Continue making 400k+ in NYC or take remote job at 250k

Stay in NYC. Buy a house in suburbs for $2M. Pay it off in 10 years and then sell it for $3M and you can then move anywhere and do anything.

Go remote.

NYC sucks. It's overrated, overpriced, and dirty. I lived there for many years.

There are plenty of other smaller cities and towns that offer a spectacular quality of life at much lower cost, and 250k will stretch much further than 400-700k in the nicer parts in and around NYC. You deserve a major life upgrade.

-Now in New Hampshire and loving life

chapan wrote:

Stay in NYC. Buy a house in suburbs for $2M. Pay it off in 10 years and then sell it for $3M and you can then move anywhere and do anything.

what?

This 2mm home in a nyc suburb has monthly mortgage and tax service over 11k a month (my take home on 200k base after tax is like 12k a month).

Its about 44k in prop taxes a year!

NYC sucks wrote:

Go remote.

NYC sucks. It's overrated, overpriced, and dirty. I lived there for many years.

There are plenty of other smaller cities and towns that offer a spectacular quality of life at much lower cost, and 250k will stretch much further than 400-700k in the nicer parts in and around NYC. You deserve a major life upgrade.

-Now in New Hampshire and loving life

are you one of my bosses(he did the same), went there to WFH at his country house and hasnt returned (sold his pricy him in NYC area)

NYC sucks wrote:

Go remote.

NYC sucks. It's overrated, overpriced, and dirty. I lived there for many years.

There are plenty of other smaller cities and towns that offer a spectacular quality of life at much lower cost, and 250k will stretch much further than 400-700k in the nicer parts in and around NYC. You deserve a major life upgrade.

-Now in New Hampshire and loving life

Whether 400-700k buys you more than 250k is irrelevant as you’re able to save much more in NYC. The point is after tax 250k might leave you with 180k, and 500k might leave you with 320k. You spend 60k in the cheap city and 100k in NYC, and you’re left with 120k in the cheap place and 220k in NYC. So you’re accumulating assets for retirement much more quickly.

Do you have a family? If you do, why don't you discuss it with them instead?

SDSU Aztec wrote:

Do you have a family? If you do, why don't you discuss it with them instead?

I have. we are unsure (plus my kids are under 4 so they dont really have an opinion)

dopedtothegills13 wrote:

SDSU Aztec wrote:

Do you have a family? If you do, why don't you discuss it with them instead?

I have. we are unsure (plus my kids are under 4 so they dont really have an opinion)

Your wife undoubtly has an opinion that you should give a lot weight. About a gazillion people have decided whether to accept a job in another city and you can do it too. It's a decision only you can make.

Move the wife and kids upstate upper Dutchess or capital region suburbs all have good schools to avoid private school tuition. Keep a pied a terre in the city for your sanity. Stay with them Thursday-Monday if your bank allows some hybrid work. $1MM will get you a decent house up there but will have competition, a little more and you’ll get whatever you want. Won’t have to pay NYC surcharge which should cover most if not all of your mortgage and taxes.

dopedtothegills13 wrote:

NYC sucks wrote:

Go remote.

NYC sucks. It's overrated, overpriced, and dirty. I lived there for many years.

There are plenty of other smaller cities and towns that offer a spectacular quality of life at much lower cost, and 250k will stretch much further than 400-700k in the nicer parts in and around NYC. You deserve a major life upgrade.

-Now in New Hampshire and loving life

are you one of my bosses(he did the same), went there to WFH at his country house and hasnt returned (sold his pricy him in NYC area)

Probably not. But I don't blame him--we have no income tax or sales tax in NH (although property taxes are quite high), and quality of life is rated high by most people. Moderately sized active cities, charming smaller towns, lots of areas with good public schools, and plenty of access to trails, mountains, lakes, ocean, you name it.

Not an advert for NH per se so much as a little nugget to hopefully get you to wisen up and gtfo of such an overrated and overpriced sh*thole as NYC and NYC greater metro area. I've lived in SF, Boston, and NYC and NYC takes the cake for the worst, for many reasons.

