Lost New Yorker (Rochester, Syracuse, Albany: affordable apartment, insurance, low crime)

[Marzi]

Born and raised in the Heart of the NY-City. A few short years ago, my wife and I, had decided to make a move to Tampa Fl. We thought this would be the best choice after having our little boy and it was for that time. We were able to get a nice home, before the Boom craze! If we would have waited another year, we would not have been able to afford a home. Florida was a nice place at the time, and in no time it started changing, congestion, more and more people coming down, and schools over crowding, raising property taxes, and insurance premiums off the roof, thanks to Hurricanes and Sink Holes. It eventually got to the point were we could not afford to live there anymore. We decided to move back up to New York City (Queens). Luckily, I was able to find a somewhat affordable apartment. Today we are looking to move again, Queens is not where we want to be. We ended up here because of work reasons. Now we have been searching, we looked into to NC, took a drive to Charlotte and Raleigh areas, and found that people are flocking to these places from everywhere, because of low housing, taxes and plenty of jobs. It sounds very much like Florida a few years back. We been through this and we don’t want to repeat history. So NC is out of our list. We decided to stay here up north, so we have been looking at our surrounding areas, Upstate New York, and PA. New Jersey not interested. We are basically looking for what most families want, a good neighborhood, schools and low cost housing. Although we are not looking to buy at the moment, it has been somewhat difficult to find the right area. Can anyone please suggest any areas that they are familiar with? We are willing to go as far as 5hrs away from NYC. Of course, if it’s more than a 2hrs I will have to find a new job, but I’m willing to do this for the right area to raise my little one.

[I'minformed2]

VERY SIMILAR STORY.... Well. sort of. I am originally from Upstate, NY (Rochester area)... and moved down to Raleigh NC 11 years ago to "escape the oppressive taxes. YOU ARE RIGHT. The same thing is starting to happen here that happened in Florida. I am moving home to Rochester soon and would definitly suggest you take a look at it. You won't believe what you can buy for you money there. With $250,000 the sky's the limit in some towns with EXCELLENT schools, and very low crime. The eastern suburbs are a little more affluent and white collar while the western suburbs are a little more blue collar. The city has some very scary areas like "the crescent" in the northern area.... but it also has some beautiful victorian era neighborhoods in the Park Avenue, Highland, Cobbs Hill, and Browncroft areas. I would serioulsy suggest you look into the Rochester area.... the median home price in Monroe County is only $134,000!

[Marzi]

i'minformed

$134,000! Wow! I didn’t think those prices existed anymore in New York. $134,000 here in Queens would be a down payment on a typical single family home. Any particular place we should look into at Monroe County? Is the white collar job market in the area doing well? What about diversity, we really like different cultures and races. We do not want a monocultural environment. I really appreciate your previous input. Thank you.

[I'minformed2]

No problem; The blue collar segment of the economy in Rochester and really all of the country is struggling... but there are many pockets of growth and prosperity in the white collar sector. As for diversity... if you mean culteraly... than the whole area is fairly diverse; you have Italians, Irish, Polish, Germans.. all of that throughout the area. But if you mean as far as skin colors; all of the suburbs (where most of the good schools are) are overwhelmingly white. The city of Rochester itself is probably the most diverse in Upstate NY, but the schools aren't very good. The two most diverse (and also fairly white collor/ open minded) suburbs of Rochester are Southeast of the City... Brighton and Henrietta. Brighton the more liberal of the two (it also has a fairly large Jewish population). Both of these towns have excellent schools, Brighton being one of the top 50 districts in the country. Other white collar (yet less diverse) suburbs are ; Pittsford, which is the wealthiest town in the area; Perinton, Penfield, and Webster. These are all suburbs east of the city. The city itself has some beautiful neighborhoods with turn of the century homes and tree-lined streets; but again, unless you can afford Catholic or other Private schools; the schools aren't very good in the city. Judging by what you have already said... I'd suggest you take a good look at Brighton. But really what you should do is take a drive up and check out the whole area for yourself to see what you think.

[hatesthesouth]

Hey Marzi, I'm on my way back to NY from Atlanta, spent some time in Tampa myself raising my little ones. I have done a lot of research taking jobs, housing costs, and taxes into heavy consideration. I can tell you that if you want to stay in the general area of NYC, you should look into Western Orange County near the NJ & PA borders. Houses are affordable and taxes are not outrageous. Check out Port Jervis, NY and right across the border near Milford, PA, you might be surprised at what you can find. The housing boom is over and there are lots of price reductions going on.

[Marzi]

i'minformed
Again I really appreciate your feedback. Thank you. I will definitely take a drive to check out the area.


Hatesthesouth
Thanks for the info. I did a search on Realtor and found some fairly priced homes. I agree with you on the housing boom, it’s finally coming to an end. I take it you want to stay within the general area of NYC, but if that is not the case. Check out Rochester prices on Realtor. I can’t believe what you can get for your money. I'minformed pointed me to this direction. I will be taking a drive there shortly. On my back I will stop by Port Jervis.

[emm0630]

Marzi-

Have you considered Connecticut? I lived there for two years while I was in grad school. I lived in the New Haven area and absolutely loved it. While it wasn't dirt cheap to live there, it was certainly cheaper than Queens and Long Island. I loved the area because it was near enough to the LI sound and beaches, about 2 hrs from NYC, and it had all the conveniences of shopping and roads nearby. The Stamford area is closer to NYC but more $$. I have family in the suburbs of Hartford (Wethersfield) and its really nice there too and much less $$. Good luck with your decision.

[Marzi]

Emm0630


Actually, I did not think of Connecticut it didn’t come to mind. A friend of mine got his undergraduate from the University of Hartford. He did enjoy the area while he was there. I’ll look into the areas. Thanks for the info.

[I'minformed2]

rabdo, they have pretty strict rules against advertizing yourself as an agent and posting the same thing in multiple threads.

[aquaecny]

Hey Marzi, I know you mentioned being semi-close to the city. Rochester is a over 6 hours from the city; Syracuse is about 5 hours; and Albany is 3 hours. Anywhere along the Hudson River would be close and convenient. Many nice towns there too. Albany suburbs are really nice.