New Jersey has the highest property taxes in the country thanks to Gov. Corzine. So we need to vote his ass out with Chris Christie!
I would never buy a house in New Jersey, I would rather rent a large apartment for the rest of my life. You have to have a pretty big combined income to afford a house in New Jersey or New York.
I like living in New Jersey though, the weather is nice, not too hot and short summers, cold winters (I love snow). Easy access to New York City without having to pay New York cost of living. Decent economy compared to the rest of the country. The turnpike and parkway give you easy access to get anywhere in the state. Lots of cool and trendy cities. I was born here and I'll probably die here.
Although property, taxes and the cost of living are all lower in the south typically you make less doing the same job in the south, take for example teachers, in the south teachers usually make between 25K and 55K a year in NJ teachers start around 45 and can make as much as 100k depending on district and education level. My family has lived in both NJ and PA, my father works both in NYC and Philadelphia his firm is based in NYC with a large office in Philly, due to the high property taxes in NJ and NY my family chose to relocate to PA, you can live in PA just over the river from Trenton buy a comparable house, the house itself usually costs a little more but the taxes are about half what they are in NJ, from Trenton you can take the train to NYC in about 45 Mins and be at Penn Station, or you can take Septa to Philadelphia and be in CC in about 45 mins, or its about a 30 Minute drive, also some shore points are as close as 45 mins, about and 1.25 hours to AC. It really makes a lot of sense and I think PA as a whole is nicer than NJ. We still have a shore house in Cape May and it takes us about an hour to drive there. In Bensalem you can pick up a new home for as little as 450K, nicer areas like where my parents live run about 750K for a new home, property taxes can be as low as 3k.
I often watch the HGTV shows about people looking for new homes and my brother has just moved from inside the Chicago city limits to a suburb.
It totally amazes me what housing costs are like in other areas of the country!
Yes, ATV...salaries are lower for teachers in the South, and various other jobs..but it's all relative, as the cost of living is lower here, too.
I was surprised when my brother was looking at houses, he was looking at price first, then what the taxes would be. Here, my clients looks at the price...then the interior of the house, etc. Taxes are a consideration as far as does one live inside the city limits or in the county as the city taxes are almost equal to the county taxes. People are more concerned about what HOA fees are, than property taxes.
I would love to live in a much larger city. Chicago or even Atlanta would make me happy. I would like the cultural opportunities - museums, theatre, art galleries, the food situation - restaurants, butcher shops, fruit markets, bakeries (a real bakery, not Kroger's
), access to public transportation, a "neighborhood" - the coffee shop, cleaners, a few little shops, a local bar, the "atmosphere".
However, where I live was a good place to raises my kids. I didn't have to worry about gangs in my kids school, they went to public schools - that while not the best in the country, they were the best in the area. We lived in a subdivision - the houses weren't cookie cutter - but were all similar in price range, with a subdivision pool in the sub across the main road that the two subs shared. I sold my house the end of 2006 for $236500. It had almost 4000sf, fenced yard, huge screen porch, 4br, 2.5ba, 2 car garage and 2 fireplaces. And I thought I was lucky to get that much.
It's all relative.....
