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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We looked in FCC but ended up just over the line in Arlington where are taxes are half the price of similar priced homes in FCC. I really like both jurisdictions. My kids do some camps and activities through Falls Church Rec since some are closer than parts of Arlington. Lots of good parks and cute walkable area. We can walk to the EFC metro. Good schools, tons of kids in our neighborhood, and both the Falls Church and Westover farmers markets are really nice. I suggest also looking in the parts of Arlington that border FCC since there is very little housing stock around here.[/quote]

Factually incorrect. Arlington property taxes are about 1% versus FCC at about 1.3%. So it is not "twice as much". Besides, Arlington houses are more expensive, even for smaller, older and lacking possibilities for upgrades or enlargement. This is the reason we bought in FCC, and have since loved it. We are white but consider ourselves diverse since we are both first generation immigrants from Eastern Europe.[/quote]

I’m the PP you’re responding to and it’s not just about rate. It’s also about how the assessment was done. I was house hunting in 2018 and 2019 and the taxes on similar priced homes was quite disparate. Consider 2 homes priced at $1m. If the FCC one is assessed at $1m x 1.3% tax, that is 13k/year in taxes. If the Arlington home gets assessed at only $850k (our home was originally assessed way below market rate) at 1%, that is $8,500/year in taxes. So not an actually double. But enough that it made hundreds of dollars difference in monthly payment. I mentioned in a prior response that our assessment has gone up a lot since the pandemic, so the tax difference may be smaller now. But I think because Arlington is bigger and its property values more all over the place, there was greater variation in assessed values.

It’s not a dig at FCC. We spend a lot of time there and I think would have been just as happy there if we had found a home in our price range. My advice still stands that inventory is very low and the tax rate is higher in FCC, so I think looking over the border near EFC or Westover isn’t a bad idea. Also, I haven’t found Arlington to be more expensive for older homes than FCC (I think the lack of inventory in FCC really ramps up prices). But do agree you get a bit more land for your money. I’ve noticed the lot sizes in FCC (around Broadmont) are larger than the generally 6k sq ft lots a few streets over in Arlington. [/quote]

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