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1) it's too expensive (supply and demand, barring corrupt gov't nonsense of course)
2) it's too crowded (lot's of new apartments aren't being built for people planning to leave, and no they're not all senior citizens housing)
Sure sounds like a lot of people want to live here. Maybe not the 10 people involved in this thread, but certainly you understand that well over 1 million people in Nassau are NOT part of CD forums.
Forum is a very small (and sometimes multi-posting under different names) sample size. Witch obsessions, teacher jealousies, descriptions of folks fleeing the Island, etc. do not necessarily extend beyond the commenters.
(I am not, for the record, denying the existence of Mt. Misery or the Mothman. Nor am I confirming.)
1) it's too expensive (supply and demand, barring corrupt gov't nonsense of course)
2) it's too crowded (lot's of new apartments aren't being built for people planning to leave, and no they're not all senior citizens housing)
Sure sounds like a lot of people want to live here. Maybe not the 10 people involved in this thread, but certainly you understand that well over 1 million people in Nassau are NOT part of CD forums.
Those complaints imply that they are just coping with being stuck here.
Somebody who truly wanted to be here wouldn't complain about those MAJOR quality of life issues.
I think it is more that complaining about Long Island is part of the culture of Long Island. I'm a transplant for work and children, and to my ear the complaints sound almost obligatory, a conversational piece. It's like talking about the weather in the Midwest. Most people choose to stay here, generation after generation, and that action speaks louder than words.
I would stay here if I could. I was forced out of Westchester Co. (where I grew up), because property taxes there are even worse than here, and I was looking at 15k minimum for owning a single family home there. My fiance and I bought a townhome in Patchogue. We like patchogue. The villlage is really on the uptrend, but the schools and east patchogue are just not there yet, and we really want a single family home. It's fine for us right now, but once children come along, I don't care about being near "the bar scene" I just want them in good schools.
I don't see why we should move further out on the island, further inconveniencing ourselves travel wise, when we don't get better schools, and the LIRR service is pretty much for patient, leisurely trips on occasion. The taxes here are going straight into salaries and pensions and not improving infrastructure like roads, bridges, schools.
We are looking to get out of this state. We viewed a house in CT for 399k. It was across from a public park with a lake and on 2 acres of land. It needed minor costmetic updates, but overall was 1000x better than what we have found here in the smithtown, st. james, setauket areas we've been looking.
Last edited by kasey_lyn; 09-21-2015 at 10:39 AM..
We are considering a move in the next few years. Not just for ourselves, but for my in-laws too. They are close to retirement age and we see them living with us in the future. They live on the island, but they don't have the means to retire on what they make here, so they would have to live with us in an 'in-law suite' in whatever home we get. This is more feasible in other states, where we can get something like this for less.
My husband and I make decent money. We make more than most, but it's all the little things that are adding up that make it not worth it on the island anymore. We are lucky to have a home here, with a good size piece of land and low taxes, but it feels like we could do better. I've lived outside of Long Island (California and Nevada) and I know it's possible to find a place outside of Long Island that is great and not tied to NYC.
We're still relatively young and we can do it now.
As I have said many times, some of us stay on Long Island due to proximity to family. For some of us, proximity to family is something that you cannot put a price on.
As I have said many times, some of us stay on Long Island due to proximity to family. For some of us, proximity to family is something that you cannot put a price on.
I agree 1000%, but if you can't make ends meet, you just can't. We're considering CT to still be close, but be able to live a better quality of life.
Umm, you forgot to talk about salaries in those other areas. Do as many people get $400k+ homes?
With salaries considered, the shift is the same. That is of course unless you take your NY income/savings or home sale to other areas, which is why people who've moved claim they live much better now. Of course, genius. Try growing up there with their rate of income/savings, and even job opps, and see if you still end up the same way. In other words, you cheated and are boasting about it (anytime someone says my house is now ____) to the rest of us. Why should we be impressed? It's no big secret it's cheaper elsewhere.
If you research the average salary for a job in Nassau or Suffolk with other suburban counties near large metro areas, you'll find more than a few have average salaries around the same or more than LI, with considerably less expenses. And they are not filled with people from expensive areas cashing out.
I live on North Shore so I cant speak for the South shore crowd, Any station west of Farmingndale is a easy commute. Express trains from Hicksville get you into Penn and Brooklyn in 40 minutes.
I wish the express trains from Massapequa Park were that quick. The peak "express" trains that only stop in MP, Massapequa and Seaford get to and from Penn about 7 to 10 minutes quicker than non-peak trains that make every stop.
OP falls into the typical misconception trap about LI. the insinuation that all of LI, no matter where you live, is equal. Which we all know is flat false. LI runs the gambit from highly affluent to what most of us would consider plain unsafe - and in between.
The majority of complaints about LI are neither that "it's too expensive" or "too crowded". The closest I typically come to complaining along those lines is how ridiculous the tolls are to get onto the island and the small amount of options to get off, all of which are infuriating as you stare at an endless sea of brake lights. It's frankly painful being funneled like cattle through bottlenecks.
The main complaint is the value that LI provides today, especially when you compare it to the past... and beyond that, the proposition for future value is even worse. The issue is what you get for what you pay. Is there demand? Of course. There is demand in every metro because of where you work, so that's kind of a silly point. I would tend to agree with what was said about staying on LI to be close to family/friends. That trumps the value proposition for many and is not specific to LI at all. These people would stay to be close to family/friends no matter where it was... they are not staying on LI for LI specifically.
We also see the common misconception in this thread that salaries are much bigger on LI than other suburban metros. This is also flat false. Many suburbs offer the same or more money for the same job on LI. Working in the city and commuting out to Suffolk county has a price and it's not just the monthly LIRR ticket... it ages you prematurely.
What I find most amusing... even the OP throws in the "barring corrupt govt nonsense" caveat with regard to their opinion of being expensive. They know how ridiculous the tax structure, unions, and spending is... yet they think it's OK. Hilarious. It's not OK and that corrupt nonsense is a huge contributing factor to the terrible value of LI today and is only hurting future value.
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