Goodbye LI! (Freeport, Oceanside, Nassau: credit, student loan, trip)

[NYC2RDU]

Originally Posted by Glad2BHere

I hope you did a LOT of research b/c there are plenty of areas in NC that are unsafe. My friends live near Raleigh and it is certainly a lot worse than Hicksville, that's for sure! Plus with the LOW cost of homes in NC, that means that almost everyone can afford a home so you never know who your neighbors will be.

When I visited and we drove through Raleigh, I locked my car doors. It was way worse than Hicksville. And my friend's car window just got shot out (they didn't know what it was, a bullet or a pellet/bb) while driving a few mths back, on his way to work. Luckily his child was not in the car. Crime and poverty exist in every state.

This is not the first time you've sold this negative hyperbole about North Carolina and Raleigh and it's still wrong.

Every city, town, village, hamlet (etcetera, etcetera) has a "bad" part of town. If you're easily confused by seeing a neighborhood that's primarily African American and assuming it's unsafe then no doubt you'd confuse many such areas of both Raleigh and North Carolina as unsafe. However there isn't any part of the city itself that would require you lock your doors.

And I shared your bullet through the window story with a local police officer I met recently and he chuckled and said "And you wonder why we make fun of people from the North?" If there was any credible evidence to suggest someone fired a weapon at a vehicle they would treat it every bit the same in North Carolina as they would in New York. To suggest otherwise is irresponsible.

Originally Posted by Glad2BHere

I bought in 03 so I am speaking for myself about my high property values and never having to worry WHO would want my home if I need to get out.

If you bought in 2003 and believe you can sell your house today at a healthy profit then you're just simply detaching yourself from reality (or is that realty). I bought my house in 2002 for $415k; it was valued at about $525k in 2003 and peaked in 2006 at $660k. I sold it last year for $580k. All of the houses within a mile radius from that property that remain on the market in the time since (and there are nearly two dozen that fall into the circle) have dropped their prices an additional 7 -10%. So using those numbers the same house would now sell for an estimated $539k. Subtract all the fees and taxes and the net profit would be around $100k. Now, if I'd bought in 2003 when it was valued at $525k I would have lost money on the same sale. And that's assuming you can find a buyer.

You're happy and able to afford living on Long Island which is great. You're part of an ever shrinking minority. But don't kid yourself into thinking that your 2003 purchase can be easily sold for a profit in 2008. Because if you believe that I have a story for you about how people in North Carolina can fire weapons at vehicles without fear of incarceration or prosecution.

[NYC2RDU]

Originally Posted by I'minformed2

Have to agree with this. This thread should never have been started in the first place and it should just be closed.

Let's not engage in a healthy and entertaining debate. Instead let's restrict posts to only those opinions that are consistent with what a minority group representing themselves as the majority want to discuss. That is just a great idea. And then you can change the forum name from Long Island to Pleasantville.

As I've pointed out in the past, you continue to have the right to not read and/or post in threads you don't care for. Perhaps you can exercise that right instead of trying to get the masses to yield to your will.

[Glad2BHere]

Originally Posted by NYC2RDU

This is not the first time you've sold this negative hyperbole about North Carolina and Raleigh and it's still wrong.Every city, town, village, hamlet (etcetera, etcetera) has a "bad" part of town.

If you bought in 2003 and believe you can sell your house today at a healthy profit then you're just simply detaching yourself from reality (or is that realty).

I said there are "some" bad areas in NC too. So apparently we agree.

And as for my home value, you continue to be wrong. I follow real estate where I live and I know based on comparable home sales what I could sell for, based on all the sweat equity improvements we put in. I am not disillusioning myself. I made prime renovations (high quality, not handi man type work) and have a home that is a trade up in a second time homebuyer area (not a starter town, again, big difference). There are many areas in LI where demand continues to exceed supply.

Sure I could have sold for a bit more last year, but that's not to say I won't make a nice profit when I do sell. Whether you live in LI or not, you could not possibly know what the market is doing in each LI town b/c towns vary greatly.

[NYC2RDU]

Originally Posted by Glad2BHere

I said there are "some" bad areas in NC too. So apparently we agree.

And as for my home value, you continue to be wrong. I follow real estate where I live and I know based on comparable home sales what I could sell for, based on all the sweat equity we put in. There are many areas in LI where demand continues to exceed supply. Esp homes in prime locations, so I do know what I am speaking about.

Sure I could have sold for a bit more last year, but that's not to say I won't make a nice profit when I do sell.

There are exceptions to everything, everywhere and so no one rule fits all. However, I know of no area more popular than Northport and that's where I sold my house last year.

I track real estate regularly as well and I'm good friends with the Realtor we used to sell our last two homes on Long Island. She said the market is horrific with her territory beginning in Huntington and running through to Smithtown. The only houses selling are those that appeal to the high-end crowd where money is rarely an issue and those that are truly priced to sell. She told me of one home in which the person listed last year for $549k and just sold for $475k out of complete desperation. And that seller originally expected to get $600k when the house first listed in early 2007.

Also, rare is the homeowner on Long Island that hasn't accumulated additional debt via equity loans and credit cards in order to keep on keeping on. Factor that into the equity equation and the alleged profits diminish further.

