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As I've stated before elsewhere on City-Data, I've had a desire to move to upstate New York for quite some time now. First smitten by its entrancing beauty on the way to Niagara Falls back in the late 80's and falling head-over-heels in love with Ithaca in the late 1990's, the thought of one day living in this part of the country was never far from my mind. In 2004, when I was still living in south Florida (yuck), I came pretty durned close to moving up to CNY, when I was still entranced with the farm idea. Practical logic won over with a sensible move to Atlanta, however, where jobs and a much cheaper housing market awaited me in early 2005.
Atlanta, while it looked awfully enticing in 2005 with its booming economy and plentiful cheap housing, hasn't been that great from my perspective in recent years. Ever since I decided to train as a carpenter and go into the residential building trade a couple years ago, the housing depression has only deepened, shutting out all but the most experienced carpenters of steady work. If I want to make a go of it in my new trade, this isn't going to be the place to do it for quite some time. And besides, I really, really hate working in the heat - me likes it cool outside.
You bet, the song of Central New York is calling me loud and clear. Now, more than ever, more so than even in June when I made a visit there in person, it's the place for me to be. Atlanta was just my way out of Florida. CNY is a calling, plain and simple. Earlier this year, I was vacillating between picking Syracuse and Jamestown to relocate, but after visiting both locations in person, and giving it much thought, (and reading the Syracuse thread of course, much thanks to proulxfamily, ckhthankgod and others ) I have decided upon the lovely city of Syracuse.
Might as well make it official here: It is my primary goal to move to Syracuse or within 20 miles thereof by this time next year (Nov 1st, to be exact). And I can't wait!
I'm hearing far too many good things about the city not to wait any longer than I have to, and yeah, while I do have a house I will need to unload prior to moving, the RE market around here appears to have finally have hit bottom, with average home prices increasing by $400 this past month (hey, at least it's not going down...lol). My plan is to "mod" out my current house prior to sale, other houses in this area that have received that treatment have sold for excellent prices, and I hope to do the same using my new carpentry skills, saving a ton of money in the process. This will give me a good introduction to what I wish to do once I relocate to Syracuse, which is to buy cheap homes in need of renovation and rent them out, or resell, whichever makes more sense. With all the new construction projects on the table in that area in the next few years, it's my hope that carpenters and other tradesmen will be in need, and I'll have more work than I can handle. Even as it stands now, we're comparing Atlanta's 11% UE rate (even higher in the building trades), to Syracuse's 7.6% rate (if I'm not mistaken). Compared to here, that's like an economic boom. And to think people used to say that Syracuse had no economic future. WRONG! (just had to put that in there...lol).
And don't get me started on the climate of CNY. To make it short, it's got my name written all over it. Heavy snow in winter, delightfully pleasant summers, the brilliant autumns, and consistent rainfall outside the winter months. Here, our climate is characterized as dry, hot, sunny and monotonous. If I wanted to see 3 weeks of wall-to-wall sunshine, I'd moved to Arizona..lol. The climate factor of CNY is a huge draw for me, now so more than ever, with what little cold and snow we do get down here only serving to whet my appetite for a real winter. And to be able to ride on a one-horse sleigh for real has been a dream of mine for a very, very long time - and to think they really do have things like that up there at Christmastime.
I wish I could be loading up the moving truck tomorrow, but alas, these things take time. At least I'll be done with schooling this December, freeing me up to do some projects for others as well as the house, and perhaps I'll have this house ready for sale as early as late spring or early summer (keeping my fingers crossed on that one). I realize that it may take longer than that, hence setting the goal line at 1 Nov 2011. I'll put up with one more hot winter and another grueling summer, only if I hafta, but that's the limit - I want to be gone from here, and there in Syracuse by the time the snow flies in late '11.
In the meantime, I'll use this thread to post about my progress in making the Big Move over the coming year, as well as any questions and concerns I might come across as I get closer to the move. Others who are thinking / planning to move to Syracuse are welcome to add to this thread as well.
Last edited by NorthStarDelight; 10-27-2010 at 01:25 PM..
Syracuse & Upstate New York welcome you to "come on up"
You are a carpenter? Home builders here are still constructing homes and remodeling homes for people across the suburbs (Cicero, Clay, Brewerton, Liverpool, Baldwinsville, Manlius) altho its down a bit from the past==the national effects of recession. I think there will be work for you. There's also a lot of basically good homes that could be bought, remodeled and resold; homes in older (1950's & 1960's) parts of Liverpool-Cicero-North Syracuse-Fairmount, Camillus.
