Went house hunting and am depressed!! (Hoboken, Ridgewood: appliances, buying a house, dorm) - Page 4 - City-Data Forum

Mathguy · 08-24-2011, 01:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradykp

Northeast, specifically NJ, provide a lot of services and very good public schooling for those taxes. While we can debate what services we need, and surely there is waste, it's not like property taxes are just high for fun. you've got to maintain some perspective when comparing across different areas and regions of the country.

Oh, I don't disagree. The entire tax burden is much too complicated to just broad brush and say "higher is bad". Also some states like FL, AK and TX in particular receive massive tourist or mineral rights income and thus have subsidy and so on and so forth.

Plus, I don't live there so I have no dog in the fight. Just noting those were some beefy property taxes, but then the COL is higher too.

bradykp · 08-25-2011, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mathguy

Oh, I don't disagree. The entire tax burden is much too complicated to just broad brush and say "higher is bad". Also some states like FL, AK and TX in particular receive massive tourist or mineral rights income and thus have subsidy and so on and so forth.

Plus, I don't live there so I have no dog in the fight. Just noting those were some beefy property taxes, but then the COL is higher too.

COL is higher, salaries are higher, etc. $22,000 on an $900,000 house isn't "high" for NJ. it's about par for the course.

zap02 · 08-25-2011, 02:26 PM

It sounds like you"re looking for towns with high rated school districts. Have you looked at Glen Ridge, which has a train station, and parts of Verona, Essex Fells and North Caldwell which have easy access to NYC transportation?

anniesez · 08-26-2011, 06:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Magic78

We live in a townhome in Livingston and are thinking about making the move to a single family home now that we have a baby. We are looking in Summit, Chatham, and Millburn. We need easy access to the train and under 1hr commute on the train. Our budget is up to 1.2.

We've searched through MLS's and went out to open houses The majority of what we saw were dumps!! One house in Summit claimed to be new, but it obviously wasn't as everything in the house was slanted/crooked, and all the craftsmanship was so shoddy and unprofessional.

Ugh.... We would get a house that has good bones but needs updating. We can't even find a two car garage!!

So sad!!

<LI class=mls>MLS ID # 38861258

captne76 · 08-26-2011, 08:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by anniesez

<LI class=mls>MLS ID # 38861258

I think Annie meant to post this link:

Chatham Real Estate - Chatham Homes for Sale >> DirectHomes.com

tarp · 08-27-2011, 10:16 AM

I love how NJ residents make up excuses for why their tax bills are so outrageously high.

Here's a reality check: plenty of areas of the U.S. provide excellent services and public schools at a mere fraction of the cost of NJ property taxes.

AnesthesiaMD · 08-28-2011, 07:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tarp

I love how NJ residents make up excuses for why their tax bills are so outrageously high.

Here's a reality check: plenty of areas of the U.S. provide excellent services and public schools at a mere fraction of the cost of NJ property taxes.

Except that the COL is a fraction as well. I'm the first person to say our public employees are overpaid, but at the same time, you can't pay them the wage of a public employee living in Kentucky or Nebraska.

MontyLaSalle · 08-28-2011, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bradykp

it's kind of funny to read "dump" and "decent" associated with 1.2. i'm actually laughing out loud. I found plenty of houses for far less than that which are far from dumps and nicer than decent. hell, there was a gorgeous house for sale in basking ridge not too long ago for $895,000. maybe people need to get their expectations in check...

Yeah, seriously. I don't know how someone who couldn't find a very nice house with the OP's requirements--"easy access to the train and under 1hr commute in northern NJ"--could possibly be intelligent enough to have an income, investments--whatever--to be able to afford a place for 1.2 million. Maybe it's inherited money or something.

Magic78 · 08-28-2011, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MontyLaSalle

Yeah, seriously. I don't know how someone who couldn't find a very nice house with the OP's requirements--"easy access to the train and under 1hr commute in northern NJ"--could possibly be intelligent enough to have an income, investments--whatever--to be able to afford a place for 1.2 million. Maybe it's inherited money or something.

We can't find a decent place that we see ourselves living in for a long time.

We are intelligent. My husband has a PhD from Harvard. I have a Master's Degree from Boston College. We don't have inherited money.

AnesthesiaMD · 08-28-2011, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MontyLaSalle

Yeah, seriously. I don't know how someone who couldn't find a very nice house with the OP's requirements--"easy access to the train and under 1hr commute in northern NJ"--could possibly be intelligent enough to have an income, investments--whatever--to be able to afford a place for 1.2 million. Maybe it's inherited money or something.

A guy living in a mud hut in Darfur would be in paradise in a one bedroom apartment in Newark. I'm sure he would wonder why anyone would need something more. It's all relative.