Budget help - Northeast US

[bettymae1121]

Good point! She's aware, as she's American. I didn't realize that Chicago was that much more affordable than the northeast.

For everyone - about how much should she budget for rent for a 2BR aptmt in a decent suburb that's commutable to the above mentioned cities?

Well, the town I grew up in outside of Chicago is a suburb called Schaumburg, it has great schools and is about 45 minutes from downtown, but a lot of major corporations actually have their headquaters in or near Schaumburg too. One the countries largest shoping malls is there, and it's just generally a good place to live and work. A two bed/one bath goes for anywhere from $1000 to $1200, depending on what exactly you'd be looking for in an apartment. Utilities are generally not included in rental rates around here. Houses can be expensive in Schaumburg though, the good schools and low taxes makes housing competetive, even in the down market (though just like everywhere else, it's cooled off the past couple of years).

Where I live now, Elgin, is even more affordable but the schools aren't as good.

Direct your sister to apartments.com, she can check out apartment listings anywhere in the US, that should help her figure out which metro areas are more affordable.

 

[jmpellet]

I think she should do much more research before having her heart set on the Northeast. I live in MA but its because I was born here and my family is here. There is no way on earth I would live here if given the opporunity to pick anywhere in the US. She should takes lots of time and research, research, research! Is big city really important? What can they expect for incomes as that can dictate location? Coming from the UK I would think they would want some sun for more of the year or maybe they like cold and dreary for part of the year?? Here's Money Mag's best places for 2010 (http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2010/) and only 2 in the Northeast -- one being Newton, MA where 3 bed homes are $600,000. Newton is also on the top-earning towns as well.

 

[Ava]

There are tons of people who live in the Northeast who do not make anywhere near the money everyone is suggesting. Sure, if my income was $500K, I could live comfortably in Manhattan, but I bet I could get by (struggle a little maybe, but have food and shelter and child care) in many areas of Queens and Brooklyn for $50K.

This is us. We are living in Brooklyn on less than $50K. It can be done, as long as your rent is reasonable. We chose for my partner to stay at home with our DD, so our income was cut in half (but we have no child care costs). We were also prepared by having money in savings, but we try very hard not to dip into it. Things are tight but we are making it, and we feel like having Julie home with DD is worth the sacrifices we've had to make. (And yes, we ARE still saving for a Disney trip next year!)

 

[PinballFamily]

For everyone - about how much should she budget for rent for a 2BR aptmt in a decent suburb that's commutable to the above mentioned cities?

Boston suburb (a typical one - not one of the ritzy communities!) - appx. $1800 a month for a nice/decent apartment in a two-family or triple-decker with convenient walking access to the MBTA bus/subway/train system. The neighbor behind us just rented his very nice 1st floor 2BR unit (in less than an hour!) for that.

P.S. - I second (third, fourth!) the "low to mid 100K" household income quote at a minimum for the Boston area...

 

[Tink-aholic]

In addition, is her DH American, too? Or at least have a visa to work in the US? Without that, she would be the only wage-earner for quite some time. The LIFE Act has sped up the process significantly, so that he might get approval to work within a year.

Current backlog for other types of visas can be 9-12 years.

 

[ccgirl]

Wow! Some of these things appear way off. I commuted from where I live to Boston for 11 years. It was about an hour and 15 minute commute. Modest 2 BR houses here can be purchased for about $180,000 - $200,000. Rent, on the other hand, can be found for $800 a month and that's including utilities. The OP said they just need the minimum. WHile we now make the 6 figures and can afford the luxuries; it certainly isn't the requirement. I will say that daycare is still expensive ($50 a day) so it can add up. WHile there isn't a National Healthcare you DO have to have healthcare in the state of Massachusetts. It is a requirement in MA. I love it here. I'm not a city girl so I don't like living near it. I don't mind going to visit once in a while. Obviously, the closer to the city you get the higher the salary requirement because the cost of living will go up - sometimes way up. Property taxes vary greatly town to town. I pay $2600 on a 4BR 2100 sq ft house. That same house the next town over would be $4000 in taxes. While the cost of living is high I find it can be very doable and can be very relative depending on where you live.

 

[FergieTCat]

so scary. I've lived in the NYC area (anywhere from 20 min to about an hour now) for my entire life and I make no where near that. I also don't have any children, but these numbers really make me not even want to think about it.

