| Back to Home > Bulletin Board > Media Issues > Topic: When you're ready to leave NYC, where do you go? |
Topic: When you're ready to leave NYC, where do you go?
| Author | Message |
| keltoi2 | Posted – 8/14/2007 2:49:08 PM | show profile My wife and I are both Jersey-born and love NJ, but we were totally priced out of the state, even the (relatively) less expensive northwestern part. We crossed the river to northeastern PA and bought a great Colonial at least 105 years old (we're still tracing it back--neighbors are thinking at least 150) in great shape on a third of an acre in a wonderful little village with a 77,000 acre national recreation area across the street. The cost? About 1/2 of what a comparable home in NJ would cost, with 1/3 the taxes. The one catch--I've got a killer commute to my Jersey job, but I'm on flextime, I telecommute one day a week, and I listen to audiobooks, so I'm catching up on reading I'd never have time for otherwise. |
| pentup | Posted – 8/14/2007 4:40:16 PM | show profile | email poster It's not on the East Coast, but Madison, Wisconsin is a pretty cool city. Surrounded by lakes, ringed by bike paths, it's a university community (with all the good and bad stuff that accompanies that association. It's also accessible to Chicago, liberal, friendly, with an amazing and giant farmers market, great restaurants and good schools, many named after artists (I lived down the street from Georgia O'Keefe Middle School). I lived there for three years while my husband was in grad school and I was freelancing. We've also lived abroad and in NYC (and now are in Providence, RI) and have talked about moving back to Madison. I grew up in Boulder, which is now ridiculously expensive, but friends I grew up with have been moving into neighborhoods in Denver that are vibrant, diverse -- and only a half hour away from the Rocky Mountains. |
| Seafarer | Posted – 8/14/2007 4:58:38 PM | show profile | email poster After a lot of moves around the world plus plenty of travel, I'd vote for: East Coast: Providence RI, runner-up Baltimore Midwest: Chicago, and I was impressed with Kansas City during my first (very quick) visit there just last month South: Memphis, runner-up Savannah West Coast: San Francisco/Northern Cal is pretty tough to beat. Note on Austin TX: I went to UT here and live here now to be closer to help parents. Other comments pretty accurate; it's very hip and fun if you can afford the parts of town that offer that. I was priced out and am in a nearby 'burb which could be Anyburb, USA, but hotter. Austin has always been the Berkeley of Texas and people outside the state are just figuring that out, I guess. I detect a hint of surprise in a lot of the over-hyping....gosh, there's culture in Texas! Yeah, thanks for noticing. Where would I live if money was no object? Hong Kong or San Francisco. ------ ** Family Travel blog at http://blogs.bootsnall.com/Seafarer ** Drag racing and NASCAR on http://www.fastmachines.com |
| janbrady1 | Posted – 8/14/2007 8:00:56 PM | show profile Wordy, ha! Unlike the real Jan with Marcia, though, this NYC-dweller has a happy relationship with Baltimore. I like to consider my parents' house there my "country home." Crickets chirping! Imagine! |
| candylilacs | Posted – 8/14/2007 8:05:15 PM | show profile Austin is not the Berkeley of Texas. Berkeley is Berkeley, and that's both good and bad. Berkeley is a much higher-caliber school, has a much crappier music scene, is cramped and filled with sanctimonious vegan potheads. It's only surpassed in that kind of annoyingness by Humboldt State! |
| writesonwater | Posted – 8/14/2007 9:01:43 PM | show profile Okay, so I looked at this site http://www.dreamtown.com, and I can't believe how cheap you can get a Chicago riverview apartment for. Wow! I'm a bit blown away. |
| granitegirl | Posted – 8/14/2007 9:12:06 PM | show profile candylilacs--silly thing. Anyone who knows Berkeley knows all the cool people have moved to Rockridge or Oakland. And the music scene so is not crappy! I mean, look at Green Day! Okay, welllll....Austin has yet to produce anything coming close to the Counting Crows, anyway. Put that on your Bongo Burger and eat it. |
| granitegirl | Posted – 8/15/2007 1:19:17 AM | show profile I'm hearing Iowa is the New New York. I know they mean primary-wise, but whatever...I am thinking of Iowa City or Grinnell someday. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 8/15/2007 1:36:06 AM | show profile Des Moines has publishing, and is a very liveable city I'm told. Avoid Cedar Rapids -- smells like burned oatmeal much of the time. |
