Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
What he paid is irrelevant. What's the comparable home in a populated area in New Jersey? I never said there are NO homes in the south that cost $450K. Also, "what they purchased" is what? Because I bet you I can go on real estate sites right now, plug in Charlotte, and plug in $450K and see some nice homes.
No offense, man, but that's a dumb argument. What he paid is completely relevant, as you seem to be stating that it's quite easy to get a comparable house in places down South to ones in good towns in NJ with good school districts. And as someone who just spent the better part of 4+ months helping my brother out with the process and what is available down there, I'm stating that is not necessarily true.
And what he's paid is completely relevant, as the cost of his housing as a percentage of his salary is the number you need to be looking at. If houses in NJ cost $500K+ on the average, but the average salary is $150K+, that's a far different housing cost than $350-450K on only a $110-120K salary. Housing is expensive in NJ but salaries have kept up with that, especially if you're in counties close to NYC. In the South, housing prices are going up rapidly, yet salaries are not even remotely keeping pace. If you can't understand why the housing price is important, I dunno what to tell you. Sure, you may save in taxes but you pay more for private schools because the schools stink; that's not really a smart trade-off.
What I, and other posters, are trying to tell you is that it's not exactly a de facto no-brainer to move from NJ to places down South anymore. There's a lot more nuance that needs to be considered in the decision.
No offense, man, but that's a dumb argument. What he paid is completely relevant, as you seem to be stating that it's quite easy to get a comparable house in places down South to ones in good towns in NJ with good school districts.
I think you're missing the point, LOL. I don't care if he paid $450K. That's an absolutely meaningless number. What's relevant is saying "what did he get in comparison to what he would have gotten in New Jersey?" If you say "oh, yeah, he would have had to pay $1 million for the New Jersey home," then boom, there's your answer.
It's really funny how people like you will try to argue that the cost of living and home prices in New Jersey are "almost" equivalent to prices in the South. I repeat: tell me what he got for it and let's see if I can find an equivalent house for $450K in the area.
I think you're missing the point, LOL. I don't care if he paid $450K. That's an absolutely meaningless number. What's relevant is saying "what did he get in comparison to what he would have gotten in New Jersey?" If you say "oh, yeah, he would have had to pay $1 million for the New Jersey home," then boom, there's your answer.
It's really funny how people like you will try to argue that the cost of living and home prices in New Jersey are "almost" equivalent to prices in the South. I repeat: tell me what he got for it and let's see if I can find an equivalent house for $450K in the area.
Well, you clearly didn't read the rest of my post wherein I addressed that point. It's not the cost of the house, it's what percentage of your salary the house costs. THAT is what is relevant. Someone who owns a $1.5M condo in NYC with a $500k salary could be spending the exact same percentage on housing as someone in the South paying $150K for a house but only making $50K. The difference is that someone with a higher salary has a lot more wiggle room in their budget as costs for other commodities such as gas/groceries/etc etc go up.
And I've never once argued that housing prices in NJ are equivalent to the South; I'm pointing out that the housing market in most of the "hot" areas of the South are rapidly changing and becoming more expensive to live in, so they're not the grand bargain that people from up North seem to think they are. It's not like you're all of a sudden going down to Atlanta or Charlotte or Nashville or Austin and getting the equivalent of a NJ $500K house for $200K, which is what you seem to be implying.
It's not like you're all of a sudden going down to Atlanta or Charlotte or Nashville or Austin and getting the equivalent of a NJ $500K house for $200K, which is what you seem to be implying.
I don't know about Atlanta, but tell me where he moved from in New Jersey and I'll look at $500K houses there and $200K houses in Charlotte and let you know.
I don't know about Atlanta, but tell me where he moved from in New Jersey and I'll look at $500K houses there and $200K houses in Charlotte and let you know.
What difference does it make? It's not actual cost of the house itself, it's what percentage of your salary that housing takes up. If you live in NJ and own a $500K home but have a salary large enough that the cost for your housing only takes up 35% of your pay, whereas you can live in Charlotte and own a $350k home but due to a lower salary your housing costs eat up 45% of your pay, all other things being equal or comparable, you may be better off in NJ, depending upon your situation.
Again, you're focused on the macro items in a scenario, and not the micro, which are the bigger drivers when it comes to housing. If you pay less for a decent house in Charlotte but the schools aren't as good and you have to pay for private school, are you really that much better off? It's all very specific to your individual situation, but the point being made is that you can't just make a blanket statement that the South is so much less expensive than NJ that it's a no-brainer to move.
You clearly just want to troll, huh.
If you can't understand that it's what percentage of housing that eats up income, as opposed to just the closing price of a house, that's the more effective way of looking at the true cost of housing, I don't know what to tell you.
I've spelled out why your viewpoint is somewhat flawed, logically; you have yet to explain why you feel your viewpoint is the correct way of looking at things. If you truly want to engage in a reasoned discussion, then by all means, let's continue. But if you're just looking to troll and spout pithy platitudes and blanket statements that have no basis in fact, then go post in another forum.
You clearly just want to troll, huh.
If you can't understand that it's what percentage of housing that eats up income, as opposed to just the closing price of a house, that's the more effective way of looking at the true cost of housing, I don't know what to tell you.
I've spelled out why your viewpoint is somewhat flawed, logically; you have yet to explain why you feel your viewpoint is the correct way of looking at things. If you truly want to engage in a reasoned discussion, then by all means, let's continue. But if you're just looking to troll and spout pithy platitudes and blanket statements that have no basis in fact, then go post in another forum.
I find it amusing that when I called you on things, you refused. So I said "never mind." And that's got you all fired up, apparently. So, "LOL."
Just in case you don't get it: you're apparently implying that you brother took a massive pay cut to move down South, which in and itself is a mark against New Jersey living. And if he didn't take the massive pay cut, then comparing house costs is valid. Except you won't let me.
I find it amusing that when I called you on things, you refused. So I said "never mind." And that's got you all fired up, apparently. So, "LOL."
Just in case you don't get it: you're apparently implying that you brother took a massive pay cut to move down South, which in and itself is a mark against New Jersey living. And if he didn't take the massive pay cut, then comparing house costs is valid. Except you won't let me.
Except that's neither what I said nor implied; that seems to just be what you read into it.
And the things you "called me out on" were fairly silly to reply to, so I didn't; if you want to play realtor and cherrypick houses from both regions to fit your argument, knock yourself out.
My brother didn't take a paycut to move, as a matter of fact; he actually received a raise. And we were both surprised that his new paycheck didn't stretch as far as we thought it would. That has been my point all along, that it's not so cut and dried as you're trying to make it out to be; the way you've been carrying on, you'd think that everyone down South lives like the Beverly Hillbillies compared to us Northerners slaving away.
I'm not sure why the OP lists 'rapid urbanization,' as a bad thing, I would think progress towards a more modern, efficient, environmentally friendly, and sociable way of organizing residential space would be a good thing. I'm also not sure how Camden County is rapidly urbanizing. Aside from some developments in Collingswood, Camden County is a poster child for auto-dependent sprawl pushing further and further into the countryside.
Urbanization may be a misnomer; I am referring to a blatant decrease in quality of life and as a result blatant increase in number of urban folks in traditionally lily white neighborhoods (and not just one). This has always been a concern in our neighborhoods being so close to Camden, but ask anyone who lives around here and they will tell you it has been getting much worse recently.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
