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say I spend 4000/month here in midwest. How much I can budget to live the more or less the same lifestyle in NJ area and work in NYC with a kid and working spouce? Any guestimate?
say I spend 4000/month here in midwest. How much I can budget to live the more or less the same lifestyle in NJ area and work in NYC with a kid and working spouce? Any guestimate?
it's not going to happen, you will need around 6k + a month
mortgage can be what ever you want it to be, let's stay at 1800/m
property taxes will be almost double, call it 6400/y
commuting will be at least triple, about 180/m
health insurance shouldn't be any different, auto will be around 1200/y for 1 car
food will be almost the same.
Here is some info I probably shouldn't be sharing on the internet. There are just two of us and a very cute puppy.
-$2,381.00 Mortgage & Taxes Taxes are about $500. You could figure out how much our house was I'm sure...
-$92.00 Car Insurance - We only have one car
-$175.00 Gas/Electric - I would say 12 month avg is significantly less than this but we like to overbudget on this because it can fluctuate a bit
-$400.00 Food - I eat a lot
-$50.00 FIOS - just internet
-$75.00 Verizon cell - One line
-$12.95 Tivo
-$100 gas
-$10.00 MyFax - Internet fax
-$15 NetFlix
-$40 Water
Of course, this doesn't include all the Random things ... oil change, birthday presents, going out to dinner, car registration, damn this damn that. Also most people have a car payment add in another $300 or so. Kids... now I'd be curious to know how much kids cost
Health insurance, 500 bucks for 2 working people and a child?
Here is some info I probably shouldn't be sharing on the internet. There are just two of us and a very cute puppy.
-$2,381.00 Mortgage & Taxes Taxes are about $500. You could figure out how much our house I'm sure...
-$92.00 Car Insurance - We only have one car
-$175.00 Gas/Electric - I would say 12 month avg is significantly less than this but we like to overbudget on this because it can fluctuate a bit
-$400.00 Food - I eat a lot
-$50.00 FIOS - just internet
-$75.00 Verizon cell - One line
-$12.95 Tivo
-$100 gas -$10.00 MyFax - Internet fax
-$15 NetFlix
-$40 Water
Of course, this doesn't include all the Random things ... oil change, birthday presents, going out to dinner, car registration, damn this damn that.
Health insurance, 500 bucks for 2 working people and a child? I clearly do not know the cost of a child.
this stuck out at me. have you ever investigated efax? i have an efax number that i've been using for 5+ years, and it's free. maybe this wouldn't work for you, not sure, but thought i'd throw it out there - you can use the extra $10 a month for food since you said you eat a lot . and also, you pay $40/mo for water? wow - mine's about $30/quarter.
We can't really give an opinion on yoru lifestyle and your ability to live it her ein NJ. The facts you gave us just aren't enough for that sort of analysis. We can, however, help you through some comparisons of your numbers.
Mortgage of $1,800/month. Sure you can do that here. But we don't know how much equity you will take out of the current house, and put down on a new one, so we have no idea what sort of house you can afford. If you get a 30 year mortgage loan at a fixed 6.5% (I'm just using that as a possibility. Depending on your circumstances, income, credit rating, etc, your rate could be higher or lower) your $1,800 per month will pay off a mortgage of about $285,000. If we ASSUME that you can put down 20%, that will result in a house priced at around $355,000. A house at that price will likely have taxes higher than your $3,500 per year. It's possible to be under $3,500 in taxes at that price range if you are in a condo or townhouse.
Commuting costs. The PATH train system goes from NJ into NYC. It's probably the least expensive commute available. They recently announced a potential rate increase to $2.00 per ride. Two rides per day, for 20 work days every month is 40 rides, at $2 per is $80 a month. If you don't live within walking distance of the PATH, add on whatever it will cost you to get there, park, etc. Your insurance costs are very dependant upon your own circumstances, so I can't really estimate those, but you may be able to reduce some of that expense by negotiating it as part of your compensation package. Many companies will be more eager to ante up for heath insurance than a flat salary increase. Can't hurt to ask.
Hope this helps. Good luck, and welcome to NJ!
this stuck out at me. have you ever investigated efax? i have an efax number that i've been using for 5+ years, and it's free. maybe this wouldn't work for you, not sure, but thought i'd throw it out there - you can use the extra $10 a month for food since you said you eat a lot . and also, you pay $40/mo for water? wow - mine's about $30/quarter.
i haven't tried efax. i'm wondering how they could offer free incoming and outgoing faxes but i'll have to check it out. i don't have a particular day to day need for a fax machine but i've found out that to deal with the not so modern world you need a fax machine. we have a scanner also that helps with outgoing faxes.
edit - i took a look at efax. is there any catch about the free service that i'm missing? can you send also?
water - great point. honestly, i made this up. it was an estimate on the high side. we haven't received a bill yet and they only bill quarterly. we do not have a land line so our water company doesn't have a way of accurately billing us. the water meter is inside and their system requires a phone line to provide them the amount of water used. so when we moved in i read the meter, wrote it down and haven't thought about it since.
Last edited by joe moving; 11-16-2007 at 11:12 AM..
If anyone can actually find insurance for that, let me know.
Insurance through my wifes job would end up costing us 1300/month (family plan) and that is with no dental or vision.
Which poses this question... Can we get private PA health insurance while living in NJ??
i actually don't know anyone who pays that much for a family of 4. Major corporations and self employed. <shrug>
Property taxes could be anywhere from $5000-$15000 depending on the town and the size of home. As others said, mortgage is up to you. Commuting depends on where you work. Other expenses about the same. The big thing is housing. Average house is around $400+k. Again, according to location.
If anyone can actually find insurance for that, let me know.
Insurance through my wifes job would end up costing us 1300/month (family plan) and that is with no dental or vision.
Which poses this question... Can we get private PA health insurance while living in NJ??
$1300 per month? wow! We pay $600/month for a family plan. Never heard of one that high.
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