Long Island is an expensive place to live and it requires rare circumstances to be able to readily afford it. Honestly if you're able to get past the cost factor it's about as great a place to live as exists in the world. However for so many, myself and the original poster included, it's nearly impossible to ignore the writing on the wall. Property values do not provide a compelling reason to justify living in the region.

[Glad2BHere]

Originally Posted by NYC2RDU

There are exceptions to everything, everywhere and so no one rule fits all. However, I know of no area more popular than Northport and that's where I sold my house last year.

Although Northport is a very desirable area, I am located a lot closer to Manhattan and Queens (in Nassau County). The demand for homes here is unbelievable (esp based on proximity to LIRR). Houses don't even need to hold open houses often at times, desirable homes can sell even before it hits MLS. So I am really not disillusioning myself, that was my point. You can't compare the market even in the most desirable Suffolk towns to the desirable Nassau towns. It's like comparing apples to oranges.

[cricketfan]

My screen name is not powerful enough to re-paraphrase what people actually wrote...but it's a nice idea. If changing my screen name to something else would give me this power, I would seriously consider a change...

Your screen name is fine ... but I see now that I gave it much too much credit (my faux pas).

Actually, I did not know...had she sent you a separate email with that interpretation??

No Prof, actually it was common sense. Common sense told me that the OP could not possibly be referring to everyone on LI as she later confirmed that affordability was "relative to each one's situation".

Really? how? My neighborhood has only improved with neighbors having recently spruced up a couple of homes in the area as new homeowners...the local elementary had a change in principal and the test scores have risen the past couple of years. I would never take my "prism" and make a generalization that all of long island is improving...long island is 120 miles long. Many communities are not within 30 miles of an area that may be "dwindling"...they might be doing just fine... As an aside, I just won a tax grievance...-1700, but as another aside, they are still way too high. I have never claimed on any of these boards that LI was perfect.

Here again you missed the point. The OP specifically said "quality of life". I doubt that sprucing up a couple of homes, a rise in test scores, or winning a tax grievance are going to significantly impact "quality of life". And before you accuse me of generalizing, everyone's quality of life is different, but you may be the only one in LI who thinks that the quality of life in macro terms is on an upward trajectory. (And, BTW, quality of life is not only about economics).

And you ALWAYS come running to their defense. You are no different than those who have these outbursts...you see only the one side of the debate...although it does not actually disturb me . Yes, there are "Long Island is God" folks on these boards, but not everyone is, and not everyone leaving gets a free pass on generalizing the entire area. People are allowed to have different opinions.

Get used to it, my friend. I will continue to come to the defence of people who get mauled by the pack merely for saying that they want out of LI due to over-taxation, high cost of living or any other burden. I will continue to try to give some balance to those outbursts with an outburst of my own. And you're not going to put me off with that Long Island chip bit. When I moved to LI many years ago, I don't recall signing an oath that I had to be quiet if I ever decided to move out.

I still love LI and LIers but I have a problem with snobs who cannot appreciate that there are people who are struggling financially today and are moving to newer pastures for a lower cost of living and a better quality of life. So what, if in parting those people refer to the misery they left behind. Why does that offend you?

It is a right given my snobbish Fairfield County upbringing

Hence the title.

[sean sean sean sean]

This thread is painful to read, how about putting this cat fight to rest? Maybe there should just be a sticky thread where all NY carpetbaggers can congregate to discuss their pilgrimage to the "greatest state in the union" and make outrageous claims about their former home. The original post really wasn't too bad, but how many of these identical threads do we need? We're just covering the same ground over and over again. Give the carpetbaggers their own special thread right on the top of the boards, I say.

[HopeTyler]

Bitter party of many, your table is ready.... Lighten up on the people moving to NC (or anywhere else.) So they're not happy in LI, so what. To each his own. And for the previous poster, speaking about high property values in NY, a bit of education for you: Because the property values move up at a slow but steady pace in NC, you have never heard anyone moving from NC to somewhere else say "wow, in a year our home lost a $100,000 in value..." because our market went to $%#@! And as a Realtor, I hear people moving from NY, CT, and FL saying that very thing ALL THE TIME. So anyway, welcome to NC, I think you will be very happy here.

[Dedalus]

Originally Posted by fopt65

Other forums routinely delete posts that harp on negatively as trolling. Yet the LI board doesn't. I posted on the NC board and politely asked that the former LI residents please refrain from dumping on LI , and instead enjoy their new community and write positive aspects of it instead of tearing down their former home. It was deleted as trolling. So, then why aren't the posts continually bashing LI from disgruntled former residents also deleted as trolling on the LI board?

Because, in a very real and objectively verifiable sense, Long Island SUCKS? And, possibly, like me, after getting stuck there and escaping by dint of great effort, they'd like to disabuse others of the largely imaginary virtures of the ersatz Tom-and-Daisy paradise for narrow minded bigots and dead end druggies?

The worst place I ever lived in my life, bar none.

[ClarkStreetKid]

Originally Posted by HopeTyler

Bitter party of many, your table is ready.... Lighten up on the people moving to NC (or anywhere else.) So they're not happy in LI, so what. To each his own.

On one hand I understand those tired of the criticisms of their home, on the other I can understand those leaving under less than ideal circumstances having one final vent. Maybe the mods can create a sticky thread titled "Farewell and ..." for the ventors.

I think it's one thing to talk about Long Island's problems and issues, and another to just talk trash about the place.