Moving to Oneonta?

March 10, 2009 3:23 AM

My wife and I and our 2 dogs are thinking about moving to Oneonta, NY., as we have friends and family nearby. Any thoughts on living in Oneonta. Thanks
posted by pjs005 to society & culture (6 comments total)

hmm I went to college there . Was a decent town but if i remember correctly not much in the surrounding area. where do you live now and do you have a job?
posted by majortom1981 at 4:19 AM on March 10

The Good: Miles and miles of rolling hills and farmland, dotted with weathered barns, silos and farm animals. Proximity to the Catskills for hiking, fishing, skiing. Some of the sweetest nature in New York State, if not the USA. Temperate summers. A cheap (and declining) housing market in the smaller towns nearby. Crime rates are low.

The Not-so-Good: Frigid winters, with the mercury dropping below 32 for weeks in January and February. Mornings reach -5 below in the depth of winter. Also, isolation. Middle-size cities and shopping malls are an hour's drive or more.

All and all, if you're nature lovers and can cope with the cold, I'd make the move.
posted by Gordion Knott at 4:28 AM on March 10

The joke response: The good: Close proximity to family. The bad: Close proximity to family.

The serious response: Not knowing what you do for work, and not knowing what the job market near Oleanta is, I would reccommend doing a fair amount of research on that front before anything else. About a month ago when my company went through the layoff process, and I was afraid of loosing my job we considered what our options would be if I lost mine (I didn't). We considered moving closer to her family, as that would help with babysitting and would allow us to both be in the workforce. However, us moving to rural Vermont would also have posed a serious risk to my ability to provide for us (fewer analytics jobs). In the short term, we both could have found some form of employment, and possibly exceeded our current income, but neither of us would be building a skill set to improve employment oportunities for the future. While our son would have greater exposure and a better bond to his grandparents, and there was a slight chance that there would be some analytics jobs available near there (I have a few contacts), we would have still favored a more urban setting, only using that as a stop-gap maneuver.
posted by Nanukthedog at 7:30 AM on March 10

I'd go there tomorrow if I could get a job that would sustain me! If you are retired, well, what are you waiting for? Go!

Good luck!
posted by jgirl at 8:46 AM on March 10

Most of the employment in the Catskills is based off of second-home owners. So much so that when Delaware county was about to get windmills (ideal area for this), the local politicians fought against it because it would make the hills 'ugly' and scare away the people who would want a scenic homes since their property taxes account for at least 40% of the local budgets.

Oneonta is a bit more of a city but it is fairly insular. The area is gorgeous but the winters can be harsh. People there are for the most part really great - I think that anyone who can survive those winters shares a local solidarity.
posted by infinitefloatingbrains at 11:04 AM on March 10

Thanks, to everybody who responded. I live in the Boston area, I do have a well paying job. I'm originally from upstate NY, north of Oneonta. Its sounding good.....of course except for the extremes in weather, But then there is always something extreme from somewhere, everywhere. We like nature and are not fond of malls, that's what Amazon is for.
posted by pjs005 at 6:20 PM on March 10