Rochester Economy? (Buffalo, Syracuse, Amherst: wood floors, 2010, apartment complex)

[RITRich]

Well I wish it were doing better, especially now that I'm looking for one. Its certainly been effected by the downturn in the economy, especially the engineering/manufacturing industry. Last year it took me only about a week of searching to find an engineering job. Now, very different story.

[lovebrentwood]

Cary isn't sprawling! OMG. It IS growing and is very suburban -- street after street of new homes and small yards. But I wouldn't call that "sprawl." It has a sweet downtown area. It has a mall. It has lots of trees. It has nicely landscaped business buildings. It has a good medical center and lots of medical offices. It has an expensive private high school and expensive gold courses. It has many high-end homes. Cary is extremely vigilant about what their town looks like. It's often made fun of for its beigeness (and sameness).

Greece is a very nice place to live, especially since it is near water and not far from the Finger Lakes -- and a short drive to Canada. It has a beautiful library and great YMCA. In the western part, it has more wide-open spaces than Cary does.

The biggest difference between Cary and Greece is this: The real estate taxes are much lower in Cary than Greece, and the value of your home will most likely go up in Cary in the future because more people want to move there. (But you get more for your money if you buy a home in Greece.)

I lived in Greece in 1987 (after growing up in Charlotte/Rochester). Five years later, I sold my house for what I paid for it. If I moved back to that same house, it may have increased in value by $10,000, max.

In comparison, the house I moved into in Raleigh (which butts up against Cary; Cary is less than 15 minutes away), increased in value by about 60%.

Greece summers, however, are glorious. Summers are horrifically hot and uncomfortable here in NC.

In Greece, you have high heating bills in winter. In NC, you have air conditioning bills 24/7 in most of spring, throughout the entire summer, and most of fall.

Traffic is worse in the Triangle area (Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill) than anywhere in Greece. It can take 40 minutes from Raleigh to Research Triangle Park (a humongous business park) to go to work. I remember it never seemed to take more than 20 minutes to get anywhere around Rochester.

Cary is part of the much bigger Wake County school system. They have had problems because they reassign your kids all over, and there are year-round and traditional calendar schools. You don't have a choice. So some people have one kid in year-round school and one on the traditional calendar; doesn't make for a fun summer. The school system is trying to regulate it so you'll know for the next three years which school your child will attend, but generally, it's an unpopular situation. In some cases, there are very long bus rides.

Greece has its own small school system, and they don't have such issues.

NC is suffering greatly due to the recession, too, especially in IT and pharmaceutical jobs. Hourly retail jobs get tons of response because unemployed people formerly in "professional" jobs are grabbing at anything they can find. North Carolina has the SIXTH highest UNEMPLOYMENT rate in the COUNTRY. So, everyone, please don't move to NC hoping for a better life. There is a freeze on hiring teachers as well. If you're a nurse or otherwise in the medical field, come on down. There are still jobs there. But otherwise, it's tough to find a job. IBM just cut 300 people yesterday.

Many people don't realize how bad things are down here because for years, it was a place of opportunity. Things are much different now.

But as far as a place to live -- my ideal life would be if I spent six months in NC and six months in the Finger Lakes area each year. Each part of the country has its advantages and disadvantages.

[FallDreamer]

Thank you for your reply, it was very informative. Luckily for me I am looking for a place to live permanently, so I am not concerned with the price that my house would sell for (for now anyway ). So Greece is still at the top of my list. I am hoping to get a medical office job when I finish college so I may get lucky in the job search.

Thank you for all of the info on Cary as well. It is interesting to see the comparison between the two. This forum seems to have attracted all of the people that have lived in both areas, that is extremely helpful.

Thank you for all of your information.

[HomerBrink]

North Carolina's unemployment rate in January was above 10%. Both of the Carolinas are now in the top ten of unemployment. Hardly call that booming. Times change.

[HomerBrink]

Here are the data to which I was referring

Seven states see jobless rate top 10 percent

[cheese9988]

Originally Posted by lovebrentwood

Cary isn't sprawling! OMG. It IS growing and is very suburban -- street after street of new homes and small yards. But I wouldn't call that "sprawl." It has a sweet downtown area. It has a mall. It has lots of trees. It has nicely landscaped business buildings. It has a good medical center and lots of medical offices. It has an expensive private high school and expensive gold courses. It has many high-end homes. Cary is extremely vigilant about what their town looks like. It's often made fun of for its beigeness (and sameness).

