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Thanks for the flurry of responses; very active group you have here. And very helpful. I'll definitely check out Saratoga Springs, as you suggest, and report back. Appreciate the tip. Enjoy your weekend, all.
These are just my opinions....
I was in Troy at RPI 1979-1983, 1987 and 1989 collecting degrees, and just went to a reunion there this last summer. I first visited there in 1976-1979. The school is superb, and they are investing heavily into its infrastructure.
There are numerous interesting things in Troy: troy NY - Search results - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(The Castle downtown is awesome, and the Troy Music Hall is known world-wide). It is also the home of Uncle Sam ;-)
Mike Tyson used to fight in Troy (Houston Field House), and he would be on the news almost every night for racing his Lambhorgini SUV down Central Street in Albany.
Troy is a river town; it stretches 7 miles along the Hudson river, but is only 1 mile wide. Many of the buildings are boarded-up warehouses.
Troy has had steady economic and social decay over the past 30 or so years. The population continues to decline.
As some of the OP's stated, I would think that towns such as Saratoga Springs, or some of the communities surrounding Troy would be better, but those are not 'city-type' places...
Other options would be a little farther west in upstate NY; I had a house in Little Falls that was built in 1876, and was right near the Erie Canal. If you like traditional architecture, there are wonderful houses there, and quite inexpensive. It is a city, but only has about 5,000 residents.
Bottom line is that upstate NY is relatively poor compared to the rest of the state (though there are some significant exceptions), and taxes are high.
Thanks for the flurry of responses; very active group you have here. And very helpful. I'll definitely check out Saratoga Springs, as you suggest, and report back. Appreciate the tip. Enjoy your weekend, all.
Is there anything else specific you're looking for besides architecture?
Actually, Troy gained people this past decade. There are some good and not so nice urban neighborhoods in Troy and other Upstate cities. So, there isn't anything wrong with looking inti urban neighborhoods up here.
I think other aspects would be nice to know about in order to help the OP.
Another thing about that area is that you have smaller cities with a strong urban character like Cohoes, Watervliet and Rensselaer. All are blue collar, but are safer overall and could be good places to invest in.
Well, here are the town stats. you do the math.
I do agree that they should look elsewhere (though as long as they are not too far from Famous Lunch, the best little hot dog stand on the planet ;-) (111 Congress Street, Troy NY) Welcome
Personally, I was mugged, assaulted and am intimidated in downtown Troy. At least I had Clem Zotto's sons ( a barber in the town) prosecuted for those acts.
Watervliet (across the Hudson) (also know as 'Arsenal city') did a train wreck when their military production facilities fell apart, and it became known for "once famous for gambling, saloons, and prostitution; there were more than 25 saloons within two blocks"
Let's be realistic; Troy is a city in severe decay. If you give me a classic brick house downtown, and a license to carry anything to protect myself, I still wouldn't live there. The gene pool all fits in a quart fish bowl.
I would recommend many, many other places to live. And I repeat, the taxes are very high, as they end up supporting NYC.
Well, here are the town stats. you do the math.
I do agree that they should look elsewhere (though as long as they are not too far from Famous Lunch, the best little hot dog stand on the planet ;-) (111 Congress Street, Troy NY) Welcome
Personally, I was mugged, assaulted and am intimidated in downtown Troy. At least I had Clem Zotto's sons ( a barber in the town) prosecuted for those acts.
Watervliet (across the Hudson) (also know as 'Arsenal city') did a train wreck when their military production facilities fell apart, and it became known for "once famous for gambling, saloons, and prostitution; there were more than 25 saloons within two blocks"
Let's be realistic; Troy is a city in severe decay. If you give me a classic brick house downtown, and a license to carry anything to protect myself, I still wouldn't live there. The gene pool all fits in a quart fish bowl.
I would recommend many, many other places to live. And I repeat, the taxes are very high, as they end up supporting NYC.
CKH was correct and you proved his point. Troy gained people in the past decade - your numbers show a 2% growth from 2000.
And I'll have to refute feeling unsafe in Troy. As I said previously, I have been visiting Troy for the past 9-ish years. I have walked around downtown at all hours of the day and night, including coming home from the bars. I have never EVER felt unsafe in doing so. And my sister does live in a brick house smack in downtown and she has never had safety issues whatsoever.
Well, here are the town stats. you do the math.
I do agree that they should look elsewhere (though as long as they are not too far from Famous Lunch, the best little hot dog stand on the planet ;-) (111 Congress Street, Troy NY) Welcome
Famous Lunch is OK, but Gus's in Watervliet is better! You just can't beat the ambiance.
I haven't been to Gus's yet, and I plan on going there.... I was just spoiled on Famous Lunch (and you are right, FL does not have the best ambiance ;-) Though 12 of their doggies does the trick (except for the next two days when they are coming out your pores ;-)
CKH was correct and you proved his point. Troy gained people in the past decade - your numbers show a 2% growth from 2000.
And I'll have to refute feeling unsafe in Troy. As I said previously, I have been visiting Troy for the past 9-ish years. I have walked around downtown at all hours of the day and night, including coming home from the bars. I have never EVER felt unsafe in doing so. And my sister does live in a brick house smack in downtown and she has never had safety issues whatsoever.
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Woo Hoo! Troy went up 2% in the last decade.... How about the total 31% decline in the past few decades? (As I said, do the math).
I have been in and out of Troy for almost 30 years.... (never living there, as I never will), but a good place to pick up antiques at a bargain price from the warehouses from crack whores.
From my experience in the past 30 years, if has decayed tremendously. There is no business base, and it is 'urban in decay'. Fortunately we lived up on the hill and didn't have to deal with the riff-raff.
I am sure you know all the nicknames for everyone there.... I won't repeat them, even though they are entirely accurate.
What an amazing collective response. A lot to think about. I'm certainly in no position to argue with anyone's personal experience, but some of the comments have a familiar ring. Why familiar? Because my wife and I have always bought in neighborhoods that conventional wisdom argued against.
What would make a difference to our decision is the presence of community institutions working against depopulation and disinvestment, as the downtown BID is working to do. If there are block, civic and preservation organizations working in similar ways on improving sanitation, tree-planting, aggressive recruitment of artists and art-related businesses, creation of 'new' community events that quickly become traditions people look forward to, etc., etc., those would be the signs we'd be looking for.
And a new wrinkle: Buy or rent? We are significantly overinvested in real estate at this point (big deal: one house, one co-op our son and daughter-in-law own with us, and a chunk in a real estate investment trust). So maybe it would make sense to rent, and limit our time and dollar commitment until we were sure we wanted to stay.
I'm about to go check out apartment listings on Craigslist. I hear apartments downtown are old, big and cheap. Just our style.
Thank you again for your interest and your very helpful comments. Much appreciated.
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Thank you, thank you, thank you!
