Reply #78: used to live in chicago

[datasuspect]

neighborhood i grew up in (near southwest side) was up until a few years ago a cheap place to live. it was the ghetto mind you, but you could find a decent enough apartment for about 350/per month about 6 or 7 years ago.

i went through there last year and the gut rehabs started springing up, condo conversions, and young "artistic" types walking their labs in what used to be a relatively safe gang-infested neighborhood.

those are the "pioneers."

point is, the building i grew up in, that sold for 15,000 in 1971 listed at around 450,000 recently.

the same is true all over chicago.

the best example is what used to be the worst part of lincoln park near north/halsted. in the early 70s you wouldn't be caught there after dark, nowadays, the same 100-120 year old worker cottage type buildings sell for 1,000,000+

1800 for mortgage in jersey (i wonder about your proximity to NYC) seems like a relative bargain. i'm not familiar with housing price patterns in the northeast, but i am sure they are well above the national average.

and yes, you could move somewhere else. where i live in texas, you can get a decently modern house and a couple of acres for about 70,000, but the wages here are horrifying, and the poverty is almost universal.

but sticking it out with the house might be a very wise decision. when you look in 30 year cycles, a neighborhood can go from working class to ghetto, to upper income wealthy class in that time frame.

sounds like you made a shrewd investment.