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Considering moving to South Jersey

A

Absinthe

The wife and I are considering moving out of Philadelphia and into South Jersey. Only condition is that the house MUST be close to one of the bridges (Betsy, Ben FR, Walt) as I will be traveling for work. She works in Haddonfield so the closer to her work the better.

Anyone have suggestions on where to start looking, where to avoid or general tips about buying in South Jersey?

We would be selling our house in Philadelphia, likely in Spring of 2008.

Thanks!
 
M

mott768

My advise....Stay in PA it's cheaper, the taxes in NJ are insane let alone the price of houses, plus you would have to pay both states income tax. This state is out of control. The wife and I are considering moving. Don't get me wrong I love the Jersey shore born and raised here. But it's getting to the point you need to be rich to live in this state.
 
H

ham

born and raised in philly moved to south jersey in 73 not my choice have your thought about delaware? will be out of here in about 5 years good luck moving here o yea how's the DRIVING RECORD!!!
 
mfisher2112

mfisher2112

If it were me, I'd stay far away. Mott is right. The taxes are out of control. We are basically held hostage by one of the most screwed up corrupt state governments out there. Hell, our governor held the state hostage to get the tax hikes he wanted.

Put it this way. I bought my house in 2003 for $92,000. 3 br, 1 1/2 bath, LR, Kitchen, DR, 1/2 acre, 1 1/2 car garage. My mortgage was $850 per month. That was 4 years ago. My interest rate is fixed. My mortgage is now $1057 per month. ALL PROPERTY TAX HIKES. And I am in one of the less expensive counties! And did I mention that all of those property tax hikes were WITHOUT A TAX ASSESSMENT?? They were blanket percentage raises. So they still have assesment in their back pocket if they want more money. Which scares the crap outa me because the resell value in this town has nearly tripled in the past 4 years, and I have yet to be re-assessed since I bought the place.

Stay in PA.... (not that we wouldn't love to have you NJ, but trust me, it's cheaper.)
 
M

mott768

Our taxes in 2001 was $3,800 it is now $5,200 and they are hitting Toms River this year with the reassessment. That has us scared we have heard of a few people's tax's going from $5,000 up to $8,000 after the reassessment with no improvements done to their houses in years.
 
mfisher2112

mfisher2112

Here's the really scary part.

2003: Purchase price: $92,000 - Tax assesment structure and ground $78,000 (approximately)

Just 2 months ago a house on a 150x125 lot with no garage and only one floor with 3 BR and 1 ba just around the corner from me sold for (ready?) $257,000 !!!

Mine is 3 br, 1 1/2 ba, lr, kit, dr, attic, partial basement, 1 1/2 car garage, 1/2 acre.

THAT has me scared! My taxes could easily go to $8,000 or $9,000 if they reassess at the escalated market value hikes.

There is a guy I know in Cape May county whose house was tax valued at $87,000 last year. The reassessed him this year and used the market RESALE value as a base scale. His house is now tax assessed at over $350,000. He has to sell and move because he is retired and can no longer afford to live in the house he has lived in for like 20 years. Mainly because Corizine will no longer allow the state to subsidize "townships" with state police forces. They have to pay for it. Our little township is going to have to come up with $450,000 PER YEAR for state police coverage. I can feel our tax hike coming again to cover that.

Thanks Corizine you freaking terrorist!

Of course, then you have to add in things like the new 7% sales tax, the increased breadth of items that are now taxable, the higher income tax, the fact that we are one of what, 3 states that pays an employee unemployment tax, etc, etc, etc.

Oh, and I'm not sure if the "exit" tax even passed or not, but I know it was on corizine's plate. He wanted to charge an "exit" tax if you sold your primary residence for the sole purpose of relocated out of the state.

And don't forget the fantastic auto insurance rates! 1 car with full coverage and 1 car with just basic "I sit in the yard and never move" liability costs me about $160 a MONTH (that's nearly $2,000 per year for those who don't want to do the math), and we both (wife and myself) have perfect driving records, she drives less than 15 miles to work every day, and we park in a "safe neighborhood" with active safety restraint discounts, theft deterant discounts, good driver discounts, multiple car and multiple policy discounts, and the biggest rip off of all the "safe driver course" discount.

Stay in Philly, brutha, don't get sucked in to the "jersey scam" LOL!

(sorry, rant off now)
 
M

mott768

Absinthe said:
Wow.

We pay $500/year on the house and $25/year for the adjoining lot.

Maybe we WILL stay in Philly!
Click to expand...