Greece is a very nice place to live, especially since it is near water and not far from the Finger Lakes -- and a short drive to Canada. It has a beautiful library and great YMCA. In the western part, it has more wide-open spaces than Cary does.

The biggest difference between Cary and Greece is this: The real estate taxes are much lower in Cary than Greece, and the value of your home will most likely go up in Cary in the future because more people want to move there. (But you get more for your money if you buy a home in Greece.)

I lived in Greece in 1987 (after growing up in Charlotte/Rochester). Five years later, I sold my house for what I paid for it. If I moved back to that same house, it may have increased in value by $10,000, max.

In comparison, the house I moved into in Raleigh (which butts up against Cary; Cary is less than 15 minutes away), increased in value by about 60%.

Greece summers, however, are glorious. Summers are horrifically hot and uncomfortable here in NC.

In Greece, you have high heating bills in winter. In NC, you have air conditioning bills 24/7 in most of spring, throughout the entire summer, and most of fall.

Traffic is worse in the Triangle area (Raleigh, Durham, Cary, Chapel Hill) than anywhere in Greece. It can take 40 minutes from Raleigh to Research Triangle Park (a humongous business park) to go to work. I remember it never seemed to take more than 20 minutes to get anywhere around Rochester.

Cary is part of the much bigger Wake County school system. They have had problems because they reassign your kids all over, and there are year-round and traditional calendar schools. You don't have a choice. So some people have one kid in year-round school and one on the traditional calendar; doesn't make for a fun summer. The school system is trying to regulate it so you'll know for the next three years which school your child will attend, but generally, it's an unpopular situation. In some cases, there are very long bus rides.

Greece has its own small school system, and they don't have such issues.

NC is suffering greatly due to the recession, too, especially in IT and pharmaceutical jobs. Hourly retail jobs get tons of response because unemployed people formerly in "professional" jobs are grabbing at anything they can find. North Carolina has the SIXTH highest UNEMPLOYMENT rate in the COUNTRY. So, everyone, please don't move to NC hoping for a better life. There is a freeze on hiring teachers as well. If you're a nurse or otherwise in the medical field, come on down. There are still jobs there. But otherwise, it's tough to find a job. IBM just cut 300 people yesterday.

Many people don't realize how bad things are down here because for years, it was a place of opportunity. Things are much different now.

But as far as a place to live -- my ideal life would be if I spent six months in NC and six months in the Finger Lakes area each year. Each part of the country has its advantages and disadvantages.

I guess compared to what I am used to its sprawl. It may have changed, but when when we lived there the metro area was mostly minimall/shopping center then some housing developments then another shopping center. I liked Charlotte a whole lot better because at least there was a decent downtown. I used to work with alot of the businesses down there, good luck to everyone!

[lovebrentwood]

Who said it was booming? "Booming" usually means a great economy AND people flocking to it. We just still have people flocking here. Why? I don't know why. It's warmer, I guess. Times have certainly changed, no question about that.

Originally Posted by HomerBrink

North Carolina's unemployment rate in January was above 10%. Both of the Carolinas are now in the top ten of unemployment. Hardly call that booming. Times change.

[jbertol2]

As for the economy in Rochester, I think our unemployment rate is slightly lower than the national average. From what I saw on the local news, it's 8.3% in Rochester as compared to 8.5% nationally. So it looks like you might have a better shot a finding a job here than in NC (depending on the industry, of course).

[lovebrentwood]

Comparing to Cary to Charlotte (NC) is like comparing apples to chairs. Charlotte is a major city. Cary is a small city that likes to call itself a town. It's sort of like comparing the town of Greece to Buffalo. Of course Cary doesn't have as built-up a downtown as Charlotte. Raleigh has a nice downtown.

Originally Posted by cheese9988

I guess compared to what I am used to its sprawl. It may have changed, but when when we lived there the metro area was mostly minimall/shopping center then some housing developments then another shopping center. I liked Charlotte a whole lot better because at least there was a decent downtown. I used to work with alot of the businesses down there, good luck to everyone!

[cheese9988]

Originally Posted by lovebrentwood

Comparing to Cary to Charlotte (NC) is like comparing apples to chairs. Charlotte is a major city. Cary is a small city that likes to call itself a town. It's sort of like comparing the town of Greece to Buffalo. Of course Cary doesn't have as built-up a downtown as Charlotte. Raleigh has a nice downtown.

I was comparing the metro area, that of Raleigh.