| | | If I was smoking today what I was smoking 42 years ago in NYC, it would cost me $20 a day or $7,280 a year to support my cigarette junkie habit.
As for property taxes, mine went up from $6,000 a year in 2010 to over $9,200 in 2017. I got fed up with the annual increases from Bloomberg and Diblasio and left to live in a tax free state, NV. I calculated that we saved over 50K a year by making this move. It was cheaper to rent than to buy. Our rent was $850 a month. In NYC, I have seen such places go for 10k a month. Yes, the $850 a month comes out to 10.2K a year, which is about 1K more than the property taxes. But the electric bill is dramatically lower in NV. I have never paid more than $120 a month and that was only in peak air conditioning season. In NYC, I was getting bills of $750 a month during the peak winter season and if you factor in repairs and upkeep, along with home owners insurance, the savings was substantial. One may argue that real estate appreciates in value long term, so I am talking gibberish. But we sold our 2 family home near the end of June 2017. We lived there for 35 years and our profit was well over 7 figures. I did not try to time the market, but I do think we likely sold near a short/ intermediate term peak.
It's good to shed that responsibility and not have to deal with gardeners, maintenance men and contractors.
In general, cost of living is dramatically cheaper in NV than in NYC |
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