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I think it's funny that the regular LI Defense League think expats post here to help "convince" people to leave... which, is just simply not the case. Nothing to see here.
I can only comment on myself. Grew up in Nassau, bought a home in Suffolk, sold it and left close to three years ago.
Our priorities and wants out of life became clearer as we got older and it was impossible to get on Long Island. We thought we had it good, my husband worked from home most of the time, infrequently commuted into the city via the train station walkable from our home. I had a little quarter acre in a nice town and drove less than 20 minutes to work.
As people kept leaving NY to move to other states, I said good riddance. You'll never find what you can get in NY elsewhere. I can't say I resented people, but I felt like we really accomplished a lot by affording our lifestyle. We didn't have kids so the higher taxes due to schools were a little annoying, but that was the price of living there.
But... after close to a decade in our first house, we realized the return on investment just wasn't going to be there soon because of when we bought it and how much we paid and put into an old house. We kept saying "When we retire, we'll go south and have this and that" as a way to cope with what we couldn't have now. Finally, we thought... Why are we waiting until we retire to have a warmer winter, a home that had space, a big yard that I could garden to my heart's content, a calmer and less claustrophobic life?
We researched, found somewhere that could support our careers and had what we were looking for, and we moved. We bought a home that is three times the size of our tiny first home for 1/3 of the taxes. I have a acre of land. We're not on top of our neighbors anymore and have peace and quiet. There's a farm three doors down. We make more money now than we did in New York. I have things I've never had before in a place I love. We even found a good pizza place and the restaurant scene is surprisingly good. Parks, outdoor activities, golf, warmer winters where snow is a rare occurrence.
It was the right decision for us. We knew the material changes that would take place but the surprise was how our personalities changed for the better also. I believe my claustrophobia came out in all sorts of negative ways in my life in NY. Here, it's better. I still have to remind myself to keep the anxiousness in check once in a while but I figure that will dissipate over time.
We miss the people in NY that we love but don't miss anything else really.
We had a sort of similar thought process. 3 kids, in the house most of the winter. One kid in daycare always sick, and getting the rest of the family sick. I feel sad when I don’t see the sun, our house was small, taxes over 1 k per month, 2 very demanding corporate jobs. We lost our write offs and got hit with a large fed tax bill , got the Nassau county “your taxes are increasing” letter. I started to worry about our retirement and we were like, what are we waiting for ? With all the stress, we may drop dead before enjoying anything !! We moved to NC. There are a ton of things we miss and we do visit NY. My kids have been outside every day/ all winter, the blinding sun is out almost every day, and the panic of dropping dead by 45 from heart failure is gone. I’m glad you are enjoying your new home!
I can only comment on myself. Grew up in Nassau, bought a home in Suffolk, sold it and left close to three years ago.
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Originally Posted by VA Yankee
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So where you end up that provided you with this quality of life?
Looks like they moved to NC, RDU area.
I've been there several times, drove all over from there to VA down to SC. It's an amazing area in terms of nature, scenery, air quality, but there is "nothing" compared to NYC or even Suffolk. If you are used to NY life style, you will be bored fairly quickly. If you like the slow pace, mall (or strip mall) life style, like if your idea of going shopping is a trip to costco and target, etc, you would love the area. It's convenient, but there is a lot less diversity in terms of food and shopping. These days most people shop online so that's a plus obviously. (If I was wrong about the area, this is all invalid of course)
I am not sure what Greenie does for living, but if you are making more than what you used to make in NYC, you are either a rare commodity down there, or you were being underpaid here.
I hope greenie can comment more, but for us, we are staying in NY unless there is an opportunity to maintain our lifestyle and what's available to us here. Nobody packs up and leaves because they just had enough, and then try to find a job, etc. You need to have friends, family, etc that you know can give you suggestions, even within NY when we want to move we go and check out the area multiple times. It's important and god bless anyone who is brave enough to move just because "taxes are too damn high" or "enough with this traffic" while they have steady income, and a good career.
Looks like they moved to NC, RDU area.
