<p>It’s interesting how different people are! I’ve visited relatives in Boston and Manhattan. I enjoy the visits, but I can’t wait to get back to quiet Maine. When I see the bridge with the sign, “Maine, the way life should be,” I know I’m almost home.</p>
<p>I live < 1.5 hrs from midtown but haven’t been in NYC for several years except to the airports. My family goes at Christmas and to some of the ethnic food stores in Astoria. We may decide to live there for a year or so after we retire.</p>
<p>House Hunters and HH International are favorite shows in our house. We were just talking about the difference in prices last night. The kids (and frankly DH and I ) were astounded at the size and price of homes in the south and midwest compared to our costs here on the west coast. </p>
<p>It must be very difficult for people who are transferred out here from those areas to find homes on a reasonable budget. </p>
<p>As far as NYC/NJ is concerned, I have a friend whose husband makes an enormous salary on Wall Street. She often comments on how difficult it is to make ends meet. I guess it’s all relative.</p>
<p>Well, dstark, I definitely do not live in a street where HFTs would say is the (should I add hella) best place for co-location. :)</p>
<p>:)…</p>
<p>I guess Candace Bushnell, writer of Sex in the City, is back in Connecticut.</p>
<p><a href=“Candace Bushnell’s Fantasy World, Starring Candace Bushnell - The New York Times”>Candace Bushnell’s Fantasy World, Starring Candace Bushnell - The New York Times;
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<p>I’m also in the Detroit metro area and one of my best friends from high school moved to Orange County in CA after grad school. She lived there for 12 years and only rented. She came to visit me at my house one day and said “I really wish I could afford a house.” She ended up back here and has a beautiful home now 
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<p>That said, my dad’s wife was a realtor here and said she had the hardest time selling houses to people relocating here from CA. For them to avoid huge taxes, they had a lot of money to spend (made from selling their CA homes) and to spend it all, they had to live in much wealthier neighborhoods than they were used to. So if you’re used to middle class 1300 sq. ft. ranch neighborhood and you have to buy a 4500 sq. ft. mansion to spend the money you made from the sale of your last house, it’s quite an adjustment! Yet, you still have to be able to afford the property taxes (very high here, from what I understand). It was a dilemma for them.</p>
<p>Someone asked about housing in Ann Arbor. All housing took a huge hit. I don’t think A2 took as big a hit as the Detroit suburbs and it seems to be rebounding more quickly. I am THRILLED to say that, for the first time in about 5 years, there are NO foreclosed/abandoned homes on my street. At times, there were up to 5 at a time. Someone moved into the last one just this week. It’s exciting Once these foreclosures are all off the market, then prices should be going back up in general. </p>
<p>The nice side to it is that most of the people who bought these foreclosed homes are young couples with young kids or about to start their families. There are lots of kids in the neighborhood again, just as most had graduated and moved on.</p>
<p>The tax laws were changed so you no longer have to roll profits from a home sale into another home to avoid taxes. You get the first 500,000 of capital gains excluded from taxes instead.</p>
<p>It is easier to trade down now because of the 500,000 exclusion…</p>
<p>I like Ann Arbor. It looks like a great place to live except for the weather. If you can handle the weather. I used to visit my daughter when she went to UM, but now I don’t have an excuse to go there. :)</p>
<p>Interesting… 4500 sq ft in one area can cost the same as 1300 sq ft in another. Expensive area or bigger house?</p>
<p>^Interesting – I did not know it had changed. Is that $500K for each household or per person? So a married couple would be able to exclude $1MM?</p>
<p>No…250,000 a person. Sorry.</p>
<p>Has to be your personal residence.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.bankrate.com/finance/real-estate/capital-gains-home-sale-tax-break-a-boon-for-owners-1.aspx[/url]”>http://www.bankrate.com/finance/real-estate/capital-gains-home-sale-tax-break-a-boon-for-owners-1.aspx</a></p>