| chucho | Posted – 8/15/2007 5:48:13 AM | show profile >> Austin has yet to produce anything coming close to the Counting Crows, anyway. << Huh? This is a bit of a digression, but if Austin has anything it's good home-grown music. This is a personal choice, but I think a lot of people would agree that Stevie Ray Vaughn is far more relevant to popular American music than, er, The Counting Crows? Willie Nelson's from Waco ('bout four hours up I-35), but has made Austin his adopted hometown for decades. Willie Nelson wrote "Crazy" and Vaughn was the reincarnation of Jimmie Hendrix (in playing technique). The list is long. Charlie Sexton, The Meat Puppets, Commander Cody, Poi Dog Pondering, Ian Moore, Spoon, The Gourds, Robert Earl Keen, Butthole Surfers, Pain Teens, The Fabulous T-Birds, Marcia Ball, Alejandro Escovedo, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Junior Brown, Asleep at the Whell, Townes Van Zant, Butch Hancock, Nanci Griffith, Jerry Jeff Walker, Asleep at the Wheel -- good lord I could easily go on for a very long time. OK, back to the OT :) |
| Lizard Breath | Posted – 8/15/2007 10:01:36 AM | show profile "Avoid Cedar Rapids -- smells like burned oatmeal much of the time." Ha! I've been trying to pinpoint that smell for years! What makes that smell?? I've never spent significant time in Iowa, but I've driven through to go from Chicago to KC and it is a less than thrilling drive. I have spent some time in Western Iowa (Council Bluffs, right by Omaha), and it is a lot more scenic than the rest of the state. |
| janbrady1 | Posted – 8/15/2007 2:06:44 PM | show profile I was going to say--Spoon trumps Counting Crows any day! |
| writesonwater | Posted – 8/15/2007 3:21:01 PM | show profile Yeah Cedar Rapids has a Quaker plant there and burnt oatmeal it is. Also, stretches of rural Iowa roads smell like pigs, for obvious reasons -- America's penchant for bacon. |
| writesonwater | Posted – 8/15/2007 3:22:54 PM | show profile I live in Texas, and I love Austin. There's a lot of cultural resources there - things that come with a university town that's a capital. The music scene is good, antiquing's great -- and the real estate, while not as low as San Antone, is no New York. |
| voracious reader | Posted – 8/15/2007 5:51:20 PM | show profile Chucho - what about Los Lonely Boys???? I know Stevie Rae Vaughn leads the list of talented musicians who came out of the Austin music scene, and I know you say the list is long, but those Los Lonely Boys brothers are AMAZING! When my little guy returns to UT next Friday, he's taking his Fender electric in one hand, his acoustic in the other, and his laptop in his backpack with a change of underwear! Of course when he gets there he'll have to get the rest of his stuff out of storage. Oh, I forgot to also mention that he's studying aerospace engineering and hopes to be a guitar playing rocket scientist one day! UT's engineering program is among the best in the country and even for out of state students it's a bargain compared to the engineering schools ( beginning with MIT) that are ranked above it. He found the school by himself and after visiting several other ranked schools, fell madly in love with Austin. I realize the college life experience is not representative of what it would be like to live and work in the city, but I, too, found it to be love at first sight! What I also found alluring about Austin was its proximity to Houston. Getting on in years, if I'm considering a second home, I want to have great access to health care. Houstin's world class M.D. Anderson Medical Center would be my first choice hospital if I got sick. No longer is Mass General, the Mayo Clinic or for that matter any of the hospitals in New York on my list of first rate hospitals. Who can forget what happened to Bill Clinton when he had chest pains up in Westchester County. They sent him home! When the cardiologists took a second look at his records in the morning, they raced him down to Columbia Presbyterian Hospital! I know I'm probably offending alot of people who have probably had solid care at those institutions, but that's my opinion. Might also add that my husband and I visit Dallas every few months because he's being treated by a physician at Baylor. Another fine city!!!! And for all you Dallas folks who have the great fortune to get take out at Eatzi's - I envy you!!! |
