DC or New Jersey?
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Anonymous
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We have the option of relocating to the DC area or New Jersey, and I would love some opinions! Our budget is low for either area - around $450K, but willing to rent and/or look at town homes.
I've researched DC quite a bit, and our family has spent a lot of time there. We would probably be looking at Fairfax City, Reston, Burke Centre. DH would be working downtown, but also teleworking 1-2 days per week. He is prepared for the commute. the New Jersey option just came up, so I've just started researching. We haven't been there yet. DH would be working in Edison. I started looking into towns such at Red Bank, Middletown, Metuchen. I have a home-based business, so I have no commute to factor in. we have 3 kids in ES and MS. Of course we want a safe area and good schools, but I am also focused on finding something with a town-like feel. I really know very little about NJ. It seems like people who are from NJ really love it. But I talked to a friend about it who lived in Sussex County for a couple of years. She didn't have a lot of good things to say. She felt like people were just really mean and that the cost of living was absurd. I'm prepared for some of that, but she talked about a $650 gas bill! 
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Anonymous
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Jersey also gets you in INSANE taxes. The housing costs are high and then they hit you with an absurd tax rate. Make sure to compare those - it really adds to the COL there vs. here where real esatte costs are high but our property tax rates are more reasonable.
That said, there are some lovely areas of Jersey that are not as crazy expensive. |
Anonymous
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The jersey tax rate is ASBURD. Seriously, in some places its 5 or 6%. I'm not kidding.
http://www.state.nj.us/treasury/taxation/lpt/taxrate.shtml |
Anonymous
| NJ native now living in DC. This is so subjective so I think the value of others' opinions is limited. But I agree that property taxes in NJ are EXTREMELY high by comparison to DC, and I would guess by comparison to VA and MD too. I also think the DC area is wonderful for kids, with all the museums and kid-friendly activities. And if commute is not an issue for you, you've already eliminated the main drag about this area. |
Anonymous
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Metuchen, NJ $425k house, over $1,100 per MONTH in property taxes http://www.homes.com/listing/180146216/85_Myrtle_Ave_METUCHEN_NJ_08840 Reston, VA $425k townhouse, $3,900 taxes per YEAR $9,000 difference a year |
Anonymous
http://www.weichert.com/45578097/?cityid=43003&minpr=400&maxpr=500 |
Anonymous
And if you actually live in DC, the commuting is pretty easy (from AU Park/CCDC, etc.). |
Anonymous
| I grew up in one of the towns you mentioned in NJ, and live in NoVA now. Definitely NoVA. |
Anonymous
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Moved from Nj to Dc about 10 years ago. You get a lot more for you housing dollar in DC than Jersey. School wise, the quality of the school you can afford in NJ will be lower than VA or MD.
Not only are property taxes high but income and insurance costs are high as well. One of the reasons that property taxes are so much higher is that each town maintains its own schools, fire, police, municipal costs etc. This means services are much higher because there are fewer people to spread the costs to. |
Anonymous
| OP, we lived in Chatham and Maplewood before moving to Nova. Taxes are beyond high in NJ. When we left Maplewood, my real estate tax INCREASE was 40%, to about $14,500. This was over 10 yrs ago. When we came here, our Chatham taxes were $16,000. And honestly, that is low for NJ. I know people whom have $30,000 - $50,000 taxes per year. Forever. Although I love NJ, you need to also, for those prices. |
Anonymous
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http://money.msn.com/taxes/5-highest-5-lowest-states-for-taxes
Here's more tax info for you. NJ ranked 2nd highest |
Anonymous
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We just moved here from Montclair, NJ. Our taxes were 21k/year there -- they are 8k in Montgomery County, MD. Comparable value and size homes.
Having said that, I do sometimes miss NJ, especially the cool towns and sense of local community. I find this essentially absent in the DC suburbs. |
Anonymous
| PP from Montclair here. I will say that we found the house prices in DC a bit higher than those in NJ -- however the tax difference has more than made up for it. |
Anonymous
| Native Washingtonian here, so maybe I am biased, but everyplace I've been in New Jersey just seemed dingy and lower class, and all anybody did for fun was go to NYC. It's like there is nothing else to do. To get a coffee, I had to go to some nasty A&P. Ugh. No way. |
Anonymous
| I love NJ |