The best way for an Internet-based service like ours to convince potential customers to become real customers is with testimonials from satisfied customers. We received a wonderful, unsolicited note last week from a customer who wrote us from her new home at The Landings, near Savannah, GA. She and her husband participated in our first couples “discovery” weekend 1½ years ago, enjoyed the golf, the food in the clubhouse and the general ambience of The Landings. With our assistance, they bought a beautiful golf home there last August and will take up residence full time once their home in upstate New York is sold.

        “We feel that finding you, filling out your questionnaire, and talking with you was the best thing we did!!” she wrote. “Your knowledge and guidance was what we needed!”

        We also helped an oil company executive and his wife last year purchase a lot at Bluffton, SC’s Berkeley Hall, home to two outstanding Tom Fazio golf courses.

        “Thanks for lining us up with Tom [our Realtor in Bluffton] and his

"...talking with you was the best thing we did.  Your guidance was what we needed."

team; they were very helpful in high-grading the properties to view and providing community info,” he wrote. “Also, lining us up with a local builder was critical for us to gain an idea of homes that we might build.” Construction recently started on their new home, with its view of both the golf course and a lake, and they expect to relocate full-time to Berkeley Hall later this year.

        Of course, the greatest compliment of all is to be referred by a satisfied customer to a friend or relative. “My brother Steve is interested in possibly purchasing a golf property in SW Florida,” wrote a customer we helped purchase a beautiful lot perched above the Jack Nicklaus golf course at Governors Club in Chapel Hill, NC.  “I told him all about you and your service, and he is very interested in speaking with you. I took the liberty of giving him your office and cell phone number.”

        That is a liberty we are always happy for our customers to take. If you would like an idea of which golf communities match up the best with your requirements, please fill out our online Golf Home Survey. There is no fee for our services and no obligation to purchase a property. And we will never share your personal information without your express permission.  Click here for our questionnaire.

        This is a great time to be looking for a golf home, as prices in many golf communities have hit bottom and are starting to rise. We look forward to assisting you.

BerkeleyHallHome

Last year, one of our customers purchased a lot like this one, with a view of one of the Tom Fazio golf courses as well as a lake at Berkeley Hall in Bluffton, SC.  He and his wife are building their own dream home now. 

        I read an interesting and accurate comment earlier today by a contributor to a discussion forum at TopRetirements.com. She wrote: “We are also looking at…South Carolina. The property in SC appears to be much less than FL as they only assess property at 4% of the market value. We compared a $220,000 home in SC to one in FL, and the difference is nearly $2,000. Has anyone else found this to be true?”

        It’s a good question…and a good point. As we have counseled here many times, taxation is relative to a couple’s personal situation. If you have a million dollar income in retirement, a golf community in a no-income-tax

For couples with a $100,000 income and $800,000 home, taxes are lower in Delaware than in the no income tax state of Florida.  For couples with a $60,000 income and $225,000 home, it is pretty much a wash.

state like Florida (or Texas, Tennessee and Alabama) will be high on your list to investigate. But if like most of the rest of us, you will rely on less than a six-figure annual income from pensions and/or social security, then income tax may very well take a back seat to property and sales taxes, which affect every homeowner, no matter their income.

        There are some scenarios in which a state with an income tax is cheaper to live in than a state with no income tax at all. According to the tax calculator at the web site dollarology.net, a couple with an annual income of $100,000, annual “non-food” expenses of $50,000, a grocery bill of $10,000 a year, a home worth $800,000 and a car driven 10,000 miles per year at 22 miles per gallon would pay a total of $8962.17 if they lived in Delaware, which assesses an income tax, and $9556.36 if they lived in Florida, which assesses no income tax. The Delaware couple would pay almost $6,500 more in state income tax, but that would be more than offset by lower sales taxes (Delaware does not charge any) and property taxes (much lower in “The First State”).

        Interestingly, couples that live more modestly will find Florida slightly more advantageous than Delaware and most other states. (Since income would be lower, you would think the effects of income tax would be disproportionately less significant in Florida, but it is not so.) When you lower income to $60,000, non-food expenses to $30,000, groceries to $8,000 and the house value to $225,000, the result is an advantage of $55 per year in taxes for Florida over Delaware.

        Yes, it is a negligible difference, and not enough in itself to turn a couple from considering a higher income tax state. Indeed, when you take our first example above –- the couple with a $100,000 annual income –-

Annual total taxes in South Carolina are generally about $7,000 less than they are in New Jersey.

and put them in, say, South Carolina, they will generally pay $4,560 more annually than if they lived in a Florida golf community, and $6,115 more than in North Carolina. Those are not inconsequential differences, but some couples may look at what they have saved by moving South and say, “What the heck.” For our scenario immediately above, for example, New Jersey total taxes are $7,000 more than those in South Carolina.

        By the way, the most advantageous tax state of all is Alaska. We understand the golf there is excellent -– in July.