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Weird to think the cost of living in Honolulu is cheaper than NYC.
You're not the first I've seen make such a comment. Housing is certainly less expensive in Honolulu on the whole than in NYC. I could never afford the type of condo in a similar location that I own here in Honolulu back in NYC. Grocery prices and gas are higher here than in NYC as a general rule, but I have commissary access, which makes grocery prices more or less the same. Over all, I have a much better quality of life here in Honolulu than I could have in NYC with the same salary.
I have a job in my hometown, a midsize city in Ohio and I'm probably moving away. My mom is still there and I want to be close by as she's pretty sick. I was excited at first, but the last few weeks I've been super down about the whole thing. We don't have a lot of family nearby (I find most people who stay to raise a family are from this area) and settling down here seems really really tough, but how do you leave and not yearn to be back immediately?
You are moving back to your childhood town. You aren't going to be like moving to a random city. You'll be able to share your memories and favorite places with your husband. You'll find some old connections and make some new ones.
I hated leaving NYC, because I spent my childhood in NYC. I wanted to share my childhood experiences with my children. Give them a sense of history.
It would be easier for your to put down roots and have a family in a lower COL area where you have ties. It might be easier to live on one paycheck so your children could have a parent at home for awhile.
Basically, you are doing what everyone does on a Hallmark movie - moving home and finding roots.
You are moving back to your childhood town. You aren't going to be like moving to a random city. You'll be able to share your memories and favorite places with your husband. You'll find some old connections and make some new ones.
I hated leaving NYC, because I spent my childhood in NYC. I wanted to share my childhood experiences with my children. Give them a sense of history.
It would be easier for your to put down roots and have a family in a lower COL area where you have ties. It might be easier to live on one paycheck so your children could have a parent at home for awhile.
Basically, you are doing what everyone does on a Hallmark movie - moving home and finding roots.
I agree with this. It's 13 years. It isn't like NYC is the only place you've ever known. You're not leaving the apartment you took your first steps in. You'll be fine.
No matter how much I researched a move, once I got there I always had buyers' remorse. It took about 9 months in every case for all my family to entirely overcome over this.
I am torn. Housing prices in NYC are out of control. Westchester prices are high, worse are the property taxes. My house is over $15,000 per year - for what? My kids are out of school. Basically, I am paying for garage pickup and snow plowing.
Why are the property taxes so high? How are property taxes determined in NYC?
I came back a few years ago (after a ~9 year hiatus) and have regretted it, despite having a better job and way more money. I would regret it even more if I had to rely more on the decrepit infrastructure, but fortunately I can walk to work.
I think 15+ years ago New York had a bit of a monopoly on interesting cities in the US in terms of things to do, but I think a whole bunch of other cities have started to catch up. New York still has way more than everywhere else, but I don't think the downsides of living here really justify it.
Why are the property taxes so high? How are property taxes determined in NYC?
Property taxes are high in the suburbs of NYC, I think just due to more waste and things costing more which affects the entire metro area. I find total tax paid similar to the suburbs of Chicago, where I'm originally from. NYC I think has some leverage against having the massive amount of corporations to cut property tax, but the way we, and many other cities in the US (I think all) handle schools is abysmal. Elementary school and I think for the most part middle school is fine (though the quality could be a lot better), but the fact that otherwise it's basically like going to college when you're 14 I find atrocious. Similar to the CPS that I dreaded and is worse, so I am thankful that my parents had me attend Lisle Senior High School. Still from point of comparison, my friend owns in Queens Village a converted 2 family to SFH valued at $700k (as of 2017, probably more now, haven't asked) and pays barely over $4k a year in property tax.
To the OP, yes. I moved back for a year because I was dealing with something that was impacting my studies at NYU emotionally. It was a grand mistake and I moved back to NYC the second I could. I wouldn't leave NYC unless it was out of this country. It didn't help my dad remarried and moved to Plainfield, a place I like to call Painfield for it's painfully depressing -cornfield rural but not really- feel to it.
I know people who have left and have never come back. They don't regret it at all.
But those people really wanted to move and I don't get the sense that you REALLY want to move.
I think you will have a hard time trying to come back though. Unless you're very wealthy, it's hard to make it back. When my aunt sold her house to move, she sold it for 270K. Now on that block, the houses go for $1.3 million. She said she would've never sold it if she knew prices were going to be like that and she probably couldn't even swing a one bedroom coop these days.
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