What are the taxes in Portland, OR?

Should I buy a house in Portland Oregon? Or is it better to rent and save money?Are property taxes reasonable?

• I don't have kids, I don't have debt , and I have been responseiable enough to aviod responsiabilty. Maybe it is time to make a change. Get married buy a house and do what ever poeple do when they have those things.

• Answer:

  Interesting line of questions. Here are my thoughts. 1. Should you buy in Portland Oregon? Think about where you want to be in 5 years. If it's not Portland then consider looking for where you really want to live before buying the house. If your serious about the wife thing then you may also want to think about the kids thing and consider do you want a house in a neighborhood with good schools close by. If it's just for you then you will want to look for a smaller house close to the things you like and don't worry about the wife and kids till later when your serious about that. 2. Is it better to rent and save money. There are many different arguments but in the long run the answer is No. Think of buying a house as a long term savings commitment that you will make somewhere between 3 to 6 percent a year on your investment over time. Remember you rent and you get nothing but your deposit back at the end. You buy and you can sell at a profit at the end. BUT the important think to remember there is that you HAVE to take care of the house and property which also takes an investment of time and money. But in the long run it does pay you back. 3. Are property taxes reasonable? Specific to Portland I don't know I'm not from that area but generally speaking most home taxes just get figured into the cost of the home overall and you never really see it. But the other thing to remember here is that you do get to take the loan interest off of your income taxes at the end of the year. The best thing to go to a few banks and ask for forms to get pre-approval for some amount of a home loan before you start house shopping or you can also find a morgage broker and they can search rates for you and help you through the process (at a cost). But then you will know up front what your approved for and how much house you can afford. Also, while moving more than once or twice can be a pain, I would consider buying below what your approved at at least the first time to keep payments low. Also, don't get pulled in my many of the gimmic loans out there where you only pay the interest. They may keep your payment lower but they also prevent you from building any equity. I would consider more of a 30 year fixed rate loan and only buy based off of a home value that I can afford based on that. As far as get married and so on, don't do that just on a whim. It will only cause you pain and cost you money in the long run. If you truly love someone then think get married not just because of some artifial time constraint. Who cares if your not married if your happy. And as for doing whatever people do when they do get married and get a house. It really only changes as much as you let it. Marrige doesn't change things much except you don't have to drive to her house to pick her up. Kids are what change things. As for the house, it will eat up some time and some money to take care of. Other than that it's a good investment.