Reply to Tell Me About Living in NYC (or Suburb) on 500k/yr

Forum Index » Real Estate

Reply to "Tell Me About Living in NYC (or Suburb) on 500k/yr"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I lived in Millburn, NJ for a while and it was awesome. You can have a really nice, walkable lifestyle there or in West Orange, Maplewood, Chatham, Short Hills, etc. we miss it so much. There are nice little town centers and easy train access. And most restaurants are BYOB so you could save a lot there :). Oh and that area is very pretty to look at - both the housing stock and the natural landscape. Chatham is the most adorable of the bunch.

When can we move back?![/quote]

The question is, do you want to live in NYC?   Can you give up the space and the yard?  Do you want to have to send your kids to a private school?  500K in the metro area is completely do-able  pretty much anywhere you want to be except Manhattan and  Brooklyn.

We moved from NJ almost a year ago because I've always wanted to live in DC so when I had the chance to change jobs we took it.  
I have to say EVERYTHING is more expensive in Bethesda than it was in NJ.  [b]Gas, groceries, income taxes, daycare, babysitters, after school activities, etc. [/b]  FWIW - I hated NJ when I moved there from Chicago several years ago.

I commuted into lower Manhattan and yes, the commute stunk, but not nearly as bad as the traffic in D.C.  I am currently 6.2 miles from my office and my commute is still 45 minutes door to door, an hour if I take public transportation.   I long for the days of being able to sit on a train and read.

So, yes, the property taxes in NJ are incredibly high.  You can find a really decent house in many lovely towns for 700K, often less.  If you want the McMansions for 1-5 million, they are also available.  The thing about it is that the 800k houses are almost always going to be houses you'll want to live in instead of tear downs or that need major renovations.  Essex and Bergen county generally speaking have the highest property taxes.  Oh and you'll be amazed that you aren't "snowed in" for a week while you wait and wait and wait for a plow to clear your street.

I moved from Cranford, NJ which is a LOVELY town with completely affordable housing and good schools.  Millburn has some of the best schools in NJ. Chatham too.  The 'best' school districts have the highest property taxes.  There are many gold and silver school districts for substantially less.   The commutes from Millburn, Summit, Chatham, Westfield are all about an hour or so.

I too am saying,
"when can we move back?"[/quote]

Sorry but the state tax rate in MD is 5.75%, in NJ it is 8.9%
http://www.money-zine.com/financial-planning/tax-shelter/state-income-tax-rates/

Car insurance rates in NJ are t he 3rd highest in the Country, Maryland is 9th.
http://www.insure.com/car-insurance/car-insurance-rates.html

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics