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Thank you for your answer, I know it seems a bit impulsive but if you knew the entire story, you may think differently. We moved from our parents to in staten island to an apartment in long island. We stayed in that apartment for 2 years -- a little more. Then we wanted to buy a house -- but my hubby didn't want to stay on long island and I was on the fence, but I had a good job with a promotion offer thrown in there. We toyed with moving back to staten island, and we had heard about north carolina ( specifically holly springs ) from a friend at work that knew people who relocated. I sent my hubby a house down there as a joke, and it quickly turned into months of research. We were in between 3 tough options. Then someone he worked with who lives in GA i believe told him about the fracking law in Raleigh and he immediately got turned off by it, not that I am a fan of it either. Also we had a bit of negative comments coming from some family about moving away at the same time, and it quickly fell aside when I got the job promotion. So we decided to stay. I think the only impulsive thing was buying the house right away, because it has been in the back of my mind for almost 2 years now, and as we pay bills and can't save the way we want or live the way we want for the past 8 months, the talk of relocation came up again. It wasn't just the quick 8 month "oh we can't pay bills, lets move to the south" thought, this has been a discussion for a few years now. I was thinking of coming the weekend before thanksgiving, because of his work schedule that is the best time unless we wait until spring.
We live in NYC area but we rarely do NYC things, we don't really like going into the city(esp. my husband). We mostly stay out in suffolk county. Hang out with friends every now and again, visit family in SI ( another traffic nightmare ), go out east to wineries and stuff, more low key stuff.
We will probably have to sell the house here(maybe take a small loss, but hopefully not), and rent down there for 6 months at least while we get back on the horse and figure out the area. I've done the math already like 10 times, between difference in mortgage alone, if we were to put 20% down on a 250kish house we would be saving 1700 or more a month alone in mortgage and property taxes. Thats enough money to cover childcare and then some savings. We are both huge into saving money.... its nice to have that cushion incase something happens, for children, college, vacations to see family, whatever.
I've been where you are and I don't think you're impulsive. I also understand the long germination period involved from first hearing about a place like the Triangle until the idea takes root and starts growing into an actionable plan. Ignore the naysayers and trust your instincts.
Do as much due diligence as possible via remote research and visit as many times as possible, ideally 2-3 times during different seasons before committing to any plan. Also, and this is important, carefully consider the tangible downsides to relocating, particularly leaving behind family and friends and an intimate knowledge of your surroundings.
Good luck with the process. For my family relocating was a great decision and one we have never regretted. The road from Long island to Raleigh was not paved with gold, but at least it didn't have tolls and potholes.
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Originally Posted by twingles
I'm probably the only one who doesn't think you're crazy for looking for a house in the $250K range; if you feel like you have no life living in a $410K house on $180K salary, and you plan to have kids and possibly quit working, you are not going to be any more comfortable here. The biggest difference is you won't have as much worry about your mortgage payment going up every year due to taxes, and you won't have the aggravation of seeing where your tax dollars are going. People who don't live in NY or areas where the taxes can drastically increase over a couple of years have no idea how stressful that can be. Our taxes went from $4900 to $12,000 in less than 10 years. LI is a ticking time bomb.
However, being from Staten Island, I again encourage you to seriously think about where you might live here. Clayton is going to be more rural, in every way, than you may like. Renting is a great idea for you, with no kids there is absolutely no rush in deciding where you settle.
If you can live without a brand new house, you can get into a house for $250K much closer to the heart of the Triangle.
Unless someone paid your closing costs for you, you're going to lose money on this endeavor. But sometimes 2 steps back and 1 step forward is not a bad way to go.
I don't think she's crazy. Only those of us who managed to relocate away from Long Island and build a new life for ourselves can truly relate. I recently told my oldest son that when we moved in 2007, I was grossing $135k in salary and we were strapped for cash almost every month. He actually didn't believe me. But then I showed him a monthly budget I had worked up six months before the move and he was stunned into silence.
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Originally Posted by annabanana123
The sailor part makes much more sense now...the plus of Raleigh is that flights out of RDU are decent and it's an easy airport to fly out of. With the mortgage part you may want to figure out what you're comfortable spending every month on it and work backwards. Our property taxes are lower (I think) so you may be surprised that what you thought was a 250k mortgage could easily get you 300k or something. Just a thought.
Being in the medical field if you move without a job I'd focus on renting in Brier Creek as I think I mentioned earlier. The main reason being it's pretty much in the center of Duke, UNC and WakeMed which are your main medical systems here. Might be a good starting point at least.
Depending on your daycare options you may find 1700 doesn't go as far as you think it will. I've seen infant care for a decent facility range from 1000 - 2500 (most are in the 1200-1600 range and get cheaper as the child gets older). So if you had multiple kids in daycare, ouch. Some employers (and most hospitals!) have discounted daycare so there's that. Our discounted rate was still around 200/wk for pre-k but they were open on most holidays and extra early and late if you needed to work a 7-7 shift. If you use their providers they tend to be open in bad weather too at least for hospital staff. Here a tenth of an inch of ice shuts the entire city down except the hospitals and other emergency services, FYI.
I agree that Brier Creek is a great place to begin your North Carolina experience. It will seem familiar to you in many ways, but newer, cleaner and easier to navigate. It's also the best central location in terms of access to major job sites, area destinations and the airport.
So I grew up in SI and went to LI a lot for work since it was part of my territory. I've lived in central NJ and most recently moved from northern NJ. I will give you my super honest opinion on Clayton. Clayton will be super rural compared to LI. We moved to West Cary last year and love it! It's spaced out enough compared to northern NJ but everything such as shopping, restaurants, hospitals, childcare facilities are convenient and plentiful. It is really nice to have things so convenient since we no longer have family in the area to call for help in an emergency especially with the kids. There is more variety in childcare offerings here compared to NJ but it is just as expensive if you want a quality facility vs home based childcare. Also, looking way ahead for when your kids are older. I know many families that drive all the way in from Clayton to Cary and Apex areas for their kids sporting activities. I see others have recommended Brier Creek area, that is a solid recommendation.
