Thinking of Buying Some Land Upstate-Western NY

Hi all,
We are currently living approximately 60 miles northwest of NYC and both commute into the city. Once our youngest graduates HS he is either going to college out west or joining the Navy. Our 2000 sq -ft house will be much too big for just the two of us, not too mention that our mortgage and taxes are higher than what we want to be paying. we have 19.5 years to go on a 30 year mortgage. We would like to stay in NY however not in the NYC metro and are thinking of buying some land near Rochester-Buffalo area. Ideally we would want to buy a property 5-10 acres and build a small 2 bedroom cabin. We both grew up in NYC and are looking for a change of pace. She is a nurse and will not have a hard time finding a job, as for me, I wouldnt mind taking some time off. We have both worked very hard and have been fortunate enough to put some money aside. Our home equity will also help with the transition.
Would love to hear stories of those who have downsized.

Kat.

 

Nice of you to share your story, and I look forward to some helpful discussions here.
I've never downsized, just same-sized in a 3br ranch. Is your heart set on building, or would you consider renovating if you found the right property? Have you made some trips upstate to scout out towns? It's beautiful up there, but....the snow!

 

One thing that comes to my mind is internet availability. We live in a rural upstate town and just got high speed internet/cable 2 years ago. I would hate to go back to paying for data and how slow your other options are.

The costs of a well and septic can be very high upstate. Do your homework and know what they will cost you. Sometimes you can find a building lot that the well and or septic have been done already. Also look into school/county taxes, they can be as much as your mortgage.

I would also consider a fixer upper, if done right you won’t need building permits and therefore a lot less bs.

Good luck! We need great people like you up here!

 

Currently working on it, youngest just started college this year...although we are staying in the same general area, just re-adjusting the size of the house down and the size of the land up!...just bought a buncha land. Having trouble selling our current house, thinking about renting it instead of selling, that makes things tight financial wise for building, and one of the goals was to reduce overall debt, not gain a whole nother mortgage. If the new home is to be financed, be careful how the new home will appraise based on the bath/bed count, you almost have to have 2/3 to get a decent appraisal to make the bank happy.

 

I have first hand experience with a NYC native friend moving here.
Snow- if you don't want to move large amounts almost daily,,, stay away from Buf-Roch area. The Southern Tier gets a lot less snow 50+ miles inland from the lake.
Farming communities- The smell. There's been many new neighbor disputes over the smell. The locals are used to it.
Taxes - Some communities are high , some reasonable .
Hunting - it's a way of life here. You'll probably see some form of it Sept-March
Coveinence. Nearest Home Depot is 30 miles where I live.

 

I think the biggest thing to think about is cost of living.
It is cheaper to move, but the salaries are adjusted as well.
Seeing land and houses cheap means salaries are lower in that area.
Basically using what higher priced equity you have to buy land or a house and live mortgage/debt free.
I worked with a guy who lived on long island who did the same thing. It took him several years to find a fair job.

These are good suggestions and observations.
I know some city people that are small minded when they move, but others understand and accept what they are doing, they do it for the reasons listed!

 

My sister lives in Buffalo(Snow), and my parents live in Canton(Cold), I'm going to probably end up somewhere in between in a few years depending on job availability. If you're looking for areas in the snow belt region, I would make a few trips up there this winter to see if the area is for you. They know how to move snow up there, so it doesn't stop much. Most things have been mentioned already, but proximity to amenities is high on my list. If I'm at my parents house, it can be an hour round trip for something simple and they're not that far outside of town, its not a bad thing, but something to keep in mind. On the plus side, think of all the new snow toys you get to acquire.

 

I live in Tioga County, just across the Pa border. In this area of the Southern Tier, job prospects for your wife would excellent-hospitals are advertising bonuses for experienced nurses.

We are rural-I have a 4 mile trip for gas at a convenience store-any other shopping requires a 12 mile one way trip to a couple of small villages, or a30 mile trip to the Binghamton or Elmira.

Taxes are high compared to the entire country, but they must be better than downstate.

I would imagine that a small cabin, 10 acres of land, and site prep could be done for $150,000. I am planning a new home next spring and will have about 30,000 in excavation, septic, and a well.

Will

 

Native Rochestarian here. Now live in a small NW rural suburb ~25 miles from city center, 2 miles south of Lake Ontario. I have corn\wheat on 3 sides and one immediate neighbor (a keeper).

