Avoid Long Island If You Can (Sparta, Ava: housing, rent, income)

[Dedalus]

Personally, I took a job out here, that ended, now I'm kind of stranded.

I call Long Island "The Hole."

[Jrprofess]

Originally Posted by retiredprodjmc

Try Arizona, no traffic, no LIRR, although ironically the housing market there has seen an increase of 38%. Must be too many Long islanders moving to Arizona!

Thanks for your measured and thorough reply...you had me nodding or at least not totally disagreeing with everything you said up until your Arizona reference...FL,CA, and AZ are experiencing the worst of the housing crush...and they are down 38%

[Home_Kid]

Originally Posted by Jrprofess

Thanks for your measured and thorough reply...you had me nodding or at least not totally disagreeing with everything you said up until your Arizona reference...FL,CA, and AZ are experiencing the worst of the housing crush...and they are down 38%

hence a perfect time to buy in AZ FL and CA !!

this is partly due to the fact that other places will hold value better during this crash period, so some folks will hang on to what they have until market picks back up and get more $$$ for what they have. value will grow more in other places than AZ when market starts up again in next few years.

[nancy thereader]

Originally Posted by Home_Kid

hence a perfect time to buy in AZ FL and CA !!

this is partly due to the fact that other places will hold value better during this crash period, so some folks will hang on to what they have until market picks back up and get more $$$ for what they have. value will grow more in other places than AZ when market starts up again in next few years.

Do you think that this will be true in other western cities?

[meghans]

I currently live in MD, but am considering a move to LI for love. We spend most of our time in the Hampton Bays area. I love that you all have towns, we don't just cities and suburbs. I don't get some of these posts. It all seems to be about money. In MD we pay DC prices, avg house 500,000 (though dropping now), but get paid Alabama wages. As a teacher, I make a half of what your teachers make. I don't understand some of the hostility to your hometown. It's no different from the rest of the East Coast, deal with it!

[Jrprofess]

Originally Posted by meghans

I currently live in MD, but am considering a move to LI for love. We spend most of our time in the Hampton Bays area. I love that you all have towns, we don't just cities and suburbs. I don't get some of these posts. It all seems to be about money. In MD we pay DC prices, avg house 500,000 (though dropping now), but get paid Alabama wages. As a teacher, I make a half of what your teachers make. I don't understand some of the hostility to your hometown. It's no different from the rest of the East Coast, deal with it!

Some folks are under the delusion that traffic at rush hour and high costs of living are solely the rights of a long islander...

[DonnaReed]

Old Westbury is still nice

if you've got a million and a half to invest...*s*

A friend of mine recently bought a beautiful home.

I think his monthly taxes and upkeep are more than my entire mortgage though.

I think if I had that much money I'd opt for Bayside or Jamaica Estates or Holliswood Hills Estates or something within the city limits.

Better yet, I could go south and buy a mansion for a half a mill and keep the other million.

Baldwin is well, um, clean.

Roosevelt, Hempstead, Freeport...you can have them all.

Roslyn is decent.

I'm just not willing to pay those taxes. I moved to the city limit and paid for private school.

The schools in Long Island aren't THAT much better, not anymore.

Although the salaries for educators in Long Island are still higher, as are the salaries for police officers.

[opelske]

The assessments on houses are very high, so the real estate and school taxes keep getting higher. House, health and car insurance is very high. Gas and electric charges are at the highest levels. The LIRR just got more expensive. LI now has city buses on it narrow and already car-crowded streets without any bus lanes --Nassua County is becoming more like Queens everyday. The only places that retain a country environment are the multi-million dollar estate homes with 2 or more acres in towns where few middle income people can afford to live. We moved here to get away from crowded city areas, but now Nassau is overcrowded too.

[FloridaSue]

Originally Posted by NYNewbie

If you don't know what you are getting move to one of those places that don't have taxes. You don't get services. Let me tell you about Florida.

1) The schools are horrendous. The teachers are among the worst paid. They aren't allowed to collectively bargain, which saves corporations and the state big money. An anti-tax governor dissolved the civil workers union because he was through with people thinking that public service entitled them to a decent lifestyle.

2) There is terrible governance. The state is run by corporate toadies who give the developers everything they want. Take for example Deltona, Florida. Deltona is built on lumpy land. The lowlands are seasonal pools. Because Florida went through a dry-spell, the land appeared dry. Developers were granted the rights to build there. Once regular rains began again, homes flooded. The developers were "long gone" (a county over), so the city paid those people for their homes and made retention areas out of the houses. The city knew those places would flood because they were warned. The state is also allowing the state to be over built. The state is provided water by an elaborate system of aquifers that can only sustain so much growth. These aquifers also provide Florida with some of the natural wonders that make the place amazing (e.g., hot springs that attract manatee). If the population growth continues unabated, so much water will be used that the system will begin to leach seawater. This will destroy the ecosystem. Brought this up to my state house rep. in a public debate, and he didn't care.

There's more, but my wife and I want to do something.

You can't generalize The Flordia school system like that. My son went through elementary school in Monroe County and it was excellent. In fact, when we relocated here to HarborFields school district my son was way ahead in his Math and English and they had to place him in an advanced program. Also, many of my friends sent their chidren to schools throughout South Florida and they are now professionals in Medicine and Law. The one thing that is better about Flordia is that parents can switch schools outside of their districts depending on their needs, without having to fight the district.I had a huge battle with our local district to transfer my daughter into a special program tailored for her in the Arts. We won and she is now in college with a scholarship. Bottom line is that education comes from the home. Nobody in the school district knows the children and their needs better than their parents. It is up to us to make sure they have every opportunity along the way. regardless of what school district they attend.

[Rachael84]

Originally Posted by FloridaSue

You can't generalize The Flordia school system like that. My son went through elementary school in Monroe County and it was excellent. In fact, when we relocated here to HarborFields school district my son was way ahead in his Math and English and they had to place him in an advanced program. Also, many of my friends sent their chidren to schools throughout South Florida and they are now professionals in Medicine and Law. The one thing that is better about Flordia is that parents can switch schools outside of their districts depending on their needs, without having to fight the district.I had a huge battle with our local district to transfer my daughter into a special program tailored for her in the Arts. We won and she is now in college with a scholarship. Bottom line is that education comes from the home. Nobody in the school district knows the children and their needs better than their parents. It is up to us to make sure they have every opportunity along the way. regardless of what school district they attend.

A lot comes from the home, but also a lot from the school and how it's run by the district. I'm a teacher so I have my own opinion on this. My students in NYC don't get nearly as good of an education as those on LI, mainly because of budgeting. I have to fight to get pencils; whereas on LI, they gladly hand you tons of supplies without even asking. Just one of the many differences 2 school districts can have.