Lastnight I went to an open house for a near 7 figure box (as I call it) in Park Slope Brooklyn. Mind you I already own a spread on the island and the fiancee has her own dig around the corner from the open house. The "box" isn't even comparable to the LI spread but "she" is particular. In any event, I coincidentally asked about a parking spot and they quoted me for $25K outdoor and $35k indoor, both of which I thought was more than reasonable since my buddy in jersey got his for $40k (hoboken). It's not that there wasn't available parking on the street, it's just the hassle of having to move the car once a week for street cleaning does get annoyong. For $25k, no need to worry and the slot is property on which you get a title and deed for as well as having to pay taxes on. If you wrap it into the mortgage, it comes out to be considerable less than what you would pay monthly to a garage to rent space. I've never heard $200K as being the mean... Perhaps on the high end but surely not the mean. Monthly parking in a garage is roughly $300-$600... However, some folks have disposable income and for them, why not pay the sum? You can easily sell the slot and recoup your investment unlike rent money....
Bought a space in the mid-90s for $10K, sold it for $40K a couple years ago. Was able to rent it out for a few years too before that. And that particular one was a tandem spot. (Yeah, the other guy has your keys)
Down in my area, the Atlanta suburbs, you can buy an awesome home for the price of a Manhattan parking space... http://homes.realtor.com/search/lis...c&pg=8&lid=1088197996&lsn=74&srcnt=796#Detail http://homes.realtor.com/search/lis...c&pg=8&lid=1082115544&lsn=79&srcnt=796#Detail http://homes.realtor.com/search/lis...d&pg=2&lid=1084258716&lsn=17&srcnt=635#Detail http://homes.realtor.com/search/lis...d&pg=5&lid=1082701382&lsn=46&srcnt=635#Detail Homes like the above can easily go for over $1 million up in the NJ/NY area in good towns. I used to live in NJ. It's so much better down here. It's alot cheaper, the people are friendlier, and the weather is nicer. Plus Atlanta offers tons of things to do.
A man walks into a New York City bank and says he wants to borrow $2,000 for three weeks. The loan officer asks him what kind of collateral he has. The man says "I've got a Rolls Royce -- keep it until the loan is paid off -- here are the keys." The loan officer promptly has the car driven into the bank's underground parking for safe keeping, and gives the man $2,000. Three weeks later the man comes into the bank, pays back the $2,000 loan, plus $10 interest, and regains possession of the Rolls Royce. The loan officer asks him, "Sir, if I may ask, why would a man who drives a Rolls Royce need to borrow two thousand dollars?" The man answers, "I had to go to Europe for three weeks, and where else could I store a Rolls Royce for that long for ten dollars?"
this is really funny - and people say that residential property is expensive in da USA. For this money you would not get a shed in kazakh desert nowadays...
But how many $500K+ jobs does ATL have? There are more than just a handful in my office building alone... Additionally, NJ is no NYC. In NYC, you get several times as many options for the same activities. See a play, there are more than dozen to choose... If we are going to compare, it's got to be city to city, not suburb to city... Where ATL wins is the extended summers and short winters...
Since I do not need to go into the city that often, it really is not that important to me to be in the city. I guess, if I lived in the city, and worked in the city, then I would see it differently. The pricing for condos from here in Northern Jersey to NYC are not that far off. Aside from Trump and Park Avenue South of course.
I agree that NYC offers more entertainment than Atlanta, and most likely more than any other city in the U.S. for that matter. But it all comes at a huge price of course. What I'm trying to say is that in the Atlanta area, housing is so much more affordable than the NYC area. Down here, almost anyone can afford to live a great lifestyle without paying $1 million for a 60's split level home. You can live well down here on $40k/year. There are people down here doing really well also. There are tons of gated country club communities, plus Buckhead, a section of Atlanta, has $10 million + homes. This area makes it alot easier for the lower to upper middle class folks to live a great lifestyle. Even though, the NYC area has people making $500k/year, there are still plenty of people that are living in cockroach infested apartments, sharing apartments with strangers, living in cramped tiny apartments, or living with their parents. I have some friends in both NJ and NY that either live with their parents or live in tiny apartments because homes are too expensive. Not everyone can afford to pay a $4,000 mortgage each month. So basically, if you're not making at least $200k/year, it's not worth being there.