Crap. All that time I put to writing my thread and it gets eaten by the hamsters.
Basic summary… My boyfriend’s getting stationed in Ballston Spa. I’m going with him. We’re planning on moving end of December. Neither one of us know what to expect of the area. We’ve both basically grown up in the south.
Any advice you can give us about the area would be greatly appreciated. Anything from cost of living and nice places to live to what there is to do on a Saturday night and what types of jobs are available.
You will have morning traffic jams going to Albany and jams comming back from Albany. For some reason I just can’t understand this it the ONLY direction hat jams regularly, traveling to/from Albany from the S, W, E are most of the time trouble free. (maybe someone can try to explain this to me)
You will get this cold white powder that falls from the sky when it is very cold out, just take a shovel and pile it up on the side of yoru driveway, don’t bother bagging it up for garbage pickup, it will go away on it’s own.
It is a nice place, in the summer I suggest going over to the adarondaks and taking a few day hikes, The Adarondacks are not the usual mountains you find in the east. If you like Skiing you have Gore right by you. There are plenty of stores in S.S. so no problem there.
For jobs you will most likely be commuting south, along w/ everyone else, it is a fairly large metro area. No public transportation to speak of.
The cost of living is low compaired the the greater NYC area but I would suspect you will find it higher then Tennessee.
Saratoga is very much a tourist town. So the amount of nightlife you’ll see will depend on what time of year it is.
There’s the obvious stuff; the racetrack and the spa. Saratoga also has the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (which is referred to as SPAC) which is one of the largest concert venues in upstate NY.
For traveling purposes, Saratoga is about a 4-5 hour drive from New York City, Boston, or Montreal; all of which are worth a visit.
I used to live in a tiny town south of Albany. The end of December is going to be a horrible time to move there. You poor things.
kanicbird is right, entering Albany from the south, west or east is traffic-free but going from the north of Albany you will get major traffic.
I know more about bars in Albany than in Saratoga Springs and not much about that, either (except that the Big House is a good place to go). Sorry.
You might try springstreet.com to find apartments - it’s where I found my place down here. At the very least you’ll get an idea of average rent.
A big employer in Schenectady is G.E. and they are almost always hiring for low-level positions and secretaries and such - I almost worked there myself but my temp agency jerked me around too much. Albany is trying to get into the tech field too, now, so if you have any of those sorts of skills you’ll probably find a job.
There’s a lot of good shopping up there. And if you want to go to a huge mall you could head to Albany and visit Crossgates. They have over a mile of hallway.
I grew up in Schenectady/Niskayuna, and had a girlfriend at Skidmore College in Saratoga, so I know the lay of the land pretty well.
Saratoga is a very nice town, with a good shopping/dinner mentality. It’s a nice place to walk around, and has some great houses and apartment neighborhoods. Ballston Spa is a lot smaller and not nearly as nice, but most likely significantly cheaper.
Schenectady is much more hit or miss. It will be probably cheaper, and is a little closer to the urban areas (GE being prominent). Definitely check out the neighborhood first wherever you decide to rent, as some areas are suprisingly run-down. The area around Central Park is fairly nice, as is Niskayuna (essentially the same town).
Might I suggest looking in a few other places? Latham is central to the whole region, and is quite reasonable. There are also nice parts of Albany (Lark Street) that have a good balance between the urban and peaceful.
I grew up in upstate New York and always thought Saratoga Springs was a special place. Compared to much of rural New York, which is… well… rural, Saratoga always had a disproportionate amount of class. Some really well-off people live there. I grew up in a smaller, but equally well-heeled village, Cooperstown, so I thought of the two as cousin villages. In addition to SPAC, Saratoga has horse racing, and (I think) an opera theatre.
If you are from down south, you probably don’t know cross country skiing, but the Saratoga area has some great places. Check out the Day Biathlon Center, which is nearby.
I lived in Niskayuna for many years (hey, there, Greyseal) and it’s a bit of a haul to Saratoga Springs–about 45 minutes with traffic, about 25 with none). If you don’t have kids, though, some parts of Schenectady are affordable to live (Niskayuna has a much better school system and your taxes reflect that–Schenectady has low tax rates and cheaper housing but you don’t want to send your kids to Schenectady schools). If you don’t mind living out in the country there’s a lot of fairly open space between Schenectady and Saratoga Springs, and I would think that’s pretty affordable living.
