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My fiance and I presently live in Suffolk County on Long Island are are strongly considering moving out of state to have a better quality of life. We are considering moving to the Raleigh suburbs. We are looking for areas with established (not manufactured) communities, yardage (.75 acres) with trees, and nearby local and big box stores.Are we on the right track? Are there other recommendations you may have?
I am a graphic designer, and my fiance works as an auto damage adjuster for GEICO, how are job markets in the area?
Anything else we should know..traffic? entertainment? taxes?
We obviously would love to hear from anyone who moved from Long island or NY and hear about your experiences. We want to "fit in." We are both in our mid to late 20s.
Our biggest factors are good schools, jobs and taxes (I know taxes are cheap as dirt!!!).
Yes property taxes are much lower than LI, but not too much else.
Schools are overrun with transplants and many teachers are bailing out because the state treats them like dirt.
I grew up in Oceanside, wife in Island Park and came here 26 years ago from New Orleans.
What i miss most is good public transit.
Saturnfan, we don't take public transit unless it's to manhattan, so that's not a factor really.
Sales tax is 4.75, Almost half of NY
Gas is on Avg. .50 cheaper a gallon
I'm not savvy on gas or electric prices, but I know HOAs are much lower too.
What would you say is not cheaper, food? utilities?
I make 40k now, and with NY taxes take home around 30. My fiance makes more (55k) but neither of us really make a salary we can live on here, so if we take a paycut, but can make ends meet in a single family home with kids, that's an improvement.
So many of us active City-Data contributors in this forum are from the NY/NJ area and within that many are from Long Island.
Honestly, just about every piece of information you're looking for is already available in this forum in abundance so search through it a bit and see if you can answer most of your own questions.
Employment opportunities are based on your industry and years of experience. Most professionals can find suitable employment, some quicker than others. The schools in Wake County are very good despite the "sky is falling" prophecies. There is a variable factor in terms of school quality based on mostly economic factors (think New Cassel versus Dix Hills), but we moved from the North Shore and have been generally satisfied with what was offered. Taxes are cheaper; depending on where you buy they can be much lower or just lower (one house we looked at in 2006 had taxes 3.5 times higher than the one we bought).
Overall our relocation has been very successful (we sensed it would be after the first 1-2 years and declared it as such upon celebrating 5 years here). There are adjustments and surprises that await, but if you're committed to making it work, have done sufficient due diligence and really planned it out you'll likely be successful as well.
Oh, and in addition to property taxes being lower, our auto insurance dropped by more than half, we pay at least $.25 per gallon less for gas, our overall monthly utility bill was about 30% lower and the cost of services (e.g., plumbing, electrical, etc.) has always been much more reasonable. Overall we spend a lot less here than before we moved (sorry Saturnfan, I'm really trying not to debate you in every thread but sometimes I just gotta).
What's your housing budget? Almost an acre is going to cost you near civilization as you know it.
Looking for under 400k. Have you been to Suffolk county? Because I feel you are assuming "civilzation as you know it" means NYC, and I am not interested in that at all except that I'd like to be within an hour's drive of it.
Thanks Carolinadawg, I was reading through these, but I had some specific questions about our industries and job availability, and the fact that we are 20 somethings trying to start a family in a place similar to the suburbs of NY without the rudeness, rush, and chokehold they have on our salaries. I'll continue to browse through these as more people answer. I'm really interested in other people's experiences not just "you can't find pizza here" "we serve take away instead of to-go." We have lived in florida and I have family in Louisiana, and being from NY, I'm looking for a compromise of these places.
Thanks Carolinadawg, I was reading through these, but I had some specific questions about our industries and job availability, and the fact that we are 20 somethings trying to start a family in a place similar to the suburbs of NY without the rudeness, rush, and chokehold they have on our salaries. I'll continue to browse through these as more people answer. I'm really interested in other people's experiences not just "you can't find pizza here" "we serve take away instead of to-go." We have lived in florida and I have family in Louisiana, and being from NY, I'm looking for a compromise of these places.
I am from central NY and I moved here in 2003, my thoughts specifically on the job market are here (post #34):
Looking for under 400k. Have you been to Suffolk county? Because I feel you are assuming "civilzation as you know it" means NYC, and I am not interested in that at all except that I'd like to be within an hour's drive of it.
What town in Suffolk? That might help the ex-NY'ers on here on where you are coming from.
I am from Oceanside too (Hi, saturnfan ) born and raised and ran as fast as I could from there in 1998.
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) born and raised and ran as fast as I could from there in 1998.
