Yep. And the other thing that gets overlooked all the time is the equity gain from owning in California.
I have two stepdaughters. Both married. One of them moved to rural Georgia and bought a house (4 bedroom, two stories, close to an acre of land) for $239,900.
The other kept her eyes peeled for a deal and was willing to drive a little. She and her husband live in a rural area of the Sierra foothills and she commutes 35-ish miles into the Sacramento metro most days. Her house is a little smaller than her sister's but she has more land.
They paid more for their house, but I guarantee you theirs will appreciate at a more rapid rate than the one in Georgia, the one in Georgia will top out in value more quickly, and, because of Prop 13, the property tax on the California house can only go up by 2% a year.
Georgia has no cap. It requires a written explanation of any increase of more than 15% per year and so they write explanations. Researching as I write this, DeKalb County (the eastern part of the Atlanta metro) is proposing a 27.63% increase in the property tax this year. Chatham County, which is the county where Savannah is located, is proposing a 50% property tax hike for people living in unincorporated areas.
One of my stepdaughters is going to end up being considerably wealthier than the other, and it's the one who figured out a way to stay in California.
And guess what happened today?
158% property tax increase approved in Austell
The increase would amount to roughly $595 more per year for a home with a fair market value of $299,000, according to city estimates.