Moving back to Long Island from NC (houses, rent)

[sassychk30]

Hey there are you BACK on LongIsland Yet = ) Melinda

[rperreta]

Originally Posted by Sunrise Hwy

Hi, I know a lot of people in my church that moved to the Carolinas', Florida, and Georgia.

Most of them left not because is impossible to live in Long Island, but because they were in a lot of debt.

I make close to $50K a year, bought a brand new house last November, I'm married and have two children, and I still drive a '99 Cavalier I bought brand new back then.

It is possible to live in Long Island. I moved here from Texas 6 years ago and I love it.

A word of advice: Be content with what U have and do not fall into the snare of Credit. Credit is not money, is Debt.

Many people complain and blame the state or the economy... but if U look close, U'll find out that the reason U can't make it is because U owe more than U can pay.

HOPE U ALL WELL

I understand what your saying and it's true in many cases. Maybe even mine, however I'm not complaining about my debt. I'm complaining about my taxes vs. real property. I just don't see paying $2,900 a month for a 1300sqft cape just to say I live on LI. Don't get me wrong, I think NY is a great place to come and start off a career as a youngster, but as you become a familiy man and you get older and made your money you start to look for alternatives to give your family more. NY has many perks but for what I do for a living I can work in Ohio and make 110k+ so it's not about debt it's more of getting your bang for your buck. I'm 35 now with 4 kids and I'm looking for more things to do with the kids, more time to spend with them, and giving them a little more than they need because I feel I can. NY is not a bad place to live but I want warm weather all year round, I want to be able to afford my mortgage without a major overhead. If I ever lost my job and couldn't find something fairly quick I would be in forclosure before you know it... so there's alot of things to consider. Now, someone financially set don't have those problems but that's not my case...

-rich

[rperreta]

Originally Posted by Peter B

Cheaper to live but the reality is you're in North Carolina, hours from beach or mountains without decent bagels, pizza , chinese food, etc. I'll take the seabreeze on the South Shore of LI , thank you

lol - hence, 65% of the american population is overweight... Try some southern Barbecue and you'll forget all about that stuff...

- good point though.. lol

[rperreta]

Originally Posted by nynraleigh

I am not sure where you bought a brand new house on Long Island with a wife and 2 children. I am single, no debt, and could not afford a home on Long Island...paying a 3,000 a month mortgage payment would not have been a wise decision for me. I could not find a home less than $350k that was in decent shape and taxes less than 6k a year...I even considered the Shirley/Mastic area, but after growing up in West Islip and living in Wading River, I could not deal with the change. I am curious to find out how you are managing with a family, I couldn't do it as a single person. I was making a decent salary on Long Island, close to yours. I am now in NC, making the same salary, still no debt, and I am purchasing a brand new home (being built) for $152,000, same house on Long Island would be $400,000 and it would be 20+ years old...and my taxes here will be about 1,000 a year...I am able to do that in NC...not Long Island...and plan better for retirement as well. I am definitely missing something in your post...please enlighten us...

It don't sound right... Maybe a trailer home on 110... I can't see it... the cheapest new construction in the ghetto'ist area is $565k and taxes are 12k a year... I don't understand it but God Bless anyway... All things are possible through him...

I really would like to know as well...

[rperreta]

Originally Posted by HockeyMom72

Be grateful you have oil and not natural gas heat. My gas bill for ONE MONTH was $400. KEYSPAN takes on all these surcharges, plus if you don't pay it on time (within 2 WEEKS), they add INTEREST to you next month's bill. KEYPSAN is worse than LIPA. LIPA doesn't charge late interest at least.

I stopped looking at my bills now... I just pay them - You need to be a rocket scientist to figure half the charges and surcharges anyway...

[I'minformed2]

The one thing that EVERYONE here keeps bringing up is cost of living.....HELLO....what do you think is happening here in NC as more and more people from LI (As well as other expensive areas of he country; California, New Jersey, and especially Florida, where everyone from LI was moving 10-20 years ago) keep coming by the droves? ITS GETTING MORE EXPENSIVE. The problem is NOT the area you guys live in.....its the people (which whether you realize it or not includes yourselves) that in the long run have made it that expensive....as you guys all move down here....it happens here too. So good luck in NC, in 10-15 years when it's just as "overcrowded and overpriced" here....i hope you have good luck in Kentucky or wherever the next "it" place happens to be.

[Keith "Baby-Face" Lutz]

I agree with i'minformed to an extent. I now live in Charlotte, NC, lived my whole life on LI. But there comes a breaking point in everyones life where you want more bang for your buck, for me an owner of a small home for 12 years it was time to "Cash out". Now I can spend more time with the kids who are still young, (just had a baby boy, could not afford three rugrats back on LI!) My plan is too relax for those 15 years, get into better shape, and be more stress free, (give my kids a fighting chance, at a house of there own) and see where I want to semi-retire at 55? (Hopefully)

[mongoose65]

