Salary, Expenses and the cost of Miami in General... (Davie: homeowners insurance, condo)

[Coconut1]

I've seen time and time again here people say Miami is so expensive and you need to make mega-bucks to live here.

In your opinion, what is a salary where you could live a comfortable life?

What are your expenses that make Miami so unaffordable?

If you don't mind sharing, how about what you actually pay for car insurance, mortgage payment, homeowners insurance, taxes, etc. and how many people are in your family.

Please get as specific/share as much detail as you feel comfortable.

Thank you

[heydade]

Originally Posted by Coconut1

I've seen time and time again here people say Miami is so expensive and you need to make mega-bucks to live here.

In your opinion, what is a salary where you could live a comfortable life?

What are your expenses that make Miami so unaffordable?

If you don't mind sharing, how about what you actually pay for car insurance, mortgage payment, homeowners insurance, taxes, etc. and how many people are in your family.

Please get as specific/share as much detail as you feel comfortable.

Thank you

You can live comfortably if you are married and even with a kid or two on 100K a year. Will 75K cut it ? yes....but not as comfortable. You will have to settle for a townhouse or condo. But in reality, this is a very difficult question to answer because people's opnions on what is comfortable vary widely. A good example....my ex-wife....a spoiled rotten girl that went to Gulliver Prep, lived in a 3.5 million dollar Coral Gables mansion and had everything handed to her. She married me and thought money grew on trees...she wanted it all. A good example about her mindset is this : While we were dating, we went for a night out in CocoWalk in the Grove.....I drived around for 15 minutes looking for a metered parking spot since I didn't want to pay 10 dollars for a garage spot. let me tell you, I will NEVER forget the look on her face...she was beat red....embarrased and very very angry. We finally got a metered spot, and I will never forget that she was angry the rest of the night because I made her walk a block or two as opposed to garage parking.

My current wife : came here with nothing..worked hard to get where she is at today. Enjoys life to the fullest ! Carefree, happy and realizes that everything she has today can be taken from her in a heartbeat. She has made ME realize that life is about the journey...not the destination. So she is happy with everything. When we got married, she didn't want a ridiculous expensive wedding. So you know what we did ? We had a civil ceremony at the court house and that was it ! My ex-wife ? 60K wedding at the Colonade in Coral Gables.

I am getting off topic, but comfortable means a whole lot of different things depending on who you ask. Comfortable for me means having a tiny car payment, and having the other car paid off. Comfortable for me means living in a modest sized house with a large lot where there is some privacy. Comfortable to me means being able to eat out whenever I want with my wife...wether it be Houston's, Chipotle or a feast at China Grill. comfortable for me does NOT mean a BMW or a Mercedes or some other high-end car that your merely paying for the name. comfortable for me doesn't mean a big 3,000 square foot home with waterfall free formation pool and hot tub. Comfortable to me doesn't mean sending my kids to private school (one of the reasons I moved to west Davie and it's excellent public schools) So there you go...what is comfortable ? That is only something you can answer sir.

my mortgage payment is 1,950 a month and that includes insurance. I have two cars...one I make 450/month payments on....the other one is paid off. We have one 4 month old going on 5 months. I work two jobs because my wife is a stay at home mom. that is the sacrifice I am willing to make.

[Coconut1]

Thanks, dade. Those are exactly the type of replies I'm after.

I think if more people share their stories, it will help prospective residents decide whom is most like them and whether they could make it or not.

When people just say, "It's expensive and the pay is bad" nobody benefits from that.

[Marina1686]

It's expensive and it doesn't pay right!

I don't have luxuries or anything like that, but even for the basics it's expensive here in Miami... you need at least 100k if you have a family, and 60k if you are single if you want a decent lifestyle such as living in a nice area with some privacy and go out whenever you want without an excess...

[Coconut1]

Originally Posted by Marina1686

It's expensive and it doesn't pay right!

I don't have luxuries or anything like that, but even for the basics it's expensive here in Miami... you need at least 100k if you have a family, and 60k if you are single if you want a decent lifestyle such as living in a nice area with some privacy and go out whenever you want without an excess...

What is your profession, if I may ask?

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by heydade

You can live comfortably if you are married and even with a kid or two on 100K a year. Will 75K cut it ? yes....but not as comfortable. You will have to settle for a townhouse or condo. But in reality, this is a very difficult question to answer because people's opnions on what is comfortable vary widely. A good example....my ex-wife....a spoiled rotten girl that went to Gulliver Prep, lived in a 3.5 million dollar Coral Gables mansion and had everything handed to her. She married me and thought money grew on trees...she wanted it all. A good example about her mindset is this : While we were dating, we went for a night out in CocoWalk in the Grove.....I drived around for 15 minutes looking for a metered parking spot since I didn't want to pay 10 dollars for a garage spot. let me tell you, I will NEVER forget the look on her face...she was beat red....embarrased and very very angry. We finally got a metered spot, and I will never forget that she was angry the rest of the night because I made her walk a block or two as opposed to garage parking.

