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I will start by stating that I was born in Hoboken and lived in NJ for the first 37 years of my life. I love the state and always will.
I have lived in a few places since I left and I can tell you that there are only two things that I miss, seeing my family more often and the food.
Now I am in Cary, NC and it is a great place to live. BTW, it is cheaper than NJ, but not by too much.
A few on here and in particular, one DB, act like living in NJ makes one chic, intelligent, well-traveled and anyone that does not live there is somehow inferior. This childlike attitude is one thing that I do not miss about NJ.
Here are a few things about the Triangle that are superior to NJ:
-Friendlier people in general-yes, even fellow northerners who live here have become more relaxed and considerate.
-Airport..for me, I can get to all of my business destinations directly. The airport is clean and never a zoo..
-Universities...let's be honest, NJ state run universities are average at best and expensive for state residents. UNC/CH is a public Ivy and dirt cheap for state residents. Of course, they are happy to take full tuition from Northerners who are never is short supply.
BTW, I have had more neighbors with PhD's here in NC than I had ever even encountered in NJ.
-Weather...Yes, it still gets cold here, but not nearly as cold as NJ. When I talk to my family in NJ, they are almost always complaining about the weather.
Is this place perfect, no, not even close, but that can be said for almost any area in this country. Content, happy people are that way anywhere they live.
In Homes like Mine, the Bonus room is not over the Garage. There I have a Walk in Attic. My bonus room, sometimes called a Media room is part of the upstairs of my home. It is 25x30. I have 3 bedrooms up, a dedicated office, 2 baths, plus a large bonus room, which has a trey ceiling. The bedrooms up have Cathederal ceilings. The Master Suite is downstairs.
Most newer construction here has the Master Suite on the first floor so if you can't climb steps anymore, you can get to your bedroom
I'm not bragging, just stating how it is. It would cost close to a Mil in Manalapan, and more in North Jersey. I bought it just under what I sold house for in NJ. I sold that house at double what I paid for it, but in LI on second house, i sold that for triple. The first on LI I received double. I guess its timing how much you get, just lucky.
Diane G
There is a reason why the real estate in Jersey is more expensive than Tennessee.....
The answer is because the quality of life, schools, crime rates, poverty levels, and everything imaginable is better in NJ.
The lure of a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house for 200,000 dollars is appealing. But, it's not to appealing if the house is in Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, etc.
Bashing NJ I do get, but here is my question where do you go??
The short answer is - just go anywhere, really (outside the Boston-DC corridor).
We left 6 months ago, and it's been awesome. NY and NJ are starting to fade away like a bad dream.
There is a reason why the real estate in Jersey is more expensive than Tennessee.....
The answer is because the quality of life, schools, crime rates, poverty levels, and everything imaginable is better in NJ.
The lure of a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house for 200,000 dollars is appealing. But, it's not to appealing if the house is in Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, etc.
Not really that appealing... I just bought a 4 bedroom 2.5 bathroom 3,650 square foot home in South Jersey for $304k that's commutable to AC, Princeton, or Philly. I'd have to get a much better deal than that to give up the career opportunities of NJ to go live in the slums where you pray to never get a bad boss because you have no place else to go.
The short answer is - just go anywhere, really (outside the Boston-DC corridor).
We left 6 months ago, and it's been awesome. NY and NJ are starting to fade away like a bad dream.
Glad you enjoy it, I can't imagine any place I'd rather live more at this point of my life than South Jersey... sure, I wish the weather was a bit warmer in the winter, but I won't move because of it.
The short answer is - just go anywhere, really (outside the Boston-DC corridor).
We left 6 months ago, and it's been awesome. NY and NJ are starting to fade away like a bad dream.
I don't know about the "go anywhere" advice, especially from a person who moved to Denver and thinks it's an improvement over NJ. My friends in Denver who are natives are looking to get out, citing increased crime and overcrowding, rising costs, rising taxes, and blaming it all on a mass influx of Californians and to a lesser extent immigrants from NY/NJ. According to my friend Heather they brought crime like she has never seen in her whole life to Denver and have "ruined the place". Sounds like moving from NJ to Denver would be a move out of the frying pan and into the fire. Every time I'd say to her how much I loved visiting Denver, I'd joke with her and say, "You know, maybe I'll move out here..." and she'd reply jokingly, "No, no, it's not good here, you wouldn't like it, it's horrible here..." and then under her breath "the last thing we need is another Californian or NJ'an here..." It was all in good fun, she actually did try to convince me to move there a few times, but in later years she told me don't bother, that she and her husband (who was from Utica, NY) were looking desperately to get out, possibly to go to Utica or even - NJ! They haven't moved because they both have great jobs right now but their goal is to move to NY state, the Hudson Valley anywhere from Albany down to Rockland Cty.
I hear from her and through the news that the gangs in Denver (a by-product of poor and working poor from California who flooded Denver) are getting worse every day. I found this article (link below) which tells me that even 16th St. is much worse than when I used to go there for work, 5-10 years ago. Back then, the worst of it was the homeless vagrant teens who would panhandle aggressively on the 16th st. mall/promenade/whatever it was called. (For those who don't know, 16th St. is not a ghetto or slum, but is rather a business and shopping district that is supposed to be a point of pride for Denver - it's actually on the touristy side, and it's actually pretty nice, except they have problems with crime; so it's not like the gangs are limited to slum neighborhoods like they are in NYC.)
I think the advice of "go anywhere" is just some more hollow jersey-bashing which is obviously not good advice at all, and even the poster giving that advice lives someplace that is easily arguably worse than NJ.
Last edited by BergenCountyJohnny; 03-08-2010 at 07:01 AM..
