Confused about cost of living in Hampton Roads (Virginia Beach: apartment, for rent)

[centre]

Originally Posted by Spazkat9696

I just bought a very nice house in va beach for 215,00.00$ I think your median price may be skewed because of the large number of 1,000,000$ homes sitting on the market with no buyers. We kept out search under 225,000$ and we had a ton to choose from.

We did the same and had great luck. We found a house that the lady just wanted to get rid of (she lived in Florida). There ARE deals out there.

[pbehson]

Originally Posted by chesapeakesim

I agree, I think those median house values are way off. Like for VA Beach it says $282K, but go on realtor.com and search for houses in Virginia Beach.

Virginia Beach, VA, Real Estate Listings and Virginia Beach, VA, Single Family Home for Sale - REALTOR.com®

Not sure if that will come up right, but it is for all SFH in VA Beach (page 20 of 40 pages which represents the median). Prices are around $380K, so that is a more realistic median price. It is 6.2 times higher than median income, much higher than the generally accepted 3X rules.

Also, it is common for college grads to start at around $20K-$25K, but it is also common for people with masters and years of experience to only make $30K-$35K. You're right, it is all relative so if you are used to NJ prices it may seem cheaper to live here. But if you are looking to move here you should ask yourself, do you really want to live somewhere where COL is still high and you will make much less than NJ, or do you want to live somewhere much more affordable like Raleigh or Charlotte.

Where else are you looking? Do you have specific reasons for including HR in your list?

I am sorry but, do you live here? Are you trying to suggest that the median price of a home in VB is nearly $400k? Look in the Pilot home weekend section, there are plenty of homes for $400k but many more in the $250-$350k range.

Also, have you noted the unemployment rate here (in VB it is always below the national avg) vs. anywhere in NC (you suggest Raleigh and Charlotte) - the state is >10%. It may be a little expensive here but Raleigh and NJ aren't any better. (I was an engineer in Raleigh and born and raised in NJ).

[rtandc]

We can dispute what the median cost of a home is in this area all day long because it is changing daily but I think what many people are over looking is what type of home are you getting for that median price. Sure you can get a home for 250K in Va Bch there are plenty of them for that price, but what you have to compare is what are you getting for that 250K compared to what you can get else where in another part of the USA for that 250K based on an area that has the same median income rate.

Does a 1800 sq Foot home on a 10000 sq foot lot in Va Bch for 250K really compare to a 3000 sq foot home on an acre of land somewhere else in the USA for the same 250K.......... If you are going to compare prices......take that 3000 sq foot home on the acre of land and figure out how much it would cost here locally...........yeah ouch...........

A better way to compare median home prices is by the average cost per square foot for a home including the size of the lot, compared to the same size in another area......then you will have a better feel of how over priced the homes are in this area.

[Sour.Amaretto]

Originally Posted by rtandc

We can dispute what the median cost of a home is in this area all day long because it is changing daily but I think what many people are over looking is what type of home are you getting for that median price. Sure you can get a home for 250K in Va Bch there are plenty of them for that price, but what you have to compare is what are you getting for that 250K compared to what you can get else where in another part of the USA for that 250K based on an area that has the same median income rate.

Does a 1800 sq Foot home on a 10000 sq foot lot in Va Bch for 250K really compare to a 3000 sq foot home on an acre of land somewhere else in the USA for the same 250K.......... If you are going to compare prices......take that 3000 sq foot home on the acre of land and figure out how much it would cost here locally...........yeah ouch...........

A better way to compare median home prices is by the average cost per square foot for a home including the size of the lot, compared to the same size in another area......then you will have a better feel of how over priced the homes are in this area.

I agree!!! We used to live in VAB and almost purchased a house there last year and then my husbands job brought us to Charlotte and we decided to rent and we have the same size house we did in the beach and pay 550 less than we did there Now that being said we have NO BEACH and that sucks so his job will be taking us to Charleston at the end of the year and the amount of house we can get for the money is still so much better than what we could get in VAB, So you are right it is something to think about and you really have to decide WHY you want to be in that spot, b/c if we were deadset on being in VAB we would have had to suck it up and buy a potentially smaller home, luckily we understand family is good but we can visit

[telemonster]

The local realtor associations fail to produce quality statistics such as median price per square foot. If we had this data going back to before the housing mania we could see how it got out of line, and get a better idea if people are not getting better value. You could take the price from 2001 for a place (if it's a used home) and compound 3% on it for every year, and that might be an okay indicator of what it should be worth.

