Need Advise SC or NJ? (Dover, Ridgefield Park: transplants, rent, mortgage)

[Jersey Girl Stuck In SC]

I grew up in NJ and I loved it. It's where all my family and friends are, and where I know everything like the back of my hand. I grew up in Boonton then Dover and finally Randolph, I worked in almost every town like Mt. lakes, Mt. Arlington, Parsippany, Ridgefield Park, Mt. Olive, North Bergen, etc.

In September I was asked to relocate to Greenville, SC and I did. I figured I'd try it for a year and see if I liked it....so far it's okay. Greenville is quaint and has the best down town I've ever seen. The food is okay - I miss taylor ham egg and cheese sandwiches! - and the people are nice, my job pays very well and the cost of living is about 30% less then NJ.

Now, once I was living here for a month I found out we were pregnant but I thought 'it's okay, I'll have the baby here and then we'll move back to NJ' but now I'm re-considering. 200K here basically buys you a mini mansion and the property taxes are still under 1K, VS NJ where 200K gets you a mediocre house and property taxes are insane. The school systems are okay and really depend on where you purchase your home, there are top notch schools here so let's just say that's not the cause for pause.

I can live without the pizza, taylor ham, friendly neighborhood delis, and I can deal living without my family but I will miss my friends and of course my sisters. I will also miss NJ, all of it.

So I'm asking all of you who own homes here in NJ, who have established your families here in NJ - what do you think? What is your family life experience? If you were given the chance to relocate to a warmer place where the cost of living was 30-33% less would you? Do you see state taxes decreasing?

[PDD]

Do you see state taxes decreasing?

NO

[Honeycrisp]

Given the cost of living, if you're making the same salary in SC as you would in NJ, from a financial standpoint you might want to think twice about relocating to NJ - SC is a lot more affordable not to mention for the most part the weather is pretty darn nice - am not personally familiar w/ SC but I am w/ the towns you mentioned and while house prices are somewhat down from what they used to be, they're still quite a bit higher than in SC like you mentioned. It's a personal choice though, what does your husband think - ? Maybe compromising somewhat closer to a more affordable state (if you can get a secure job offer) w/b another thought, quite a few ppl are moving to DE. It's only natural you'll miss your families but you havent been in SC all that long and in time will make friends and have roots etc - and I'm sure you families will be happy to visit, who knows, maybe they'll want to relocate in time, LOL. Just a few thoughts, it's a personal decision and what's right for one person may not be right for another.

And No, I highly doubt taxes will ever decrease in NJ, it's just not gonna happen.

[andrew.mensch]

Hi... Randolph resident here, nothing better than a egg/cheese/taylor ham from Burrini's or the Alexis Diner. Cost of living is less... home prices here have adjusted down here, as they have down there.

[EANJ]

Originally Posted by Jersey Girl Stuck In SC

I grew up in NJ and I loved it. It's where all my family and friends are, and where I know everything like the back of my hand. I grew up in Boonton then Dover and finally Randolph, I worked in almost every town like Mt. lakes, Mt. Arlington, Parsippany, Ridgefield Park, Mt. Olive, North Bergen, etc.

In September I was asked to relocate to Greenville, SC and I did. I figured I'd try it for a year and see if I liked it....so far it's okay. Greenville is quaint and has the best down town I've ever seen. The food is okay - I miss taylor ham egg and cheese sandwiches! - and the people are nice, my job pays very well and the cost of living is about 30% less then NJ.

Now, once I was living here for a month I found out we were pregnant but I thought 'it's okay, I'll have the baby here and then we'll move back to NJ' but now I'm re-considering. 200K here basically buys you a mini mansion and the property taxes are still under 1K, VS NJ where 200K gets you a mediocre house and property taxes are insane. The school systems are okay and really depend on where you purchase your home, there are top notch schools here so let's just say that's not the cause for pause.

I can live without the pizza, taylor ham, friendly neighborhood delis, and I can deal living without my family but I will miss my friends and of course my sisters. I will also miss NJ, all of it.

So I'm asking all of you who own homes here in NJ, who have established your families here in NJ - what do you think? What is your family life experience? If you were given the chance to relocate to a warmer place where the cost of living was 30-33% less would you? Do you see state taxes decreasing?

While this may not help you . . . it's a lifestyle choice. Period. Thus, it's your choice. OK, very obvious, I know. LOL. What I would do should mean nothing to you. However, you are asking, so I'll tell you. No, I wouldn't relocate.

To me it's not about food, schools, etc. It's more about culture and mindset. I am a "New Yorker" -- through and through. I was born in NY, and raised in NJ, my entire life. That's just me.

Good luck! If YOU make YOUR decision, it will be the right one.

[Jersey Girl Stuck In SC]

Thank you every one that has responded...yes, I realize it's my choice, I guess I'm just waiting for the heavens to open up and tell me what the right choice is.

People here in Greenville, SC are very nice but that southern charm sometimes comes off fake, whereas in NJ what you see is what you get. Here people drive slow (so slow!) there's accidents every day, 2-3 car minor pile ups simply because everyone follows everyone else. We call it the lemming effect. I would hate to see them on Rt. 80 or 287, I think they would just go off the deep end. The concept of 'time is money' escapes most businesses here. In Jersey I could go to any dunkin donuts and be out in less than 2 minutes, here that takes about 15 minutes and then it's not made right. Even Starbucks gets it wrong half the time.

