Property taxes (WAS: On Nh living and commutes..)

[Michael Costolo]

--- Travis Roy <travis at scootz.net> wrote:
> What Derek is pointing out is that you can buy a piece of property. Say 
> a normal house (old, but normal) with the idea to say build a room on 
> the back and paint it green.. Well a year after you buy it the town 
> makes your house part of a historical zone.. Now you can't add that new 
> bedroom for you kid on the way, and you're forced to paint your house 
> one of 4 colors..

Got it.  (Note to self:  Don't buy old house.)  

> Zoning laws are meant to control usage and growth. They are not there to 
> make it extreamly hard to add an addition, force you into paint colors, 
> or force you to have to pay $200 per window for a special storm window 
> because they won't let you get rid of the double hungs that came with 
> the house.

Perhaps not zoning laws per se.  But town laws governing historic property are in
essence the same thing - the many dictating to the few what they can do with their
own property.
 
> Moving in knowing that the place is in a historical district is one 
> thing.. having your house all of a sudden end up in a historical 
> district is another.

No argument there.  My only question is how often does something like that actually
happen?  It certainly wasn't the case of the barn which originated this thread.

> If people don't want me to modernize my house by changing the windows to 
>   effectient, cheap, vinyl windows, change the siding to vinyl siding, 
> force me to have historical landscaping then they can flip the bill for 
> all my heat going out my shitty old windows, the repainting of my house 
> when it needs it, and a landscaping staff..

Agreed.  

-Mike-

=====
"The power of accurate observation is commonly called cynicism by those who have not got it"
-George Bernard Shaw


	
		
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