C'mon, the other poster was pretty accurate about needing $250k to live here. My wife and I combine to make almost $170k. We take home maybe 2/3 of that after taxes. We paid off our cars and have little debt besides the house. And still...we live paycheck to paycheck. We drive sensible cars, pay almost $1300/mo (going rate) for daycare and live in a modest colonial in levittown. Nothing particularly fancy. And still...my commute is 2 hours each way and costs almost $15 a day, my wife's job is hounding her to work extra hours (and we have an 18 month old). It's pathetic. There aren't too many other places where you can make $170k and be just above water living as prudently as we do. I shake my head in disbelief every time I think we are making this kind of money and are almost "struggling" to get by. She is afraid to leave. I have lived in numerous other cities (used to be a musician) and know that there are great places all over. My main thought is to go back to Austin, TX. Homes are still reasonable, it's a thriving, hip cultural city (much more than LI which is a cultural wasteland of strip malls) with lots of good paying jobs. NO state income tax and property taxes that are considered high but are still lower than LI. I almost sold my wife on it when I told her she could be a teacher, make $40k (take home $30k) w/ full benefits and work 10 months a year. It's tough for me to justify the value I get for my money here. We both have to work 11+ hours a day, see our kid 1/2 hour in the morning and 1/2 hour at night. What kind of life is this? We are both NY'ers born and raised and like "being" from NY. I'm just not so crazy about "living" in NY anymore.

Oh well, when the pain gets great enough we'll do what's best for us. Right now we just work our asses off so we can afford daycare and this luxurious Levittown lifestyle! LOL

Honestly I think LI's best years are behind it. Businesses are leaving, young people are leaving, taxes keep going up while services go down. LI is the CLASSIC example of the destruction of the country's middle class. Soon the bulk of jobs will be low wage service jobs which are basically the poor working to service the rich. The middle class gets squeezed out or becomes the poor themselves.

At least the Rangers are winning. The best part about being back in NY is the beach and the pro sports teams! Too bad I can't afford to go to a game and if you get to the beach after 8am the parking is all gone!!

[Peter B]

You're living in Levittown and commuting 4 hrs a day?? Where the heck do you work , Newark? If you took employment closer to home you wouldn't be so burnt out from your commute. There are tons of employment opportunities on LI. The commute will kill you, 4 hrs a day. That you need to change. I would find a good head hunter and take the bull by the horns. Your situation needs to change for the better. Good luck!!

Originally Posted by mongoose65

C'mon, the other poster was pretty accurate about needing $250k to live here. My wife and I combine to make almost $170k. We take home maybe 2/3 of that after taxes. We paid off our cars and have little debt besides the house. And still...we live paycheck to paycheck. We drive sensible cars, pay almost $1300/mo (going rate) for daycare and live in a modest colonial in levittown. Nothing particularly fancy. And still...my commute is 2 hours each way and costs almost $15 a day, my wife's job is hounding her to work extra hours (and we have an 18 month old). It's pathetic. There aren't too many other places where you can make $170k and be just above water living as prudently as we do. I shake my head in disbelief every time I think we are making this kind of money and are almost "struggling" to get by. She is afraid to leave. I have lived in numerous other cities (used to be a musician) and know that there are great places all over. My main thought is to go back to Austin, TX. Homes are still reasonable, it's a thriving, hip cultural city (much more than LI which is a cultural wasteland of strip malls) with lots of good paying jobs. NO state income tax and property taxes that are considered high but are still lower than LI. I almost sold my wife on it when I told her she could be a teacher, make $40k (take home $30k) w/ full benefits and work 10 months a year. It's tough for me to justify the value I get for my money here. We both have to work 11+ hours a day, see our kid 1/2 hour in the morning and 1/2 hour at night. What kind of life is this? We are both NY'ers born and raised and like "being" from NY. I'm just not so crazy about "living" in NY anymore.

Oh well, when the pain gets great enough we'll do what's best for us. Right now we just work our asses off so we can afford daycare and this luxurious Levittown lifestyle! LOL

Honestly I think LI's best years are behind it. Businesses are leaving, young people are leaving, taxes keep going up while services go down. LI is the CLASSIC example of the destruction of the country's middle class. Soon the bulk of jobs will be low wage service jobs which are basically the poor working to service the rich. The middle class gets squeezed out or becomes the poor themselves.

At least the Rangers are winning. The best part about being back in NY is the beach and the pro sports teams! Too bad I can't afford to go to a game and if you get to the beach after 8am the parking is all gone!!

[mongoose65]

Peter,

I work in lower manhattan, near soho. By train: 20 mins (+/-) to get to Bellmore and find parking and then walk from the parking spot 5 blocks away. 1 hr on the train. 15 min subway downtown + 10 minute walk. Assuming no delays that's 1:45mins. I exaggerated, but when are there NO delays!?! And for $12 bucks a day. Personally, I drive becuase my job has parking. That averages about 1hr 50mins. My best was 58mins (extremely rare), worst was 2:57mins. I have tried to find something on the island, but not only are my benefits better and I need the flexibility since my wife's job offers none, but the wages on LI are FLAT. I am considered underpaid for what I do in Manhattan and they know I accept it because the benefits are great. I have a friend in the same boat who took a $20k paycut to work on LI as a bank branch manager. Same exact job he had in NYC for the same company!!! Pays $20k less in Nassau!!! That's the fact! I accept responsibility, but I'm not sure I can trade the hassles of commuting for $20k. That's alot of dough. That's a year of daycare! I keep looking. If I find something even close w/ decent benefits, I'll grab it. I'm going to take a civil service exam for the first time in my life. I figure why not work for the government on LI. There is so much of it. If you can't beat the crooks, why not join them!! LOL