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So the story is that I was born in Franklin Square and move to South Florida when I was young with my family. Before it got insane down here it was great but now as a 32 year old man with two daughters this is not the place to be. My family is still in Long Island and I miss them dearly. I have such found memories as a kid of Long Island and every time I go back, which is often, I feel so much more at ease and safer overall.
My question is am I right with my assessment or am I jumping from one messed up place to another? Do people that currently live on Long Island become in awe with Florida and would think why would a person want to leave there and come back to the cold, high cost of living, and traffic.
Please share with me your thoughts.
Thank you.
Frankie...I was raised on LI - Floral Park...the city side...and have to say I loved it......my daughter lives out past the Hamptons...and every time we visit I probably feel the same as you..."more at ease and some how more relaxed"......maybe it's the sand in the grass or the ocean breeze...but I left LI way back in 1974 because I could not afford a home and the taxes......my brother lives in Merrick and cannot afford to retire do to the cost of living and taxes...and just a note...the current temperature is 20 degrees today without the wind chill factor......
Since you have children...you have to consider the schools before you even think of relocating......and a house or rental will cost you more in an area with A rated schools......just ask your relatives that still live there...and to get off the Island costs you $14 round trip...someone has to support Mass Transit...
My wife and I have just purchased a home in Jupiter, Fl and cannot wait to leave NY...I am sure it will not be much cheaper...but where we live now - Rockland County - the taxes are going up...property value's are dropping...and the welfare rolls are leaping foward...my co-worker who lives in Orange County just got his tax bill and on the bottom of the bill there was a comment - 78% of your tax bill is welfare related - now if that ain't a reason to stay out of NY...I don't know what is...
My family owns a vacation home in North Palm Beach and while I love it over there (though sometimes it's too close to RIviera Beach for my liking), I prefer Palm Beach Gardens! I love that area! Anything North of North Palm Beach is VERY nice. We have spoken in the past about moving there but the only issue is jobs...my husband would not be able to find a job in Florida and he can't get a transfer to that side of Florida and that side definitely is made up of a lot of New Yorkers. Also, he works outside year round and the heat in the summer time would be so bad for him! But, if you gave me an option to move to Palm Beach Gardens or the surroundign areas of Jupiter or Juno and not have to work, in a heart beat I woudl take it. Although, I would miss my family dearly on Long Island. To me, Palm Beach Gardens is so much cleaner than New York and it's almost always sunny there and it makes me feel more happy in general. What I do miss most when I visit Florida is the 24 hour diners that you have on Long Island and just about everything on Long Island has late hours whereas in Florida, stores tend to close early. Those are my gripes about Florida...but the positives about Florida to me are ...I love the palm trees, newer homes and weather but I do remember at the height of the market, Palm Beach Gardens and the surrounding areas weren't too far apart in real estate prices than Long Island..but you got a beautiful home for the price.
Long Island is nice and I'm def comfortable here b/c I've been her my entire life but the cost of living is outrageous and the taxes...well, let's put it this way...after reviewing our real estate taxes, how will I or anyone else be able to reside on LI in 20 years when they are 30k or more? It's just crazy! That's when I will be looking to relocate..when I can no longer afford my home b/c of the real estate taxes.
Good luck wiht whatever you decide to do. I woudl try to do some research if I were you and see if you would be able to afford LI before you come here. It takes 2 salaries here (for most people). I work 3 days a week and don't make a terrible salary for part time and my husband has a full time job and does't make a bad salary either but it doesn't go far on LI.
Long Island is nice and I'm def comfortable here b/c I've been her my entire life but the cost of living is outrageous and the taxes...well, let's put it this way...after reviewing our real estate taxes, how will I or anyone else be able to reside on LI in 20 years when they are 30k or more? It's just crazy! That's when I will be looking to relocate..when I can no longer afford my home b/c of the real estate taxes.
You sound like so many people i know....
Gonna wait till you can't afford it and the thing you need to sell so you can afford to move.... who's gonna buy it at it lets say 30k prop taxes, im up to 8+ and i still can't understand WHY, why do we have so many stupid people living here voting for things that screw us, and allow these idiots to keep making the wrong decisions. (the best schools though right, teachers are responsible for these idiot voters, they are educating these idiots, best schools though right, idiots)
Take a good long look around, salary isn't up to sustaining these costs, even you and your husband are LIVING the bs of this island, working to survive, thats not living.... salaries weren't up to sustaining the costs of the housing here 10 yrs ago.
Taxes went up, and you think staying till you can't afford it is the better alternative, nys is going to be AFU soon, who's gonna buy your 100k house for 300k and pay 30k a year in taxes for a 100k house ? Proper education would say no one
The fed pushed the sandy bill to the side....things here are gonna take a sh:t soon, the state is broke and they are making things to make business and making revenue worse....
The sandy storm bill doesn't look like its being picked up and we have idiots running things... taxes are gonna go up and they're worried about taking guns away so YOU most definitely can't protect yourself and waiting till the last minute seems like a good idea..