I have no experience outside of living in NC but if you can still have a gross income in the 60-70% range of what you make now, I believe you would be more than happy with what you can buy for the money in Clayton. I have a question and I am sorry if I missed the answer, why Clayton? Have you been here? Do you have family? I work in healthcare support so if you decide to come here, I can give you suggestions on the healthcare systems
I have not read all these responses because I just don't have the patience to go through all this.. so if I'm being repetitive I apologize. Here's my 2 cents. We moved to Clayton from NJ 3 years ago. WE LOVE IT HERE!!! I love that it's more rural but we can be into downtown Raleigh within 20mins usually (sometimes traffic happens). We are on the west side of Clayton so that does make a difference as we live close to 40. Now if you go to the east side of Clayton your commute does get to be longer as your further from Raleigh. You can get a very nice house here for 250K. There is a lot of growth going on in this area. All of our schools are at max capacity with students. The school my kids go to is Prek -5th and there is over 900 kids in that school and I would say all the other school in Clayton have around the same amount of students. I really like their school (even though it doesn't have a great rating on great schools) we have a new principle recently and she is making amazing changes to the school. This area is very diverse. You'll have kids who live in trailers going to school with kids who live in houses that can cost up to 500k+. (depending where in Clayton you live). Its very mix. There really isn't a school where "upper middle class kids go". I like that diversity personally. We are zoned for our schools and really wont see much change unless they build a new school. Wake county your kids can get moved multiple times (that was a huge factor that made us come to Johnston county). Wake county has year round schools (none in Clayton). Also, Clayton is pretty big. I didn't realize just how big it is. There are parts that are technically Clayton but have a Garner address too. You have to see what would work best for your family and what you guys want. But, I love that Clayton isn't as busy as Cary. I wanted to escape that madness of the North and NYC area and this is a great fit for US. I would come check it out. If you want any more information feel free to contact me.
If you want to worry, I think the existing nuclear plant SW of Raleigh is probably more of a threat than fracking possibly in the future. Actually almost anywhere has some threatening facility/activity nearby.
Check into the pay structure here carefully. It seems like you would easily find a job, but the pay may not be the same as LI. I knew a young woman who worked at Duke in radiology and she left as she could earn much more elsewhere out of state. She was quite surprised as when she took the job she thought Duke would be high paying.
After living around NYC myself, I can certainly understand why you would like to leave - good luck!
My husband and I were seriously considering moving from Long island NY to the Triangle area about a year ago, but then some personal stuff came about, that including a good job promotion for me. So for my career experience we have stayed and we bought a house here about 8 months ago. After this past 8 months we have both realized that we will never be able to afford having a family here, we can barely afford it for ourselves! My husband is a sailor, so we can pretty much live anywhere, as for me I am Supervisor at a radiology facility for Nuclear Medicine and PET/CT ( Oncology Imaging), I am also licensed and skilled in CT, MRI and X-ray. As far as I have seen still the Raleigh area seems to be pretty good spot for my job market, I know I may take a little loss on pay, but it will not be much, since they under pay at my job as of now anyway. ( lowest in the tristate area !) Orignally we had looked at Holly Springs and we were set up to come down and visit, but then it kind of all fell apart last minute, and to top it off my husband saw they passed a law for fracking and he is highly against living in an area they will do that for the future. On recent discover we have found Clayton, which is just west of Raleigh and looks like a beautiful place to raise a family. They all look like beautiful towns, but since we both have to agree 100%, It looks like Clayton is the spot for us. We are thinking of taking a fall trip down there to check out the area, city and also maybe some homes/apartments. Our home price budget is around 250K, which in a development in clayton I saw can get us something way nicer then what we have!
Does anyone have any suggestions as to where to stay to get the best experience, places to see, things to do in the area for the fall time of year? We really want to get a feel of what it would be like. Also anyone have any input on the Clayton schools?
It has always been my dream to move more south then where we are, and I think the outrageous living expense of long island is making it way more feasible for my hubby to understand why we need to do this. Its sad because we both make really good salaries combined over 180 and we are still struggling with the taxes, mortgage and all the fun adult bills! LOL It is just so hard leaving family sometimes ! We just want to make a home for our future children and have the best life possible for them!
TIA!
Daniella
First of all NC is a bit behind when it comes to many issues compared to NY. Check out politicians' and where they stand on the environment, social issues and other issues close to your heart. Clayton is probably too rural for you coming from LI. Coming from NY you will be at a loss in many ways. I'm not sure of the schools in Clayton but I'm not impressed with Wake County schools (I have volunteered in an elementary school here for the last five years.)
If you both have good jobs and like NY then perhaps you can somehow work it out up there. If you like NY and what it has to offer (culturally, great restaurants, entertainment etc) then you will probably be disappointed in Clayton. It's the sticks. I'm originally from the NY Metro area and Raleigh is a far cry from up there. Raleigh is great for outdoor pursuits as the trails are gorgeous.
Clayton is not a good place to live. You should stay in NY. I was born and raised in NC and have lived in the Clayton area for about 13 years off and on. It's really not a great area, even for natives. You're better off moving somewhere more welcoming like Virginia. NC economy is struggling as well, and there is a lot of racial issues and anger towards the state government due to McCrory. Its kind if a mess here now.
Dude what is up with you, every thread you're posting in is utter negative and telling people not to move here.
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Clayton is a far cry from the NY Metro Area
