Cost of living in Jupiter? (Seems Insane) (Orlando, Port St. Lucie: renting, HOA)

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by pepper1980

I can believe that lol! What *is* the income these families who are moving there make?

There are plenty of regular people living in Jupiter paying no HOA fees, living in nice homes not making anywhere near 250K. They are just living in smaller homes than what you listed as desirable.

https://www.zillow.com/homes/for_sal...62_rect/13_zm/

Very blue collar neighborhood next to Abacoa. Lots of cops live in this area, seems to be a cruiser on every block! My buddy is a boat captain and he lives in this neighborhood.

[boston904]

Originally Posted by cfbs2691

Jupiter’s not a place to live on an income of $250k.

We make a 1/3 of that and we're doing fine. Don't know how you figure that

[cfbs2691]

Originally Posted by boston904

We make a 1/3 of that and we're doing fine. Don't know how you figure that

It’s all relevant to ones’ standard of living.

[Searching-01]

Have only skimmed the other responses, forgive any overlap.

Here's the thing... being a former native Jupiter-Tequesta Native... the salaries in the area have never kept pace with home prices (going back to at least the early 80's)... "Because it's the sun-belt, folks will take a lower salary to be here..."

And the home prices have always been higher because, "It's the sun-belt and people will pay more to be here..."

So it's *always* been a double-whammy... especially for me, since I didn't have a working wife, etc. in my days in the area.

The problem has *always been* how to get over the "Homes take two incomes" problem for folks in my shoes.

And now that I've traveled the whole country following work were I had to... it's like that *everywhere*.

At this point my job goes with me... not tied to a location... and in searching the country in it's entirety, I see, especially now that homes are back to bubble levels... that it's the worst it's ever been.

It especially pains me when I look at J-T on Zillow and I realize the homes I wanted when I was in my 20's and 30's are still out of reach... despite earning significantly more on paper, than then... Inflation has eaten the difference... and more... since those days.

The difference with Jupiter-Tequesta, Orange County Ca, other sun-belt places with good quality of life and low crime is... in addition to homes in decent places taking two average incomes to float the mortgage... there's a quality-of-life premium attached.

Is way worse in Orange County, Ca than Jupiter-Tequesta... but as of late J-T has been catching up.

I don't have an answer other than, "Ya gotta be rich relative to local standards" almost anywhere in the US these days... and even more so in desirable locations.

But... things aren't engineered that way. The economy is based on squeezing the working classes.

As US citizens we're expected to pay full marked up retail for everything... but compete with lower cost offshore labor markets...

Another double whammy...

So for most folks, starting to my eyes back around the 87 market crash... standard of living has been going down relative to a generation or two ago, despite often having higher educational attainment, etc.

Used to be a Bachelor's was enough to get over the line to the good places to live... now days it's Master's or Doctorate, or a successful business.

Can't say what the solution for the system as a whole is, but for the individual it comes down to finding a way to jump the class gap, or accepting a less than great life.

One symptom of it you see in SoCal is folks living in apartments that are 2-3000/month... and driving a luxury car. The thinking goes... "I'll never have the house, might as well have something..."

YMMV.

[Searching-01]

Originally Posted by cfbs2691

It’s all relevant to ones’ standard of living.

It's also relevent to when one purchased.

If one purchased in Tequesta, or Juno, or the Bluffs, long ago... before California-ification began in the area, there's a better chance a working class couple may be in one of the nicer spots.

Although, I'd say The Bluffs was probably the beginning of the California thing in the area, beginning in earnest.

To be honest, prior to that (I was young at the time) I'd never even heard of an HOA, planned communities, etc.

The opportunity of a lifetime was the real estate burst... but many folks were losing their homes... few were in a position to make use of the opportunity.

[Searching-01]

Just a side point...

If you want to live in the area, you really want to stay between Palm Beach Gardens and County Line Rd.

The further you get from Jupiter-Tequesta, the worse the crime rates, etc. get.

On the south end, depending how west you go... you're getting close to the Dyer Landfill that's been covered over.

Friends in the area tell me they can smell it, even these days, as far north at PGA Blvd.

Once you cross Northlake going south, your rapidly getting in to West Palm Beach.

Near Abaco, out back of the Publix is a Waste Transfer station too... I'd avoid most of that area for that reason alone.

Near Chasewood is a wastewater treatment plant, Kennedy Estates and Limestone Creek. All things to avoid.

Whoever picked the location for the waste transfer. wastewater plant and the Publix's near them... should be fired, LOL! Garbage and waste water treatment shouldn't be in inhabited places let alone near grocery stores.

In reality you want to be in Tequesta. Ideally between the forks of the water waterway, for the most part.

I've looked at coming home many times since I got to where I can take my work with me... (but not making a ton of $$$)... come away every time sad.

Sad that they put Waste Transfer and Wastewater where they did, and that the new post bubble pricing has pushed everything I'd call a nice home, newer home, out of reach for me.

