$45,000 Miami job - where to live?

[gbugmiami]

Ya ya, we all got a house for sale. I do too. But that doesn't change the fact that the op's way of life with a wife and 3 kids on 45k isnt going to be ideal down here.

[futen]

I know this is an old thread, but this is really discouraging! I think what a lot of people don't realize is that Chicago is fairly expensive. It is possibly more expensive than Miami.

A decent condo in the suburbs starts close to $300K and in the city, closer to $400K (and that would be a hella mad steal). A luxury condo will be easily over $500K in both places.

Houses in the far suburbs will start in the mid $250s, but they are very far out from the city, are not new construction, and very basic. To get a house closer to Chicago will start at closer to $350K and again, will be very basic and in need of updating. In the city? Shoot, good luck finding a house for under $400-450K and again, nothing fancy/needing repairs, etc.

Rents generally start at $850 for a one bedroom in the city and $750-$800 in the suburbs. Again, this is for nothing fancy and the majority of apartments, even really expensive ones, do not have nice things like in-unit laundry, parking, more than one bathroom, etc.

Sigh. Don't get me wrong, I love the city of Chicago, but the weather is terrible here, and it just keeps getting more expensive.

[namomof3]

Originally Posted by cleoclaus

I have been living in Miami 20 years now, and I make approximately $63,000 a year working for Miami-Dade County (more than the median salary here), and I am telling you right now that unless your wife also makes $45,000, you cannot have a decent standard of living in Miami.

With the salary I make, I cannot afford to live in any of the decent areas of Miami (I live close to, but not in, Miami Shores village: average price of homes in my area, $270,000; average in Miami Shores, $500,000). Between taxes, insurance and other bills I barely make ends meet -- in fact, the only reason I get by is because my taxes are lower than average (I bought my home 9 years ago so I am only paying $1,500 a year) My insurance costs are about $3,500 a year, but I am underinsured -- i.e., I do not have a replacement costs windstorm policy for my home should it be destroyed by a hurricane. That would cost about $7,000 a year, which I can't afford.

I once estimated what it would cost to live where I live if I had bought my house at today's prices, and it came out to something like $3,500 a month (mortgage + taxes + home insurance + flood insurance --live in a flood zone so I have to have it-- + windstorm insurance), for a 60-year old wood frame house in a quiet, relatively safe area of unincorporated Dade with a D-rated grade school, D-rated middle school and F-rated high school. Even with what I make, I couldn't afford that.

I would definitely reevaluate your desire to move here; maybe you can consider other parts of Florida (not Jacksonville), where the weather is almost as nice but the cost of living isn't quite as high.

This is about right! To put it frankly- our income is about twice that (for a family of 5) and we are living comfortably by our standards. However- we did things a little differently like renting for 1500/month in Weston in order to be in a better public school system (yeah- even being close to 6 figures we cant do private school for 2 kids) We think this is a better deal for now since 1) we don't know how long we will be in So. Fla and 2) We did not want to own here because of the ridiculous cost of insurance/taxes/HOAs. Try Doral or Coral Springs in Broward County

[JohnLee1]

Really? This is one reason why I don't believe anything most people that post here. I have plenty of friends that live in 3/2s and 3/3s that just pay around 1K a month, in NICE areas all over Dade County.

And on the whole public school stuff, yeah some of the public high schools were bad (grade wise) but we'll see how they turn out this year with the new law. Most the middle schools are great. And the elementary schools are even better. And that's just for the City of Miami. The rest of the County has great schools and even high schools .

And even though all that stuff about Miami (the city) public high schools, I know a lot friends that have kids and they go to schools that are supposedly bad (because of the grade it got) and they say that they are great schools, it's just some of the people that make the school look bad because of the grade they give it. Actually, a lot of known famous people from movie stars to lawyers to doctors, etc. come from Miami schools and not just Miami schools, also the rest of Dade County.

[rogerbacon]

This thread is two years old. House prices in Miami have been cut in half since this thread started. Everything on the first two pages is really incorrect information now.

[matchpoint]

^
I'm actually finding a lot of questionable info around the Miami board more recent then 2008....