Personal Question Regarding Income...

Be glad you're not living where I live in Maine! The median cost of a home is only $100,000! But the average household income is only $32,000!!!!!!!!

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Trust me when I say that any town in Jersey that is really nice is going to rival LI's prices BIG TIME!!!! I know....I live there....

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Jessica- exactly my thoughts above. I do think SOME parts of NJ are cheaper but then again some parts of LI are cheaper than others. NJ isn't as inexpensive as people think - unfortunately!

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The commute is cheaper from Jersey (certain parts) than it from LI lol go figure..

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That is true - my monthly is $137 from NJ where it used to be $154 from Merrick (and that was before the 25% increase)

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Posted by MarcellaBella

The commute is cheaper from Jersey (certain parts) than it from LI lol go figure..

YOu also have to calculate debt to income ratios.. I know people that make a fortune a year and yet are strapped, bc they live above their means and are in soo much debt..

it's not always how much you make, but how you spend it..

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you got it!

The prices of houses are ridiculous now. It's up to 400K for one-family houses in some parts in Queens that aren't even the nicest areas.

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Posted by merf99

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The commute is cheaper from Jersey (certain parts) than it from LI lol go figure..

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That is true - my monthly is $137 from NJ where it used to be $154 from Merrick (and that was before the 25% increase)

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I used to pay $240/month for the bus from Holmdel, NJ and that wasn't including my metro card....
And that wasn't even as bad as it gets....
My girlfriend pays $360/month to take the ferry...

It all depends where you're coming from...

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Posted by dgtlsunshine

I don't think NJ is very cheap. I have some friends that live there and their taxes are very high. At least to me. They told me it was 7k a year.

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That's pretty much the range that DH and I have agreed to pay....(7K, but no more...)
We almost put a bid on a house in W.Orange, NJ that had 9K taxes and we just decided it wasn't worth it to us....

But I'm sure LI has some sick taxes as well...

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Posted by Sage10.03

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Posted by dgtlsunshine

I don't think NJ is very cheap. I have some friends that live there and their taxes are very high. At least to me. They told me it was 7k a year.

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That's pretty much the range that DH and I have agreed to pay....(7K, but no more...)
We almost put a bid on a house in W.Orange, NJ that had 9K taxes and we just decided it wasn't worth it to us....

But I'm sure LI has some sick taxes as well...

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Tell me about it.. We pay 9k on taxes now..

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Posted by MarcellaBella

The commute is cheaper from Jersey (certain parts) than it from LI lol go figure..

YOu also have to calculate debt to income ratios.. I know people that make a fortune a year and yet are strapped, bc they live above their means and are in soo much debt..

it's not always how much you make, but how you spend it..

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YES!! This is very important.

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Posted by dgtlsunshine

I don't think NJ is very cheap. I have some friends that live there and their taxes are very high. At least to me. They told me it was 7k a year.

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totally...

i grew up in westchester and currently live in new jersey. FH and i are having a hard time figuring out where to 'settle'. currently we both work in manhattan so we can live on either side of the island. if that changes, that will dictate which side we will choose...

although i know westchester inside and out, i am currently leaning towards jersey. however, the towns i would like to live in are still very expen$ive. i am having a tough time figuring out whether to buy a condo then house, or just save for a bigger house and continue to rent for a bit...

unless salaries go up and the unemployment situation corrects itself, there is NO WAY this current housing market can sustain itself. foreclosures have gone up and people are too leveraged at this point...

JMO

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Posted by MarcellaBella

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Posted by Sage10.03

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Posted by dgtlsunshine

I don't think NJ is very cheap. I have some friends that live there and their taxes are very high. At least to me. They told me it was 7k a year.

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That's pretty much the range that DH and I have agreed to pay....(7K, but no more...)
We almost put a bid on a house in W.Orange, NJ that had 9K taxes and we just decided it wasn't worth it to us....

But I'm sure LI has some sick taxes as well...

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Tell me about it.. We pay 9k on taxes now..

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Yikes Marcella!!!
We just couldn't do it....although every once in a while, we kick ourselves b/c we really LOVED that house...oh well though, you live and learn....
In some cases, I do think you get what you pay for though...
I don't know...This is giving me a headache!

Taxes in NJ are crazy. Some towns we were looking at- the cheapest were 11k! That is just crazy to me. I've seen some reasonable size houses have takes that are like 20k!

We pay almost 7k now and that is on a townhouse in NJ = NO land!

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Posted by merf99

Taxes in NJ are crazy. Some towns we were looking at- the cheapest were 11k! That is just crazy to me. I've seen some reasonable size houses have takes that are like 20k!

We pay almost 7k now and that is on a townhouse in NJ = NO land!

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I know Merf!!! Friends of ours that own a home in Holmdel pay 17K in taxes!!!
Granted, they are lucky enough to be able to afford it, but and the house really nice, but not '17K/yearly taxes-nice'!!!

17K? I would like to have a mansion to pay that!!! lol! Wow!

And it's funny because towns next to each other differ so much in taxes. Jess- remember I told you DH's dad builds homes in Hazlet? It's right on the Holmdel border and I don't think they are nearly that high!!

Although I live in Union (union county), 2 minutes away from Millburn (Essex County) and the taxes are substantially higher in Essex.

Or I grew up in Merrick and my parents paid high taxes but it's right next to Freeport where the taxes aren't as high!

Arrrghhh! You can't win! You want to have a nice house in a nice neighborhood but who can pay these prices?