YMMV

[SKB]

Originally Posted by pepper1980

Jupiter fits the bill for us in a lot of ways- family oriented, close to the beach, excellent schools - but I have been seriously wrestling with the following and would love some opinions from folks who live there:

1. Single family homes crazy expensive and dated. Actually you’ve missed the boat for low prices from the housing crash. Back in 2010 you could’ve gotten a gorgeous home in Jupiter for a very reasonable price tag. Those deals are gone now and home prices have crept back up again. Not to the levels they were pre-bubble but they have rebounded quite a bit. Back in 2008-2012 half of every street in every area homes were in some level of foreclosure.

I’ve been looking up homes for sale for the past two or three years and it’s impossible to find a 3+ bedroom single family home 2300sf+ for less than $650K... and that’s not in any popular neighborhood like Abacoa which everyone talks about... the odd home you find for that “cheap” is old and dated.

In Nashville where we live now you can easily find a 4+ bedroom home that’s newly built for $450K.

2. Property taxes seem ridiculous
Property taxes are not to bad if you are homesteaded and didn’t pay 💰 a fortune for a home.
Even if we were to “settle” and purchase a non-ideal home for $650K... we would be paying close to $1K/month or more in property taxes alone. That means even if you paid off your mortgage completely you still have to pay $1K/month in property tax for the rest of your life.

The common response is “yes but no federal income tax”. I hear this but TN doesn’t have any either and property taxes are way more reasonable. I Think you mean “state taxes” everyone pays federal taxes but Tennessee is like Florida without state income tax.
3. HOA and Insurance Not all areas have an HOA and it depends who you were going with and where you live as far as insurance. The closer you are to the ocean the higher your insurance premiums are going to be.
Abacoa seemed like a nice area (even though single family homes there seem to be $750K+) when we visited but $300+ dollars for HOA is crazy... that’s a car payment and a nice car at that.

I also understand insurance is especially high due to hurricane likelihood in that area..

4. Yearly evacuation due to hurricanes?
The last hurricane we had was in 2017 it was the FIRST one since 2005 that affected lives and caused a lot of damage and evacuations. We’ve had some minor storms in pockets of areas but no major hurricanes from 2005 to 2017.
Last year we visited Jupiter for a month and had to evacuate back to TN after 2 weeks because of Irma. (Good thing we did because the condo we were renting got flooded.)... I realize Irma was an uncommonly strong hurricane but our friends who live in Jupiter say that every year it’s normal for them to evacuate... they just go to Disney in Orlando to ride them out, which is relatively convenient, but still this surely needs to be a factor as far as cost goes doesn’t it?

5. Abacoa?

Abacoa seems like a great place for us lifestyle wise but I would just feel stupid paying $800K for what I consider a “slightly above normal” home there along with $300/month HOA and $1K/month property taxes... is everybody who lives there just used to these kind of prices / taxes / premiums?

If I conservatively add all these things up minus the inflated home prices it comes to at least an additional $2,000/month in cash you are committing to and paying as a “premium” just to live in Jupiter.

Of course there are other areas nearby with much lower property taxes and home prices but my consideration here is to make Jupiter work.

Am I off base here? Am I misunderstanding anything or not considering something? How are people making this work?

Maybe you should expand your search area. Why is Jupiter such an appeal to you? Are you big ocean people?
Are you boaters?
We live in ZIP Code 33470 which is a 20 minute drive to Juno Beach. For under 650 you can get one heck of a beautiful home. A rated schools, safe area
There is a brand new city that is currently going up called West Lake. You should check it out.

https://youtu.be/CjvfWmPGYD8

https://mobile.minto.com/usa/florida...tion~2067.html

[City Guy997S]

Originally Posted by SKB

[b]Maybe you should expand your search area. Why is Jupiter such an appeal to you? Are you big ocean people?
Are you boaters?
We live in ZIP Code 33470 which is a 20 minute drive to Juno Beach. For under 650 you can get one heck of a beautiful home.

20 minutes to Juno? Mapquest shows 47 minutes to go from 33470 to the Juno Beach pier.

The OP's other concerns were taxes and HOA fees on top of the 650K purchase price. I suspect being they are in the same county the taxes will be virtually the same and the HOA fee on the new community would be similar.

[boston904]

[quote=City Guy997S;51688127]20 minutes to Juno? Mapquest shows 47 minutes to go from 33470 to the Juno Beach pier. That's what I said. I lived in Abacoa and on a good day it was 15 minutes to Juno Pier

[Not rich enough]

Well, we were looking to head to this area too with our children but there is no way I can afford a reasonable house. Especially after the comment of $250k a year not being enough. We chose the wrong career it seems. Tbh we are now looking at anywhere on the east coast as far down as we can get to find a reasonable house for $300k give or take. I most importantly worry about the safety of my kids and their education. Does anyone have any recommendations for ANY areas on the coast of Florida for this? Currently live in Charlotte, and while everything is very nice here on our side of town, we really want the beach and places to go fishing. Thank you in advance. Would love to be near an inlet.