Good luck with your plans. I think you will like living in Metro Syracuse.
The nice thing about being here is that people - especially in the affluent suburbs - have money for built-ins. It's a RAGE, I'm telling you. Window seats, entry organizer units, bookshelves, desks, pantries, etc. Instant character in a new-build home... and added character for the old ones that don't have those special little touches. If I wasn't so stinkin' cheap, I'd hire a carpenter to do all of mine! lol - and I would end up paying top dollar too, as my old house isn't level or straight or simple by any stretch of the imagination! :P
As it is, I'm learning carpentry by the trial-and-error>fix it so it looks nice method. haha - it helps that I have a father who built my childhood home from chiseling post-and-beam hemlocks. He's a handy guy to being able to call when I need him!
Wow - I've never heard of anyone who wants to move to Syracuse because of the weather!!! I miss the Cuse and would move back in a heartbeat but the hubby's job is now heading to Michigan so we will go there for a while. At least it will be an easy weekend drive to visit family. Good luck with your plans and if you ever renovate a house in Camillus and want to sell it, I'd probably be interested!!
Wow - I've never heard of anyone who wants to move to Syracuse because of the weather!!! I miss the Cuse and would move back in a heartbeat but the hubby's job is now heading to Michigan so we will go there for a while. At least it will be an easy weekend drive to visit family. Good luck with your plans and if you ever renovate a house in Camillus and want to sell it, I'd probably be interested!!
Okay, I'll keep that in mind...hehe.
At least Michigan is a Great Lakes state, I've thought about moving there myself before I was considering New York.
Yeah, I'm a bit of a weather nut - ten days of clear skies in a row just doesn't cut for me...lol. I like wind, rain, clouds, sun, *SnOw*, cool, cold, *some* warm - I want it all
Per the replies on carpentry, it's certainly comforting to know that I'll likely be able to find work - custom interior renovation is going to be a big focus of mine, and to take advantage of the delightful summers, I hope to get into building / repairing decks, gazebos, etc.
One question that's been lurking in the back of my mind, and it has to do with the dreaded "U" word.
Yeah, I know there are unions for the various trades in New York, but I don't plan on joining any of that if I can at all avoid it. Is it possible for a carpenter to just work for themselves as freelancers and not run into any trouble for not being a union member? I'm assuming that you'd need to join the union if you work for a construction company, or for government, etc. But how about the small-scale contractor that has three or four employees, do they have to be union members? Or can the owner just hire whoever he wants and price his services according to the market without worry?
The carpenters I've known all do work through word of mouth and small signs in the yards of people's homes they've worked on (small discount for allowing it for a month or so.)
The carpenters I've known all do work through word of mouth and small signs in the yards of people's homes they've worked on (small discount for allowing it for a month or so.)
That's what I figured, that a lot of carpenters do it that way, much like they do down here (along with desperate home-builders Hoovering up every scrap of work they can find ).
I'm just curious as to who actually has to use union workers with the "closed shop" rules you have up there. I'm assuming that a company has to be of a certain size for this rule to kick in? Apologies for being so ignorant on this matter.
Wow - I've never heard of anyone who wants to move to Syracuse because of the weather!!! I miss the Cuse and would move back in a heartbeat but the hubby's job is now heading to Michigan so we will go there for a while. At least it will be an easy weekend drive to visit family. Good luck with your plans and if you ever renovate a house in Camillus and want to sell it, I'd probably be interested!!
I'm looking to move to SYR, and yep, weather is one of my driving factors, although not the only one. I love snow (maybe not Tug Hill snowfall, but snow nonetheless). My reason for liking snow is that things slow down. You can't be in a rush when its snowing.
When I lived in Northwest NJ, they got moderate snowfall there (45" a year, 75" last year). I noticed that it was the only time that people got to know each other. Helping one another out, you actually got to know your neighbors. Most people on weekends and holidays are too busy to be neighborly. Snow "forces" people to slow down and work together. People around here get mad when it snows because they can't go to work and their stuck home with their family- something that I just can't understand.
Celebrating Christmas with lights on a palm tree like I've seen in Florida just makes no sense to me. Sorry.
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Earlier this year, I was vacillating between picking Syracuse and Jamestown to relocate, but after visiting both locations in person, and giving it much thought, (and reading the Syracuse thread of course, much thanks to proulxfamily, ckhthankgod and others 
) I have decided upon the lovely city of Syracuse. 
Syracuse & Upstate New York welcome you to "come on up"
). 
