Will your kids make it on Long Island? (New York, Holbrook: real estate market, foreclosed)
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This is a topic that came up at a party I attended over the holidays. There were alot of different perspectives and theories. But the majority of the people were saying "NO", their childeren will never be able to live a quality life on LI. What do you people think?
i would have to say no.It is just too difficult for young people to start out.Im 21 years old and if i wasn't living with my mother i would be long gone.Her salary lets us just get by.We don't even own our house,we rent it.And its actually being foreclosed on soon.So i don't know what im going to do.I'd honestly love to move off of the island.Get more bang for my buck and a better quality of life.
I think the kids will make it. It has always been a struggle. After I was married I moved to Queens for five years because we could not afford Long Island. I think that if they obtain an education, work hard, and not expect everything all at once, the next generation will be fine.
Thats a pretty general question. Make it how exactly? Why wouldn't they?
Are people suggesting that Long Island kids aren't smart enough to make enough money to live on Long Island when they get older?
Or does the question mean, will kids grow up well on Long Island. Does Long Island offer children as much as other places in the world growing up?
Pretty open ended question any way you look at it?
Thats a pretty general question. Make it how exactly? Why wouldn't they?
Are people suggesting that Long Island kids aren't smart enough to make enough money to live on Long Island when they get older?
Or does the question mean, will kids grow up well on Long Island. Does Long Island offer children as much as other places in the world growing up?
Pretty open ended question any way you look at it?
Can anyone be more specific?
As some of the other people were saying...Lets face it. Not every child is built for college nor will they land a job making $80,000. So with that being said, if your child is one of the ones who does not earn a degree will he or she be able to live comfortably on LI? In comfortably I mean: buy a home, have a retirement savings, take vacations etc. Basically not struggling to get by.
Even at 80,000 per year it would be a bit of a stretch to raise a family on LI. The real estate market which has steadily inflated over the very late 90's and early 00's has really driven up the cost for the young people. Taxes, Utilities also crunch the budget. My neice and nephew, who both have good educations, enjoy dual earning marriages. They can afford to buy a small 60 year old ranch and gut and remodel every ounce of it! Now that they just had their first baby, this dual earning style is very difficult. I am in my 40's and have three children. I rode the real estate wave back from the 80's so I am OK but have still made a clear choice to move to Raleigh NC. Colleges are great, homes are priced right and utilities are reasonable. It is a bit like LI but.........I am homesick. We would never move back because my children do love it. My oldest is 18 and attends NC State. He enjoys it the most. He said he can afford a home after college and there are good jobs for professionals. He sees a future even more through his eyes than mine. He will live a life much like I lived on LI and so will his children. I really do believe that LI can't offer the same life that I had growing up. Just be careful if you look elsewhere because LI is very special and still grants you some very nice perks- Manhattan, North Shore, South Shore beaches and family/friend ties that go back for some generations.
Last edited by lynnsprufera; 12-27-2007 at 07:22 AM..
Reason: Spelling
As some of the other people were saying...Lets face it. Not every child is built for college nor will they land a job making $80,000. So with that being said, if your child is one of the ones who does not earn a degree will he or she be able to live comfortably on LI? In comfortably I mean: buy a home, have a retirement savings, take vacations etc. Basically not struggling to get by.
Lets start off with your first statement.."Lets face it. Not every child is built for college nor will they land a job making $80,000. "
First of all thats not true. Maybe the parents don't encourage them or want to spend the money or want to find a way to make it happen finacially. Sounds like how my parents were. They told me from an early age that I wasn't college material and I know why they said that...now. Because THEY were lazy in a LOT of different respects. Even if they don't go to "college" there are other sources to educate a kid so that they have a "great" career or trade/profession that makes them happy to wake up in the morning and earn a very good living. I'm a FIRM believer in that! Every kid has their niche in life and needs to be encouraged to find it growing up. To me giving a kid a certain amount of freedom in his/her explorations as crazy as it may appear at the time and nurturing their every facination is a start in a good education right out side of school and that may help in discovering what path they may lead in life. I've seen it happen time and time again. Its when a kid is stiffled at an early age because somethings seems off beat from the norm. To me...thats what a parent can do at home. Just one of the many things.
Its not about where they grow up but rather "how" they grow up.
Its more about not getting support and encouragement growing up right inside the house...where ever they live. Just my opinion I spose'.
