Anyone moved to NJ from the sun belt? (Marlton: condo, townhome)

[BobKovacs]

Originally Posted by FromGA

There is no pressing reason other than the points I had made earlier about sun-belt positives vs. Northeast positives. I can live the rest of my life (comfortably, I believe) in Atlanta if I choose to. However, every visit to the northeast (where I have some family) feels wonderful and inspiring.

First and foremost, is it a matter of affordability? And second, the pace and expectations in the workplace that goes with higher salaries? If these can be effectively managed, would there still be a concern

Those are two huge concerns that you really need to work through before a move. Even if you can accommodate those, I don't really think you'll be accomplishing much with the move- other than being close to family. Of course, if that's an important part of considering the move, that can't be quantified. On the downside, you'll now have to deal with grey, crappy weather in the winter, which you haven't had to in the south- have you considered that?

[ottomobeale]

New Jersey is the ultimate example of "I make more than 80 or 90 percent of the rest of the USA and Im ***Poor?!???***"

Middle class defined as owning a small house in a safe area with 2 cars less than 10 years old. Starts, oh, around $130K. You pay for being close to NYC.

Groceries are higher than both OH and FL. No/ few superwalmarts to hold prices down, and grocery stores here only pretend to compete with each other.

The local constabulary are ticket crazy here. It feels like there is a speed trap every 100 feet.

I swear everyone here except me is a (paper) millionaire here. Our custodian has 3 rental properties. The engineer across from me has 5. One of our service techs has 2.....

[diogenesNY]

Hmm....

Well, I moved from NYC to Durham, NC (where I had lived for about 3.5 years in the 1980s) about 8 years ago, and now I am moving back to NJ......

The proximate cause is job related.... Office in NYC that requires semi-regular presence... I have a dog and really want to live in a house with some square footage, yet want to be in relatively close proximity to the City, and I enjoy driving and having a car.

That said, I have gotten kinda sick of Durham, and miss most of what I consider to be the civilization of the North East.... Decent baked goods, taylor ham, diners, pizza, funny accents that are different from the funny accents in NC Seriously, there is a big cultural shift, and while there are things I will miss about Durham (including the extremely reasonable cost of living), I cant wait to get back north.

diogenesNY

[lammius]

I moved from Virginia 4 years ago. I came for grad school. I finished school, landed a good job and stuck around. The sticker price on houses is a bit higher than VA in most cases, but the property taxes are MUCH MUCH MUCH higher than VA. The tax advantages NJ has, though, are no annual personal property tax on cars and no sales tax on food. Those perks don't outweigh the property tax burden, though.

I really like living in NJ. There's a different lifestyle here that I couldn't find in VA or NC. People actually use transit here and they don't think you're crazy for walking to the corner store (and we actually HAVE corner stores here in NJ). In VA/NC, if the place is farther than your mailbox, you get in the car. People in NJ don't seem to mind gays as much. The pace of life is quicker. I go crazy when I go to a deli in VA and it takes 15 minutes to make a roast beef sandwich. And Va Beach has nothing on the Jersey Shore. Some people will disagree with everything I've said, but for me NJ is a good place to be.

[diogenesNY]

ROTFL, I hate to sound like a grouch (even if I am..... Growing up, Oscar was by far my favorite character on Sesame Street), but You try to check out in any store and every person on line has to have a conversation with the checker like they are fast friends....... I am all for courtesy, but this is just vapid, pointless gum flapping by people who seem to need to fill their pointless and desperate hours with a frightening parody of human interaction.

diogenesNY

Originally Posted by lammius

The pace of life is quicker. I go crazy when I go to a deli in VA and it takes 15 minutes to make a roast beef sandwich.

[theS5]

I am in a similar situation where I relocated from NJ about 6 years ago with a 3.5 year stint in Tx and since then in Cary, NC. The reason for my move was motivated by my wife being from Tx and then a job relo.
We are now about to go full circle. We will try to sell our home here in Cary and head back to NJ.
The cultural differences are significant enough to make me believe that I can't live the rest of my days as a Southerner.
Bottom line is that people are flocking south for cost of living. Yes, the weather is warmer, but it quickly becomes common and a bit boring (I never thought that I would miss a brisk fall day and snow as much as I do).
If cost of living or job relocation is not a factor, NJ is a great choice.

