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Guess we were lucky or smart, as when we moved off the Island and were looking at houses we kept out Island sensibility. In other words we bought a place similar to what we were shopping for on the Island and saved our cash. We only moved up when salaries and savings went up.
FWIW, I've rarely had trouble finding a job that paid well (even by LI standards) down here. But that's just us.
They think they don't want to come back, but many end up wanting to come back after all. I have seen it myself. People who "hate" LI and its cost of living and then they find out the grass isn't always greener and they want to come back. I have been surprised many times by this.
I was not speaking in absolutes and I already explained what I was addressing in my post.
Yes, if you want to make it an arguement (which I wasn't, just making a statement) than you win. I'm sure there are people who move out of LI and want to come back for various reasons. From what I know, most or many people have been happy leaving LI. My family is from Long Island. My grandparents, great aunts and uncle were priced out of Long Island, moved to North Carolina and Florida and are happy. All my cousins left Long Island because of the high COL and congestion, as well as many of their friends. They told me that most people who can and are willing to leave LI find the QOL better. All these people I know personally.
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Originally Posted by I_Love_LI_but
So you can speak with authority on behalf of all these different people? "Most" working class people ALL want to live in cities? Nobody wants to live in the suburbs or country, especially people from LI who are used to the suburbs? As for "metro areas," the suburbs of these places are not hotbeds of viable employment and often the commuting into these cities is horrible with traffic jams everyday. Maybe you just want to argue with me though.
By cities I wasn't talking only city limits, that's why I said metro area which is referring to suburbs as well. I don't know any suburbs standing on their own without being connected to smaller, mid-size, or large city economically. It's the general American trend. People work in the city and live in the suburbs (not always but usually). I never said "suburbs were the hotbeds of viable employment." And traffic? Yes, traffic is a problem in any metro areas, but I never heard of anyone not taking a good job opportunity in the city because the commute traffic is so bad. I don't know what you're trying to say here. Are you saying people who live in the suburbs don't work in the city because the traffic is terrible? From my experience and common sense, I'll deal with the traffic going into and out of the city as long as I have a decent job there. Isn't that what people do on Long Island?..work in NYC and live in on Long Island, unless they're able to find just as good of a job on the island. And country? I never said anything about nobody relocating to the country.
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Originally Posted by I_Love_LI_but
Better yet, since we are on CD, go make a post in the Work and Employment area and ask what the employment outlook is for Atlanta. Or maybe you just want to argue with ME and are throwing out city names off the top of your head.
Every city/metro/region CD form will tell you that work and employment opportunity in their area is weak unless you're in Texas forms because we're on CD and people tend to complain about everything on here. Argue with you? I don't know why you think everyone is trying to argue with you. I'm just commenting on your post. Geez.
Quote:
Originally Posted by I_Love_LI_but
Atlanta? It's hard to get a job there from what I've heard from people actually living there. I know two people that had to relocate from Atlanta out of state to get a job.
And I know people living in Atlanta now and are doing fine. Several people who graduated from Emory University and found jobs, and three friends who work at the Center's For Disease Control. I'm sure Atlanta has it's economic problems, but tell me what city doesn't these days? And it's not like Atlanta is on the same level as Detroit or Buffalo if there is economic problems. I wasn't saying Atlanta is better off economically than city XYZ or even Long Island (although they're not comparable economically since Atlanta is an actual city and Long Island is the suburbs). I mentioned those cities because they've experienced high growth because of decent or good (notice I didn't say "booming") economic opportunity and/or they contain many transplants, so people usually feel comfortable relocating there along with the lower COL. And when I talk about relocation to other lower COL areas, I'm talking about the past 10 years not just the present. And people did relocate to Atlanta 5-10 years ago. Again, why do you think it experienced such high growth in the past few years?
I'm not trying to argue with you, I don't know where you got that idea. My point was that people can relocate to lower COL areas and do fine economically, that there are professional jobs in lower COL, and people can be happy. To me, you said "plenty" of people relocated to Podunk areas with poor economic opportunity, but you have to recognize plenty haven't. I'm not bashing Long Island, all I'm saying that Long Island is not for everybody whether it's the high COL, congestion, etc.. Some people leave and want to come back, some people leave and never want to come back. End of story.
Last edited by ThinkingElsewhere; 09-24-2012 at 06:39 PM..
Location: Prince Georges County, MD (formerly Long Island, NY)
1,558 posts, read 2,724,172 times
Reputation: 1652
Quote:
Originally Posted by kayo_michael
For those that left, or are planning to come back, I don't understand how someone can't afford a house they used to live in?
Being that everything is cheaper off LI, I figured you would come back and be able to afford more from all the money you saved?
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Originally Posted by I_Love_LI_but
There are people currently living IN houses ON Long Island, that if they had to buy it TODAY, they couldn't afford to. People who bought before the real estate bubble can be in that category.
