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MITS, you probably have to look at the cheaper areas to find an affordable house. A starter house in the $300k range might be doable for you. Figure 20% down on $300k home w. 8k taxes, the PITI payment will be about $2100/month...less than 30% of your income.
How about Farmingdale, Lindenhurst, Deer Park? so-so school districts, not terrible commutes if needed.
Or try hicksville (low taxes), East Meadow, possibly Valley Stream... and how about Levittown? You might end up being neighbors with Mongoose there .
Cold, Pequa. Very cold. They'll say "there goes the neighborhood....again!" Actually you can forget about those $8k taxes in Levittown. Not happening. Deer Park or Hicksville, yes. Levitt or E. Meadow, no chance.
I said "borderline" undoable, because it's contingent on the second half of my statement, which was, "it all depends on how much you're willing to live WITHOUT." In other words, you'd have to compromise your quality of life to make it work and based on your previous statements, you seem to put a lot of value on your quality of life, as you state there is only a certain distance you'd be willing to commute, etc. If that's how you feel, then I don't know if the quality of life you'd be able to have on your salary in this area is one worth pursuing.
This is the thing: I'm like you. I have no desire to leave LI and I would only do so as a last resort. I would prefer to live a little uncomfortably now to set roots and hopefully do better later. HOWEVER, at some point, the sacrifices you have to make may start to outweigh the benefits you receive from making them. It's like a see-saw - when everything is in balance, you can justify the way you live. As soon as it's out of balance, you're left questioning why you chose to live that way and then you are left considering whether you're able to get out of the 30-year commitment you made with your bank.
YES - you could find a way to live here on your salary. I will never tell someone there's no way, because I believe that when there's a will, there's a way. But if your requirements for a good quality of life aren't in-line with the home/life you can afford, then the answer is NO - you cannot live here with your salary.
I commute over an hour each way to get to Manhattan. I do not mind this commute. I read on the train, get some extra work done, whatever. I prefer it to sitting in traffic. I get home a little later and I have to leave a little earlier. These are sacrifices I'm willing to make to live where and how I live. However, something I am not willing to sacrifice is the ability to live in a safe neighborhood, in a residential area (we saw and rejected many homes on busy main roads), save for once-a-year vacations, save for home improvements, etc. On a tighter budget, we would not be able to do those things and I would feel that my quality of life was compromised so greatly, that I could not justify the sacrifices we made.
It's all subjective. Maybe you wouldn't mind living on a "double-yellow lined" road, if it meant having the ability to afford an acceptable home in an acceptable neighborhood. Everyone lives with their own set of priorities. You prioritize living on Long Island higher than having a large home. Fine. But you may find that your criteria of proximity to NYC is the deal-breaker (as location is everything in real estate) and is what prevents you from being able to afford living here on your terms.
Hope this makes sense.
Since she can do most of the housework and shopping.
You don't have kids, she has a PhD, and its more valuable to have her doing housework and shopping than having her out, among people, earning money of her own? You have officially lost me.
But what if he has to commute to the ciiiiiityyyyyyy?! OMG the commute - THE COMMUTE!
Shopping and housework when you have no kids takes up about 2 hours of a 40 hour workweek, especially living in a condo. Let's get real here about something.
I'm thinking more about when we have kids and a house.
According to the calculator at CNN Money, assuming an $80K down payment, property taxes of $8K/year, and homeowner's insurance of $1000/year, and a 5% interest rate on a 30 year mortgage, someone making $85K with absolutely zero other debt can afford a home priced between $309K and $375K (Affordable Home Calculator from CNNMoney). Go to MLSLI, put in a budget range of $250K-$350K (I recommend starting at $250K to weed out the Sandy-wrecked properties and places like Roosevelt which are downright unsafe), tell it to search Nassau County, and see what's out there. Those are the houses you can afford. Full stop. Why is this so ridiculously difficult for you to grasp?
You seem to keep forgetting that I already own a condo, plus I have a lot of money saved up, so I can clearly afford more than a $80k downpayment.
Per capita represents an average or mean; median does not. You can not use them interchangeably as you would suggest.
Per capita income was $40,140. This represents the average of all incomes and is sensitive to outliers, which is why I used the 2.66 average household figure to calculate an average household income.
The median household income at $83,438 is not sensitive to outliers as the per capita average is.
Considering that there are 2,475 households in Bayville, that would mean that half are earning $83,438 or more.
Going back to the fact that 40% of the population of Bayville is either under 18 or over 65, I would wager that a decent percentage of income under $83,438 is attributable to them.
Don't forget that 5.4% of Bayville's population is under the federal poverty limit. (That equals about 120 households. It is probably a safe assumption to believe that they are not homeowners, rather they are among the 20% who rent.
It is most probable that employed homeowners in Bayville are earning more than the median household income of $83,438.
You don't have kids, she has a PhD, and its more valuable to have her doing housework and shopping than having her out, among people, earning money of her own? You have officially lost me.
The post I was referring to suggested that she get a job at a place like Starbucks. My point is that such a job pays so little that it's not worth it.
Since she can do most of the housework and shopping.
You can also keep her barefoot and save a ton of money on shoes.
In about two hours my wife (works full-time as an mid-level exec) knocks out the shopping for a family of four, plus two parents that show up for lunch several times a week and dinner once a week. We split the house work, I make the mess and she cleans up after me.
You seem to keep forgetting that I already own a condo, plus I have a lot of money saved up, so I can clearly afford more than a $80k downpayment.
So then use the calculator with your actual numbers and figure out how much more house you can afford, duh.
And if you have such a big down payment, what the heck for have you been whining about for the last 3 months? If you can afford even $400K, you could swing a home in Oceanside, which is plenty close to NYC and not a bad school district. I'm sure there are other decent Nassau options at $400K, I just don't know them off the top of my head. You know who would know? A realtor.
The post I was referring to suggested that she get a job at a place like Starbucks. My point is that such a job pays so little that it's not worth it.
If I didn't have a job, I'd rather work at Starbucks part-time than be home full-time. Most people I know (and I am a female attorney -- most of my female friends have graduate degrees) feel better having a place to go, where they can be around people, be productive and earn something, anything -- even if its not for sake of the actual money. But then other people don't really place much value on that kind of thing. I'm getting a vibe like your wife will never, ever work, but since I only know you through the internet, i'll never know the actual real truth.
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