The op you really want to come to this Moderator cut: language removed run state??? really??
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Last edited by nancy thereader; 01-04-2013 at 07:53 AM..
Thank you all for the detailed feedback. I must say the common theme is that people from Long Island are looking at thenNorthern Palm Beach area and liking it. Now I've been to Jupiter and its nice but Broward County is not all sunshine and roses. The schools are horrible, there are a huge lack of good jobs and what they pay is nowhere near what it takes to afford a nice house. Are there a lot of New Yorkers down here? Sure but there are lots of crazies too that make up a very unstable and superficial environment. My older relatives that have moved down here love it but they do not have children to raise so it's different. I just miss the change in weather, the fall, the cool air, the culture, the types of houses, the people, and the overall atmosphere. There is no sense of community here at all and I feel that my children will be deprived here. I just don't feel comfortable raising children in this environment.
So if Long Island is not the place to be, then where are good places? My Aunt lives upstate NY..Warwick to be exact how is it there?
Knock wood, I don't worry too much about crime on LI. It's the one thing, so far, that is really a positive in favor of raising a family here. Little or no violent crime, save for some occasional events, like last year's pharmacy shootings and a very low car theft rate.
Having said that, LI is an economic nightmare with huge costs and a very limited job market. It helps to have a golden public pension, like the teachers and cops do. Traditionally, droves of LI'rs have commuted into NYC for work. With Wall St. on the outs, even NYC is not what it once was for job options. It really depends on your skills, though.
If you can't find a sense of community there, you likely won't find it here either. Everyone lives behind the PVC fence. The sense of community comes from the parents who are all struggling together to get by but spring for every activity for the kids. We get together for baseball, karate, bday parties, playdates, etc. That is the only sense of "community" I know of. All of the parades, events, leagues, PTAs, volunteer activites exist everywhere. All of the recent friends who have moved from here to Fla have found other families and things to do. Of course they miss their old friends and home but that is completely natural. Is it easy to make friends? No. Same everywhere. LI does not have some magical sense of "community." That is just wishful thinking or selective memory. Community is what you make it anywhere. LI might be a solution (a drastic and expensive one) or maybe you just need a better/different neighborhood or town down there.
EXACTLY, the community thing is gone, that was a different time....
Here your community will be work, after that you won't talk to anyone and have that old community style.
long island is the land of no fun allowed and everyone runs home and locks there door...... and community, this is the long island community right here...
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Florida is a huge state, look around, open your eyes before you move again and RESEARCH it LIVE.... do not ask questions online of "how is it there" GO AND SEE yourself...
Do not ever ever make a stupid mistake and take someone else's word for what you LIKE...
. Before running from a town in florida to a entire island of over charged living, you should look at towns nearby...
Upstate NY is a huge different way of life....the parts that are community you better know how to wear umpteen different hats...
I was born in Franklin Square and go back up to Floral Park every summer and get involved with how the people live there and I love it. The people are different and unless you have lived in South Florida for a long time to compare its really hard to explain. I do see how it's so expensive that there is no quality of life at the end of the day but there is no quality down here and the beach, sun, and materialist lifestyle does not make things magically better.
Florida is a big state though and there are many areas I like on the west coast and central portion of the state. I guess I'm just looking for a change.
What about Jersey? Or is that for the jersey forum? Lol.
I was born in Franklin Square and go back up to Floral Park every summer and get involved with how the people live there and I love it. The people are different and unless you have lived in South Florida for a long time to compare its really hard to explain. I do see how it's so expensive that there is no quality of life at the end of the day but there is no quality down here and the beach, sun, and materialist lifestyle does not make things magically better.
Florida is a big state though and there are many areas I like on the west coast and central portion of the state. I guess I'm just looking for a change.
What about Jersey? Or is that for the jersey forum? Lol.
Thanks again for the feedback.
Understood. For the record, summer is always a lot more sociable and community focused here. I'd take a little lonliness and 65 degree January weather though. Not much community spirit when it's 10 degrees out. It is true that for New Yorkers, there is nothing like the NY attitude and other states can feel pretty alien and weird. It's a northeast thing that can only be understood by New Englanders, NY and NJ-ites. The gruff exterior but gold hearts, crude humor, ugly but historic infrastructure, etc. But then, we pay a hefty premium for the priviledge and the value is questionable. We all battle with that conundrum of stay or go mostly for financial considerations. No easy answer. I have learned that "wherever I go, there I am."
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...my daughter lives out past the Hamptons...and every time we visit I probably feel the same as you..."more at ease and some how more relaxed"...
...maybe it's the sand in the grass or the ocean breeze...but I left LI way back in 1974 because I could not afford a home and the taxes...
...my brother lives in Merrick and cannot afford to retire do to the cost of living and taxes...and just a note...the current temperature is 20 degrees today without the wind chill factor...
...
...just ask your relatives that still live there...and to get off the Island costs you $14 round trip...someone has to support Mass Transit...