Same here. No kids, but I bought my co-op almost 20 years ago for very cheap. It's definitely too small for a family.

A decent 2 bedroom coop in a better part of Forest Hills (and away from the nutjobs that live in my building) would cost at least $350K.

 

[MEM]

I live in a Boston suburb and I am the sole bread winner. I make less than $100K but we still manage to have a paid-off home, car and 3 DVC contracts. Our house is assessed at $450K but if we could afford it I'd rather be in a town with a top quality school system - Lexington, for example - houses there run between $600,000 to over $1,000,000.

 

[ccgirl]

I live in a Boston suburb and I am the sole bread winner. I make less than $100K but we still manage to have a paid-off home, car and 3 DVC contracts. Our house is assessed at $450K but if we could afford it I'd rather be in a town with a top quality school system - Lexington, for example - houses there run between $600,000 to over $1,000,000.

Wow!! That's awesome...a paid off house. That's kind of my point. It is definitely doable to live on under 100K; just not in Boston.

 

[eliza61]

Hi South Jersey checking in. I live 18 miles outside of Philly in Gloucester Township. A single family home ~3000 square feet runs any where from 200K on up. Schools are good but property taxes are high about 7800/year. Average salary around here is ~85K.

 

[IleneF]

I have to agree with CCgirl...btw LOVE the cape We are living on under 100K, more like 75K actually. It can be done but you do need to be careful and aware of your spending habits. I use coupons and compare prices for groceries, am lucky to have 3 major food stores within a couple of miles.
I work close to home so small gas budget and I don't need a fancy wardrobe.
I keep my heat and AC just to barely comfortable around 65 in winter and 76 in summer. I am able to save a little for vacations and an emergency fund. Watch cable and cell phone and internet for least expensive plans. We have an apt in Boston that we just rented and got a lot less for it than we thought.
It's a 2 bedroom in a nice neighborhood but only got $1600 plus utilities. I had thought house apts in boston would get around $2000 so that market has come down too.
All depends how little she can deal with doing without and still be comfortable.

 

[Evi]

Wow!! That's awesome...a paid off house. That's kind of my point. It is definitely doable to live on under 100K; just not in Boston.

hrm ok NOT ok if your plan is to live Back Bay, Beacon Hill or maybe parts of JP definitely not and if you are looking to outside towns like Brookline, Cambridge, Newton, Chestnut Hill and Wellsley for that matter. But you can live in Boston in a nice neighborhood on less then 100k.

If your looking to buy in Boston look into West Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, parts of Hyde Park and believe it or not some parts of Dorchestor. Boston has many nice neighborhoods and even in areas you don't think of like Dorchester they have streets filled with multi million dollar homes. It amazes me how much people comment on a city like Boston and know so little about it. Personally I would look outside the city for better school systems but that is my opinion because you said other person has a child and I am not fan of Boston Public School system. I'd look into Quincy, Hingham, Weymouth, Dedham, Milton, Canton, Natick.

You can still find a 2 bedroom in Boston for under 1,800 but you'd actually be able to find one for less outside the city and if your looking to buy I'd say look at foreclosed property. Just go to Zillow and their is a ton of property to be found. I think it can be done and lets be honest most people who work and live in Boston don't clear 100k I know a school teacher making 50-60k a year with kids and unemployed husbands and they own in nice nice 2 family they rent one unit and make do. Now is she going to move from uk to a large city and live for cheap highly unlikely anywhere with good property value and good job market is going to be more expensive. But its all relative. Honestly it all depends on what you can afford you can buy a single family with a huge yard and pay higher property taxes, or you could buy a multi in the city with huge tax breaks.

I didn't want tenants so we got a single but again its all personal.

 

[princessfionasmom]

I live about 50 mins south of Boston in scituate. I stay at home and take care if our two kids and dh works down the cape and makes less than $100k a year. We get by and still manage our
Wdw vaca every year. We have a home by the ocean and my kids walk to a great school. Smaller homes rent for about $1800 and there is the commuter rail into Boston. To buy a home here your looking at $350k - $1mil $350k will get you a fixer upper. We bought 10 yrs ago, I don't think we could afford to buy into this town today There are lots of affordable towns near Boston but I would suggest she definitely rent and do a lot of looking around when she gets here.