Info on Buying a new Home near New York City (Monroe: HOA fees, homeowners insurance)

[newyorker786]

Hello all,

I have been living in New York City for over a decade now. I am looking to purchase a home now far away from New York City but in the 2-3 hour traveling distance. I was wondering if some of you can share your experiences and tell me which county/town/area are suitable. I am considering upstate New York but reasonable commute to the city. My price range is nothing more than $200,000. Please kindly share some input on which areas are reasonable taxes/mortgage. I am willing to travel as long as I live in some peace. Also, if some of you know decent brokers please feel free to share the information. Thank you so much for your time and help. I appreciate it.

[leoliu]

Poconos PA seem to have a lot of homes within your price and commute ranges.

[Henna]

I don't see how a 2 to 3 hour commute one way is reasonable, especially if you're doing it both ways four or five times a week. Here is some info on what it's like to commute to the Poconos.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/re...te/28comm.html

[fmatthew5876]

Originally Posted by Henna

I don't see how a 2 to 3 hour commute one way is reasonable, especially if you're doing it both ways four or five times a week. Here is some info on what it's like to commute to the Poconos.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/28/re...te/28comm.html

That's completely nuts. If you have to do that, forget New York. There are plenty of other cities with jobs and affordable suburban housing with reasonable commutes.

I do commute like this to maryland, but only on weekends (friday / sunday) and its a temporary situation for only a year or so. If I had to do it everyday, I would probably kill myself.

OP: Delaware also has incredibly cheap housing and low taxes. The china town bus that I take to MD stops in Wilmington and it's only $35 round trip. That's getting up to your 3 hour maximum however (and maybe more with traffic).

[charmed hour]

I'll re-post something I wrote for another thread regarding the Poconos.

Depending on where you consider the "boondockies" you may save on home purchase price but not much else. For example, people in Monroe County (Poconos) PA have an exorbitant tax rate, mainly school tax. Most communities are far more expensive tax wise than NYC. Sure your house was under $200k but your taxes are well over $6,000. I have a cousin paying nearly $10,000 a year in property & school taxes plus another $3,000 in HOA fees.

I'll use myself as an example of what you can expect if you're thinking of moving to the Poconos.

When we lived in NYC we paid around $5800 a year in taxes for a 2 family home on a 4 lot property. There were some minor discounts that brought it down less than a $1,000 a year to that rate. We moved out to PA (not Monroe County due to the taxes) and our school/property taxes are equivalent to what we paid in NYC. No discounts offered with the exception of 2% if you pay the year in full.

You also need to take into account things like commuting costs should you still want to work in NYC. Out by me there's the option of taking a bus into the city. Cost for a monthly commute is around $340 a month from the terminal closest to me. Plus you'd need to drive there and pay to park. It leaves in you Port Authority. You'll need to make your way to work from there- usually that's at least a MetroCard fare.

Oh, yeah you'll need a car in the "boondockies" no way around it. Public transportation in many areas is either non-existent or inadequate. I choose to drive into the Bronx because I only do the commute 2-3 days a week. But those 2-3 days cost me around $40 in gas and tolls for each round trip. Each round trip is 250 miles.

Whether you drive or take the bus it's a brutal commute to do daily. You're barely home to enjoy your cheaper house and the surrounding natural beauty.

Now while living in the boondockies, I spend far more in gas just to do my regular errands than I ever did in NYC. I need to drive EVERYWHERE. In NYC I could walk basically to all the places I needed to go or take public transportation. Here's an example, the nearest large supermarket is a 36 mile round trip for me. I easily blow through a half a tank of gas just doing the basics. In NYC, it took me a month to burn half a tank and that was driving to work every day.

The alternative is to find work out in the "boondockies". 1- good luck with that 2- be prepared to take a significant pay cut. In my field a comparable position is at least a 35% pay cut before the cost of health insurance.

And because I live in a mountainous area of the boondockies, my front wheel drive, while fine in NYC snow/streets, is not an ideal option in the winter out there. Many roads aren't salted never mind plowed with any consistency.

So, what happened? I had to buy a vehicle with AWD. My fiance has a car that is rear wheel drive- dead in the water during the winter with that. He,too, needed a vehicle with AWD. Now we're up to 4 cars, 3 of them financed. 4 cars to maintain, 4 cars to insure, 4 cars to inspect, 4 cars to gas up, etc. There goes any savings on auto insurance.


Speaking of winter, whoa to the electricity bill! No gas heat out by me. We averaged $700 a month last winter keeping the stat at 65 and running the propane fireplace. We also have a propane bill that winter time was close to $300 for the quarter. Cable is the same price across the board, food is the same price across the board, gas about 30 cents a gallon cheaper- but you're filling up far more often. No savings there. Home alarm system, homeowners insurance, HOA fees, on and on.


Now mind you, I am totally not complaining because all of this was known to us and we expected no less. We did plenty of number crunching and talking it out. But many times people aren't thorough in their research into moving out of the city. In the long run, it just may cost you more to buy elsewhere.

[bmwguydc]

The taxes are high in many areas of the Poconos, and some areas are not as bucolic. I would look toward Connecticut for lower taxes. You can find smaller houses at $200k or under in Litchfield, for example, which is about two hours from Manhattan, for example. If you need the train, however, to commute to Manhattan, you would want to look along the Harlem Line as it extends to Wassaic, which is only about 20 or so miles from Western Massachusetts. In Dutchess County, you might find a house around Pawling, for example, which is only about an hour and a half from Manhattan. You can catch early morning trains that get to Grand Central in an hour and a half to an hour and forty-five minutes, as well, if that's a consideration.

[Adhom]

I've known several people who have tried this. One person got a townhouse 2 hours away upstate while another had a crazy commute 3 hours plus. Both of them got burnt out doing this. One person quit the job and the other moved into Queens.