Is leaving the right thing to do? (for sale, mcmansions)

[1lallen1]

We just moved to Houston TX from Jersey and I am beginning to think it was the right thing to do. Though I am very homesick, and I miss NJ very much, we no longer struggle with our housing expenses.
The job market down here is fantastic and I have found that they pay is fairly close to what I was making up there. There is no state income tax, and the price of housing is wonderful! Two drawbacks are the heat and the traffic.
We struggled for about a year over the decision to move. It is not an easy one, especially when you have teenagers!
We will go back to visit during the summer to Cape May or Long Beach Island.

[njkate]

Originally Posted by 1lallen1

We just moved to Houston TX from Jersey and I am beginning to think it was the right thing to do. Though I am very homesick, and I miss NJ very much, we no longer struggle with our housing expenses.
The job market down here is fantastic and I have found that they pay is fairly close to what I was making up there. There is no state income tax, and the price of housing is wonderful! Two drawbacks are the heat and the traffic.
We struggled for about a year over the decision to move. It is not an easy one, especially when you have teenagers!
We will go back to visit during the summer to Cape May or Long Beach Island.

Well best of luck in your new home
Come visit us here on the Jersey Forum..we will keep you updated on Jersey things

Have a nice holiday

[nic529]

Originally Posted by njkate

Well best of luck in your new home
Come visit us here on the Jersey Forum..we will keep you updated on Jersey things

Have a nice holiday

Thank you! You too!

[stevemorse]

SWB,

I have a friend in Waymart PA, he moved from Norwood NJ to Waymart PA, and became an alcoholic (this is true) well he finally crashed his car and now is in a detox /rehab program. He called and told us that they are putting in a commuter train from Scranton to NJ ? Did not know if he was having delusions or just plain psychobabble, can you confirm

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by stevemorse

SWB,

I have a friend in Waymart PA, he moved from Norwood NJ to Waymart PA, and became an alcoholic (this is true) well he finally crashed his car and now is in a detox /rehab program. He called and told us that they are putting in a commuter train from Scranton to NJ ? Did not know if he was having delusions or just plain psychobabble, can you confirm

The train is about as much of a myth as the lost city of Atlantis (or is it Atlanta?). We've been promised a commuter train linking Scranton to NJ since at least the 1980s, but we kept on getting the run-around. Now it apparently IS becoming a reality because part of the recently-passed Federal budget includes funding for this rail line. With tens of thousands of folks now commuting daily from Pennsylvania into NJ and NY for work, this commuter train is LONG overdue! I'm one of those pushing for the line because I think Scranton will take off in revitalization when the line becomes operational, which might still not be for a number of years. I also think the congestion issues on I-80 in North Jersey, which are only worsening as more PA commuters clog the roadways at rush hour, will be alleviated quite a bit with these folks having the option of riding the train instead of hopping behind the wheel.

Up until now I thought this was all "psychobabble" as well, but if Federal funding has been allocated for it, then certainly it must be coming to fruition soon. If we thought the Poconos were becoming a bedroom community now, then just wait until folks in NJ/NYC learn that they have mass transit options available to PA. Can anyone say stampede? LOL!

[ScranBarre]

Also, I'm sorry to hear about your friend, but he probably became an alcoholic due to the culture shock. Waymart, PA is quite literally "God's country" and has little more than a prison, gas station, dollar store, beer store, campground, church, and grocery store. Being the city-lover I am, I'd probably wither away as well in such an environment.

[ScranBarre]

Originally Posted by njkate

Yup, and just awhile ago this was his stance take note of the paragraph where he is appalled
Long-Term Solutions for Excessive Cost-of-Living in the Garden State?

Well, we're veering way off-topic again, but I want to clarify a few things. I'd love to personally welcome as many folks from NJ, NY, or Cambodia for that matter to NEPA with open arms. An increase in population usually affirms that somebody somewhere is doing something right to make the area so popular. However, I'm disgusted by how those moving here are going about doing it. Instead of purchasing one of the thousands of already built homes that have now heavily saturated the housing market in NEPA, many are plowing over more trees for more new homes. Why? I can't for the life of me figure out why "new" is always "better." I get angry because I hate driving around my area and seeing two "FOR SALE" signs on every block while also seeing the hill behind those blocks being cleared of vegetation for new McMansions. What's wrong about all of these homes already for sale? If we were to put an immediate halt in NEPA on new housing construction, the existing surplus of resales would last for a very, very long time. Trust me, I know of many people who have been trying to sell their homes for many months now to no avail; there's just too much competition from these new McMansion communities.

If you want to move to an area to appreciate its natural beauty and low-cost-of-living, then why tear down trees and jack up the cost-of-living by lining the pockets of greedy developers? How picky do you have to be to not like any of the thousands of homes already on the market? I just don't get it.

[njkate]

If you want to move to an area to appreciate its natural beauty and low-cost-of-living, then why tear down trees and jack up the cost-of-living by lining the pockets of greedy developers? How picky do you have to be to not like any of the thousands of homes already on the market? I just don't get it.


On this we agree

[CuCullin]

There are a slew of things you can only do easily (or, I should say, for far less cost, and done a better way) when building new.

However... most of the new home buyers I know of aren't interested in any of those types of upgrades, so I don't much understand either. If I were to build a home, it would be because I want it to my specs, with my wiring configurations, upgrades as I've designed, and architecturally as I've designed. What I tend to see is more renovation type work done by others... maybe moving a wall in a cookie-cutter house to have a larger walk in closet or something. Those things could be done in older homes, or even newer homes (a few years old, for example), for roughly the same cost. So I don't get it.

[BobKovacs]

I think alot of the "I want a new house" concept comes from the fact that we're living in a "do it for me, and do it now" society today. In the old days, a couple bought an older home, and over time they fixed it up to their liking. If something broke, unless it was something major, the man of the house fixed it himself (or with the help of a neighbor/relative). I recall weekends spent replacing windows, painting siding, installing new doors, and repairing heating and plumbing systems, not only on our home but on the neighbors' homes as well.

If you look at probably 95% of college grads today, they don't know which end of a screwdriver to hold, and their idea of "home improvement" consists of picking up the phone and calling a contractor, or buying the latest DIY gadget they saw on HGTV.

Having owned a number of older homes, I can honestly say that most people today don't have what it takes- skills-wise, tool-wise or time-wise, to own and maintain one- that's one big reason they'd rather buy a new(er) home than the 60 y/o fixer-uppers that often languish endlessly on the market. Hell, even with the skills and tools that I possess, who's got the time to spend every weekend screwing around with the house?