Best Neighborhoods in Oxford, MS
Lafayette County contains a vast selection of attractive neighborhoods and residential communities, as well as small farms and wooded landscapes to accommodate every lifestyle – from raising a family to managing a small in-home business to retiring. Housing is plentiful, especially in Oxford, which offers contemporary single-family homes of all sizes and elegant traditional-style dwellings, as well as an array of apartment, condominium and townhouse selections.
Oxford offers many small-town advantages combined with big-city amenities. The availability of high-quality affordable and luxury homes in the area has helped to earn Oxford notable national recognition in recent years. The town has been listed numerous times among the “Best 100 Small Towns” by USA Today, among Time magazine’s “7 Great Places to Retire,” and Money magazine’s six “Best Places to Retire.”
The average selling price of a residential single family home in Oxford-Lafayette County sells for about 296,000 with a median price of $230.000 and offers a variety of housing styles. (Source: North Central MS REALTORS MLS for the period of Jan. 1, 2016 – Dec. 31, 2016. Information is deemed to be reliable, but is not guaranteed.) Grand antebellum and historic homes compliment and influence even the newest developments. Small farms may be found just minutes from the city limits with rural acreage available.
Newcomers are often pleasantly surprised to find that even resort golf course living is available. A beautifully manicured golf community has sites available for residential use, and golf villas are nestled around the fairways of the 1,000-acre site.
In 2013, Grandparents.com ranked Oxford as one of the “Top 6 College Towns in Which to Retire.” Also, in 2013, Oxford was featured on NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams as they highlighted “College Towns Doubling as Retirement Destinations.” fi
As part of the Oxford-Lafayette County Economic Development Foundation’s Retiree Attraction Program (RAP), Retiree Ambassador volunteers conduct tours of Oxford for those who call in advance. These tours feature housing options and points of interest in the area for those interested in retiring to Oxford. The RAP office can be reached at (800) 880-6967.
For persons age 65 and over, Mississippi law provides a generous exemption from certain ad valorem taxes for those who homestead in Lafayette County. The first $75,000 of true value on a declared homestead is exempt from local property taxes. For example, the annual property tax on a $200,000 home in the City of Oxford is $1,627.80 and in Lafayette County $524.60 (based on the 2016 mileage rates). However, for persons over age 65, the same home would have a property tax of approximately $1111.13 in the city and $421.63 in the county. In the city residents pay an ad valorem tax to both the City of Oxford and Lafayette County. A Separate School District tax for maintenance of the Separate School District is required of city residents. In the county residents pay an ad valorem tax on real property. If located within the Separate School District but outside Oxford city limits, residents are required to pay a Separate School District tax. If located outside of the Separate School District, residents pay a Lafayette County School Tax. Additionally, the state of Mississippi has a seven percent sales tax.
Scenic and serene, the area offers an overall cost of living below the national average, and taxes are comparatively low. Many friendly and reputable Realtors are members of the Oxford-Lafayette County Chamber of Commerce and eagerly serve the area’s home buying and selling needs. There are also a number of banking and lending institutions to help with your mortgage needs.