Perhaps it's the nesting instinct; but shortly after you learn that there's a baby on the way, the mind can't help but measure space all around, eyeball the walls for where cupboards and shelves could go, and then wonder if the garage would fit a good-sized Volvo. The inevitable choice you need to make here then is this: should you choose your typical apartment in a high-rise, or should you get your own detached home in the suburbs with a garden, on a quiet street. Understandably, decisions like this can be stress-inducing. Moving out of the center of the city typically means giving up any engagement you may have had in a real life. Work will mean a long commute, your friends will all be far away, and all the great restaurants and theaters that help you feel you're a sophisticated and cultured member of the upper-middle-class, will be left far behind. You picture yourself getting left out of the conversation with your friends get together - all you know now is how much space there is for the dog to romp around in the yard.
But still, the clean air, the green in the yard, and the strength of knowing that the earth is right beneath your feet, not 200 m below is difficult to ignore. So where would you place your choice - even if you are only idly wondering about it now? Let's try to reduce it to how much it will cost living in each place, when you factor in everything you'll be spending in the course of living. Let's take a major metropolitan city, like New York. The price tag for a home in the suburbs around New York, or maybe even New Jersey is substantially cheaper - whether you think of buying a home or renting. However, a detached home in the suburbs will certainly cost you more in upkeep. You'll certainly have no public transportation around, so you'll be running at least two cars, and paying extra insurance for all the extra miles driven. If you are worried about all the entertainment options you are giving up leaving the city, think of all the wholesome schooling options you'll be gaining in the bargain. Almost certainly, your suburb will have excellent schooling, the quality of which you will pay dearly for at a private school in the city.
Buying a home in New Jersey, your typical home with four bedrooms and two bathrooms, will set you back nearly $600,000. It's a much more spacious home and the facilities are great; but you pay higher income taxes, and things like the commute and general upkeep of the property run you to about $1500 more each year (I put it at about $5000 to take care of every single essential, mortgage , taxes, bills, landscaping and commute included each month). Living right there in the big city would probably only cost you $3500 a month - you would have a smaller home, a smaller upkeep bill, and there would be no commute and no garden to take care of.
Basically, your decision when buying a home in the city or the suburbs boils down to what taxes you pay. Even if you can find a suburb in a neighboring state that's not much of a commute away, you might actually pay so much in taxes, that it wouldn't be a bargain. And if the taxes over in the suburbs are no different though, certainly, you'll be spending more for your lifestyle out in the open, and perhaps a beautiful colonial style home with a lush garden. But when you look at your baby walking about in your little high-rise apartment, it would seem like the money really wouldn't matter.
To anyone who is just starting out on raising a family then, the suburbs are really the way to go - with cleaner air, better schooling, and a more wholesome neighborhood. Any couple has just done with raising a family and has only each other, buying a home in the city and moving back woud have all the benefits.
0 Response to "Buying a Home - Should you pickj the City or"
Post a Comment