“improvements to age-related declines” Wouldn’t that mean even larger/more rapid declines? I’d like to see things that slow down decline instead.

You trusted your buyers agent? Generally speaking they split about a 6% commission 50/50 with the sellers agent. They want you to buy the first house you see, for as much money as possible, so they get the largest commission possible for the least amount of time. The only reason they even pretend to play hardball is…

1. Do people really care that much about ice?

“Unlike homeowners, renters don’t have to pay for property taxes, HOA fees, or maintenance.”

The link in the article explains it. The author was confusing ‘all taxes within a state’ with ‘income taxes’. It looks to be the ‘average tax load’ by state, so it’s including sales/income/property/gas and a few others based on what the ‘average’ person would spend on those things within a year.

Off the top of my head, NY has a higher income tax rate than 5%. Additionally, for 2015, Illinois had a 3.75% tax rate, in fact for the ‘average’ taxpayer, Illinois ranks around 35th for highest income tax rate.