Cost of Living in Tom's River/Many Other Questions/Comp list

amother

Mon, Oct 12 2020, 10:01 am

We are considering moving from Brooklyn to Tom's River. Since we only know a few families that recently moved there and they don't know yet all the answers, we are trying to gather this information elsewhere in order to make an informed decision. If you can give specific answers, especially numbers for cost of living, that would really help us. I also believe creating a comprehensive list with all this information in one place would be helpful for other families considering making the move.

Thank you!

Cost of Living:

1. How much does electricity cost a month? (we currently pay electricity on a small house in Brooklyn but we don't know how it would compare to a larger house there)

2. How much does gas cost? (obviously heating a larger house costs more than Brooklyn, anyone have specific numbers?)

3. How much are the taxes in TR? We tried to use a tax calculator but it also depends on the cost of the property. Do you mind writing how much your house was and how much property tax you pay?

4. How much is your water bill a month? With more bathrooms we assume the water bill will be more.

5. Realistically, how much does home maintenance cost per year? I mean handyman for things that break, plumber, electrician, exterminator, etc. (any other maintenance you can think of, lawn care we would do ourselves)

6. We are not looking for a house with a pool, but if we do find one that has a pool how much does pool maintenance come out to per year?

7. How much are groceries there? Do they have groceries that are comparable to Moisha's or KRM? Do they deliver?

Realtor/Buying a House:

1. We heard the etiquette is different in TR, you are supposed to use the same realtor to show you any house you are interested in. We also heard from a few friends that some realtors try to hike the prices up which starts a bidding war and they get more of a commission. How do you go about finding an honest realtor?

2. Around how much did you pay for your house? How many bedrooms and bathrooms does it have?

3. Does anyone have experience selling their house while buying a new one in TR? When do you put your house on the market? When do you look for/make an offer on a house you're interested in? What happens if these two interactions don't happen at the same time?

4. How long did it take to close on your house once you were in contract?

5. Anyone have a good mortgage broker?

6. Around how much did you pay to furnish the house?

7. How much did it cost to move from Brooklyn to TR?

Shuls/Stores:

1. Is it possible to list off shuls you know of and what type they are? We are trying to find one that suits our needs. Locations a plus.

2. What streets/area in Lakewood are the stores located? Groceries, sefarim stores, bakery, etc.

Jobs:

1. My husband and I are both in chinuch. I know the market is flooded there but assuming we can both get hired, what is the salary for a rebbe? What is the salary for an english teacher? What are the salaries for admin positions?

2. If we have to commute, realistically, how long does it take to get to Brooklyn or Brooklyn to TR? How much does gas come out to per year?

Schools:

Really not looking to get into a school discussion, we know it's difficult to get into the schools.

1. I'm looking for information on how much tuition costs. We heard different prices around 6k but someone told us they pay $4,500. How much is tuition?

2. There are so many schools and we are having a hard time navigating. Can you please write the names of boys and girls schools and what types they are?

Insurance:

1. How do you go about getting/finding health insurance? Assuming you can't use insurance you have in NY, what do you do for insurance? We probably won't qualify for Medicaid, what are other options?

Neighborhoods:

These are the neighborhoods/streets we were told to look in where there are a mix of yiddin:
North Maple
Medjay
Walden Woods
Jumping Brook
Bent Hook
Rolling Ridge
River Wood
Whitesville

What other areas are there to look in?

Where are there eruvs?

Where are the women and men mikvahs?

amother

Red

Mon, Oct 12 2020, 11:44 am

I live in Lakewood not Toms River

Water in NJ costs more a gallon then NYC. Gas and Electricity is cheaper I am paying less electricity for a bigger house in Lakewood then SI (our central ac broke and window units are have the price so we never fixed it)

Most people(that I know) pay $4-5000 on tuition that is with a brake full tuition is more

Stores are all over Lakewood near North Dover(north Toms River) is Rt.70, seagull square

Don't furnish your house until you have bean living there for some time unless you realy have no furniture.