$500 a year!!!! maybe we'll move to PA.... We paid $179,000 for our house in 01 it is estimated at $550,000 market value, my neighbor who has the same style house as me sold his house last summer for $545,000 which was only $10,000 lower than his asking price, the kicker is that he was the original owner (1983) and only paid $82,000 for the house. We were considering moving to NC or Florida, being disabled and on a fixed income our future doesn't look bright if we stay in NJ. When will NJ learn that voting DemoRAT only makes the state livable for the wealthy, First Florio, then McGreedy, now Corswine...not that repub's are any better. (My rants done too) lol
 
mfisher2112

mfisher2112

One thing you have to remember about politics:

Break up the word:

Poly (poli) = Many
tics (ticks) = Blood Sucking Insects

When did "Public Servant" become a lifetime family career with instant increased wealth?

*sigh* I fear for our country in another 100 or so years... :(
 
B

billyr98

i work in philly and my wife works in moorestown... we are like 5 minutes from Walt Whitman, Benny, and Betsy Ross... Cherry hill is a good area... couple minutes from Haddofield too... Couple of house for sale in my neighborhood, let me know...
 
mynd

mynd

Run.. Stay away from this "allowed to do nothing fun" State. Maybe we can change the name of the group to PRC - Pennsylvania Reefers Club now just so we are ready when we all get up and leave. :) lol

Sorry about the negativity, but "NJ born and raised" given me a lotta good times, but this place just sux the life outta you. I go to PA as often as I can just to get away from this gloom.

One of the only good things about this state is the NJRC meetings. :) Other then that I can't think of anything else atm. ;)
 
E

Embowe

The state itself is fine...like everyone else says..its the taxes and car insurance that will kill you. On top of the property taxes that have already been explained...the state sales tax and what it now includes is getting borderline scary..sales tax on tattoo's..comon now...if the saltwater hobby dosnt take enough of my money now I have to pay sales tax on tattoos...Cigaretts are just as bad if you smoke...$6 and change for a pack of smokes, the same smokes in delaware are only $3.50 or so...
Just think long and hard if you want to move the the "Facist State of New Jersey"


(sorry..that may have been more of a rant than advice..but you get the picture)
 
C

Carlo

NJ is very pretty and has a lot to offer. But as everyone else has pointed out the taxes are killer and auto insurance is very high. The good part I will mention is the housing market. NJ is one of the fastest/highest ROI states to buy a house in. By that I mean the $200K you pay for the house this year will/could bring you $300K in as little as 5 years if you were to sell it.

If you have kids or are planning on it then moving to NJ could be a good move as the school systems in general are among the best in the country believe it or not.

If you decide to look for a house in NJ I'd suggest looking south of Cherry Hill to get the most for your money. If you start looking in the Deptford area going south you will see that the further south you go the more house/land you will get for the money. Just to give you an idea. If you were to drive from Marlton (where ILC is located) to Philly you would take just as long as the drive from Glassboro (check out on a map) because of the congestion of Marlton/Cherry Hill area. But you could just about get twice the house and property in Glassboro as you would in Cherry Hill. The one thing to keep in mind if looking in NJ is that a few miles here or there will make a substantial difference in what you can buy/afford so keep that in mind if you decide to look in Jersey.

Carlo
 
P

pmac90

What part of Philly do you live in now??
I grew up in Philly and now live in Bristol, PA just north of philly. Bristol is supposed to have one of the more up and coming neighborhoods. lots of building and refacing! I love PA because as someone said Jersey is the no fun state - too much "law" for me. not to mention taxes and insurance.
 
D

drunktank

You can always move to Bergen county, probably the most expensive county in the state. A three bedroom apt in my condo goes for 1.2 million :)
 
A

Absinthe

pmac90 said:
What part of Philly do you live in now??
I grew up in Philly and now live in Bristol, PA just north of philly. Bristol is supposed to have one of the more up and coming neighborhoods. lots of building and refacing! I love PA because as someone said Jersey is the no fun state - too much "law" for me. not to mention taxes and insurance.
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We are in the fishtown/flat iron area now. Looking to move out of the blue collar city and either into a nicer neighboorhood or the edge of the burbs.
 
P

pmac90

Absinthe said:
pmac90 said:
What part of Philly do you live in now??
I grew up in Philly and now live in Bristol, PA just north of philly. Bristol is supposed to have one of the more up and coming neighborhoods. lots of building and refacing! I love PA because as someone said Jersey is the no fun state - too much "law" for me. not to mention taxes and insurance.
Click to expand...

We are in the fishtown/flat iron area now. Looking to move out of the blue collar city and either into a nicer neighboorhood or the edge of the burbs.
Click to expand...

oh ok, I grew up in frankford and have a few friends from that area (high school at Roman Catholic)... From what I've heard that area is holding on nice. houses going for good money. I definately say philly burbs though! My girlfreinds parents live in cinnaminson NJ and they are looking to go somewhere else because they'll save big money if they can downsize the right way.
 
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