Me and my wife have been talking about this for a while. The insane amount of housing and cost of living has forced us to think about this. I dont want to pay >1M$ for a 1500 sqft house when i can pay 700k-800k$ for a 2500 sqft house in New Jersey suburbs and work in nyc. However, this is from my initial Redfin research. How is the housing market in New Jersey compared to Bay Area? Are there any New york suburbs which i can consider buying a house in? Which area would be considered Fremont of New York or New Jersey? Salaries seem to be same across coasts and since cost of living is very less as compared to Bay Area, moving does make sense in my head. My company and my wifeโs company also have big dev centers in NYC, so getting an internal transfer wouldnโt be that hard. @blind, thoughts?
Never consider home prices in isolation. Since based on that you can buy a mansion in Detroit for 200k. Think about it as an investment. Letโs say home price is X and you invest .2X, and keep paying a mortgage for Y years after which you sell the home at price Z. At that point, Z - 0.2X - your mortgage and other payments is what you should look at. 1. Do you expect New Jersey in 10 years to give you a better investment on your 0.2X + monthly payments or Bay Area? 2. Consider things like weather, HQs of companies, schools, crime rates and tons of other factors as well.
Thanks. Well, my only two options are Bay Area and New Jersey. So deciding between these two only. Considering all or most of the companies have an office in New York, there is a weather there as compared to Bay Area, crime rates and homelessness is no more than San Francisco, it plays out. From investment point of view, i am still researching how the two markets really compare.
I always tell people the same thing fireing! I love the Bay Area weather and the ability to move jobs so easily
OP - the reason I didn't rush to Cali was because I didn't want to be house poor, be state-taxed to death, and live in a shoebox. You having a dual income and wanting to flee the state confirms I made the correct choice. The problem with those high priced properties is the investment theory has a high probability that it will backfire if either you or your spouse lose a job, or the next recession hits.
I dont have the most common opinion about moving out of Cali, so :shrugs:
Or the plain difficulty of making a $1 million "investment"
Have you considered Seattle? Housing is decent compared to Bay area and is close 2nd on tech scene. I moved out of Bay area to Seattle for this reason and is beautiful here except for constant rain.
How would you compare it to ny?
I staying in NJ close to NY for few years. I'm a sucker for tech companies than other kind(banking, financial, insurance etc) and prefer Seattle. No state tax in WA and lot of green places to visit around. NY area has better opportunities overall though
NJ property tax is higher and the state income tax is also higher at some points than NY, I would actually try Long Island or Westchester (White Plains, Scarsdale, etc).
Yeah you are definitely looking at the house wrong. You want your house to be in an area with demand. These pricing differences arenโt extreme enough for the rationale you presented, since you should be making enough to move money into the home equity.
That's not true, you get much more square footage in a NYC suburb than the Bay area for the money. Some people like having a bigger house.
Yeah youโre right. I grew up in a big house in the suburb and am allergic to the entire concept. I look at properties purely as leveraged investments with cash flow potential. Being an hour away from culture? ๐ Conscripted to lawn cutting every Saturday? ๐ Pulling a muscle or discovering your heart fails when you shovel the snow? ๐ Masquerading your budget constraints in hiring help as prideful man duties? ๐๐๐
Look at Milburn, Livingston in NJ If you prefer near NYC, Newport is just across the river
Consider Cambridge too. 800k can get you a 2000 sqft house. 5% state tax. 1%ish property tax.
Not looking at Boston, but thanks for the advice :)
Stay in the Bay. The commute from Jersey to NYC is horrible, especially in the summer and winter. Prices aren't that different.
Curious where you ended up. Weโre thinking of the reverse - in NYC now and thinking of moving to Bay area.
I live an hour away from my office in Manhattan and houses here cost 300-400k. Tax is lower compared to Bay Area too. And it you play your cards right you can get paid the same as in SF.
Which area in particular?