Ask your friends who they used as a realtor if they are happy if yes that is who you use
A good realtor will tell you about the shuls in the neighborhood

All women's mikvahs are in Lakewood

There are over 30 boys elementary schools and almost that much girls what tipe are you looking for?

try the LRRC for insurance

I am not paying a lot for home maintenance B'H my DH can fix stuff it depends if you by a house that is falling apart, if you can live with and what you can do your self. We just put down a new floor in the living room we did it our self so we only paid for supplies (2,000) if we wanted something fancier or hired someone it would have costed more

I heard that you can get a girls English teacher job pretty fast-I would not know I do not work in that field There is a need for playgroup Morahs in that era

keym

Mon, Oct 12 2020, 11:54 am

I am going to throw out a few things, just to be cognizant of.
1) school bussing in TR is not guaranteed. It can cost
2) there is very limited public transportation in TR and Lakewood
3) gasoline in NJ used to be much cheaper, but gas (and tolls) taxes have been raised. That needs to be calculated in the costs of commuting/regular NY visits.
4) pediatrician- many doctors have waiting lists. Just beware.
5) special education, iep, etc. There are different standards than NY and not always easy, depending on the child's needs. I hear these terms on imamother, and I've never heard them in NJ- para, SETT, SEIT

Dreamer

Mon, Oct 12 2020, 12:53 pm

Good luck with your research!

The BP Weekly is a Lkwd magazine that can be found online. They always post the list of elementary girls and boys schools. Print it out and do information on each one.

Keep in mind that cleaning help is really hard to get in Toms River!! Plus the prices are about $15/hr.

Sewsew_mom

Mon, Oct 12 2020, 1:02 pm

Wow. That's a lot of questions.. But the issue is that every single person you will ask will give you diff answers. Because we all live differently. Maybe some of us Keep on the heat or ac all day... Maybe some shut it off in intervals. Maybe some people send to a school that tuition is 9k and some send to 5k. Maybe some have solar panels, maybe some have lots of issues in the house that need fixing. Maybe some people have smaller/larger properties and taxes will range. There are tons and tons of stores and prices will range. I think your wishing someone would just give you a rundown of exactly to the t what life will cost but Its not possible and some things you will need to find out for yourself.
Good luck with your decision and Noone has the same experiences so keep that in mind.

amother

Linen

Mon, Oct 12 2020, 1:27 pm

The tuition in May any boys schools have gone up. At least to 8k. Few girls schools are under 5k.

If there is a big lawn find out landscaping costs and if sprinkler system then costs to operate.

watergirl

Mon, Oct 12 2020, 1:34 pm

OP, good luck with your move.

You are asking a LOT of questions, almost all of which can be answered by internet research or physical research by you. It is asking a LOT to ask someone else to give you exact or even estimated answers to these questions. You can call the electric and gas companies and they will give you your answers for a specific area. Look up the taxes as well, thats public information. Call the utilities and water, etc and they will also give you comps for the areas. Go visit the grocery stores and calculate your expenses. Call the yeshivahs and ask for tuition info. Look up health insurance. To calculate gas, make the drive during rush hour and make a cheshbon. All this is on you, not on the kind amothers here to answer for you.

For example, I picked one question and googled. Here is a link to the TR eruv: http://eruvmonsey.com/tomsrivereruvmap.html

amother

Mon, Oct 12 2020, 4:57 pm

I appreciate those of you that took the time to answer some of the questions and other information to keep in mind.

This reminds me of why I always regret posting on this site. I am well aware that I can google the answers to some questions but, I can get more accurate answers from real Jewish women on this site. We are doing physical research by going and speaking to people. Most online research does not help us with a Jewish lifestyle.

Again, we are trying to make an informed decision. I'm not asking everyone to sit down and answer everything, I asked if anyone can help out and answer some so that we can get a better picture of what we're getting into.

We were already told the eruv information online is not accurate since some places in TR it's checked weekly and some places it's not. We don't hold by an eruv that's not checked weekly by someone reputable.

amother

Linen

Mon, Oct 12 2020, 5:05 pm

amother [ OP ] wrote:

If you are careful with Eruv then you’d also want to find out who the rav who checked it and advised the community. Some Eruvs are excellent and some rely on a lot of leniencies or never even had a rav look it over

Sewsew_mom

Mon, Oct 12 2020, 5:13 pm

Exactly the point you raised about the eiruv how you rely on diff things than others do.. You will get the response a out everything. It's not about being nice and accommodating... It's about everyone has diff bills, expenses, living standards, homes, families, rabbis and so on.. As much as I wish to answer you with everything it can be totally off target and what use is that for you?

amother

Sapphire

Mon, Oct 12 2020, 5:57 pm

Usually the listing for the house you're looking at has tax info. Just check when it was last assessed because if it was updated a lot since then that could change it.

