Did you buy a house? Did you do it on your own with no

suzyq

Wed, May 21 2014, 3:13 pm

naturalmom5 wrote:

Suzyq, if you don't mind my asking where is there a normal frum community where the property taxes on a 200k home is 3k and not 15-20 k
I would imagine your quality of life is greatly impacted
Do you receive bussing and special ed services if your taxes are so low
That is also a factor . For example, in Baltimore and oak park, you must pay for your own bussing or carpool
So you aren't gaining anything , once you finish

I've never heard of taxes on a $200k home being $15-20k. The highest I've heard in NJ is about $10k, which is insane. And I also don't know of too many communities where bussing is included for private schools. But yes, my location includes nice special education services and we live in a very good school district. And I think everyone would be willing to say we live in a "normal frum community." I don't think my example is so atypical of any community outside the NYC metro area, or Los Angeles.

naturalmom5

Wed, May 21 2014, 5:15 pm

Wow, unless you aren't telling us all the details, Suzy, or perhaps you aren't aware of everything, you really got it made in the shade.
I have a few friends in Baltimore who pay 12K and more a year plus tuition for schools. I have many friends in Monsey, who pay 9% and more property tax. However, they don't pay for special ed or bussing. You do the math Smile

In Lakewood, bussing is provided , even for pre-school for all the Mosdot.This may change very soon, as we have a 5 million $ deficit, and the board is looking for the state to bail them out...

MaBelleVie

Wed, May 21 2014, 5:26 pm

So maybe look outside Baltimore and monsey. Property taxes in my state are fairly low, and I can tell you that parents who pay someone to drive their kids to school are not paying nearly enough to even come close to making up that difference.

JollyMommy

Wed, May 21 2014, 5:58 pm

We did in our early 20s with normal full time salaries (figure between $45K-$60K). Here's how:

1. We both worked part time a couple years before married and received weddings gifts

2. We lived very frugally for the first 3 years of marriage- did not buy furniture except for beds (rest was odds and ends hand me downs), lived in the cheapest apartment possible. Saved almost one full salary for 3 years. When I see gorgeous first apartments I can't believe how unspoiled we were. I was raised with lots of stuff, but I thought of early marriage as saving time.

3. Tutored, did bar mitzvah lessons, sold stuff to make extra $. We literally worked and went to school 12 hours a day at least 4 days a week. We were young and I didn't think it was a big deal to leave my house 7 AM and keep working through 7 pm. Now I would find that very hard, but then I didn't think twice about it.

4. Bought a "cheap" house for $550,000 and did major construction on it adding rooms, knocking out the kitchen..

5. Did not have children until married almost 3 years. This helps a lot, it let me work full time with no child care expenses.

It was a fun, wild experience.

That was when I was 23.

I don't know any other 23 year old who was able do that. Impressed with my younger self!

Last edited by JollyMommy on Wed, May 21 2014, 6:03 pm; edited 1 time in total

amother

Wed, May 21 2014, 6:00 pm

naturalmom5 wrote:

I'm the amother who bought a 300,000 house in Lakewood when the market was high. I pay under 5,000 in taxes, which is reasonable because it is small and on a busy street. That is one thing that is holding me back from moving - I can't bear the thought of paying 10,000 - 12,000 in taxes.

My children's tuition is max 5,500 compared to Baltimore where it is closer to 9,000.

I'd rather pay 3K taxes then having bussing. One of my siblings pays bussing in another town and for 3 children it doesn't come close to the crazy property taxes that we pay in Lakewood. I'd rather have control over my own money then pay it to taxes and get the services they choose.

Hashem_Yaazor

Wed, May 21 2014, 9:12 pm

I never lived at home when I was single, and I paid for my bachelor's (I don't have a masters) but I don't have student loans which is nice. I guess I had "assistance" because I had gotten gifts as a child/inheritance from grandparents to help pay for that. So I never started marriage in debt.

We lived frugally and saved when we could.

I have every intention of buying a home without any federal or special grants or loans for first time homebuyers, etc or taking a loan from a credit card or asking relatives or gemachs to help me.

I'm not sure at what point I say the money we have saved up is our own doing vs help since we did inherit money (not necessarily a good thing :/) but we're not looking at houses over 300K (actually I'm eyeing a house closer to 200K) and we wouldn't live anywhere where property taxes were more than about 3K for that type of house.
Tuition is a whole different story. In my hometown, I could buy a house for 150K and use government vouchers for tuition. So is the government assisting me in homebuying? Or in sending my kids to private school if we lived there?

I'm not sure at what point one decides what "assistance" means since basically everything is dependent on yet another.

amother

Wed, May 21 2014, 9:54 pm

amother wrote:

Im sure there are people who do it on their own like those who chimed in on this thread but the vast majority dont. its simply not possible. There are way too many people in my community where the husband sat in kollel for 5 years and just became a rebbi, the wife is a teacher, they have 3 kids in school, and they buy a home for 350-400K. The numbers dont add up. of course they are getting help.

It's not so 'of course' that people are getting help. We are a kollel family and we bought our house with money from savings, mostly from me working before we got married and then working overtime before our baby was born.
Its very frustrating when we hear people say "Well, I can't afford to buy a house. I'm not in kollel being supported" Well guess what, we're not either being supported. Don't make assumptions.

That being said, OP- it can take years and years. Some people start off with a smaller, cheaper house. Others look for areas further out and cheaper. And as prev posters said, out of town is a LOT cheaper.

suzyq

Thu, May 22 2014, 9:36 am

naturalmom5 wrote:

In Lakewood, bussing is provided , even for pre-school for all the Mosdot.This may change very soon, as we have a 5 million $ deficit, and the board is looking for the state to bail them out...

I'm not sure who your friends are but their homes must be amazing. Baltimore City property tax rate is 2.248% (and note that Baltimore city is the highest in Maryland, and much of the frum community does not live in the city, but in the county where the property tax rate is 1.1%), which makes a $200K home have an annual property tax of $4,496, nowhere near your $12k number. If your friends are living in a home worth $500k+(the value of which would equal a property tax of $12k) in Baltimore, my guess is they can afford to pay for a bus or drive their children to school.

All that being said, I would happily pay for transportation for my children plus additional tuition in order NOT to live in Lakewood. Just look around at this site for a few minutes and you can see ample reason why I say that.

amother

Thu, May 22 2014, 9:57 am

We both brought in savings to our marriage.

We lived in a tiny studio apartment (rent approximately $350) in student housing for a few years. We lived very simply, ie Ikea furniture, no takeout, no big vacations, etc. We saved and saved until we could afford a down payment of $100,000. We took a mortgage for the rest at approximately 6%. A couple of years later when interest rates dropped significantly, we refinanced at a much better rate - 3.something%.

Yes, DH is a lawyer and makes a good living, and it also helped that we didn't have a child until we were married for 4 years and we didn't start paying tuition until we were married for 6.5 years. We're not big spenders in general and don't have extravagant tastes or any need to keep up with the Cohens.

Amother because I don't think my financial status is anyone else's business.