All You People Leaving Upstate NY Read This ... (New York, Buffalo: mortgage, day care)

[inpd]

So all you people considering leaving Upstate
for growing places like CA think carefully before
you jump in.

I moved from Albany to Sacramento 4 months ago.
I must say that I miss Albany a lot even though CA
is great. Albany's a great city very liveable and so
is Sac except ...

One of the problems of moving from upstate is that
you don't appreciate that a stable (or even shrinking)
population has ***many*** benefits.

In Albany I walked to my kids day care, had the best
peditricans and doctors in the area.

In Sacramento because its a growing area the infrastructure
(roads, hospitals, services etc.) can't keep up. If there is
capacity for 1000 day care spots when the 1001st kid
arrives, they don't build a new day care. It takes many more
kids before they do.

The end result is that it takes 10 minutes longer to do everything.
The better doctors in my area are not accepting new patients:
got to drive to the next suburb, day care next to my home has
1 year wait light, drive to the next suburb, nice homes close
to downtown are $800K, move further from work (you get the idea).

So think carefully before moving! Upstate NY is conducive to a better
quality of life than you think.

[itSmellsBAD]

Everyone knows that The Peoples Republic of Kalifornia is a mess almost as bad as NY. There are 49 other states to consider moving to other than the PRK.

Traffic is the only good thing about living in Western NY. There is none as the road system was built around Buffalo to handle twice the population that is left here. It's a pleasure driving here as there really are no traffic jams anymore due to the huge population decline.

[inpd]

Originally Posted by itSmellsBAD

Everyone knows that The Peoples Republic of Kalifornia is a mess almost as bad as NY. There are 49 other states to consider moving to other than the PRK.

Traffic is the only good thing about living in Western NY. There is none as the road system was built around Buffalo to handle twice the population that is left here. It's a pleasure driving here as there really are no traffic jams anymore due to the huge population decline.

I'm not just talking just about CA, but any place that is growing. The infrastructure
(not just roads) doesn't keep up. Places with stable populations have
access to terrific basic services very close to where they live and that's
worth a lot since you use those services just about every day and it reduces
your stress and wasted time a lot.

[itSmellsBAD]

Losing your job, watching businesses leave the area, seeing taxes and government increasing at record levels, young people leaving in droves, knowing your children have NO FUTURE here, listening to Gov Spitzer promote our State as a haven for Illegals to get drivers licenses, government being the largest employer, property values declining every year as school taxes soar despite declining enrollment.................none of this is stressful? You call this a "stable population" area?

If it's so rotten in CA, you can come back to NY anytime you want. You can get a great home around Western NY for under $200K (with confiscatory taxes of course). The same home in CA would cost over a million dollars in your area. Of course there are no jobs here and I assume that's the reason you left?

[shibainu]

Originally Posted by inpd

I'm not just talking just about CA, but any place that is growing. The infrastructure
(not just roads) doesn't keep up. Places with stable populations have
access to terrific basic services very close to where they live and that's
worth a lot since you use those services just about every day and it reduces
your stress and wasted time a lot.

let start off by asking why did you leave?

[shibainu]

Originally Posted by itSmellsBAD

Losing your job, watching businesses leave the area, seeing taxes and government increasing at record levels, young people leaving in droves, knowing your children have NO FUTURE here, listening to Gov Spitzer promote our State as a haven for Illegals to get drivers licenses, government being the largest employer, property values declining every year as school taxes soar despite declining enrollment.................none of this is stressful? You call this a "stable population" area?

If it's so rotten in CA, you can come back to NY anytime you want. You can get a great home around Western NY for under $200K (with confiscatory taxes of course). The same home in CA would cost over a million dollars in your area. Of course there are no jobs here and I assume that's the reason you left?

It is very interesting. I do not own a home in Rochester, but I wonder what people are thinking when they buy homes there some times. If the average home is about 100k what are people paying in taxes. I know the average is about 30 dollars per 1000. So a 100k house would be about 3k a year. So by the time their 30 year mortgage is up they paid 90k in taxes. That is if tax rate and values stay the same.

[BuffaloTransplant]

Glad to see your post.

I noted the naysayers of upstate posting how awful it is in NY. I moved here to WNY almost 40 years ago and stayed; but I have family in the Schenectady area who love it. I also have family in CA who hate the crowdedness but their job is there.... my niece visited here and was in shock that there was almost no traffic. I also know my cousins in CA pay more in taxes than I do (% wise ) and houses are much more expensive... and family down south have the same opinion ( high cost of living, even if the taxes are lower).