My current wife : came here with nothing..worked hard to get where she is at today. Enjoys life to the fullest ! Carefree, happy and realizes that everything she has today can be taken from her in a heartbeat. She has made ME realize that life is about the journey...not the destination. So she is happy with everything. When we got married, she didn't want a ridiculous expensive wedding. So you know what we did ? We had a civil ceremony at the court house and that was it ! My ex-wife ? 60K wedding at the Colonade in Coral Gables.

I am getting off topic, but comfortable means a whole lot of different things depending on who you ask. Comfortable for me means having a tiny car payment, and having the other car paid off. Comfortable for me means living in a modest sized house with a large lot where there is some privacy. Comfortable to me means being able to eat out whenever I want with my wife...wether it be Houston's, Chipotle or a feast at China Grill. comfortable for me does NOT mean a BMW or a Mercedes or some other high-end car that your merely paying for the name. comfortable for me doesn't mean a big 3,000 square foot home with waterfall free formation pool and hot tub. Comfortable to me doesn't mean sending my kids to private school (one of the reasons I moved to west Davie and it's excellent public schools) So there you go...what is comfortable ? That is only something you can answer sir.

my mortgage payment is 1,950 a month and that includes insurance. I have two cars...one I make 450/month payments on....the other one is paid off. We have one 4 month old going on 5 months. I work two jobs because my wife is a stay at home mom. that is the sacrifice I am willing to make.

Excellent post!

Yeah, I agree, these things are hard to figure out and sort out...so relative.

Myself, I've NEVER made more than $40,000/year in any job I've ever had in my life...usually more like $30,000/year actually. However, I've lived in Japan, New York City, San Francisco, and a whole lot of others.

I'm living in Japan now with wife and son on about $30,000/year...I'm the only one working...and I am actually 'comfortable'. I don't have a car and I rent...but I do take long vacations, etc.

However, if your average American wanted to live and work in Japan...and buy a massively large ranch style house with a bunch of cars and send their kids for private education type of places....they'd probably require something like 5x more my salary EASILY if not much more...and barely barely scape by.

Yeah, you are right, everything is so relative. Excellent post.

(That being said, if I had my salary and living in your situation, I wouldn't be able to make my payments! I think you are actually living fairly modestly there as well! But in the long-term, I'm sure it'll work out once your house is paid off, etc.)

[Marina1686]

Originally Posted by Coconut1

What is your profession, if I may ask?

I'm a legal assistant and soon-to-be student, why the question?

[SFLrunner]

THings are more expensive. I just moved to Brickell almost 2 months ago. The biggest jump was my car insurance............it more than doubled. Groceries seem to be more expensive....Going out can be more expensive, but that's your choice. There are plenty of places to get a drink and not pay a cover, valet etc....
I don't mind though, I love it down here.

[Coconut1]

Originally Posted by Marina1686

I'm a legal assistant and soon-to-be student, why the question?

It's interesting to compare different aspects of a poster and see why they may or may not be happy in Miami, and then look at yourself and see whether you're more similar, or less similar to their situation, i.e.- would you be having some of the same problems/successes if you moved to Miami like they are.

Obviously everyone is different and if a poster only gives a little bit of information it doesn't help too much, but IMO it gives others a way to gauge how they might also fare in Miami. It's only a very rough ballpark idea, not a science.

[gixxer1000]

Originally Posted by Coconut1

It's interesting to compare different aspects of a poster and see why they may or may not be happy in Miami, and then look at yourself and see whether you're more similar, or less similar to their situation, i.e.- would you be having some of the same problems/successes if you moved to Miami like they are.

Obviously everyone is different and if a poster only gives a little bit of information it doesn't help too much, but IMO it gives others a way to gauge how they might also fare in Miami. It's only a very rough ballpark idea, not a science.

I completely agree. This is what most people arguing for/against Miami seem to miss. And I think the people arguing against Miami miss it the most. Your personal situation is what is going to determine whether you like Miami.

And it's not just a simple as how much money you make. There are some people who would only like living in Miami if they made $100k a year and there are other who would like it if they only made $40k per year. Then there are those who wouldn't like it even if they made $250k.