I also see teens just walking around ALOT more so then Jersey, and I wonder well what is there to do. There's the gun range and some clubs (no where near NJ or NY), hunting, and pretty much not anything I grew up doing....plus the ease with which you can buy a gun (SC license) scares me. The people are not 'well cultured' and some I have come across are simply close minded. I love the diversity of Jersey. There's also property taxes on cars/boats you own which you pay once a year, food is taxed at 8%, clothes is taxed, so really the only thing we get a break on is living.

I currently rent a gorgeous two story townhouse for $750, I know in NJ I can get a 1 BD Apt for $1100 (Randolph). Here I pay for heat, water whereas NJ that's pretty much included....so it's just really hard for me to make the decision. My husband is on board either way. He has a solid job in NJ that pays well but would give it up if we decided to live here. I have a solid job here and could maintain the mortgage and all bills while he stayed home with the baby and found a job ....

I can get used to the food (kinda sucks when it comes to pizza, sushi, Italian, Chinese, Latin, delis but the steak houses are insane), and I could get used to the people (even if I find myself mentally rushing them), and I would have my friends and family visit but I guess I'm just so uncertain about making such a huge decision. If we were to stay here and lose my job, we'd be stuck because getting back to Jersey would be twice as hard without jobs....Jersey is expensive!

Oh and I also LOVE Jersey weather, here its summer until November and autumn is not as spectacular as it in Jersey...and the city is only a 40 min drive, God I love NY too. Here....there's downtown greenville...and a zoo you can walk through in 30 minutes, the blue ridge mountains, paris mountain, and Disney world is about 8 hrs - hahah ATL is about 2 hours, Charlotte is also about 2 hours.......the more I write about NJ the more I want to choose it.

[one last time!]

Jersey Girl,
We just moved back to NJ. We moved to Charleston in September of 2004. We moved back in September 2010. It was an interesting experience living in Chucktown.
Readers Digest version.... We both had jobs to go to when we arrived. Salary expectations were set and confirmed, yet when the paychecks arrived, they were abour 65% of the agreed amount. I was run off job sites just because I was a Yankee. Wife was told to modify sworn transcripts. Both were unheard of to us.
Personal property tax? WTH? Well, ya have to pay it!

There are 4 seasons in Charleston. Almost summer, summer, still summer, and 2 months called January and February. I like the heat, my wife did not.

Drivers? Slow is an understatement untill they get on I26. Then it's NASCAR time.

Porkroll sammich?

Me? I would still be in SC if it was up to me. Just not in Chucktown.
My wife? She will never go back. Ever. No really! NEVER.

[one last time!]

Jersey Girl:

My wife wanted to reply to you so here goes:

Jersey Girl, my deepest sympathies that you are in SC. I absolutely hated Chucktown, the people, the food, the shopping. I couldn't WAIT to get back. People in the Charleston area DO NOT want to become friends with you, unless you are absolutely like they are. We tried everything to start friendships with different couples, and it just didn't work. People are very, very different. The only people we became friends with were people who were also transplants; one couple from NY State and another couple from Ohio. They also experienced the same problem.

As far as the school systems? Well, let me give you a little info. SC is the 48th state when it comes to education. There is a 50 percent dropout rate for high school students. If that doesn't give you pause, I don't know what will.

Now as for food? The only one positive thing that came out of living in SC was that I became a better cook, simply because I got tired of paying good money for bad food.

Good Luck with your decision. For me it was a no-brainer. I wish you the best.

[njkate]

Jersey Girl:

Having a baby me personally would be on me broomstick back to Jersey as fast as the wind could carry me....
I believe children need and blossum in the family fold....your sisters are going to want to be aunts in person not via webcam and having sisters there's the potential for lots of cousins

If you can swing NJ head on back home...click those ruby slippers...there's no place like home

Good Luck

[njkate]

Originally Posted by one last time!

Jersey Girl:

My wife wanted to reply to you so here goes:

Jersey Girl, my deepest sympathies that you are in SC. I absolutely hated Chucktown, the people, the food, the shopping. I couldn't WAIT to get back. People in the Charleston area DO NOT want to become friends with you, unless you are absolutely like they are. We tried everything to start friendships with different couples, and it just didn't work. People are very, very different. The only people we became friends with were people who were also transplants; one couple from NY State and another couple from Ohio. They also experienced the same problem.

As far as the school systems? Well, let me give you a little info. SC is the 48th state when it comes to education. There is a 50 percent dropout rate for high school students. If that doesn't give you pause, I don't know what will.

Now as for food? The only one positive thing that came out of living in SC was that I became a better cook, simply because I got tired of paying good money for bad food.

Good Luck with your decision. For me it was a no-brainer. I wish you the best.

Charlestown has some of the snobbiest people I've ever encountered....if you can't trace your roots to Charlestown pre civil war you will always be an outsider and a Yankee outsider to boot