<p>My daughter, a new college grad,who went to school in the city and her boyfriend are eeking out a living in Brooklyn and working in Manhattan. They both make very little money, but survive with roomates from the college and pool their resources together. Most of her friends that have graduated, do not want to leave the city and will do anything to stay around, multiple roomates and work including, babysitting, bartending, barristas,freelancing etc. So far that are paying their rent and bills, cook at home and put a little away for concerts and going to the bars on occasion. They are very resourceful at the cheap eats places, vintage shops, thrift stores and a few of them are artsy and make things to sell on the side. Many of them host house parties and dinners. A very bohemian lifestyle that they are quite comfortable with as it is an extension of how they managed their college years in Manhattan. I admire their resourcefulness.</p>
<p>I agree with Barnardmom’s assessment of the Ann Arbor situation. A2 was hit like everybody else but that far out from Detroit, imo, is a different bird than around here-- but I am not an expert. Some Detroit suburbs got hit HARD, like nothing you will see in just about any other place. I drove around one city’s suburbs the other day exploring and at least every other house was foreclosed-- which is not something I am seeing so much anymore. I think builders are buying them up by the neighborhood and renovating them, though, so I bet that won’t last much longer.</p>
<p>The main thing I hear people complain about in Ann Arbor is the traffic downtown and the property taxes. Personally, I think crime is becoming a problem but people who still live there might tell me I am being silly, I have pretty low tolerance for crime. One thing I have noticed about the town where I grew up is that now that so many houses are available for so cheap, and so many are being rented because owners couldn’t sell, crime has really shot up…</p>
<p>Milkandsugar, interesting…</p>
<p>Some of our grown up kids really value lifestyle and location over jobs and housing.
I am on the west coast and some kids tell me they want to live in SF and they work their lives around living in SF.</p>
<p>After 3 years (renting) in Manhattan, my son just started showing some interest in buying. He is interested in Manhattan only and a place where the subway is close by. Though he can afford the down and mortgage payments, he hates those extra $2-$3K condo/coop fees per month. Perhaps he should just invest his down payment and continue to rent.</p>
<p>2k to 3k in condo fees…ecchh…</p>
<p>Obviously Cbreeze, your son is doing well. Congrats.</p>
<p>According to the Census Bureau, the median household income, 2007-2011, for NYC was $56,951; $52,762 for the U.S.</p>
<p>My almost-17-yr-old and I live in Brooklyn, just a few subway stops from Manhattan, on a lot less money than that. I love that she can use public transportation–not that it’s easy raising almost any teen, but she gets around independently and gets a lot more exercise in her daily life than do her suburban friends. We’ve been very lucky with schools, and I really appreciate the diversity of the city–racial, social, economic. But it’s not crowded or noisy where we live and we can see the sunshine.</p>
<p>To each his or her own.</p>
<p>My d says that Brooklyn & Hoboken are now so popular, at least for the young professional crowd, that they’ve become more expensive than her (safe) neighborhood in Manhattan. To live more cheaply, you have to move to Queens or Jersey City.</p>
<p>DD and I were in Detroit for a tournament in 2008 and I was shocked at how hard hit the city and the surrounding suburbs were. We were told that one could purchase a home for $10,000. I’m glad to hear there is some recovery taking place. </p>
<p>We live in the country and I love that my kids have acreage to roam on and animals to care for. I also enjoy cities and love, love San Francisco and miss living in Portland. The suburbs however, are hell on earth for me.</p>
<p>Brooklyn and Queens are both huge. </p>
<p>NYC is the safest large city in the U.S. I have lived in minority-majority neighborhoods for many years (I am white and my daughter is Chinese) and although I have heard many (too many) people who didn’t know where I live say that walking through that neighborhood means putting one’s life in danger, I have not found that at all.</p>
<p>On the subject of NYC living - my brother and family live in the city on the upper east side. He does very well but as never owned a car My nephews who are 5 &7 think it is the most awesome of things when my parents come to visit because they drive their very own car!!! They also like it because my Dad will wake up in the morning (on the weekend) and take them for car rides thru the city — any where they want to go! They are so enthralled with having your own car that you can use whenever you want!</p>
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<p>The best view of NYC are from Hoboken in my opinion. I would definitely prefer to live in Hoboken and work in Manhattan than live in Manhattan.</p>