Do both you and your spouse have to work to live in LI. (New York: apartments, lease)

[fopt65]

Originally Posted by OhBeeHave

Native Floridians are packing up and leaving the state as they can no longer afford it. Relocated northerners have significantly impacted their taxes.

Unaffordability is a nationalproblem now. Pick up any local newspaper and all you will hear is about how housing is too high, taxes too high. This is NOT a LI phenomenon.

Question for those in The RE business. If you stay with the same lender, could you short sell on a house on LI and transfer the balance of the loan to a new property somewhere else? Could this be a solution to prevent foreclosures?

[I'minformed2]

Originally Posted by TristansMommy

Can I ask you how much you get for your taxes, as far as house size, land size etc. For example. My house is a basic levitt cape of approx 1100 sq ft (no expansions or additions). I happen to have a pretty big lot size but only because I'm on a rounded corner.. but most property sizes are 80 x 100 , 60 x 100 and in some places 40 x 100. Now.. for my 4 bedroom 2 bath house with kitchen , LR and 1 1/2 car garage.. no basement (and remember 1100 square feet) I have a $390K mortgage and I pay over $6000 in property taxes AFTER star ( and it goes up).
I understand the relation of value to tax your paying.. but if your home is on 1 acre say or is a large house with 2500 square feet or more with lots of room you get so much more for your money. A home on an acre here you'd be paying like 20,000 in taxes.. probably more. Taxes that are under $5K is kind of a rareity here unless you are a senior citizen and or veteran getting an enhanced star deduction.

Yes, we get more house for our money upstate, but taxes and house prices take a much bigger chunk out of our usually smaller paychecks than they do for the NYC/Long Island region. If you can vote in some officials (I say you vote them in because upstate has NO political voice in NYS, and whoever wins over everything south of Orange County gets into office) that won't make this state so unfriendly to businesses with the regulations that may be worth it for NYC but NOT for Upstate, and our job market and economy improve, I'd pretty much say we live in the best place in the country.

[NYNewbie]

Originally Posted by fopt65

Hopefully Spitzer's plan in his State of the state address of capping local property taxes and Dean Skelos' plan of making ALL new teachers state employees so only 1 entity will negotiate contracts will be helpful. Anything that takes power away from the incompetents on local school boards will be helpful.

I'm not as optimistic as you on what the LI/NYC transplants will do to NC. I've seen how they destroyed the Poconos and Lancaster City.

I don't know what is meant by incompetent. Given how politically popular it is to raise taxes, I'd say our school boards are doing a bold thing by actually charging us what it actually costs to run our schools.

I know that I moved from FL to NY, and in doing so went from a school ranked a 4/10 by GreatScools.net to a school ranked 9/10.

That sounds pretty competent.

[rocafeller05]

Originally Posted by NYNewbie

I don't know what is meant by incompetent. Given how politically popular it is to raise taxes, I'd say our school boards are doing a bold thing by actually charging us what it actually costs to run our schools.

I know that I moved from FL to NY, and in doing so went from a school ranked a 4/10 by GreatScools.net to a school ranked 9/10.

That sounds pretty competent.

Dont always believe what you read. Did you hear about some of the school districts buttering up test scores to improve overall ratings? It happens more often than what people think!

[TristansMommy]

Originally Posted by NYNewbie

I don't know what is meant by incompetent. Given how politically popular it is to raise taxes, I'd say our school boards are doing a bold thing by actually charging us what it actually costs to run our schools.

I know that I moved from FL to NY, and in doing so went from a school ranked a 4/10 by GreatScools.net to a school ranked 9/10.

That sounds pretty competent.

You are kidding right.

First.. Florida and NY aren't hte only two places In the US to live.. so maybe Florida has it's problems..but there is a whole big country out there with great schools fora fractino of what we pay here. You are exactly what school boards WANT living on LI. It's exactly your mentality that is fattening the pockets of School Boards. Have you NOT read about the money that was "hidden" by one school board while claiming they needed to raise spending. Let's not forget the whole Roslyn scandal.
Our school boards go unsupervised.. these are only the ones who have gotten caught. Something stinks!! and until we all start saying "why so much?" it's not going to change.

[slynn41072]

The only way your kids will get a great education is by living on LI .

Everyone else must is dumb in our country.

[lynn995]

I read through as many of these posts as I could bear and I feel like I am in the twilight zone. I have NEVER been made to feel bad because I don't have the right kind job. I have lived on a wonderful block for 7 years and nobody could give a crap how much I make or what I do for a living. I have made wonderful friends in my community and have never felt inferior. All these people that fraternize with folks who judge them on their jobs and income need to get new friends.

