Thoughts of moving to Cortland... (Buffalo, Rochester: real estate, city hall, renting)

[mama_tucker]

My husband is really itching to get out of South Jersey...cost of living, etc. is outrageous. We had entertained thoughts of Rochester, Buffalo and even a few areas in Maine and such until we happened upon something that had to do with Cortland. I remember passing through the town on our way to Rochester...

I called the City Hall and got someone to send me a relocation packet, and alos the application paperwork for a first time homebuyer program the city runs. What can anyone tell me about the area? I know it's not too far from Ithaca and Binghamton. We have five kids, three of which are at home (two teenagers and an 8 month old). My husband works in health care for the State of NJ and I work in customer service for a large retail company (closest one would be in the Ithaca area). I'd like to know about housing, renting if we need to, newspapers, areas to avoid (if there is such a thing--it's a beautiful area). Any help would be appreciated.

BB,
Heather in South Jersey

[Allie B]

I grew up in the area. It really is a nice place. The college (SUNY Cortland) gives the city more life than some of the other small towns. Be prepared - it is pretty rural but Ithaca is a great city nearby and Syracuse has sports teams, malls, etc. It is definitely cheaper to live there than anywhere downstate nearer NYC. Can't think of any areas to avoid. Good luck!

[reznil]

Cortland looked like a nice area to me, I would move there if my relatives were not about an hour east of there. I'm moving more towards the Oneonta-Cooperstown area.

Cornell University is top notch, some really smart people there. Rich people can buy their way through Harvard, Yale, ect, but at Cornell they actually have standards. Very Democratic area, of course.

[Andrew G]

Hi mama
althought it was many moons ago!! I loved the area and the people. The best time is the summer months
the winters can be brutal because it is in the snow belt that follows route 81 from scranton to syracuse
let me know if you moved there
-Andrew

[Mollikins]

Originally Posted by mama_tucker

My husband is really itching to get out of South Jersey...cost of living, etc. is outrageous. We had entertained thoughts of Rochester, Buffalo and even a few areas in Maine and such until we happened upon something that had to do with Cortland. I remember passing through the town on our way to Rochester...

I called the City Hall and got someone to send me a relocation packet, and alos the application paperwork for a first time homebuyer program the city runs. What can anyone tell me about the area? I know it's not too far from Ithaca and Binghamton. We have five kids, three of which are at home (two teenagers and an 8 month old). My husband works in health care for the State of NJ and I work in customer service for a large retail company (closest one would be in the Ithaca area). I'd like to know about housing, renting if we need to, newspapers, areas to avoid (if there is such a thing--it's a beautiful area). Any help would be appreciated.

BB,
Heather in South Jersey

hope this can give you a pretty good picture of the area .......

Cortland is an old area, mostly known for being the highest city (1,130 feet above sea level) in the state, hence the name "The Crown City."

It has retained most of it's old-time feel in the midst of an ever changing economy. Speaking of which, the economy is not the strongest as this city has seen some major financial difficulty (case in point the loss of Brockway/Mack Trucks, SCM, Rubbermaid, Grumman Boats among the most notable). But it always manages to keep growing !

Probably the major employers in the area are CMH (Cortland Memorial Hospital), SUNY @ Cortland (Cortland State University) and Pall Trinity. There is other employment thru retailers (WalMArt, Big Lots, Price Chopper, Tops, P&C Foods, Aldi's), hospitality (Holiday Inn, Super 8, etc), restaurants & pubs downtown and the area public school system.

Cortland lies almost mid-way between Ithaca and Syracuse, making it convenient for commuters to these other larger cities. It has the convenience of I-81 which runs along the northeastern border of the city.

There are MANY smaller communities which are situated all around Cortland such as : Cortlandville, McLean, Groton, Dryden, Homer, Little York, Preble, East Homer, Truxton, Marathon, Polkville, and McGraw -- so the possilbilities for real estate prospects are good.

The winters are rough -- plain & simple. It can start getting COLD at night (like hovering around the freezing mark) as early as late Sept & the flurries can show up as early as Halloween & stick around as late as May. But if yer a snowbunny, you'd love it as there are 4 ski centers within a 25 mile radius.

Hope this info has been helpful to you ! If you need/want any further insight just PM me.

[brielgeek]

My extended family lives in the Binghamton area and the Oneonta area, and we live in the Syracuse area. This means whenever we visit our extended family we pass through Cortland.
There is definitely a storm vortex there . If there is even a whiff of a snow storm, when you go through Cortland it becomes a blizzard.
Just thought you might want all of the info you can get about the area.
For some people weather is a big consideration. We are in CNY so obviously it isn't a big deal for us
Good Luck

Chris Briel
SyracuseFriends.com

[Griffis]

Any more thoughts on Cortland? I am thinking of looking into a job prospect there. Seems charming.

[Arden]

I am looking into the area as well. My Daughter wants to go to Suny Cortland,my son will be in Albany or Buffalo? I live on Long Island and have been here for a long time,my connection with the upstate goes back to the 50s when I would stay on a farm in Margaretville and worked along with the family that owned it so,my remeberence of the area is a bit dated.
In the 50s it was alive but,from some things that I saw on a trip to Buffalo,plus what I have read it makes me wonder if it is doable for an old blue collor worker. I can pension out of my job but would still need to work to pay the bills from SUNY plus Grand kids that need my help. Sad to hear of the lose of employment in the area. Passed a Beach Nut baby foods factory on the way north(closed) Anyway,any thoughts you all might have on the subject,either way,I have to stay near by the kids,hard for me,I am originaly from Missouri and my side of the family is still back home. Last time I saw Cortland was 1959,been a while. How high are the taxes?

[Ellie C.]

Cortland is really nice. Decent little hospital, good municipal services, but still a small town feel. Real estate is very reasonable there. It's only about an hour to Syracuse, and about 1/2 hour to Ithaca. They seem to always have something going on - there's a Celtic festival coming up this week.

If you can find a job close enough it's a nice place to live.

And the taxes? Well, the taxes in NY are just ridiculous. Ithaca is about $40 per $1000 on average, and little less in the surrounding towns (and I mean a LITTLE less). But here's the deal: we had a big storm blow though here last night around 7PM - huge branches down in the street, and a tree fell on a car a couple of blocks over from me. By 11PM, the crews had everything around us cleaned up - the tree was gone, the smashed car was gone, the branches were gone.

I paid half as much in taxes in Kansas, but they didn't ever plow the street when it snowed (even if it snowed a foot), and lots of luck if the power goes out. It could be days before it gets back on, and that was in a city of a over 300,000 people. In the rural areas it could be weeks.

So as far as taxes go, you get what you pay for.

[yankee_transplant]

Well, the CITY of Ithaca is very liberal, but the outlying towns are generally at the other end of the political spectrum. It's like night and day.

Originally Posted by reznil

Cortland looked like a nice area to me, I would move there if my relatives were not about an hour east of there. I'm moving more towards the Oneonta-Cooperstown area.

Cornell University is top notch, some really smart people there. Rich people can buy their way through Harvard, Yale, ect, but at Cornell they actually have standards. Very Democratic area, of course.