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I have lived in Pine Beach for 22 years and have decided to stay put here in my retirement. Only the very low areas were hit by Sandy. Most of Pine Beach is a lot higher. I live close to the river, and even with a basement, i did not have any problem as I my house is elevated. In the state of NJ there are a lot of services for Seniors too regardless of income. If you want a big house, then yes, real estate taxes will be higher.
A couple of the towns you mentioned have huge School Systems. There are 3 high schools in Brick and Toms River, each with a "Superintendent" and full Admin Staff, that's where most of your Tax Dollars are going to go. And there's no decent Beaches near Keyport.
I would say if you can cover the extra $8K - $10K you'll pay in taxes (RE, Income, Sales, Gas Tax and Tolls), Jersey might be OK to retire. When we left NJ a few years ago the RE Tax on my little 3-bed Ranch was over $6K and rising in Middletown (see huge School System above). My Income was Taxed heavily -- this past year I paid South Carolina only $10 and had a much better year than my last in NJ. The Gas Tax is now 38 cents in Jersey, in SC it's only 16 cents (2nd lowest in USA). There's Tolls in Jersey everywhere they can fit a Tool Booth (I mailed back my EZ Pass when we got here.)
Sales Tax ?? Ooh-Fah !!
Jersey has it's good points. I'm just hard pressed to think of anything right at this moment.
I grew up in New Jersey with one town high school, so I guess I would have, at one time, thought a system with three high schools was "huge." My school system in Georgia has 14 high schools.
We've looked at Delaware, too, for retirement. The one thing that we don't like is the high % of homes that are in developments that have HOAs. My husband especially will not live where there is a HOA. But if you don't mind them, Delaware is another state to think of. (We joke that their state slogan is "No sales tax!".) And homes are definitely not cheap there, although maybe cheaper compared to, say, Bergen County. They are expensive compared to my part of Gloucester County.
We have lived in Southern NJ my entire life and love it, however, we rent. We were homeowners for 20 years, but 3 years ago decided to down-size and simplify our lives and a big part of that was selling the house and becoming renters. We are much happier as renters and our finances are much more stable without all the unforeseen expenses that homeownership entails, not to mention the always-increasing property taxes. Now that we are renters, we spend all of our free time doing the things we enjoy doing, instead spending all of our time and money doing repairs/upkeep on the house, mowing the lawn, shoveling snow, worrying about how much money we will need to drop on the next major repair. We don't look at homeownership as an investment and we'd rather live a simpler life and take all the money we are saving by renting and invest it in other ways.
Anyway, we are not retired yet and not sure where we will retire or whether we will still be renters at that point. I always say NJ is an awesome place to live except for 2 things...property taxes and traffic.
I grew up in New Jersey with one town high school, so I guess I would have, at one time, thought a system with three high schools was "huge." My school system in Georgia has 14 high schools.
But did that encompass the entire county in Georgia ??
In NJ, each township has their little kingdom -- in Monmouth county there were 51 in total....each with a Superintendent, several Assistant Superintendents, Guidance Counselors, and associated Support Staff.
We've looked at Delaware, too, for retirement. The one thing that we don't like is the high % of homes that are in developments that have HOAs. My husband especially will not live where there is a HOA. But if you don't mind them, Delaware is another state to think of. (We joke that their state slogan is "No sales tax!".) And homes are definitely not cheap there, although maybe cheaper compared to, say, Bergen County. They are expensive compared to my part of Gloucester County.
We looked at Delaware too but decided against it because of HOA's and the homes without Hoa's are a little too far from the water. In the newer communities the house prices are outrageous once you start adding in all the extra's that make it so pretty. Plus, I need a dedicated yard where I can plant what I want without having to go through a bunch of people who decide whether it's allowed or not.
I'm also under the impression that doctors are not as plentiful as we're used to in the tri state area. I remember one real estate agent telling me that if I had an accident or something serious.. not to worry.. The med-copter would just pick me right up. No thanks. I'll take my chances waiting for an ambulance. I don't mean to mean to bash Delaware. It's a lovely state. It's just not NY or NJ.
Very interesting, thanks.. I actually had a couple of the Beachwood homes saved on Zillow so I guess I have been looking in that area. The property taxes aren't bad and the houses and property sizes are what I'm looking for.
Pine Beach is near Bayville, isn't it? If it is, that's where I was looking before Sandy hit.. After Sandy, I changed my mind about that area.
While I do want fairly low property taxes.. and this is said from someone coming from NY where prop taxes aren't much better.. I'm more concerned with the taxes on our retirement income. If we hit over that 100k mark, we're pretty much screwed tax-wise and it would be financially better for us to stay in NY unfortunately.
I'll bet most of that flooding was off of Veeder Ln., Balsam Dr. and a few other streets where the houses are surrounded by water.
The Delaware Beach area is very nice. Our DD graduated from UDel and we spent a couple of vacations in Rehobeth and Bethany. It certainly has a favorable Tax Status, with all the Corporations HQ'd there.
A further thought about the New Jersey Town -- stay away from Lacey Twp/Forked River. Stay FAR Away. They are shutting down that old Nuke Plant in a couple of years. But they are leaving the spent Fuel Rods there. Not the kind of thing I'd want to worry about.
How far away? Between that and Salem, it just depends upon which way the wind's blowing.
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No thanks. I'll take my chances waiting for an ambulance. I don't mean to mean to bash Delaware. It's a lovely state. It's just not NY or NJ.