^^ This.
Quote:
Originally Posted by I_Love_LI_but
He was asking how you can go broke out of state where there's a cheaper cost of living and cannot afford to come back to LI.
My understanding of it is this:
Wages outside Manhattan (and often Long Island, too) are generally much lower. This is offset by the fact that the cost of living is lower.
Many people complain about Long Island because they feel the wages don't match the COL of living here.
It works something like this, I'm using round numbers to make this easy.
Lets say you bring home $100/week on Long Island and your weekly expenses are $100. Tight? You bet.
Now lets say you move to Raleigh, and you take a pay cut at your new job. Now you're only making $70/week, but your expenses are now only $65.
It's not that you're making your $100/week salary and rolling in the dough with your extra $35, you'll have to take a pay cut. Oftentimes people take that $5 and put it towards savings or college funds that they were neglecting on Long Island to stay ahead.
So the south isn't actually cheaper, the expenses are just more in alignment with the wages.
I doubt many other cities pay what New York pays in salaries.
EDIT: In response to the debate about jobs, we New Yorkers are spoiled that MOST industries have some sort of presence in the metropolitan area, so finding a job is relatively easy, compared to other places. When looking for a place to move, it's not just about finding a job, it's about finding out how many jobs there are in your industry there. The worse thing in the world is to get laid off and have a hard time finding something else, because jobs in your field are so scarce in the area.
If you're about to go to college and want to move around when you graduate, get a degree in something that's in demand across the country, like the STEM fields.
If you're about to go to college and want to move around when you graduate, get a degree in something that's in demand across the country, like the STEM fields.
I agree about your statement on the STEM fields. It seems that too many people are getting liberal arts or general business degrees and not getting decent jobs, unless they have a network connection.
Our country needs more people with specialized technical and science degrees, you think more people would go into those fields.
In this economy, it seems to be more about what field, skills, and education a person has..rather than relocating to a city/region because it has "better" economic opportunity.
So the south isn't actually cheaper, the expenses are just more in alignment with the wages.
I doubt many other cities pay what New York .
I pretty much agree, but what a lot of Islanders don't realize is that there are a lot of NYC professionals who get recruited and don't get a pay cut. So depending on your field you may find that salaries are just a little lower outside of the NYC/long Island area, and the area often will not have the higher COL.
I pretty much agree, but what a lot of Islanders don't realize is that there are a lot of NYC professionals who get recruited and don't get a pay cut. So depending on your field you may find that salaries are just a little lower outside of the NYC/long Island area, and the area often will not have the higher COL.
Interesting. So which fields are you referring to?
I moved off the Island 10 years ago and was able to accomplish what I set out to do: job, education, house and social life. But I have to be honest, I miss LI. I have been back numerous times to visit and I see that crime, congestion and taxes are much worse but the ole girl still has the best food, entertainment, natural beauty and, that aromatic scent rising up of the water. Not sure if I'll move back but I am giving it some serious contemplation.
Statistics certainly don't support the assertion that crime and congestion are worse (LI one of safest placest in America and crime has not risen---can't be congestion with little population growth). Taxes are debatable...
To the OP-also ask yourself this: Do you want to spend every vacation going to LI to visit? The reason I ask this is because that is what my family has been doing since we left. We find ourselves always wanting to be there instead of here because we are the only ones in the family who are not on the Island. So I guess, whether your other family members are still on Long Island makes a big difference. Everyone's situation is different. I see some posts on here that talk about family members leaving the Island as well and being happy. My situation is that everyone is still there and my nuclear family is in Florida. My brother is leaving for Long Island in 2 days-so with that, my children will have no extended family here-so we are probably going to go back in 2-3 years (they are only 22 months old). At any rate, your decision is a personal one and I am sure that you will do what is best for your family. Best of Luck!
Having extended family around isnt all its cracked up to be. There is no point in moving somewhere and being broke just for family. After all, they arent paying your bills and the stress of not having enough money to do that can break a person.
My kids have never had extended family around them. All their cousins, aunts, uncles and grannies live across the pond. We live here where it is affordable and the opportunities are available. We just moved within the states to a cheaper place and love it here. Is it lonely ; even after 26 years, yes it is lonely sometimes. But no matter where we lived, there would be stresses and financial stress can be crippling. Do what is best for your family unit.
To the OP-also ask yourself this: Do you want to spend every vacation going to LI to visit? !
As usual this thread has gone off the rails, so I have to ask, where in the OP did Pequaman say ANYTHING about moving? I can't claim to know the motivation for his question, but it wasn't unreasonable at all. Moving is a big deal, it's normal to be concerned about your kids. Maybe he's thinking of moving, maybe it's just a curiousity. But there are always the usual suspects who have to take these threads places it wasn't meant to go, because despite their vaunted education, reading comprehension isn't up there in their skill set.
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