SuperWify

Mon, Oct 12 2020, 6:02 pm

You can easily get a English teaching job (don’t except high pay though) but it’s very hard to get a Rebbi job.

amother

Magenta

Mon, Oct 12 2020, 6:14 pm

There are over 75 elementary schools between boys and girls.

amother

Yellow

Mon, Oct 12 2020, 6:21 pm

Grande woodlands/ Liberty village you can look into as well. Prices really vary depending on areas, some are more popular so more expensive, and size of house/ lot. The cost of living overall is much lower than ny. We moved from ny and all our expenses went down, can't speak about utilities because that is dependent on house size.

amother

Yellow

Mon, Oct 12 2020, 6:32 pm

The list is hard to get through. I moved recently. I asked people about schools, but a lot of it was calling many that sorta fit us and seeing who actually had room in the grades I needed. Houses we visited a lot, and tried out different shuls for shacharis so my husband can get a feel for the type. Stores we went to big shopping plazas and tried out the stores to see what we liked. With many we just use the one that is closest to us. I think you need to visit a lot, look around and ask lot's of specific questions in person. Maybe break this down into house, school, store etc... threads so people can focus on helping specific areas.

amother

Mustard

Mon, Oct 12 2020, 9:51 pm

2. What streets/area in Lakewood are the stores located? Groceries, sefarim stores, bakery, etc.

Stores are all on google maps, or in the cheer phone book (you can get a copy in a Lakewood store)

1. I'm looking for information on how much tuition costs. We heard different prices around 6k but someone told us they pay $4,500. How much is tuition?

We Baruch hashem get the kollel rate on tuition so approx 4500. We had an “in” with the school and they knew when they accepted us that we wouldn’t be paying in full.

2. There are so many schools and we are having a hard time navigating. Can you please write the names of boys and girls schools and what types they are?

The Lakewood weeklies publish a list around this time of year, pick up a weekly when you come for the phone book

1. How do you go about getting/finding health insurance? Assuming you can't use insurance you have in NY, what do you do for insurance? We probably won't qualify for Medicaid, what are other options?

Call the Lakewood resource and referral center

gilamom

Mon, Oct 12 2020, 10:32 pm

Something I want to point out as a Brooklyner who visits Toms River in the summer is the issue of cars. In Brooklyn, we get by more than okay with one car, days can go by without needing it Bh. But in Toms River we couldn’t make a go of it with just one car, so a second car might be an expense you have to factor in.

frosting

Mon, Oct 12 2020, 10:37 pm

I see you have a lot of very good questions!
I live in Toms River and am happy to try and answer your questions, please pm me.

bnm

Mon, Oct 12 2020, 11:42 pm

soooo many questions. About maintenance:
some of it is frequent, some of it isn't. I moved a bit more than a year ago and this is what we have needed:
Lawn guy- weekly
Sprinkler- beginning of spring and fall. Technically you only need them to winterize it but I knew I had broken heads that needed replacement
Powerwash- he claims you only need it done every second year. Of course you can buy your own equipment but there is no way I would be able to reach the second floor.
Someone to clean the gutters- I think this is once a year or less if you get caps on your gutters
Plumber- We needed a plumber twice. Once was a problem that the previous owner should have taken care of.
Electrician- we needed to add more power in the garage.
Appliance repair
Garage door if it needs fixing is a whole separate repair person
Pool maintenance if you have a pool and decide to open it. Some people do their own maintenance and only hire someone to open and close it at the beginning and end.
Exterminator, indoor and out
some people hire a service to get their grass greener/more lush.

bnm

Mon, Oct 12 2020, 11:46 pm

Commute is about a bit less than a tank of gas a day plus tolls depending on where you are commuting to and what car you drive.