I've been there several times, drove all over from there to VA down to SC. It's an amazing area in terms of nature, scenery, air quality, but there is "nothing" compared to NYC or even Suffolk. If you are used to NY life style, you will be bored fairly quickly. If you like the slow pace, mall (or strip mall) life style, like if your idea of going shopping is a trip to costco and target, etc, you would love the area. It's convenient, but there is a lot less diversity in terms of food and shopping. These days most people shop online so that's a plus obviously. (If I was wrong about the area, this is all invalid of course)
I am not sure what Greenie does for living, but if you are making more than what you used to make in NYC, you are either a rare commodity down there, or you were being underpaid here.
I hope greenie can comment more, but for us, we are staying in NY unless there is an opportunity to maintain our lifestyle and what's available to us here. Nobody packs up and leaves because they just had enough, and then try to find a job, etc. You need to have friends, family, etc that you know can give you suggestions, even within NY when we want to move we go and check out the area multiple times. It's important and god bless anyone who is brave enough to move just because "taxes are too damn high" or "enough with this traffic" while they have steady income, and a good career.
I would love to hear more from Greenie too! In our case, saved/ invested for years, paid down our mortgage so we had a lot of equity, and kept one job (work at home). Neither of us had pensions so we did not have to stay for that. The house we are buying 150k less expensive than what we sold, and the taxes are 9 k less per year. Many folks in this area work from home. I didn’t find that the case on Long Island. IT and healthcare people make a fortune, lots of Tesla, Benz, and BMW’s. I really do forget, I am not on LI anymore. We did check out the area before moving and their are a ton of pioneer transplants meaning they are the first of family and friends to move.
Looks like they moved to NC, RDU area.
I've been there several times, drove all over from there to VA down to SC. It's an amazing area in terms of nature, scenery, air quality, but there is "nothing" compared to NYC or even Suffolk. If you are used to NY life style, you will be bored fairly quickly. If you like the slow pace, mall (or strip mall) life style, like if your idea of going shopping is a trip to costco and target, etc, you would love the area. It's convenient, but there is a lot less diversity in terms of food and shopping. These days most people shop online so that's a plus obviously. (If I was wrong about the area, this is all invalid of course)
This paragraph is comical all around. Most people on LI don't go into the city unless they have to for work and then they beat it home to the strip malls and Targets as fast as they can. On weekends they are going to soccer games and dance recitals and getting together with the families they just can't separate from - isn't that one of the big reasons we keep hearing no one can leave? family? Not "I go into the city every weekend to go to the ballet, the theatre, MOMA, the village, etc". This is something LIers like to tell themselves but the reality is, it is just not true.
If you couldn't find diversity in the RDU area you must have had a blindfold on. Within a few miles of my house are just about any kind of restaurant you can think of and all the shopping you could want to make international foods at home. Way more than when I lived on LI. The front halls of my kids' schools are decorated with flags and maps with pushpins of the countries students are from - not their ancestors, the kids. Give me a break on the LI is more diverse angle.
Not that I'm trying to sell anyone on it. As greenie said we're closed here in NC. You stay right there on LI.
This paragraph is comical all around. Most people on LI don't go into the city unless they have to for work and then they beat it home to the strip malls and Targets as fast as they can. On weekends they are going to soccer games and dance recitals and getting together with the families they just can't separate from - isn't that one of the big reasons we keep hearing no one can leave? family? Not "I go into the city every weekend to go to the ballet, the theatre, MOMA, the village, etc". This is something LIers like to tell themselves but the reality is, it is just not true.
If you couldn't find diversity in the RDU area you must have had a blindfold on. Within a few miles of my house are just about any kind of restaurant you can think of and all the shopping you could want to make international foods at home. Way more than when I lived on LI. The front halls of my kids' schools are decorated with flags and maps with pushpins of the countries students are from - not their ancestors, the kids. Give me a break on the LI is more diverse angle.
Not that I'm trying to sell anyone on it. As greenie said we're closed here in NC. You stay right there on LI.
Wow
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