In-person ERE Laboratory (become jacob's neighbor)

Where are you and where are you going?
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Steve Austin
Posts: 177
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:17 am

Post by Steve Austin »

spawned from the Nullhof thread...
ERE says: Anyone reading this can buy a travel trailer for $5000 and become my direct neighbor (space is open) if they so choose. The park has room for 4 right now. We can't grow much but there's an industrial lot next door which will allow for mobile construction projects. Now, is anyone willing to move here?
Question: Does your facility only rent to trailers? ... Also, what is going on with the next door "mobile construction projects"?
ERE answers: Travel trailers, fifth wheels, motorhomes, truck campers, and [unmobile] mobile homes (they occasionally go up for sale). The next door address is a holding facility for big machinery, old trucks, and various junk. They also have buildings. Some of the people over here store their trucks/boats over there.


Steve Austin
Posts: 177
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:17 am

Post by Steve Austin »

I believe you said your rent is in the ballpark of $250/mo. Would you elaborate on CA state income / capital gains / interest-dividend taxes? Are you able to finesse things like you can for US income taxes / capital gains / dividends?
I'm on the east coast right now, and (other than the weather and the ERE west coast meetups) I can't imagine many reasons to trade it for the west coast. Could the financial condition of the state drive costs/taxes up, and make CA a lesser location for ERE RCs?
I'm inclined to consider further north. Are there any Oregon meetups planned? I might like to do some reconnaissance "travel" out there. I'm a small town kind of guy, temporarily waging urban warfare. What intel do folks have on small towns in the nw coastal US / sw coastal CANADA? (Quick note: I visited Victoria BC in my youth, summer 1989, and it has never lost the title of Most Beautiful City Have Seen. I would not mind being in century biking range of Victoria.)
ERE, what is your rough timeline (months? several years?) for CA? I recall that there is a very important constraint (DW) related to a particular line of work. I hope she can give me a pass for labeling her a (very important ERE) constraint. ;-)


George the original one
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Location: Wettest corner of Orygun

Post by George the original one »

I've been thinking about the tax situation for Oregon/Washington. It's very hard to finesse the Oregon income tax, but Washington income tax is still nonexistent. Oregon sales tax is nonexistent, but Washington sales tax is steadily rising (particularly where people are concentrated). Property tax, in my opinion, is relatively equivalent between the two states along the border.
Therefore an optimum situation is to reside in Washington and shop in Oregon. There are a number of communities along the Columbia River with bridges to the Oregon side which facilitate such arrangements: Ilwaco/Long Beach, Longview/Kelso, Vancouver (not Canada, eh?), Stevenson, White Salmon, & Walla Walla.
If you're planning on running a business, then be aware that there are VAT-like taxes in effect in Washington, which might change the equation. Not sure if the entire state uses them or if it's county-by-county.
In Oregon, there are 5 personal income tax brackets (5%, 7%, 9%, 10.8%, & 11%). The vast majority of people pay the 9% rate (apart from the first $10k) because their income is more than $10k and less than $127k. Married couples & dependents increase the exemption, but not by much. You could use Oregon municipal bonds to reduce your income tax load, but those bonds don't yield particularly well and there aren't many available. In a quick search, I found 3 Oregon-specific municipal bond funds and the yields were from approximately 3.5% to 5%, which would be comparable to a taxable 3.9% to 5.5% range (not worth it in my opinion when the bond funds I use yield more than 6.5%).


Q
Posts: 348
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2010 8:58 pm

Post by Q »

Income tax is high, sales tax is high. Pay the price for the niceties CA offers.
Weather further north becomes gloomier to me - Portland and Seattle have a lot of overcast days when I've been there.
Theoretically tho, if you are ERE, then your "income" is low right?


jacob
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Post by jacob »

Total rent for our spot is 475+1.4(garbage)+electricity (water is included). I think we have one of the better spots though. I heard our neighbor talk about paying $360.
Our (DW+me) July expenses was $940. My rough time line is that if DW finds work in another state, we're out of here ;-) She's not seriously looking though, so this could take months or years.
Here are the California 2009 tax tables (search for "tax rate schedules" to get the brackets).
A single/married person can have a taxable income no larger than $7060/$14120 without paying taxes.
California does NOT allow one to subtract HSA contributions (makes for some schedule hassle).
There is a (meaningless -- like $100 or so) renter's credit for low AGIs.
Capital gains, interest, and dividends are TAXED AS INCOME(!)


Steve Austin
Posts: 177
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2010 12:17 am

Post by Steve Austin »

Thanks for the west coast state tax rundown. Capital gains, dividends, interest taxed as earned income in CA; what about OR and WA?
Sounds like there is some arbitrage going on along the WA/OR border; same deal along the OR/CA border?


George the original one
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Location: Wettest corner of Orygun

Post by George the original one »

Capital gains, dividends, & interest are all taxed the same as earned income in Oregon. WA has no income tax, only a sales tax.


Concojones
Posts: 117
Joined: Fri Jul 23, 2010 6:57 am

Post by Concojones »

@Steve: Canada is actually a tax-efficient option for ERE. There's a thing called "enhanced dividend tax credit" which in a nutshell means your dividend income is pretty much tax-free up to 40-50k. Only limitation is that the stocks have to be Canadian companies.


Q
Posts: 348
Joined: Thu Jul 22, 2010 8:58 pm

Post by Q »

So Canada would be a good place to 5 flag finances. 3XF (Five Flag Finance!) or FFF or Triple F (all TM now, ok!)


AlexOliver
Posts: 461
Joined: Tue Aug 03, 2010 7:25 pm

Post by AlexOliver »

@George: Just to clarify, Ilwaco, Long Beach, Longview, and Kelso are all in Washington but on the border. Ilwaco & Long Beach are across from Astoria, OR and Longview & Kelso are across from Rainier, OR. Also, Vancouver WA and Portland.


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