| sheilamullan | Posted – 8/15/2007 10:25:35 PM | show profile why not a few hours away If you don't have to go into a desk job each day, why not pick a place a few hours from NYC? That way you might get a cheaper life but also be close enough to zoom in for plays or whatever cultural stuff you want to see. I know people who have bought cheap houses in Pa. and seem to love it there; others also cited the cheaper tax rate there in Pa. I visited New Hope and thought it was wonderful, and that was even in the very cold season; now New Hope won't be cheap, though, that would be other cities that are cheaper. Also it seems pretty neat to visit upstate NY; home prices are very cheap there, ridiculously so, presumably as land is cheap, not too many jobs perhaps, cold weather? Miami Fla. was on my life of cool places until I visited during the warm weather and I know the heat & humidity would kill me in the summer. So anyway I live right across the Hudson River from NYC in Bergen County; it's safe, it's quieter, quick to commute in to Manhattan; eight different bus lines, two different ferries, buses run all night. Works for me! One thing if you work in Manhattan and commute from elsewhere: try to keep it as short as you can, or it will really drag down your life. (I consider my commute very reasonable, and I love it actually, as the commute view is the NYC skyline view!) Good luck. One more thing: there are studios in Fort Lee, NJ (right across the George Washington Bridge from Manhattan) that start at US$70K, which is fairly cheap; one bedrooms that are say around US$140K. We live in a different town nearby but those are certainly reasonable. Cheers Sheila Good luck! |
| writesonwater | Posted – 8/15/2007 11:00:26 PM | show profile Agreed on Eatzi's -- one of the best reasons to live near Dallas. While I don't embrace Houston per se, they have an intriguing lack of zoning that leads to some interesting articles about fascinating homes. |
| Chamsah | Posted – 8/15/2007 11:18:53 PM | show profile | email poster Sheila- Bergen County Sheila, We've just been looking at places to live in Bergen County... not sure where you are living, but OUCH! It's one of the most expensive counties in the COUNTRY. Plus if you can pay your mortgage, the taxes will kill you. (Plus I am not sure I could sleep at if I had to give the corrupt state of New Jersey $12,000 of my money, in addition to state income tax. And that's on the low side.) Renting, as much as I loathe it, is still an option for now. So I am curious about your commute. I can't do an hour of stop-and-go on the bus, yet most of the towns we have explored have a stop every few blocks. How long does it take you to get into the city? Also, my late night closes are usually a disaster. I fear the bus conundrum... you know, running up to the gate just as the bus pulls away, the next one coming in 60 long minutes. Don't mean to sound too critical... especially if you have found a place you love. Just going through the "where do we live" pains. Gotta get out of where we live now in 6 weeks. PS- Turned on my email option if you'd rather email me. Cheers. |
| Chamsah | Posted – 8/15/2007 11:20:20 PM | show profile Sheila- Bergen County Sheila, We've just been looking at places to live in Bergen County... not sure where you are living, but OUCH! It's one of the most expensive counties in the COUNTRY. Plus if you can pay your mortgage, the taxes will kill you. (Plus I am not sure I could sleep at if I had to give the corrupt state of New Jersey $12,000 of my money, in addition to state income tax. And that's on the low side.) Renting, as much as I loathe it, is still an option for now. So I am curious about your commute. I can't do an hour of stop-and-go on the bus, yet most of the towns we have explored have a stop every few blocks. How long does it take you to get into the city? Also, my late night closes are usually a disaster. I fear the bus conundrum... you know, running up to the gate just as the bus pulls away, the next one coming in 60 long minutes. Don't mean to sound too critical... especially if you have found a place you love. Just going through the "where do we live" pains. Gotta get out of where we live now in 6 weeks. PS- Turned on my email option if you'd rather email me. Cheers. |
| Chamsah | Posted – 8/15/2007 11:21:32 PM | show profile | email poster ugh, dilbert... Now my email is enabled. sorry |
| granitegirl | Posted – 8/16/2007 12:35:19 AM | show profile chucho, I was being facetious. But if we're going to talk about a politically relevant music scene--relevant to the histroy of music? (Or politically relevant period. Or relevant, period). Austin over Berkeley? Puh-leese. I know it was a long time ago, but go check out those copies of Life at the library. And the counting crows kick ass. And they're still ALIVE, which means they have lots more music to make. That counts for something. |
