Home price vs. Property tax
My wife and I are mainly looking at 2 towns for our first primary home purchase. We're used to renting in North Jersey at $2,400 a month comfortably so that's our budget. In town #1 we could buy a house for $300k but taxes are about $10k.. in town #2 we could buy a house for $400k and taxes are about $5k. We much prefer the house in town #2. The monthly budget comes in about the same around $2,400 for either home.
I'm always reading about "home affordability" and the $400k number scares me a little (gross about $155k w/ very low debt), but if the $400k place and the $300k place are costing me the same each month, wouldn't I be better off purchasing the $400k place as more money would actually be going into equity? I just want to make sure I'm not overlooking something stupid.