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Sounds like majority moved to NC. Also sounds like NC its total country living. Maybe if you went somewhere halfway in between country and city you would have had better time. I read the folks in Orlando,FL is having better time. Probably cause FL is not all country. I moved out of NJ 4 years ago and will NEVER return. I now own a 3 bed 1600 SQ ft house, fenced backyard, park down street annual taxes are $1200, car insurance $300 - YEAR (comp and collision). Schools are A+ (Excellence with distinction).
DirecTV provides all NY sports. I am missing absolutely nothing from NJ.
NC isn't total country living. Personally, I like the country even though I grew up in NJ, but my parents don't so we moved to Greenville/Winterville, NC. They have everything NJ has right in town, Mall, Movies, Restaurants, Community College, Major University, etc. 1.5 hours from Raliegh, and 30 minutes from Washington. Was never a New York sports fan, HATED the Yankees (GASP!), and could count one one hand the amount of times I went to the city. I went to NJ schools from K-10 (two different towns, K-1 then 2-10) and I didn't find schools here to be that great IMHO. If your kid is smart, they will excel, if they aren't then they won't, don't blame the school district.House Prices, Taxes, Health Insurance and Car Insurance is way less, I am going to pay way less for college and my dad makes slightly more than he did in NJ. Crime is slightly higher, but if you are smart and do your research, and don't go out at midnight on the "bad" streets then you are fine. Honestly I can't imagine going back.
who says you cant go home. I moved my husband and three kids to fla in 04,I couldnt wait to move back.. My husband said there is no going back we cant afford to buy back into jersey. I moved to fla because I to felt it would be cheaper better guality of life sunshine and warm weather.We built a new house low taxes no state tax, but you earn less money and think you can do that job for less until they hand you the check. It all evens out . I diddnt like the education unless you do private I diddnt like the lack of a community feel people rent all around you they move in and out every 6 months.I hated all the sex offenders that were around me 6 in a two block radius one 3 houses down with an ankle bracelet on. I meet some great people I will treasure for life but, we moved back in 07 and I feel safer I feel my kids have more oppertunty here with jobs,education ect.My older daughter was not intrested in thinking about collage there and has changed her minde moving back.This is home. I can take 3 or 4 different roads to get some place instead of 95. All of the homes are different and have charcter there not all stoco with tile roofs each neighborhood here has feel to it.Maybe if my kids were grown and living there lives it would have been different for me but I couldnt offer them that life style and think I did right by them.If there was truly a better and cheeper place to live we all would be there where is that place that remindes you of home that you can go to. Im glad Im back you can afford it if you do some leg work nothing is impossiable if you want it. We are all creaturs of habbit you can imagagine how great some place can be and dream of a better life but the next time I go looking for happiness, I wont go looking any farther then my own back yard, because if its not there. Its not anywhere. I did not do the leg work I should have when I decided to go.Thats my story hope it helps, no one knows what the future holds or were it will take you. But you get up everyday thinking of tommorrow you miss what today will bring you. My husband hates being back he loved the weather but sunshine dosent pay the bills.
I would take the risk and head back to Jersey if I were you. I know what you mean about the south. It is a different world. Currently in Jacksonville, I long to get back to the northeast, I don't care how cold it is. The northern culture is worth the cold and the taxes.
I left New York for Florida which was the worse decision I ever made.
I returned and have never been happier. I swore I would never complain about the cold and snow....and haven't for the past two years.
"The Northern Culture is worth the cold and taxes."
I have lived in 4 different states. NJ is the best by far. That said, I find it the best because of quality of life. When you are used to a certain way, that becomes "your" way. To try and fit in to another culture didn't work well for me.
There is far more opportunity here than in the other places I lived.
We left NJ because it wasn't the same NJ that we grew up in. Yes the towns are still in the same location, but the traffic seems to double every five years. The new immigrants are not the same as the immigrants that came years before. Towns where we grew up we find no longer suitable to our way of life.
People don't leave NJ because they think the South is utopia, they leave because they don't like what NJ has become.
I see no reason to return to a state I no longer enjoy living in.
I can get along just fine without good bread, great Pizza and Pork roll.
I'll adjust.
The Carolina's will be expensive in 10-15 years.. I actually think NJ won't seem as bad in the future due to all the migration down south. I've noticed the housing values in NJ has decrease by a good margin, the more people that leave the lower the COL will be. As for the tax situation, there's areas where it's somewhat manageable.
My grandparents moved to FL from Jersey and fled back (to Delaware anyway) - I spent a lot of time in FL.
I can only speak on SWFL- But from my visits and what my grandparents have told me, that place was shot up and sunk to the bottom of the sea. Foreclosure rates were out of this world, unemployment rates were soaring, salaries were crap, and all these new homes that were rapidly built in large numers just sat there empty and soulless (LEHIGH ACRES!!). That area has become so desperate, trying to dramatically drop housing costs- I believe it was where Obama first pushed the stimulus package (in Fort Myers?)... All because of the lack of stability.
NJ never got "that bad" even with its high COL- So people fleeing to what they "think" is better isn't always better.
~
As for me, I'd probably leave NJ some day.. To Upstate NY, Rhode Island, possibly Canada (Montreal/Toronto).
Last edited by BPerone201; 10-31-2010 at 11:48 AM..
No, it doesn't but you also don't have to pay the NJ tax rates just to get safe living and good schools- you do, however, have to do some research. The town we live in has lower crime rates than the town we left behind, and the schools are better as well (based on test scores, academic programs offered, non-academic programs, etc). Blanket statements regarding entire states or even metropolitan areas aren't very accurate.
NJ has high taxes because it's the most accessible state in the nation.
Philly/NJ/NYC - It's a sandwich
NJ is the most accessible state in terms of dining, shopping, health care, education etc- NJTransit is the largest statewide PT system in the nation. We have beaches and mountains (nothing extravagant, but we have them on top of all other things in a 65 mile radius)- NJ is arguably one of the most ethnically diverse states in the nation... Having access to so much isn't going to be cheap.
And then comes the wealth, top notch education, etc which is just a big fat bonus (depending on where you are)
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Sunshine doesn't pay the bills.
