Maryland's Mobile Millionaires

[Anonymous]

Did Maryland *really* lose this much just based on wealthy people moving out of state? http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703976804575114241782001262.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_AboveLEFTTop

I find it hard to believe this information is accurate based on the state of the economy and how the government spends money. Any thoughts?

[Anonymous]

Why is this so hard to believe? If the taxes increase enough to make it economically rational to relocate, certainly some people will do so. A loss of $1 billion in tax base (not revenues) is only 1000 millionaires moving. Since a lot of Maryland millionaires are probably located in the DC suburbs, a move to Virginia is a pretty easy one. One of the problems with seeking to raise revenue through just targeting the wealthiest taxpayers is that there are few of them, they have a lot of money at stake, and they have the most ability to relocate. Not saying the rich should not pay more in taxes, but it is easier to kill the golden goose than you think.

[Anonymous]

I remember reading an article in Slate that suggested that the people probably didn't move, they just became poor (or at least no longer millionaires).

http://www.slate.com/id/2223481/

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure what is going on, but I can tell you that in Virginia which has lower taxes the real estate market is heating up. My sister represents banks as a realtor for their listings and she said MD and many parts of DC are a disaster compared to VA. Their listings in VA turn in a matter of days, in MD it is a matter of months if at all. Not sure if this means there is an exodus out of MD into VA.

We want to sell our house in VA and upgrade and we know we can get it sold in a matter of a week, but there is NOTHING and I mean NOTHING to buy in Virginia and we're not comfortable getting into a bidding war in this market given the instability of the economy. There is little inventory and things are getting snatched up fast. We thought of heading to MoCO, but after we investigated the taxes, we decided against it,not worth the fact that our money could go farther, but our taxes would negate tat.

[Anonymous]

An extra 2% tax on $1M is $20k. If I knew at least $20k/yr additional was about to be taken from me due to a tax law, I'd hire a better/new accountant or tax lawyer to figure out how to pay less taxes overall. It'd probably cost less to do that than to pay the additional tax. Funny that politicians assume that the top wage earners will sit back and go along with new taxes. They're the top 1% for a reason.

[Anonymous]

This is accurate and good for them. I am one of the tired folks who is sick of having my taxes raised. Democrats need to understand that those who generate wealth are not going to sit back and let their money be stolen. See California for an other example of people just saying no to having to shoulder every financial underperformer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure what is going on, but I can tell you that in Virginia which has lower taxes the real estate market is heating up. My sister represents banks as a realtor for their listings and she said MD and many parts of DC are a disaster compared to VA. Their listings in VA turn in a matter of days, in MD it is a matter of months if at all. Not sure if this means there is an exodus out of MD into VA.

We want to sell our house in VA and upgrade and we know we can get it sold in a matter of a week, but there is NOTHING and I mean NOTHING to buy in Virginia and we're not comfortable getting into a bidding war in this market given the instability of the economy. There is little inventory and things are getting snatched up fast. We thought of heading to MoCO, but after we investigated the taxes, we decided against it,not worth the fact that our money could go farther, but our taxes would negate tat.

Really? There are more than a dozen houses in my VA neighborhood ranging from $600 to $3 mil. They are all sitting and none of them are moving.

[Anonymous]

Look, if you earn more than a million a year, you already have more than one residence. You just change your "primary" residence, get a Driver's License and register to vote, voila. Even odds it is in Florida, no state income tax.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, if you earn more than a million a year, you already have more than one residence. You just change your "primary" residence, get a Driver's License and register to vote, voila. Even odds it is in Florida, no state income tax.

What is the definition of "residence"? Is there a federal definition that assures you have exactly one state of residence, or is it determined state by state, in which case how do they stop you from telling each place you have a house that it is not your principal residence?

I'll try to do a GoogleSearch on this, but odds-on someone out there knows more than I'll be able to find on my own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure what is going on, but I can tell you that in Virginia which has lower taxes the real estate market is heating up. My sister represents banks as a realtor for their listings and she said MD and many parts of DC are a disaster compared to VA. Their listings in VA turn in a matter of days, in MD it is a matter of months if at all. Not sure if this means there is an exodus out of MD into VA.

