrats.
The Republican state government had a ~$65 billion dollar surplus of tax dollars that they p1$$ed in 2024, and the estimate surplus for 3025 is higher. So before you blame the democratic government in houston, you should read the public information on the tax surplus at the state level managed by the republicans.
I am not stating the democratic mayor and city council in Houston are wonderful, I am enlightening you to the amount of money the republican governor is spending on stupid stuff making his cronies richer!!
@fe
The only thing bad about Katy is the large number of Indians that live there. the schools are 40+%. The parents are horrible drivers and they do not follow the schools guidelines for taking turns in carlines. They think driving in Katy is like Mumbai, they need to leave their Indian culture behind. They are in Texas now and this is Trump's America now. I hope Trump starts cancelling green card applications so we can get the immigrants out of America.
@fn
Yes, I have a homestead exemption. but my taxes closer to 7K per year.
Are you buying a house that is new construction? The market is so soft for sellers, i would think you can get a good price on a existing home. Unless the new home has a ton of incentives.
@fe, do you have homestead exemption? For new purchases, no homestead exemption resets taxes at full assessed value, including MUD taxes.
@ap
I love in Katy Cinco’s ranch in a $600K house and I go not pay $15+ in taxes per year. So your numbers are either incorrect or you are looking for a higher cost home.
I will tell you I am very happy with the KISD, it is not perfect but they have a good curriculum and a lot of course for kids to explore their interests.
@fa, this is the way.
Buying makes little sense in Houston these days, especially if coming from CA. Mortgage, taxes and insurance are going to run you $6-7000 per month or more for a pretty crummy house. You can rent great houses in Katy for under $4000/month and never spend a penny on maintenance.
Most people keep their Danville house and rent it out for $6-8000/mo then just move back when they retire. This way you keep your CA tax assessment low - if you move back later it resets when you buy. Retire in Texas, take your severance and pension lump sum with no state income tax, wait one year, then move back to CA. It is a tried and true recipe.
For those transferring from San Ramon and Denver to Houston. Please be aware that what appears as an opportunity and a gesture that your a valued contributor may be quickly erased when the next consulting company personnel initiative is launched. The same consulting group provides Directors and Executive Level a road map whose principle objective is reduced costs and employee benefit liabilities. Wrapped in a modernization and inclusivity wrapping. It’s very cookie cuter and it’s principle targets are 3 primary groups (middle management that is +48 years of age), bloated IT, 2-7 year technical/engineering talent that is not mentored or believed to have growth potential.
So before buying a home probably prudent to realize that your an initiative away from major personal/professional disruption. Realize that Houston has thousands of talented unemployed people looking for work from said past initiatives and the merger/consolidation trends.
@cq is completely correct. Unless your goal is to live in Houston whether you work at Chevron or not, moving there for a job with this company is beyond stupid. More layoffs coming every year for the foreseeable future because our executives are too d-mb or too stubborn to realize offshoring everything is bound to fail.
That’s a huge risk to move and purchase when Chevron will undergo massive restructuring and changes in the near future. Rent and take 82 bus to work. Remember that those cushy days are almost over and you’ll be in hot HOUSTON
jesus, houston is a dump
and you are paying extra for that
what a miserably life you are going to have
State income tax in CA is more than $16,000 if you make around $260k on your W-2 and are married.
It’s not like insurance is cheap in California either
Sure sounds like rich-people problems. Hold my Shiner bock while I play my tiny little violin.
There are good schools in good neighborhoods much closer to downtown; you’ll never find the caliber of schools to match San Ramon in Texas.
Remember a couple points:
Just because your sold your House in CA for 700k +, doesn’t mean you have to spend the same for a house here. That is likely double the square footage of your CA home. Along energy prices are much cheaper here, repairs and maintenance are not and neither is insurance. Remember insurance is about the cost to rebuild the house… your high property value in CA was mainly the land due to its location (land here is much cheaper so it’s the structure that moves the dial). You could probably get a similar house to what you had for half the price, but most people making the move want an upgrade to make themselves (or their family) feel better about the move.
Katy, The Woodlands, Kingwood and a few other places have marked themselves as “good schools”. Probably to compensate for the terrible commute. Good is relative. People moving to TX talk as if if your kid is not in a 5 star rated school they will become dropouts…. 4 or even 3 star rated schools are probably better than the average in CA.
In CA big metro areas there are good areas to live and then one that are unaffordable and others that you don’t want to live. Houston has expanded quickly in the suburbs. Developments have very similar houses in similar price ranges because they are pretty much build by the same handful of builders. All have similar amenities nearby. It’s just the distance to the office that factors in.
Asking others where you should like is basically asking them where they live because everyone lives in the best place according to their own situation.
At the end of the day it is a temporary. You will be fine no matter where you need up, you have to balance price and commutes….
@ap why on earth would you want to anchor yourself to 1+ hours in a single direction to the office everyday? Seriously, look elsewhere. Or look in older neighborhoods where taxes are only 2.2% or less. You don't need the new build.
OP here. Looking at houses in the $600-700k range in Katy area. Good schools are a must have. Property taxes are almost 3%! $16k is very real. These are not $1+ Million houses. Sales tax is bad, but at least am not seeing "living wage surcharges" so far.
Houston and Texas for the matter is expensive by comparison to any other big city in America. It's just how they collect. Have you ever looked at local sales taxes. Much better off to pay the same and live in a nice city
The income taxes on a $400k salary would be much higher in Ca.
Look at all these tears. This is all you got to say? You do realize as the DEI do you even know who's your highest finances investor over you? government agencies. Do you know which government agencies hold most investment over you!? Democrats. So who's the mayor in charge for this city? Democrat who's majority of the city hall members? Democrats.
Buy less house. No need to be in downtown either. I live in old Pearland. 350k home with 5k in taxes, 2.4k windstorm insurance, 1.4k homeowners insurance, and $800 optional flood insurance. House is ~2250 sqft w/4 beds and 2.5 in a decent school district. ~35 minute commute. Gtfo with your 16k property tax bullsh-t. You're looking at homes over 1 million. Who are you even trying to impress here?
And just wait until summer when your main objective will be to not come in contact with the natural environment. You’ll live indoors and go air conditioned house, car, office, et al and completely avoid being outdoors for months.
OP
If your property taxes are >16K per year then the house your are looking at is valued at 1.5 million price. Poor yo!
The solution is to buy a less expensive house.
If your house is >1 million dollars then your insurance will go up in the 2 nd and 3rd years because $6,000 is your 1st year initial price.
My insurance went up 40% this year and i didn’t file any claims in the past 8 years.
Flood insurance only covers a maximum value up to maybe 300,000.
I don’t have flood insurance because my house didn’t flood during Harvey and if your house did not flood during Harvey then why buy it.
Welcome to Texas and happy you can afford a house with a value > $1 million price .
If you have kids in school, you will be surprised at the collapse of the public school system in Texas in the future.
The governor signed a law to provide $10,400 to each student if they go to a private school. The catch is the it is mostly Christian religious schools. Other religions are being blocked by the approval process at this time. Most initial 100,000 applications have been allocated.
The reason I say the collapse of the schools is because the state is paying out more money than is being taken in. It will be a mess
And we somehow brag about no State Income tax.....
I think to qualify for the "Homestead exemption" on property taxes, you have to wait until January 1st for it to become effective.