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Thank you. I plan on doing a lot of research.. Im' not looking to change the way that life is lived where I am going, otherwise what would be the point of moving then. I understand that we have a lot of little "perks" that other counties in the country do not have (like the garbage collectino, which btw. I only get my garbage collected on 2 days and 3rd day is recycling.. it's 6 days only because there are so many homes and much ground to cover). I am not looking for a McMansion either.. although I am looking for McLand, if you know what I mean. I would probably prefer a house that's been there and established over new, depending. It's land I'm more concerned with because a small house can always be expanded as the family grows. I'm moving to enjoy a different kind of life, not impose the life I've been living on wherever I move to.
Basically I am willing to sacrafice those little luxuries because the price to me is way to high.. and I'm not talkign about money. I'm talking about both parents having to work work work just to pay the bills and not have time to spend with their children. They grow so fast and my husband has already missed so much he doesnt' even realize because he has to work work work.
And.. where people sprawl out too, yes change does happen and things get more expensive..BUT.. it's those that are in on the ground floor that will survive. Our parents are doing fine because they bought their houses BEFORE prices got too far out of hand (and salary increases do not match hte current cost of living increase). When they sell they are taking their big chunk of equity and moving to more affordable places. BUT.. it's the younger generation just starting out that is having a real problem making it here. I do not pretend that I am the ONLY one struggling to pay my bills.. quite the contrary. I see it all the time.. all my friends (I'm in the gen x generation.. and my brothers the gen y) are leaving for a better quality of life or so they don't hvae to live in their parents basements or supplement apartments.
LI has gotten Way out of control. The problem here is that you have the county , the towns and then even smaller municipalities that are taxing taxing taxing to death. So many politicians are living high on the hog and money is just hemorraging from all of them becasue of all the abuses. Just look at all the accounting scandals with the schools that have been exposed over the past couple of years since the Roslyn incident.. and those are the ones that we found out about! It's happening on EVERY level . That and we are double and triple taxed because the municipalities overlap each other. It's absolutely ridiculous.
I completely understand where your coming from and I agree with all your points. We struggled for years in the same situation, my husband makes good money, but it's never enough here...and personally I am sick of keeping up with the status quo here. My husband and I have already started our exodus process. We thankfully sold our house in Wantagh, it was a levitt house as well, in April...and we are staying with family until we move, next summer.
We are moving to the Raleigh area of NC...been down there several times...and absolutely love it! The schools are great, (although, they are having a hard time dealing with the influx of students, but working on building new schools), people are great, there are many LIanders there. The homes we are looking at are in the price range of between $200-300k with average taxes being $2000 per year...and the general cost of living is lower...very family friendly place and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to do family things...you should check out the NC threads for all sorts of info. Lots of jobs down there too. Sure there are die hard southerners who don't like NE's coming down, but you will find that anywhere...for the most part everyone gave us a great welcome.
I grew up on LI and loved growing up here but, since I had my son, I have to agree, it is not what it was and changing for the worst. No change is in site as far as I can see....I have to think if we stay, will there be a retirement??? What will be here for my son in 15 years, jobs, housing costs, etc...he would probably leave us!
If you need anymore information, I have done tons of research...just ask!
I completely understand where your coming from and I agree with all your points. We struggled for years in the same situation, my husband makes good money, but it's never enough here...and personally I am sick of keeping up with the status quo here. My husband and I have already started our exodus process. We thankfully sold our house in Wantagh, it was a levitt house as well, in April...and we are staying with family until we move, next summer.
We are moving to the Raleigh area of NC...been down there several times...and absolutely love it! The schools are great, (although, they are having a hard time dealing with the influx of students, but working on building new schools), people are great, there are many LIanders there. The homes we are looking at are in the price range of between $200-300k with average taxes being $2000 per year...and the general cost of living is lower...very family friendly place and it doesn't cost an arm and a leg to do family things...you should check out the NC threads for all sorts of info. Lots of jobs down there too. Sure there are die hard southerners who don't like NE's coming down, but you will find that anywhere...for the most part everyone gave us a great welcome.
I grew up on LI and loved growing up here but, since I had my son, I have to agree, it is not what it was and changing for the worst. No change is in site as far as I can see....I have to think if we stay, will there be a retirement??? What will be here for my son in 15 years, jobs, housing costs, etc...he would probably leave us!
If you need anymore information, I have done tons of research...just ask!
You can do very well sub 300k/4k tax in Tolland county w great schools ....and only a ferry ride for weddings and funerals.
They have no county govt...helps quite a bit tax wise.
Oh God, please read this forum first. 1/2 this forum is people complaining about how crappy LI is, how expensive, how crowded, how rude, how crappy crappy crappy. Look at some threads and they'll be more than enough people to commiserate with.
This is nothing new though - I made my escape off strong island back in 1989, and even then people were bitchin' and complainin' about how horrible things were.
For some reason though, people just can't find their way to the LIE to leave.
We once made the mistake of visiting friends in North Carolina just after Memorial Day weekend, and I couldn't believe how hot and humid it was. I honestly felt like I couldn't breathe properly. I can't imagine how oppressive it must be there in July and August!
Mosquitoes are tied with yellowjackets for the title of Insect I'd Like To Eradicate From the Earth. On second thought I think mosquitoes are worse.
Our friends also told us about fire ants which they said are widespread in the south and are as far north as Raleigh. Also that the south has two types of termites: underground and 'in house'. At least we in the Northeast only have to deal with the one (underground) type!
We once made the mistake of visiting friends in North Carolina just after Memorial Day weekend, and I couldn't believe how hot and humid it was. I honestly felt like I couldn't breathe properly. I can't imagine how oppressive it must be there in July and August!
Believe it or not you do get used to it. You never like it but you do get used to it. Summers on LI, fall and winter in the South.
You're about as fixated on North Carolina as you accuse me of being with Long Island. Leave it alone Clam and focus on the eastern end of Long Island. How's the West Nile virus holding up this year?
Quote:
Originally Posted by BlueSkyHoliday
We once made the mistake of visiting friends in North Carolina just after Memorial Day weekend, and I couldn't believe how hot and humid it was. I honestly felt like I couldn't breathe properly. I can't imagine how oppressive it must be there in July and August!
It's been hot here during the summer, I can't argue that point. However as someone who spent many, many days standing on a NYC subway platform during the dog days of summer with the humidity unbearable and the stench ungodly I'll take it. And besides, there's air conditioning virtually everywhere you go around here so it's not like it's really an issue.
Wrong. I just moved here, and I don't pay $3300 for a house. I pay about $2400 for a decent house in E. Northport. We are making sacrifices to pay our taxes and insurance. I would do it all over again because our past life in Florida sucked, sucked, sucked.
Still, in the short term I'd rather live paycheck to paycheck until I start to get ahead in NY before I live "well off" in some affordable hell-hole like Florida. It's affordable because no one wants to pay for schools. Florida has the third largest treasury in the nation (behind CA. & NY.) and yet its teacher pay ranks in the bottom three. It is a horrible place governed by selfish whites in gated communities.
You get what you pay for. If you want lots of house and are willing to ignore how well your neighbors' children are being educated, then by all means leave. I don't want you voting here.
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