Bob those taxes I quoted are for small 1 bedroom coops ranging from 650-800 SQ costing 150k-200k, near me houses in the 1500-2500 sqf range anywhere from $6,000 to $15k depending on where you go, even extremely higher taxes in the better neighborhoods of course. Townhouses go for 450k-1M+ without a problem and taxes are wellllll NORTH of $15,000, even in areas where the school systems suck still demand taxes around $10,000 a year. I helped someone move recently, they were in a good area with great school systems and she was retired, she had to move because she could not afford to stay there any longer due to the costs of living in such an area, taxes were $15k+ and it was a normal size house of approx 1500SQ. She actually downgraded to a small community for retirement people.
small condo 900 sq 1 bed(180-200K), in 25-30 years old building in my area-still 1.5-2K in property taxes alone. what i'm trying to say is that "american dream" to own a decent single house is a dream. no more no less. pretty much regardless to where mortgage rates are. taxes and maintenance cost would kill anybody in north east with salary <100K. imo-everything is still inflated. i bought 15 years old townhouse year ago(paid cash btw,cause i don't believe in any "rebound" or inflation any time soon) and fix every single thing by myself. not because i'm cheap(well..that too),but because people are asking ridiculous money for very basic jobs. 2-5K for 1000 sq for solid hard wood floor installation..man..think about it..for a pro it would take less than a week to do this job..let's say i pay him a medium-3K(most of them will ask for cash only) 3K a week! that's 150K a year man..mostly cash,no taxes..the tools cost about 200$ +20$ for nails..now..i'm not a really handy person,but i did it in 2 weeks,working alone, at evenings, with zero experience in that field. zero. did perfect job.. i read the manual, and take it from there. my point is very simple-a decent programmer makes about 70K..if you put carpenter and let him do programmers job-he will not be able to do this. not after a week,not after a year. so-why TODAY carpenter is making more money? i don't get it... probably, because there is a demand for it? i hope they all will go to hell with their attitude and prices..we are just not there yet and it looks like it will be a pretty darn long road to get things where they're supposed to be.