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.
There is a 100 room hospital in town too. So far the medical care here has been fine. I have no complaints about that.
I’m sure the care is fine…probably in many ways better, faster, and certainly more personal and friendly than in a major medical center….at least that was my experience when we lived in a smallish city in West Virginia. I don’t say this as a warning or as a shortcoming, but just to set expectations….if you do need any sort of significant surgery or treatment, be prepared to travel. The traveling isn’t necessarily so bad for the patient, but can be more challenging for the spouse/partner involved. The patient may be hospitalized and the spouse may need to find accommodations or travel back and forth. Can be a pain.
The sooner you learn this during your RE investment yrs the better.
Each situation has plenty of reasons / drama, side stories. Fortunately it is not the end of the road (yet), time remaining to make alternate choices.
A couple that enjoys and feeds on urban life, is probably not going to find lasting joy living in the boonies, and away from family and friends.
For others... that is a perfect formula and life-long pursuit.
Many rural retirees we assist are very happy to be in the boonies Several have built their dream home AFTER age 70, from scratch, nail by nail, brick by brick... all by themselves.
Different strokes for different folks. None is right for all.
We just try to keep multiple living spaces at each home, just in case we need a place for a caregiver. (Or ourselves)
Amen, bro. One thing we can really say about owning is that if you are creative, and have the skills, owning land is a bare canvas to an artist. We are reshaping our piece of earth into a creative place to live, free from HOA constraints, bad neighbors, and unethical landlords. We have learned construction to the point that now when building inspectors come and inspect our handiwork, they sign off, and then are interested in what we are going to do next. They have come to be friends.
The fact that we are doing this is amazing to me. In a building forum I frequent, they posted cost of electrical options for new houses, showing each 15A run with one socket was a $599 option. The posters said that was good. In our studio, I have just completed the installation of 32 branch circuits, with (30) 20A runs with GFCIs supporting up to 6 loads, and (2) 220v dual phase runs for water heaters and cooking. Total cost of this was about $900 for materials. We have done so well by managing this build; so far, our total 5000 sqft build of heated space (3000 sqft house/2000 studio split into a 1100 sqft recording studio, and an 800 sqft woodshop) is currently at about $270K total- including 10 acres of land. One doesn't have to be rich to enjoy luxuries associated with high costs. It does, however, require tenacity, obstinance, and skill.
Sounds like you work with some interesting characters! I totally relate to those that design their lives according to their own rules.
Try our area in queens …..homes start at 7 figures
Okay, so you are in an expensive area of NY. I don't know the area so it's all lost on me. I mean I kind of understand how insane the real estate in Manhattan is....
Okay, so you are in an expensive area of NY. I don't know the area so it's all lost on me. I mean I kind of understand how insane the real estate in Manhattan is....
We are not in manhattan ..we are in a small town setting in queens called bay terrace …as high as prices are here they are still a fraction of manhattan .
A two bedroom apartment in a building is millions in manhattan
A 1 bedroom in the building were we owned quite a few investment coops in manhattan over by Central Park run 1 to 1.5 million .
You can get a single family home here for that price , not a small one bedroom apartment.
I’m sure the care is fine…probably in many ways better, faster, and certainly more personal and friendly than in a major medical center….at least that was my experience when we lived in a smallish city in West Virginia. I don’t say this as a warning or as a shortcoming, but just to set expectations….if you do need any sort of significant surgery or treatment, be prepared to travel. The traveling isn’t necessarily so bad for the patient, but can be more challenging for the spouse/partner involved. The patient may be hospitalized and the spouse may need to find accommodations or travel back and forth. Can be a pain.
I very much understand. The hospital here is the medical center for the surrounding 4-5 counties including those in southern Ohio just to the north of here, and the medical industry is one of the major employers in town. If need be, there are much larger hospitals in both Lexington and Cincinnati, both about an hours drive. Hopefully, I can have all medical issues when they happen taken care of locally, but at least I have options if not.
Last edited by marino760; 12-26-2021 at 04:18 AM..