We want to sell our house in VA and upgrade and we know we can get it sold in a matter of a week, but there is NOTHING and I mean NOTHING to buy in Virginia and we're not comfortable getting into a bidding war in this market given the instability of the economy. There is little inventory and things are getting snatched up fast. We thought of heading to MoCO, but after we investigated the taxes, we decided against it,not worth the fact that our money could go farther, but our taxes would negate tat.

Really? There are more than a dozen houses in my VA neighborhood ranging from $600 to $3 mil. They are all sitting and none of them are moving.

The average days on market in NOVA is now at 30 days (not anecdotal, but a real statistic posted by the NVAR), this is a pretty steady clip, especially considering all of the short sales dragging that number up. Your neighborhood is NOT average. Of course homes in the million dollar range sit longer, they ALWAYS sit longer. I don't think given the unease in the economy people are scrambling to pick up huge homes with huge mortgages. Us for example, can afford a mortgage of around 800k financed (approved for much more) we are keeping our purchase price right around 500K with 20% down just to stay conservative and have options in case we lose our jobs, we don't want to be shackled to a big home and big monthly mortgage. I can attest to the FACT that houses in that range are moving in days, at most a couple of weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Look, if you earn more than a million a year, you already have more than one residence. You just change your "primary" residence, get a Driver's License and register to vote, voila. Even odds it is in Florida, no state income tax.

What about kids and public schools? How can they cross jurisdictions so easily and state lines? I'm sure there are controls in place to make this harder than it appears. We live in a high rent district and I don't see a bunch of cars driving around with FL or even Delaware plates, so I can't imagine that this practice is common place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure what is going on, but I can tell you that in Virginia which has lower taxes the real estate market is heating up. My sister represents banks as a realtor for their listings and she said MD and many parts of DC are a disaster compared to VA. Their listings in VA turn in a matter of days, in MD it is a matter of months if at all. Not sure if this means there is an exodus out of MD into VA.

We want to sell our house in VA and upgrade and we know we can get it sold in a matter of a week, but there is NOTHING and I mean NOTHING to buy in Virginia and we're not comfortable getting into a bidding war in this market given the instability of the economy. There is little inventory and things are getting snatched up fast. We thought of heading to MoCO, but after we investigated the taxes, we decided against it,not worth the fact that our money could go farther, but our taxes would negate tat.

Really? There are more than a dozen houses in my VA neighborhood ranging from $600 to $3 mil. They are all sitting and none of them are moving.

The average days on market in NOVA is now at 30 days (not anecdotal, but a real statistic posted by the NVAR), this is a pretty steady clip, especially considering all of the short sales dragging that number up. Your neighborhood is NOT average. Of course homes in the million dollar range sit longer, they ALWAYS sit longer. I don't think given the unease in the economy people are scrambling to pick up huge homes with huge mortgages. Us for example, can afford a mortgage of around 800k financed (approved for much more) we are keeping our purchase price right around 500K with 20% down just to stay conservative and have options in case we lose our jobs, we don't want to be shackled to a big home and big monthly mortgage. I can attest to the FACT that houses in that range are moving in days, at most a couple of weeks.

You had said you were looking to upgrade. So that makes sense now that you are looking for a house in the 500 range. NOVA has very few of those that are single family and don't need substantial upgrades.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look, if you earn more than a million a year, you already have more than one residence. You just change your "primary" residence, get a Driver's License and register to vote, voila. Even odds it is in Florida, no state income tax.

What about kids and public schools? How can they cross jurisdictions so easily and state lines? I'm sure there are controls in place to make this harder than it appears. We live in a high rent district and I don't see a bunch of cars driving around with FL or even Delaware plates, so I can't imagine that this practice is common place.

It doesn't have to be common, we are talking a thousand million dollar earners or so, right? Not net worth, income.

[Anonymous]

The list of wealthiest counties in the country just came out - includes 7 VA counties and NONE in Maryland. Montgomery has been on that list for YEARS, but no longer. DH and I thought that was really telling.