NYC sucks wrote:

dopedtothegills13 wrote:

are you one of my bosses(he did the same), went there to WFH at his country house and hasnt returned (sold his pricy him in NYC area)

Probably not. But I don't blame him--we have no income tax or sales tax in NH (although property taxes are quite high), and quality of life is rated high by most people. Moderately sized active cities, charming smaller towns, lots of areas with good public schools, and plenty of access to trails, mountains, lakes, ocean, you name it.

Not an advert for NH per se so much as a little nugget to hopefully get you to wisen up and gtfo of such an overrated and overpriced sh*thole as NYC and NYC greater metro area. I've lived in SF, Boston, and NYC and NYC takes the cake for the worst, for many reasons.

looked at a bunch of homes westchester and they were aburdly overpriced for what you are getting, with plenty of million dollar homes that are pretty old/falling apart WITH bad school districts too (New Rochelle, Sleepy Hollow, Hartsdale)

Million dollar home in Port Washington or somehwere decent in Long island is also pretty much a shack

NJ has some great options (ridgewood, glen rock etc) but you are paying 1 million to live in New Jersey and deal with the horrible roads, traffic, attitudes and government. pass

covid made house prices explode and I'm frankly shocked how my 200 base just doesnt go that far in this region .

What is your net worth.

I would stay in the city a few more years at a minimum of you have that level of upward mobility. We have no kids and a HHI about 750-800k in nyc (34, 29), and we’re beginning to get to where we’d consider a buying a nice 2br. We haven’t yet though because our economic situation evolves so drastically every 3-4 years and the market has returned enough that it doesn’t make sense for us to put down roots. Biggest thing for us is creating a lifestyle that’s sustainable so we can continue to get to the next level (small commute, no non-work stress). In maybe 10-15 years we’ll consider making the move out of the city, but hope that money will be a non-factor by then.

Figure out where it is you want to live long term. Moving with kids can be hard for both you and them, and if you constantly move it can be hard to establish roots and develop relationships with neighbors and others in your community. Making 250K is serious money especially if you use it wisely and don't waste it on frivolous things. Also, where will enjoy living more? Do you enjoy NYC or would you rather be close to actual mountains? Are both jobs as demanding hour wise? Money isn't everything especially if you don't ever have time to spend it or be with your family.

Personally I'd buy a home on the outskirts of Seattle (like Gig Harbor or one of the islands) and then maybe once a week go into the office. You can get some nice homes around Gig Harbor for around 900K - 1 million. No income tax in WA so that's also a 10% increase compared to NY.

about 350k / no debt

only had a job like this 2 years ( post business school)

Been saving my bonuses every year

before that I was working for govt so making like 60 to 80k . net worth is going up a lot every year as im saving a ton in my current role (but also having to spend a ton on housing for 2 kids

Im from bellevue originally so this is something im thinking

But western washington is not the same as when I grew up there - so not sure if i want to return

Do what makes you and your family happy. At either salary you can live comfortably. Don't chase money unless that somehow makes you happy.

But your title asks the question with the assumption that you make $400k in NYC. If you are now claiming that you can only count on $200k. then I would advise escaping. If you can count on $400k, put $200k down and buy a house for $2M. It will appreciate to $3M in 10 years.

A colleague of mine just went through this getting outbid on everything. He got so fed up he just started Googling “family friendly cities” and Indianapolis kept coming up on these lists.

They got in contact with a church out there, asked to speak to some young families, and they all love it. They flew out to see it and it seems promising.

So they went for it. They bought a huge house on a big lot for just under $400k. So far they like it. If they change their minds they can always sell and move back to an expensive coast.

Oh and he works remote of course, that’s a key detail. Make that west coast salary while living somewhere much cheaper.

I’d say go for something like that. You don’t have to be deep in the burbs if it’s middle of the country. I’m sure even the hot parts of a smaller city would seem really cheap to you.