Yes, my husband and I both have to work but that's because he works for not-for-profit and makes well under $100k but if he were making that, we could live just fine on one salary. We send our son to a great daycare where he is thriving and is perfectly happy. Yes, I think I would like to be a SAHM but it's not in the cards right now. Even together we don't make the at least $200k like some people think is required to live on LI. We own a beautiful home in Nassau county, 2 new cars, go on vaca 1-2 times a year, and even go out to dinner once a week! Heck, we even got us one of those newfangled flat screen TV's! . I think people live excessively, spending more than they have on stupid stuff they don't need. Who needs a Hummer on Long Island?? Who needs an IPhone? Really? I mean gadgets are fun and if you can afford them great, but we did survive without having mobile devices at one time. I have my cell phone, that's it.

There are hundreds of great places to live in this country (and the world) and LI is one of them. No place is perfect. My best friend just moved to Florida, took a 30% pay cut for the same job and still can't buy a home. So the grass isn't always greener.

[GCGuy]

Nice post, thanks.

Originally Posted by lynn995

I read through as many of these posts as I could bear and I feel like I am in the twilight zone. I have NEVER been made to feel bad because I don't have the right kind job. I have lived on a wonderful block for 7 years and nobody could give a crap how much I make or what I do for a living. I have made wonderful friends in my community and have never felt inferior. All these people that fraternize with folks who judge them on their jobs and income need to get new friends.

Yes, my husband and I both have to work but that's because he works for not-for-profit and makes well under $100k but if he were making that, we could live just fine on one salary. We send our son to a great daycare where he is thriving and is perfectly happy. Yes, I think I would like to be a SAHM but it's not in the cards right now. Even together we don't make the at least $200k like some people think is required to live on LI. We own a beautiful home in Nassau county, 2 new cars, go on vaca 1-2 times a year, and even go out to dinner once a week! Heck, we even got us one of those newfangled flat screen TV's! . I think people live excessively, spending more than they have on stupid stuff they don't need. Who needs a Hummer on Long Island?? Who needs an IPhone? Really? I mean gadgets are fun and if you can afford them great, but we did survive without having mobile devices at one time. I have my cell phone, that's it.

There are hundreds of great places to live in this country (and the world) and LI is one of them. No place is perfect. My best friend just moved to Florida, took a 30% pay cut for the same job and still can't buy a home. So the grass isn't always greener.

[TristansMommy]

Originally Posted by lynn995

I read through as many of these posts as I could bear and I feel like I am in the twilight zone. I have NEVER been made to feel bad because I don't have the right kind job. I have lived on a wonderful block for 7 years and nobody could give a crap how much I make or what I do for a living. I have made wonderful friends in my community and have never felt inferior. All these people that fraternize with folks who judge them on their jobs and income need to get new friends.

Yes, my husband and I both have to work but that's because he works for not-for-profit and makes well under $100k but if he were making that, we could live just fine on one salary. We send our son to a great daycare where he is thriving and is perfectly happy. Yes, I think I would like to be a SAHM but it's not in the cards right now. Even together we don't make the at least $200k like some people think is required to live on LI. We own a beautiful home in Nassau county, 2 new cars, go on vaca 1-2 times a year, and even go out to dinner once a week! Heck, we even got us one of those newfangled flat screen TV's! . I think people live excessively, spending more than they have on stupid stuff they don't need. Who needs a Hummer on Long Island?? Who needs an IPhone? Really? I mean gadgets are fun and if you can afford them great, but we did survive without having mobile devices at one time. I have my cell phone, that's it.

There are hundreds of great places to live in this country (and the world) and LI is one of them. No place is perfect. My best friend just moved to Florida, took a 30% pay cut for the same job and still can't buy a home. So the grass isn't always greener.

I didn't exactly see where people said they needed min $200K. .. getting by on $100K a year is a struggle.. according to some posters..I think I would do okay if I did $100K.. but I do in the area of $80K (working like a dog) and it's a struggle.. not all families can pull in $80K or better.. THAT's what hte problem is on LI. .. Makign $80K 0 100K and struggling just to get by.

[ncc1701]

Nearly all of the couples in my neighborhood have to generate two incomes to survive. It is a daily struggle but thats the price we pay for living here. Next time you're on the LIRR, take a step back and look at all the poor, exhausted or sleeping faces. It really is quite sad. My friends thought Florida was the answer. Well they were half right. When they got there they found a big beautiful affordable house. But lost their jobs in a matter of months. Their headed back to work and rent in New York. Can someone Find me a place with a much lower cost of living and a good job market? I don't think so