Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Obviously Long Island is exponentially better than West New York since it has good access to NYC and beaches; as well as generally being much more high class but Long Island is a very very expensive place to live in- to the point of it not even being worth the expense.
Most of Western New York is crumbling, especially in the cities. This is the Rust Belt where almost everything is declining BUT you get low cost housing unlike Long Island.
I think Albany is the best option if you would like to stay in New York State.
(I've lived in both Long Island and Buffalo)
Last edited by PrestigiousReputability; 08-14-2013 at 07:19 PM..
Long Island has the best of everything I feel. Ive lived upstate and I got annoyed with having to travel an hour to go to the mall or a half hour to go to the grocery store. Everything on LI that you need is so close by... Including the beach. We used to drive hours when we lived upstate just to get to the beach. It was ridiculous.
Plus I am pretty sure theres not much jobs left in the Buffalo area. You'd have better luck getting employment downstate and you'd prob make more too.
You gotta be kidding me. This is why people hate downstaters. The towns mentioned in this thread are Buffalo and Rochester. I live in Rochester, I have a grocery store (Wegmans, which is better than anything down there) within 2 minutes of my house. In 30 minutes, I could drive to literally 15 different Wegmans stores. In that same 30 minutes I could visit 3 separate malls. Oh and I live 10 minutes from Ontario Beach. Or another 10 minutes to Durand Beach. Or about 20 minutes to Hamlin. Or if I really want to get crazy, 25 minutes will get me to Canandaigua lake. Rochester has one of (if not the shortest) commute times in the country. Plus, our homes are half the price.
I'd personally go wherever you have a better job opportunity, but seeing that you both can find jobs in both WNY and downstate it's probably a matter of preference.
Even if the pay is lower, I would say that your money would go further in WNY. Long Island is generally very congested for a suburb and the extremely high COL has made it hard for people from what I've seen. You'd have to be sure your job pays well enough to sufficiently cover the living costs there. If you like outdoor activities, WNY is probably better with Lake Ontario and the gorges. Although Long Island has ocean beaches. If bigger cities is your thing, than Long Island wins for proximity to NYC.
I second the other posters that Albany may be good for you guys as well. Lots of people from both WNY and downstate there. It's socially tolerant, has easy access to good outdoor activities, nice suburbs and brownstone houses near the downtown, and it's in between Buffalo and NYC (although NYC is way closer). The only thing about Albany is that it doesn't have a "real" city feel, at least to me. It's more like the combination of state capital and college town (because there are lot of colleges in the Capital Region), JMTC though. Despite it's problems, Buffalo always still felt more like a city to me that Albany with having more amenities in shopping, sports, public transit, etc.
I haven't spent enough time in Rochester to really compare or comment on it.
Last edited by ThinkingElsewhere; 08-21-2013 at 03:21 PM..
We realize that as much as we love NYC (more so me being from Brooklyn), by the time we get there, we will be on the path of having kids. Then, the attractiveness and lure of NYC starts to diminish. Instead, you're focusing on dealing with an hour plus commute and high cost of living; not having drinks in SoHo and going to Coney Island. Point is, we are recognizing our long-term goals. The pros to stay in WNY outweigh the cons in our eyes. If we are wrong, we start fresh.
Thank you all for the feedback. Please continue sharing your thoughts and experiences.
Good luck on your job hunt/move! I'm sure wherever you end up you'll have a great life for your family with your mindset.
Also I literally LOLed when I read jdawg's comment about having to drive 30 minutes to the grocery store anywhere in Upstate NY. The suburbs of Buffalo and Rochester have commutes to jobs and amenities that are way shorter than on Long Island...and for about 1/3 the cost of living and with bigger houses on larger lots. I seriously doubt anyone in the Buffalo or Rochester metro areas lives more than 15-20 minutes from a mall or 5 minutes from a Wegmans. Nice try though.
Lol. Yes. Unless you're in the sticks, that's not the case. We would not want that. Being from Brooklyn, I would be the first to complain about something like that. I've been in Buffalo for six years, two of those in a suburb outside of Buffalo. It is 5-10 minutes to everything. We seek a similar commute in the Rochester area. The gridlock downstate is just not appealing. It is stressful, expensive, and overall fiscally and emotionally taxing. Even with everything at your disposal in NYC metro, we just can't justify the expense and rat race.
You gotta be kidding me. This is why people hate downstaters. The towns mentioned in this thread are Buffalo and Rochester. I live in Rochester, I have a grocery store (Wegmans, which is better than anything down there) within 2 minutes of my house. In 30 minutes, I could drive to literally 15 different Wegmans stores. In that same 30 minutes I could visit 3 separate malls. Oh and I live 10 minutes from Ontario Beach. Or another 10 minutes to Durand Beach. Or about 20 minutes to Hamlin. Or if I really want to get crazy, 25 minutes will get me to Canandaigua lake. Rochester has one of (if not the shortest) commute times in the country. Plus, our homes are half the price.
Ignore the jdawg. Someone left the gate open.
How are the property taxes by you? What size house/property can be had for $300K, and is the area urban or suburban? I've been up to Pulaski for the salmon run and liked it up there.
How are the property taxes by you? What size house/property can be had for $300K, and is the area urban or suburban? I've been up to Pulaski for the salmon run and liked it up there.
$300k in a town like Pittsford (which is the most expensive town in the Rochester area); with some of the top rated schools in the state (higher rated than most LI school districts) will get you a 3-4 bedroom, 2.5 bath house, probably over 2000 sq feet on AT LEAST 1/3 acre. Taxes would probably be in the 10k-12k range though.
$300k in a town like Pittsford (which is the most expensive town in the Rochester area); with some of the top rated schools in the state (higher rated than most LI school districts) will get you a 3-4 bedroom, 2.5 bath house, probably over 2000 sq feet on AT LEAST 1/3 acre. Taxes would probably be in the 10k-12k range though.
edit: also; Eastview Mall, one of the largest in the state, is 10-15 minutes away and there are at least 3 Wegmans within that same distance.
The taxes are comparable to my community in Suffolk County for a larger house in Pittsford ($12K) priced at $299K on the same size lot as mine (.75). I've heard Pittsford's a very highly-rated HS; would you have any idea as to how much of a $12K property tax bill goes to the school district?
I've never shopped at Wegman's but have heard a lot of positive things about it.
What just_sayin' illustrated can be done in much of Central and Western NY. Even in the Binghamton area, they have a Wegmans down the road from the Oakdale Mall in the nicer areas of Johnson City. Even if you wanted to live in Vestal, which is that area's nicest suburb, both are only minutes away and Vestal has plenty of shopping along Route 434. Even in the Elmira area this can be done with nice areas of Horseheads/Horseheads North/Big Flats in between the Wegmans on Route 14 and the Arnot Mall. Heck, Auburn has a Wegmans in their walkable Downtown with shopping at Finger Lakes Mall or Grant Ave/Route 5. Same with Ithaca, Geneva, Canadaigua, etc. So, even many of the smaller cities can allow for short drives to a grocery store and shopping.
With an area like Utica-Rome or Watertown, they don't have Wegmans, but both have Hannaford and other chains like Tops or Price Chopper, with the last two based in Buffalo and Schenectady. Both have malls and plenty of other big box shopping too.
Last edited by ckhthankgod; 09-02-2013 at 05:55 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
