Moving to Albany next year

[Phish Head]

Thank you very much, missladyl. I will certainly look at some real estate prices. How do you like the Capital/Saratoga region?

[aquaecny]

I grew up in Stillwater as a kid. For the closest "downtown" area, you have to drive 15-20 minutes to Saratoga. The schools are pretty decent but have a semi-high turnover rate because the Teacher Pay is very low. With a Masters, they make about 30K-35K.

Stillwater is a very small place, along with Schuylerville, Schagticoke, Mechanicville. In the near future, local pols are expecting a population-boom with the addition of AMD a Micro-Chip Factory in Malta/Stillwater.

[Samantha Aloi]

hi i just found this site after much searching on the net. i am married and have two kids. we will be relocating to the albany area within 3 months. we are also looking for a nice town to live in. but it's hard to tell from statistics.how far is Broadalbin from downtown Albany? are the elementary schools good?would love to hear your thoughts.

[Chester281]

I"m getting tired of people who feel that their hometowns should have walls around them and not allow outsiders in. It's a free country. If people want to move upstate from NYC, they have every right to do just that.

Why is it okay for everyone to move into New York City????? HONEYCOMB, you're in NYC for a job right??????

I was actually unemployed for almost three years and am currently working a low-level job (hourly wage, no benefits no health insurance), because of all the "outsiders", who have been flocking to NYC for the jobs and money. I've interviewed for jobs and have competed with literally hundreds of applicants. I am college educated with 20 years of work experience!!! How do you think I feel??? I live with my mother and we pay almost $800 for two and a half rooms. Our rent is actually considered cheap.

The people downstate don't purposely cram ourselves into small spaces and keep building. We have no choice. Alot of the builders are from outside.

My family settled in NYC, because we aren't quite the right nationality for other parts of the US, including upstate. I don't have the right color hair....

Too bad, the crime rate went down. You outsiders would be staying out, if you thought you'd be mugged. hahahahahah

Originally Posted by honeychrome

"It really makes me mad when you hear "downstate" people from the NYC metro stereotype Upstate Ny as some inferior depressing region populated by nothing but dumb hicks."

Well, did you ever think that maybe this false impression was purposely perpetrated by people from upstate NY to keep NYC metro types from flocking upstate? I'm originally from upstate NY, and hope to be returning there relatively soon, but live in NYC now and it seems like everyone I run into either has just bought a place upstate somewhere or is looking. You might want to keep things quiet, or it's only going to get worse!

[winnie]

Originally Posted by Phish Head

Unfortunately, the only majorly growing counties upstate are Orange, Westchester and Dutchess, still NYC 'burbs. When will people realize the amazing infrastructure in the old manufacturing cities like Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Albany, etc? I mean, the many reasons I wish to live there: no tornados, no hurricanes, no earthquakes, cheap homes, historical architecture, lots of trees, wildlife galore, mountains, clean lakes, rivers, nice people, open space, 4 seasons, mild summers, the list goes on.

I don't want to burst your bubble about "upstate" but just FYI, there are tornadoes (not frequent, but they are there. 9 of my classmates were killed 17 years ago by one) there are earthquakes - look back in history and not so far back there was a bigger one near Plattsburgh - we do get some bad flooding from Hurricanes..or bad summer rains.

BUT you are right about it being a nice place to move to overall..and most places are pretty cheap.

Some parts of Orange are still NYC burbs, but there are many areas that will never be anytime soon due to their remote location from major highways, and Ulster (next county north) is quite nice as well.

Phish Head, what is your career? What kind of jobs are you going for??

I would diligently look for jobs near Cortland/Ithaca/Syracuse. If you don't like Ulster and Orange that is. (I have posted a lot about good towns in that area)

[steve22]

I lived on Long Island for 45 yrs. Everyone I knew who moved upstate loved it and hated to even come back to visit. I found it interesting that Albany has a worse crime rate than NYC. There is another thread that talks about Colonie, an Albany suburb with great schools and very low crime. The winters up there are cold. Summertime at Lake George (1hr from Albany) is unbelieveable, nowhere like it. I was just there last month for the tenth time.

[RiversideScribe]

In your house hunting, you should also consider Schenectady and Montgomery Counties. They are right along the New York State Thruway (I-90) and are within your one-hour limit for commuting (reasonable figure, I'd say).
For example, Canajoharie (my new hometown) is about 45 minutes west of Albany, is relatively quiet, and features something a lot of towns stopped doing: every day at noon, the fire alarm goes off once.

[Phish Head]

I'm actually headed upstate this weekend. It should be nice as the fall foliage will be nice going up, and the hotels have come down in price after Columbus Day. Anyway, we have ruled out Syracuse and Rochester as potential places to live. Nothing at all wrong with the cities, but they are just a tad too far from NJ, where the rest of our family is. Its too bad because the prices are right....

We'll be checking out Broadalbin, Ballston Spa, Queensbury, Glens Falls, Stillwater, and Schuylerville.

winnie: my career is in the environmental and insurance industry. Which means I need to generally be within one hour commute of a city. I have been to Cortland/Ithaca/Syracuse, in fact we were there last New Year. We both liked it a lot, but being 5 hours from family in Syracuse is just a bit too far. I personally think that Cortland would be a great place to live. Ulster and Orange aren't far enough away from the NYC influence....

Chester281 wrote:
"My family settled in NYC, because we aren't quite the right nationality for other parts of the US, including upstate. I don't have the right color hair...."

What is the right nationality for upstate??? What is the right color hair???

[D&T]

Greene County is beautiful countryside, offering a place to get away from city life, yet be conveniently located just south of Albany County. There isn't much commerce within county limits - though it does offer major ski areas (Hunter Mtn & Ski Windham) along with beautiful parks and plenty of history for those curious about the past.

The NYS Thruway runs through the eastern part of the county, making it desirable for commuters. If country living is appealing to you, you may want to check it out. The four seasons are beautiful here, too...

We actually had a tornado come through here a few years ago. It is not a common occurrence by any means, but it does happen. We worked side by side helping one of the families who lost almost everything in it.

It is great to have places where members of the community still take time to help one another.

[winnie]

Originally Posted by Phish Head

winnie: my career is in the environmental and insurance industry. Which means I need to generally be within one hour commute of a city. I have been to Cortland/Ithaca/Syracuse, in fact we were there last New Year. We both liked it a lot, but being 5 hours from family in Syracuse is just a bit too far. I personally think that Cortland would be a great place to live. Ulster and Orange aren't far enough away from the NYC influence....

Orange has some places that are untouched by the exodus from NYC, but then you would be well out of you one hour commute. Ulster tho has some wonderful areas to it and little of Ulster has the city taste to it, except Kingston maybe. The northern parts of Ulster and most of Eastern Greene county would be within your reach of Albany as well.

If you saw parts of rural montgomery and Goshen you would think you were were a million miles from NYC. Check it out sometime if you are in the mood for some apple orchards or country driving.

But I think Albany is a nice choice as well because you can get out of the city faster.

Where is your family??? From Eastern Orange all the way up to Buffalo is 5.5 hours. Just curious because Cortland is only 2.5 hours from Newburgh, about 1 hour from Syracuse and 2.5 hours from Albany. I think in 5 hours you could make it up to Canada and beyond. If Albany does not work for some reason I would really give that area a thought.

Originally Posted by Phish Head

What is the right nationality for upstate??? What is the right color hair???

Upstate has some ultra conservative/borderline ignorant towns where if you do not fit in with the european descent/white male/clean cut/right accent crowd you will get gawked at. Most larger cities, vacation spots and college towns are not like that.