I think people only realize how nice it is here once they are gone. I wish the naysayers might at least go live somewhere else for a month and then stop posting negatives -- or move there!

[inpd]

Originally Posted by shibainu

let start off by asking why did you leave?

To be closer to my elderly parents and extended family and lend support to them.

Now why are you all so negative about NY?
Do you still live there? If so, then remember
Abraham Lincoln's quote that your as happy
as you allow yourself to be.

Yes, NY property taxes are higher, but you get a lot for it.
In Albany I lived in center square and would walk to free
iceskating rinks, museums, summer concerts every week,
opera in the park etc. In CA there are no operas in the park
and all the other stuff you have to pay for ... even the iceskating
($6 for 2 hours and $3 for skate hire). I fondly recall seeing
Elton John, Billy Joel at the Albany Pepsi arena for $25 in 2004.
In CA the parking is $15 and tickets $80+

So my property taxes in NY were $6K and in CA will be $4K but
I easily got $2K of entertainment from the city because I went
out and made use of the facilities/shows etc. It's what you make
of it.

[shibainu]

Originally Posted by BuffaloTransplant

Glad to see your post.

I noted the naysayers of upstate posting how awful it is in NY. I moved here to WNY almost 40 years ago and stayed; but I have family in the Schenectady area who love it. I also have family in CA who hate the crowdedness but their job is there.... my niece visited here and was in shock that there was almost no traffic. I also know my cousins in CA pay more in taxes than I do (% wise ) and houses are much more expensive... and family down south have the same opinion ( high cost of living, even if the taxes are lower).

I think people only realize how nice it is here once they are gone. I wish the naysayers might at least go live somewhere else for a month and then stop posting negatives -- or move there!

It is amazing how reality makes you call people naysayer’s

Property tax for Sacramento $8.88 per 1k. average home price is 330k so that is $2,930 a year.
Schenectady tax $27.29 per 1k. average price home is $196k. tax would be $5,348.
Please explain the good in that.If traffic is the positve you must be kidding.

Cities....................Schenectady, NY........Sacramento,CA
Unemployment Rate..........4.50% ............... 5.80%
Recent Job Growth ......... -0.90% .............2.22%
Future Job Growth ...........11.73%.............23.38%
Sales Taxes.....................8.25% ..............7.75%
Income Taxes..................7.13%...............6.00%
Income per Cap...............$18,550.............$21,498
Household Income............$32,745.............$43,094
commute time..................23.8..................25.4
Cost of living ..................99.....................111
Moderator cut: linking to competitors sites is not allowed


My personal take is that NY and CA are the hardest hit states in America. They both have issues with their economy and income and taxes are not equally weighed compared to other states. If I moved away from Ny State California would be my last choice due to they are both in a down turn. California may be in a worst situation than New York because the housing market, but they may not offset New York having most of the financial firms in NYC going close to belly up.

[shibainu]

Originally Posted by inpd

To be closer to my elderly parents and extended family and lend support to them.

Now why are you all so negative about NY?
Do you still live there? If so, then remember
Abraham Lincoln's quote that your as happy
as you allow yourself to be.

Yes, NY property taxes are higher, but you get a lot for it.
In Albany I lived in center square and would walk to free
iceskating rinks, museums, summer concerts every week,
opera in the park etc. In CA there are no operas in the park
and all the other stuff you have to pay for ... even the iceskating
($6 for 2 hours and $3 for skate hire). I fondly recall seeing
Elton John, Billy Joel at the Albany Pepsi arena for $25 in 2004.
In CA the parking is $15 and tickets $80+

So my property taxes in NY were $6K and in CA will be $4K but
I easily got $2K of entertainment from the city because I went
out and made use of the facilities/shows etc. It's what you make
of it.

It is not negative it is actually stating the obvious. I think you are looking at the negative. All I said is I wonder why people own homes in upstate. Did you know if you remove inflation most of upstate home have a 0-2% appreciation. Your tax dollars in New York State pay for mediocre schools. New York State is not even rank in the top ten for education but taxes are in the top 5. I liked Albany I lived there for 8 years. The only thing I did not like was it got very cold in winter compared to wny and no jobs during the time I was there.

Is your argument that there is less to do or cheaper? Albany is cheaper than most metro area with population over 1 million. Albany however does not have as much to do as Sacramento. Also I imagine that parking was never a problem in Albany.