| sheilamullan | Posted – 8/16/2007 11:16:05 PM | show profile | email poster Bergen Cty NJ Hi Chamsah: Well maybe I should put in a caveat; I live in a high-rise apartment (not a single-family home) and I love having a doorman, pool, health club, club room, valet (it's kind of goofy, but having a dry cleaner right at the bottom of the elevator is pretty excellent if you work late, or need to drop something off. My deal is, I leave my home in Bergen County and get in to work DOWNTOWN Manhattan, door to door in basically one hour; NJ Transit Bus takes say 30 minutes, a spectacular view (NYC sun rising on the skyline & Hudson), then 30 minutes on NYc Subway. I hear people talk about, uh-oh if I miss the train, I'd dead for 3 hours or whatever, and I just think, man what a snore (in my humble opinion as I want to be free to come and go as I please, not have the commute drive my life!). NOW! having said that, if you stay out late enough to miss the very very very last bus at say 1am? 2am ET Saturday, it might be a problem to wait for next bus at say 5am, but other than that, it runs all night. (And if you're staying out 'til 2am, hey you gotta plan.) I don't know who's paying US$12,000 in taxes, but it ain't us. One thing about NJ: Most NJ buyers (or at least some) want a CONDO they don't want a CO-OP, or so they say. So if you don't care, co-ops are real cheap out here. It doesn't bother me one way or another. Our place is run like a Swiss clock: very efficient. The police are real good here, very efficient, place is safe. I love it: we come home on the bus out of the Lincoln Tunnel, turn onto River Road, turn up Gorge Road, bam, that's our house. Check out the Express Bus Line on NJ Transit No. 156, No. 159; the service is so good and fast to NYC, that people move into the neighborhood just for that bus. It's so pleasant, the buses are new, air-conditioned, you got your own little special reader light, your own little air-conditioning individualized control. NJ Transit even pays a designer to come up with cool color schemes for the bus (hey! Go figure! US$110K/year to come up with purple schemes!); it does make it kind of fun to ride the bus. Practically 80% of the people in the building work in NYC so you can see convenient the bus is. It begins (the express bus) to NYC at 6:20am and is in there by 6:40-45-am-ish. Meanwhile there are 2 other bus lines into city that start at 5am nearby. Anyway, Chamsah, check out the N.Y. Times, N.Y. Post & Bergen Record real estate ads under Bergen County, Cliffside Park; I think my email is enabled if you have any further questions. Have a great evening everyone! Sheila |
| s38 | Posted – 8/17/2007 6:23:31 PM | show profile about baltimore for those of you who mentioned baltimore, did you hold media jobs there? i'd love to live in the area, but it doesn't seem to have many challenging jobs in magazine or book publishing (other than technical or financial). |
| s38 | Posted – 8/17/2007 6:25:49 PM | show profile about baltimore for those of you who mentioned baltimore, did you hold media jobs there? i'd love to live in the area, but it doesn't seem to have many challenging jobs in magazine or book publishing (other than technical or financial). the other thing is that their public transportation is awful. |
| sheilamullan | Posted – 8/21/2007 10:19:36 PM | show profile Keltoi Hey Keltoi, 1/ Could I ask what town in Pa. it's in (or even the county would be fine.) I just keep hearing that Pa. taxes are much cheaper than N.J. ones so am starting to eye Pa. But I'd like a little teensy-weensy cabin or like one acre of land only. I read at one Pa. place there was one acre for US$5,000. Well there was - but you had to a/ do perc testing (does something percolate, like sewage?) and b/ put in sewage system. That's why it was so cheap: just the testing would be say US$5,000 and the system would be say US$20K. 2/ For all the people out there who aren't happy with their current geographical situation, I say, change it, shake it up etc. Best of luck to everyone. Oh just one more thing: there is something about real estate in New York that makes people absolutely crazy, that they will absolutely run through their last dollar to live in Manhattan. Don't do that! You have to be able to save something, over and above your rent or mortgage! I can only liken it to hypnotism. Yes, it's fun to splash out for a year or two with a fancy place (that wasn't my thing, I always shared cheapo apartments with people in nice but non-fancy places), but after a while in an expensive rental apartment, you'll realize, if you're not careful, all you do is work to pay the rent or mortgage, which are so high that you can't save anything over and above. Any if you intend to pay off your mortgage by the time you retire, it takes a while (30 years or 15 years.) I got out of the high-rent Manhattan hypnosis (though I was always super-cheap rental costs) by moving to Hong Kong. There we met people who saved 50% of their income! okay so the place was not fancy, but it certainly gave me a new line of thought. Start reading Kiplinger's magazine and Money Magazine to learn about financial issues; the more you know, the more flexibility in work and lifestyle you have. If you're in credit card debt, listen to Dave Ramsey (daveramsey.com) or else read debtproofliving.com. good luck. Sheila |
