Choosing Charleston for school and Relo (Teays Valley, Cross Lanes: real estate, rent, house)

[awakenthesun22]

The medical field. The pay difference was actually shocking, Charlestons pay was the lowest of anywhere I've seen in the country.

[NOVAmtneer82]

hmm now that i think about it I could actually see that considering the large medical presence with Marshall University. It is truly sad to see some of the medical wages in the Kanawha Valley.

[Big_Al]

for the last couple month one lady over here had a chorus- It' s bad in WV unless u r in medical field. Who is right?

[NOVAmtneer82]

I think it really depends on the type of medical job which is why i said some of the medical wages. I think nurses and doctors make wages similar to other states although the malpractice insurance in WV might take away a nice chunk of doctors pay but my god I don't think I would complain if I made 500K a year instead of 600.

[awakenthesun22]

My observance and experience: WV nursing and physician wages are only comparable to the poor Southeast and South central areas. I once worked in a small, poor coastal city in the Southeast and made $1/hr more than I did in Charleston, and that seemed to be the going rate for places similar-I would call that comparable. I have a friend in Huntington who would like to move back to his hometown in Princeton WV but he won't do it because of the lower wages, and he says the cost of living wouldn't differ enough to make up for lower wages. I think Huntington has the highest medical wages in WV, making it the only city that is remotely comparable to the rest of the nation, with the exception of Charleston and the rest of the state having wages just a bit lower or nearly equal to some poor Southern places. I've seen a lot of different places, but I don't claim to know all places, so I'm speaking just from my personal experience.

[qwkslver]

Charleston is LARGE compared to WV towns. It's nice enough if you like city living.

[Big_Al]

it's strange but MD and RN income is the highest in SouthEast region. Actually, the income in WV is higher than in Northeast. Medical field is different from others- the smaller city the better pay.

[wvsky]

Everyone talks about low taxes here. Fact is, they're only low compared to many other states. BUT, there's a reason for this: We have very little to do here compared to many states. We have little nightlife to speak of. There's simply not much here. There is a huge increase in taxes every three years due to the fact that many people have moved out of state and those left behind must take-up the slack in taxes. For instance, just today I received notice that my taxes increased by $300 in less than 3 years. All this while the real estate market is stagnant and people still leaving. We also have incompetent people attempting to build things we dont need, like a new 50 million dollar library in Charleston so the many homeless will have a place to stay I suppose. Many of us are on the brink of leaving ourselves, because the $1,500 I pay in taxes for a modest home may not seem like much compared to other areas, but remember this: It's a minimum of 3 to 4 hours to ANYWHERE you might consider a "city with standard amenities".

[harborlady]

WVsky, there is a price to be paid for all things. It's the nature of governance. Let me give you a picture of suffolk county long island ny, and you may find yourself grateful.
On paper, NYS tax is something like 3%, but the difference between my gross and net pay was 33+%, lions share going to federal. Why? We have layers of government we pay for, from federal all the way down to the dog catcher. Now, lets see what happens with what I have left in my hand...

That same modest home you live in has a pricetag of $300k, it's the cheapest you can find, even though its old construction and the neighborhood is infested with crack. The property taxes are $7k+ per year. The car insurance for one vehicle/one driver, excellent driving record for 20+ yrs is $1,900 per year, using a high deductable policy on a 5yr old vehicle.
You could rent, if you want to pay $1,200 for an illegal accessory 1br basement apartment. Lets hope the neighbors don't flip in your landlord or out you go. I currently live in a rented room for $575 a month, paying an additional $300 monthly for a storage unit for my possessions. My minimalist cell phone bill is $50. Minimum wage for NYS is $7.15/hr.

Our electric rates are 16.89 cents per Kw hour, outdone only by sunny downtown hawaii, who won't freeze to death if a foot of snow falls and the power goes out. Our electric company is not run by the government anymore, so they can raise prices anytime they want. We have paid as much as 19.54 cents per Kw hour, if you don't count the sneaky surcharges they tack on for breathing. Those surcharges can ammount to 33% of your actual useage. Y'all know, the phone company bill, where you made $7 worth of calls in a month, but it costs $50 per month to have it hanging on the wall when you're gone for a month.

Most heat by oil burner. Oil here is $3.75 per gallon as of january 11th 2008. That will justify the next price increase for Kw hrs because our electricity is generated by... OIL.

Sales taxes are determined by the county legislators, and are set at 8-3/4% in suffolk. Most of that goes to schools and police. Teachers and cops need 6 figures to exist here. Some things are taxed even higher, falling under the category of 'luxury'. Gasoline for a car where there isn't localized public transportation being taxed to the point where it's $3.50 per gallon is quite a pill. Gas is taxed on the wholesale level by the state, then taxed 4% on the SELLING PRICE as a surcharge, then the sales tax for the county applies. Considering that federally, we all pay 18.4 cents per gallon tax on it in the first place, how much of what I pay for is actual gas, and how much is refined swindling?

A monthy train ticket from here to NYC where the wages are higher is $315 and 4hrs round trip daily as a commute. That presumes the train isn't full, and your house is by the train station. Then it's more. Maybe crooks went shopping for a new hood ornament in the parking lot too. Don't put in a claim or your insurance will go up to $2600.

You'd expect the wages would be higher across the board to support such an inflated economy. Reality is, most don't make the six figures that this economy is designed around. Lots of long island is and has always been small family owned business that can't provide health insurance to its employees. Not because they're meanies, but because it's fiscally impossible to do so. They can't find help because nobody can afford to work for them. Catch-22.

A loose rule of thumb for ratio of wages to housing is; prevailing annual wages x 3=prevailing pricetag on a house. Keep yourself in that window without other debt, you'll get by. When your annual wages x 2= pricetag on a house, you'll live very well.
As for the glitz and glam of BIG city- it has lots to offer if you're willing to pay for it. But honestly, do you really NEED it?

Ask yourself this- would both you & spouse trade every holiday, picnic, weekend, family meal and wedding invitation you get for the next 30 yrs working overtime to cover the note on a house you barely even like? How much is your kids childhood worth to you? How about your marriage?
God help those folks living in san francisco. Beautiful place, but what a way to waste a life if you aren't a billionaire.

[wvsky]

I wish when taxes are mentioned, the word "relatively" (as in relatively low taxes) would be used. If you work here as a "normal" working slob, the taxes are not low. As a matter of fact, by the time you add-up all the hundreds of hidden taxes this state saddles you with, you'll be a bit surprised. As just a couple of examples out of those hundreds: We pay the highest cell phone tax in the nation... $3 per phone per month. We have one of the highest gas taxes... about 52 cents a gallon. We pay a huge tax every year on our automobiles, not counting license and safety sticker tax. The list goes an and on. Our property tax is low in the counties where there's no jobs, but climbing drastically in the few counties that do have some economy. While they may be low compared to many other states... so are most of our wages.