trader_4 wrote, on Fri, 08 Aug 2014 11:13:25 -0700:

Out of curiosity, what are the typical taxes on say a nice 3 bedroom 2
1/2 bath home, 3000 sq ft, on about an acre lot?

An acre? Most land out here in Silicon Valley is sold by the square foot,
not by the acre.

Here's a lookup for Saratoga, where I think Steve hails from:
http://www.coldwellbanker.com/real_e...ch/ca/Saratoga

Taxes are roughly between 1.5% and 2% of the price you paid for the
house, so, the MEDIAN property taxes in Saratoga would be 2% of
$1,340,000, which is about $27,000/year, which sounds about right
for where I live also.

Given the almost 10% income tax in California, with a median income of
$150K, that's another $15 in California property taxes. Add to that a
sales tax of almost 10% and you get a whoppingly high tax burden, which
when you add the marginal 36% Federal (but average is probably around 40%
), you get a tax burden that easily exceeds 60% to 70% of your income.

Yet, they keep voting for higher, and higher, and higher taxes.
(I don't get it).

Back to your question, I'll look up the median property size (I'm not
sure how to find that information) but I'll also post the income and
property value cite from that site above:

"Saratoga, California is located in Santa Clara. Nearby cities and towns
include Campbell, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Loyola and Monte Sereno. Saratoga
is a suburban community with a population of 29,972. The median household
income in Saratoga is $145,807. 73% of residents are married and families
with children reside in 41% of Saratoga households. Half the population
of Saratoga commutes 26 minutes or more to work, with 83% of residents
holding white collar jobs and 17% residents holding blue collar jobs.

The median age of homes in Saratoga, CA is 35 years, with 82% of those
homes owned, 14% rented and 3% not occupied. In the previous year, 0
Saratoga properties were sold. The median sale price of a home in
Saratoga
in the previous year was $1,340,000."