We are not in manhattan ..we are in a small town setting in queens called bay terrace …as high as prices are here they are still a fraction of manhattan .
A two bedroom apartment in a building is millions in manhattan
A 1 bedroom in the building were we owned quite a few investment coops in manhattan over by Central Park run 1 to 1.5 million .
You can get a single family home here for that price , not a small one bedroom apartment.
Maybe the condo prices in Bay Terrace are similar to Portland; but, a lot of Portland condos skew to the high side. Portland has a few listed right now over $1M and a couple of penthouses for $5-7M. Probably something similar in size and quality to your coop 1 bdrm would be $550k in Portland. It's gotten extremely crazy here in the twenty years I have been here.
Maybe the condo prices in Bay Terrace are similar to Portland; but, a lot of Portland condos skew to the high side. Portland has a few listed right now over $1M and a couple of penthouses for $5-7M. Probably something similar in size and quality to your coop 1 bdrm would be $550k in Portland. It's gotten extremely crazy here in the twenty years I have been here.
The link is not to Bay Terrace in Queens, but Central Park South in Manhattan, ie, just about the most expensive area in NYC. A few blocks from there, you can indeed get a smallish 1 bdrm co-op for half that price - but the monthly maintenance fees (which inclulde taxes) would likely be >50% higher than condo fees+taxes for the same condo in Portland. Except on some top prime blocks in Manhattan where billionaires live, the purchase price of a co-op in NYC is in fact lower than the purchase price of a condo in all other largest cities in the US. If I were to sell my condo in a an excellent part of Boston, and buy the same-sized co-op in an excellent part of Manhattan, I would have about 1/4 of the money left over from the sale of the Boston condo - but I would be paying about 3.5 times in monthly condo fees in NYC what I pay in Boston.
NYC co-ops are something between owning and renting. You buy a share of a sort of real estate company, and you sort of lease your unit from that "sort of company" as long as you own your share of that "sort of company". What you pay to the company per month (for maintenance and taxes) is still about a half of what you would be paying in rent. I think co-op is a worse financial deal than a condo (because monthly co-op dues are higher to start with and go up more with inflation - same issue as rents, while the purchase price of a co-op in NYC in fact does NOT appreciate much. The prices of small co-ops in NYC are about the same as they have been in 2011. They did not drop tremendously during the nationwide 2008/10 housing crash, and they did not come up too much after it. Except for the highest priced property in NYC, I don't think prices of co-ops swing tremendously, including grow tremendously. At least for the smallest properties (something that a solo retiree might consider), from the position of, say, someone who does not care too much about +/-$30k, the growth in price of a co-op unit between $0 and $30k in 10 years does not seem like any appreciation - and that is what good small co-ops in Midtown East in Manhattan "grew" in price since 2011).
Coops are not necessarily cheaper then a condo …
Many times the coop appears cheaper in asking price …but and it is a big but , the rest of your apartment equity is held by the buildings bank and paid the through a higher maintenance charge .
As it gets paid down it transfers over the equity to the value of the apartment .
So when buying a coop it is important to check on the building mortgage and see what the rest of the apartment equity may be .
When we bought where my ex lives as an investment back in 1987 we paid about 75k ..
however the apartments real value also included the portion the building held in their mortgage so our depreciation we took because it was an investment was on 104k that building was a condo instead of a coop it would have cost in the area of 104.
Today that coop is about 275k . With almost 700 in maintenance a month .
Our manhattan coops soared …appreciation blew away our single family home we owned in queens.
Ny has special projects like coop city , parkchester condos , rochdale village , etc that are part of the affordable housing programs . They can be a lot cheaper but they are areas I would never choose to live
A two bedroom 2 bath coop across the street from us is 450-475k if renovated and about 1400 a month maintenance…it does include a pool.
[QUOTE The prices of small co-ops in NYC are about the same as they have been in 2011.[/quote]
In Manhattan?
What price point are you seeing? Say 300 to 350 square feet.
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.