And struggling to get by happens to people WITH degrees so I wouldn't assume that people with great jobs one day and every letter after their name doesn't fall short of stupid when it comes to managing their money and their lives.
there's a lot more to the equation of living comfortably.... and how a kid grows up.
and lastly..who really cares if your kids live on Long Island...the island is one of many areas that are the same as others...there are the same issues every where you go and if its not about money...just watch..it'll be about something else. Its all within you : ) Thats where to start with a kid.
Last edited by andybuildz; 12-27-2007 at 08:28 AM..
Reason: cause I always wanted to be an editor : )
As some of the other people were saying...Lets face it. Not every child is built for college nor will they land a job making $80,000. So with that being said, if your child is one of the ones who does not earn a degree will he or she be able to live comfortably on LI? In comfortably I mean: buy a home, have a retirement savings, take vacations etc. Basically not struggling to get by.
The question itself is a bit wide open but if your child does not end up in college but instead in a strong union, plumbing trade, electrician, etc, they could easily earn six figures in their careers. College does not guarantee riches, and some trades are just as profitable. Additionally, I am not totally sold on the theory that not living in this region means there are other areas where earning 35k still guarantees you a 4 BR colonial in good schools. The costs here can be burdensome, and I think the housing price issue is correctly itself.
Taxes here are really the issue. But as others fled to Florida they discovered that no income taxes and low property tax rates also meant pretty lackluster schools. There is some trade off. I understand areas like Raleigh are always trumpeted as the answer to everything but you can lose jobs and property values and see local government costs climb in all regions. The most successful stories are people who have leveraged their New York windfall from homes and their jobs and took it elsewhere. Believe it or not, people who are native to states like Tennessee and NC might actually have some of the same struggles we do...
I am one of those "kids." I am in my mid 20's, do well for my age and in comparison to the reported median household incomes in most LI towns in Nassau/West Suffolk, and growing up I thought it unthinkable that I could ever live anywhere else but Long Island. My friends and myself went to great schools (Cornell, Princeton, NYU, Duke, etc), but aside from one of them, I don't think any of us can really afford to move back to our hometown on the Nassau/Suffolk Border.
Currently I live in the city, and at first it was rather traumatic to give up my car, and have to lug food, etc on the subway or walk it home, but after about 2-3 years, I have adjusted and going home to LI is not as nostalgic as it once was. In fact, the LI lifestyle just seems plain tacky to me now. Two friends of mine bought way out east in the Holbrook area with six figure help from their parents, and now spend their weekends painting, mowing the lawn, gutting the pink bathrooms from 1983 they bought, etc. They can't even really afford to go out anymore anyway, even if they weren't too tired from their 2 hour commutes to Manhattan to enjoy it.
As much as city tax sucks and as expensive as the city is, I would rather spend 500k on a 2 bedroom coop/condo in Hoboken, Brooklyn, Queens or Jersey City than spend that on a house that needs a ton of renovation and upkeep both in terms of time and money, while still needing to insure a car, and buy a LIRR ticket. When you work out the total cost of living (my utility bills are about $50 a month, even in summer w/ AC), Long Island just doesn't work out.
I doubt I will be moving back to LI anytime soon. I never thought it possible, but I have embraced the tradeoffs of city living (one thing I have learned is that you tend to have a lot nicer stuff since every time you buy something you not only have to justify the cost, but where you are going to put it!). The benefits of having a whole city as your playground and endless entertainment where you don't have to worry about getting a DUI on the way back home far outweigh having some grass and a basement to store stuff (though I often do miss the grass). Even if I do move back out to the burbs at some point when I have kids, Jersey seems to offer a much better value, and more sensible zoning which keeps taxes down. ~10 years ago my parents sold their 3-4 bedroom cape for $160k, which now goes for about $400k (the 300k house they traded up to would probably go for about 800k now). Those prices need to come down about 30-40% before LI starts to make sense again. As it stands right now, LI isn't even close to an option for me.
I don't know, but to be honest, raising her to "make it" on LI will not be my goal. I want her to be able to have choices and to be able to go where she wants. Since my husband and I are slightly "older parents" we will be old enough to retire when she is halfway done with college, and we have plans that don't include staying on LI.
It will be intersting to see what happens on LI in the future. It seems to me that Manhattan is only for the rich or the poor- there's no substantial middle class (families, not singles). I wonder if that will happen on LI. It wouldn't surprise me.
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