[FromGA]

Thanks everyone for your input. Atleast it is good to know that if I do make the move from sunelt to NJ, there are others who have done / considered doing the same.

Different people are motivated differently, have been through different experiences, and are in different phases of life. One person's cold-dreary-winter is another person's 4 seasons! Some will give their best any time; some perform better when challenged more.

My guess is that at the appropriate time (in 1-3 years), we will be moving to Southern Jersey (Cherry Hill etc.) In the meantime, I am enjoying everything Atlanta has to offer. Atlanta does have its advantages, and it is working quite well for us in the present term.

[tahiti]

Originally Posted by FromGA

Thanks everyone for your input. Atleast it is good to know that if I do make the move from sunelt to NJ, there are others who have done / considered doing the same.

Different people are motivated differently, have been through different experiences, and are in different phases of life. One person's cold-dreary-winter is another person's 4 seasons! Some will give their best any time; some perform better when challenged more.

My guess is that at the appropriate time (in 1-3 years), we will be moving to Southern Jersey (Cherry Hill etc.) In the meantime, I am enjoying everything Atlanta has to offer. Atlanta does have its advantages, and it is working quite well for us in the present term.

you have a great attitude, you'll be fine wherever life takes you!

[darkone]

Regarding the winters, they might be cold and dreary in NJ with some snow (especially in North Jersey, not as much in the south), but they are NOTHING close to the bone-chilling, snowfall after snowfall, November through April brutal winters of upstate New York and Northern New England. I'd take a NJ winter any day over the winters I've experienced in those places.

Especially in southern NJ, 40 degrees and rain will be more common than 25 degrees and snow. Atlanta can get pretty chilly too during the winter, as you should know. For me, the NJ winters wouldn't even be a factor if I were to move from Atlanta. I've experienced far worse, full-fledged winters in more northern locales and NJ winters are relatively tame and inconsistent by comparison.

[solibs]

I moved from NJ to North Carolina and spent 3 years there ('93-'96) then I moved back to NJ for a year before spending two years in South Carolina - '98 in Columbia and '99 in Charleston.

When I moved from Charleston to Philadelphia in December of '99 I froze my you know what off. Then I bought a proper winter coat and a scarf and I was fine. Like someone else said, high temps in the 40s are fairly common December through February (in South Jersey) and the weather is a lot more variable than most southerners think. It's not like Chicago where it's nothing but snow and frozen lakes for 4 months.

But it really depends on where you move. On the local weather reports from DC to Boston you'll always hear, "low of 35 tonight in the city, colder north and west." There is often a 10 degree temperature difference between Atlantic City and northwestern NJ.

As far as housing costs go, South Jersey is your best bet. I grew up in Monmouth County and really feel sorry for friends who are still struggling to come up with a money for a decent down payment for a house (i'm in my mid-30's) but they're too stubborn to move 45 miles away in the same state for a far better quality of life. They either stay in dead-end local jobs or commute an hour to North Jersey or NYC. And yeah, you can't ride your bike to the beach but instead of being an hour+ from Manhattan you're literally 12 minutes from Center City on the train and your daily commute costs $4 instead of $15.

Nothing against New York, it's an awesome city, I used to work there. My parents live across the river in Jersey City. I've even interviewed recently in Newark but I could never plant myself in North Jersey or NYC. I like the easy living.

Since you already mentioned Cherry Hill - if you're into the suburban town thing (as opposed to the sprawl thing) I would definitely check out neighboring Collingswood, Westmont (aka Haddon Twp.), Haddonfield, Haddon Heights, Audubon, Oaklyn and Merchantville. The first three places would compare favorably to Decatur in terms of vibe, proximity to center city, rail connection, etc.

This is what $250k gets you in Collingswood Single Family Home - 101 E Palmer Ave, Collingswood, NJ, 08108 - Realtor.com. (fyi - I live in Philadelphia and have no interests in this, just an example) Granted, your property taxes will still be high ($4k/yr?) but if you live in a place like Collingswood or Haddonfield and take the train to work you would make it up in gas savings and hours of your life wasted in traffic.