There is a reason why the real estate in Jersey is more expensive than Tennessee.....
The answer is because the quality of life, schools, crime rates, poverty levels, and everything imaginable is better in NJ.
The lure of a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house for 200,000 dollars is appealing. But, it's not to appealing if the house is in Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, etc.
Spoken like someone who would go to great lengths to deny reality with such ambiguous statements! "Anywhere" but NJ is not a valid relocation goal for greener pastures either. Neither statement is true, but it is an outright fabrication to say you cannot beat NJ's crime rate, quality of life, schools, etc. That's just as incorrect as saying a drive on the NJ Turnpike from Exit 12 - 16 represents what NJ is all about.
I've been out of NJ for twenty years in three different states and they ALL beat NJ hands down in the areas that affected my family! Do we live a charmed life? Not hardly, but we sure live a better life!
The only reason my friends don't bail on NJ is mostly because of: a) their family ties there and for some, b) the inability to make a relocation move (can't /won't leave what they have known).
Sure there are plenty of people that leave NJ and decide it was a mistake for them. I have some in my DW's family that did just that. But, for the most part, I think there's a symbolic reason the toll at the Del Mem Bridge faces Southbound... More people heading out of NJ than into it!
Spoken like someone who would go to great lengths to deny reality with such ambiguous statements!
Oh, the utter irony...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stripes17
"Anywhere" but NJ is not a valid relocation goal for greener pastures either. Neither statement is true, but it is an outright fabrication to say you cannot beat NJ's crime rate, quality of life, schools, etc. That's just as incorrect as saying a drive on the NJ Turnpike from Exit 12 - 16 represents what NJ is all about.
Maybe you can beat NJ's combination of low crime rate, quality of life, schools, etc. but North Carolina isn't one of the places that does, hence the OP asking "where do you go?"
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stripes17
I've been out of NJ for twenty years in three different states and they ALL beat NJ hands down in the areas that affected my family! Do we live a charmed life? Not hardly, but we sure live a better life!
I'm curious as to which states beat NJ in schools and low crime rate. "Quality of life" is subjective, as you already pointed out, but schools and crime rate can be measured. I bet NJ graduates many more students and has much lower crime than any of the states you're talking about.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stripes17
The only reason my friends don't bail on NJ is mostly because of: a) their family ties there and for some, b) the inability to make a relocation move (can't /won't leave what they have known).
Sure there are plenty of people that leave NJ and decide it was a mistake for them. I have some in my DW's family that did just that. But, for the most part, I think there's a symbolic reason the toll at the Del Mem Bridge faces Southbound... More people heading out of NJ than into it!
But to TheCity's point, there is a reason NJ costs more - you get what you pay for.
More people are heading out of NJ than heading into it, that's true, but the people leaving NJ are much poorer than the people heading into it. Having an educated populace and a safe environment keep NJ growing more prosperous every year. Eventually the lack of education in places like TN, NC, etc. will create an oversupply of middle-income workers and the supply of jobs will shrink, resulting in even lower pay for those middle class workers. And NJ's geographic advantage (in terms of the economy) will never change unless NY and Philly somehow die and lose their prominence. In fact, NJ cities are improving and this will only lend to NJ's future prosperity.
So the question in the OP remains - where do you go? Where do you go if you want long-term prosperity rather than a short-term gain brought on by selling high-priced home in NJ and buying a bigger home and property elsewhere in a state like NC or TN??
Spoken like someone who would go to great lengths to deny reality with such ambiguous statements! "Anywhere" but NJ is not a valid relocation goal for greener pastures either. Neither statement is true, but it is an outright fabrication to say you cannot beat NJ's crime rate, quality of life, schools, etc. That's just as incorrect as saying a drive on the NJ Turnpike from Exit 12 - 16 represents what NJ is all about.
I've been out of NJ for twenty years in three different states and they ALL beat NJ hands down in the areas that affected my family! Do we live a charmed life? Not hardly, but we sure live a better life!
Please tell us where you can find the combination of "great schools, quality of life and low crime" that you find in NJ. Not one or the other, all three together. Would be very interested to hear.....
Spoken like someone who would go to great lengths to deny reality with such ambiguous statements! "Anywhere" but NJ is not a valid relocation goal for greener pastures either. Neither statement is true, but it is an outright fabrication to say you cannot beat NJ's crime rate, quality of life, schools, etc. That's just as incorrect as saying a drive on the NJ Turnpike from Exit 12 - 16 represents what NJ is all about.
I've been out of NJ for twenty years in three different states and they ALL beat NJ hands down in the areas that affected my family! Do we live a charmed life? Not hardly, but we sure live a better life!
The only reason my friends don't bail on NJ is mostly because of: a) their family ties there and for some, b) the inability to make a relocation move (can't /won't leave what they have known).
Sure there are plenty of people that leave NJ and decide it was a mistake for them. I have some in my DW's family that did just that. But, for the most part, I think there's a symbolic reason the toll at the Del Mem Bridge faces Southbound... More people heading out of NJ than into it!
I am denying reality? It's a fact, year after year NJ ranks among top 10 best states for crime rates and education systems.
I know tons of people who have bailed out of New Jersey too. Guess what? They all came back or want to come back! There is no amount of money that someone could pay me to live in North Carolina or Tennessee and deal with their culture on a daily basis.
More people are heading out of NJ than into it? Really, this is new to me.
2000 population = 8,414,350
2009 population = 8,707,739
Mod cut
Last edited by TheCity; 03-08-2010 at 12:13 PM..
Reason: Off topic
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NY and NJ are starting to fade away like a bad dream.
Oh, the utter irony... 
