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Looking to purchase a home for under $700k with a 45 minute commute to NYC (1hr to Grand Central). Wish it could be Maplewood but property taxes are just too high to justify living there - Montclair too. I drove around Rutherford, which seems to fit my price range and offer bigger homes for a bit less. but couldn't really pick up on the vibe of the town. Is this a blue or white collar town? I love the narrow tree-lined roads of Maplewood with different/variety of home styles on each street - very cute. We're open to practically any county and town that offers good commute, good community and good resale value in 7-10 years. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
If planning only to "own" for seven to ten years why go through all the bother of buying a home. Such a short duration sounds more like an over glorified rental to me.
Metuchen, East Rutherford. The 45 minutes is pretty limiting, that's why Maplewood is so expensive.
7-10 years is pretty tight for all the money spent on closing costs and the like. Add the fact that you need the market to go up by that point (I'm sure there were some people in 2009 that needed to sell back then too...) and you might be better off renting and investing in more traditional means than just the house. I highly recommend this buy vs rent calculator, you can figure out what your break even point is: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/...alculator.html
The "nice downtown" "short commute" towns like Maplewood and Montclair are pretty pricey to maintain. Dont forget that the proximity to the city, and downtown charm is because the town was developed at the turn of the century....with older housing stock...
If youre trying to split hairs on the cost to rent versus the cost to own (an older house in a high tax town), you may end up pretty disappointed. That $1k-2k/mo differential could QUICKLY get chewed up with increasing taxes and home repairs/renovations.
The taxes...the repair bills for a vintage home...the contractor bids for the address, etc...You could spend $4k/mo between your monthly tax escrow and funding renovations over your holding period (new roof/new windows/replacing plumbing every time you open up a wall). That alone could get you a very nice rental home. You could blow the equivalent of a years worth of rent payments just to replace the windows of that 100 year old house. Something that you take for granted, and is overlooked. The mortgage payment is practically the price of admission, and the "concessions" get you. When it comes to a rental, there are no "concessions", you make a rent payment, and the owner handles the repairs.
Last edited by JaRuss01; 11-27-2017 at 11:09 AM..
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