Taxes are higher than I’d like but that’s anywheres in NY.

Roadrunner cable is avail almost all over in western NY. 24 hour grocery store 3.5 miles away. Walmart & better grocery 10 miles away. Lowe’s 7 miles, HD 18 miles.

I can see lots of stars at night. Deer and other wildlife abound.

Snow is not that bad but then again, I’ve been here all my life.

Gpsfool

 

Thanks everyone alot to digest. Our daughter goes to college in Geneseo @ SUNY Geneseo roughly 30 minutes south of Rochester. My wife went to the same college and has experience with winters up there. Ive done a fair amount of traveling to that area in the last 10 years or so so I am somwhat familiar with the general area and how bad winters can get.
As far as job prospects, one of the appealing aspects of moving up there is that I can do my job from pretty much anywhere where I have access to high speed internet and have been with my company for 15 years. A certain degree of security comes with that tenure, but also a certain degree of uncertainty due to tenure-related salary accumulation. As for my wife, 20 years of experience as a nurse in NYC gets opens certain doors in area hospitals where ever we may land. Also, there are countless nursing agencies in need of case management remote-from home are constantly trying to recruit her. Similar situation, an internet connection and job portability is available.
Ideally, we want to purchase land and build a relatively small cabin-house but we are not opposed to finding an existing property if certain criteria is met. We definitely want land, at the very least 5 acres of flattish land. Convenience to the necessities is a must as we want to make this our forever home and know that if we are to grow old there we would want nearby shopping such as Lowes-Depot-Walmart and the like. I like the idea somoene suggested of renting for about a year once we settle on a town. We had originally discussed that since it will give us a good idea of how life will be and without making the long term commitment.
We are also planning to make several weekend trips to the western part of the state to get a feel for life outside of the NYC metro. As a side note, I was born overseas and grew up on a far, so the hard work and life outdoor is not foreign to me. What some people call camping, was every day life to me. LOL>

Thanks all for all of the great replies

Kat!!

 

Your daughter is going to school up there now, but where might she land when she's out of school? Proximity to possible grandchildren may be a consideration.

 

Also a consideration. Even before she started going to school up there we had discussed moving up there since my wife went to college there and loved the area.

 

Following your thread for sure. Farming/homesteading is something that I've had on my radar for a longtime now. Growing up in RI, we could always be considered a suburban community. However; the area around where I grew up was a little more rural with farms all around. My family ran a nursery for over 30 years. Not a traditional farm mind you, but you get the idea. 5-10 acres - not sure how rustic self-sufficient you plan to be on your land. As you are here, seems like you plan to heat with wood or pellets. Many other factors to take into consideration. If you could tell us more about your plans, that might help.

 

After spending 20 some years raising our kids and seeing them thru college, we have no intention of following them where ever they decide to live. A friend of ours followed his daughter and family out to Washington state and was only there for a few years before his daughter and SIL moved back here. He told us there is no way he is going to move again to follow his daughter. Kids have to live their own lives. We were not helicopter parents and we are not going to be helicopter grandparents.
It is great if they stay in the area but it isn't the end of the world if they move away and follow their own dreams.

 

Excellent point. That was my initial thought, however my wife may see this differently than I do.

 

Maybe J. Dirt or Shawn Curry would have some input

 

Who me?

 

I’m about half hour east of buffalo and almost exactly half hour south of Lake Ontario and I’ve got to say it’s a pretty good spot! We are 15-20 minutes to shopping areas, we’ve got cable, city water, gas and surrounded by corn fields. As for the snow the major line of lake effect usually stays a bit farther south kind of parallel and south of the 90. That said we do get dumped on on occasion but you get used to it. It’s all about what kind of scenery your looking for there’s plenty of places for being way back in the woods or in a neighborhood it’s all personal preference, but most places you are still within 30 minutes of big areas for shopping and such. Around my area and north the ground is fairly flat, the farther south you go the hills start to show up so that’s another thing to consider. If your getting real serious about looking for a place out this way feel free to give me a shout because I spend a lot of time on the road around here for work and get to see a lot of properties (Edit) Was just seeing about Geneseo... that’s about an hour or so from me and we work there on occasion, but that is some nice area out that way and weather is usually fairly calm. Biggest thing to watch is for the large farms and fields cause they like to lay down the liquid manure HEAVY in a lot of places and ooooooo weeeee not fun to live near