The are does have it's share of ghetto. I know people that moved here from other areas attracted to the beach and what not. Their opinion is now, "I don't know why honestly anyone with any technical skilled would ever move here, or stay here." *shrug*

It used to be a fairly cheap place to live. My only guess is the military helped run the prices up. Once you live here you will notice there are lots of stores that only sell to the military and gov't employees. They scam them on high priced, long payment financing of consumer electronics, rims, jewlry and furniture. I think the young kids are warned to avoid them (and many of the scam car lots) but not sure. I can only assume that the same people that would shop there fell into the easy financing home trap.

[citydweller]

Prices ran up because like other metros we were in a bubble. Hopefully home prices will continue to trend downwards.

[pbehson]

Originally Posted by Sour.Amaretto

I agree!!! We used to live in VAB and almost purchased a house there last year and then my husbands job brought us to Charlotte and we decided to rent and we have the same size house we did in the beach and pay 550 less than we did there Now that being said we have NO BEACH and that sucks so his job will be taking us to Charleston at the end of the year and the amount of house we can get for the money is still so much better than what we could get in VAB, So you are right it is something to think about and you really have to decide WHY you want to be in that spot, b/c if we were deadset on being in VAB we would have had to suck it up and buy a potentially smaller home, luckily we understand family is good but we can visit

Well, good luck. This is taken directly from Salary.com. In short, Charleston costs more and pays less. Other sources seem to indicate that things are perhaps a bit closer, but VB is still less expensive.

"The cost of living in Charleston, SC is 8.1% higher than in Virginia Beach, VA. Therefore, you would have to earn a salary of $108,101 to maintain your current standard of living. Employers in Charleston, SC typically pay 3.1% less than employers in Virginia Beach, VA. Therefore, if you take the same type of job in the same type of company in Charleston, SC you are likely to earn $96,907. "

[GoPhils]

Originally Posted by Sour.Amaretto

I agree!!! We used to live in VAB and almost purchased a house there last year and then my husbands job brought us to Charlotte and we decided to rent and we have the same size house we did in the beach and pay 550 less than we did there Now that being said we have NO BEACH and that sucks so his job will be taking us to Charleston at the end of the year and the amount of house we can get for the money is still so much better than what we could get in VAB, So you are right it is something to think about and you really have to decide WHY you want to be in that spot, b/c if we were deadset on being in VAB we would have had to suck it up and buy a potentially smaller home, luckily we understand family is good but we can visit

As you hinted, for the most part, housing is more expensive near the beach.

For example:
Ocean City, NJ (my beach of choice in my area):
Income: $55,200
House Value: $530,200
COL: 125.4

Ocean City, MD:
Income: $45,300
House Value: $314,150
COL: 95.8

And both OC's really only have summer from June-August...

Hilton Head:
Income: $69,000
House Value: $540,000
COL: 106.8

Miami:
Income: $29,075
House Value: $330,800
COL: 141.7

Yes, I know a lot of people that own houses in these places don't actually live there...

And yes, there are some places that aren't as bad. Here's a couple that seemed like decent deals:
Jacksonville (although the costs are higher actually in Jacksonville Beach):
Income: $48,700
House Value: $180,900
COL: 84

Myrtle Beach:
Income: $42,000
House Value: $197,600
COL: 90.8

I've researched Jacksonville and that seems like a possibility, and we had looked into both Myrtle Beach and Charleston but there doesn't seem to be many jobs there. But overall, compared to a lot of other beach towns, Virginia Beach is probably below average as far as expensiveness goes. And a lot of other beach towns are just that, beach towns, with not much else around them. At least Virginia Beach has the other towns of Hampton Roads nearby.

[pbehson]

Here is Salary.com on Charlotte vs. VB:

The cost of living in Charlotte, NC is 6.3% higher than in Virginia Beach, VA. Therefore, you would have to earn a salary of $106,334 to maintain your current standard of living. Employers in Charlotte, NC typically pay 3.6% more than employers in Virginia Beach, VA. Therefore, if you take the same type of job in the same type of company in Charlotte, NC you are likely to earn $103,580.

[Erma]

Originally Posted by Sour.Amaretto

I agree!!! We used to live in VAB and almost purchased a house there last year and then my husbands job brought us to Charlotte and we decided to rent and we have the same size house we did in the beach and pay 550 less than we did there Now that being said we have NO BEACH and that sucks so his job will be taking us to Charleston at the end of the year and the amount of house we can get for the money is still so much better than what we could get in VAB, So you are right it is something to think about and you really have to decide WHY you want to be in that spot, b/c if we were deadset on being in VAB we would have had to suck it up and buy a potentially smaller home, luckily we understand family is good but we can visit

wait til you get to Charleston!