SS is a nice tourist town, somewhat intolerable in racing season, but that’s also a good time to rent out your house, if you live near the racetrack, and go on vacation.
We don’t have any children. It’ll only be the two of us. He’s in the navy and is going to be finishing up the last part of his training, so we’ll only be there for about six months.
Schenectady and Saratoga Springs seem to be the closest to Ballston Spa. We’re trying to stay as close as possible.
How small are these towns? Right now I live in Knoxville, which has about half a million people, but still has a small town feel to it. I’ve found that most of the areas in Tennessee are like that. Is it like that up north too?
And how do you deal with the cold? If it gets around freezing here everyone is all bundled up and still shivering.
Wow. I hardly expected to find a fellow Niskayunian on these boards. There’s hardly 20,000 people in that town. Did you go to school there? I graduated in '96.
By memory, Schenectady is about 70,000 people strong. Saratoga has fewer, maybe 40,000? Albany has about 100,000, and the entire “Capital Region” totals about a million.
I’ve driven through Knoxville, and it seemed to be similar in feel to Albany, as much as one can compare these things. Most of the area is suburban or small-townish, with some pockets of urban living.
And it WILL get cold. Not as bad as Buffalo or Maine, but expect it to be below freezing for a few months solid. It will rarely go below 0 deg. F. You will eventually get used to it. I had to learn to deal with sunny 70 deg. weather everyday when I moved out here!
Another ex-Niskayunian checks in. We lived there during the 80’s. My husband worked for GE with the Navy proto-types in Ballston. Is that where your boyfriend is going to do his training? If so it was was about a 30 - 45 minute commute depending on the weather. Niskayuna is basically a suburb of Schenectady with little or no apartments. Schenectady was very affordable 20 years ago and probably still is.
As others have indicated Saratoga is way more upscale. If you’re into malls go for Schenectady, if your into outdoor winter activities and you want to live in a Bob Newhartish New England style community go for Saratoga.
It will be cold and snowy. But they do a really good of plowing. Good luck.
Holy cow, this is strange. Yet another ex-Niskayunian here as well (class of 82). I was just up in Schenectady Columbus Day weekend, and I’m not sure I’d recommend looking in the city. A lot of it is run down still, although there are some beautiful brownstones there. Looking further out would be better. Scotia is nice and small-towny, and not far from Saratoga/Ballston Spa. There are a LOT of smallish towns scattered up and down the northway (I-87), and they are pretty nice places to live; I’d spend a few days cruising around and see what strikes you. If you’re looking for more urban entertainment Albany (and the aforementioned Lark St) are pretty nice. I think Schenectady has some of the best small italian restaurants I’ve ever been to. As for the weather, well it’s colder than Buffalo (valleys get colder in the winter) but less snow. Dress in layers, and realize that warming up your car is a neccessity, not a luxury.
He is going to be in Proto-type. About twenty of his classmates are being transfered there too.
We’re not very picky about where we’re going to be living. He just asks that it be close enough to work and I want something safe.
We’re planning on taking a few days to visit the area and look for an apartment. Money is tight. He gets a GIs paycheck and I’m about to graduate college. Do you know where it would be cheapest to get a room for a few nights?
Schenectady would be cheaper than Saratoga Springs, but the downtown is pretty run down, whereas Saratoga is thriving. Part of the cheaper rents in Schenectady is that there are hundreds of two-family apartments; people buy them cheap and rent out the second apartment (they are usually identical in design) to pay their rent.
Saratoga is pretty lively in the summer – you have the track, and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC), which has the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York City Ballet, and top touring acts. Lawn tickets are a pretty good price.
Saratoga also has a pretty lively night life. Their First Night celebration is somewhat better than the one in Albany.
Schenectady has a couple of good shopping malls – Rotterdam Square and the new Mohawk Commons. There’s also Crossgates Mall in Albany (the biggest in the area – I find it too big) and Colonie Center.
There are also a bunch of smaller towns in the area; Ballston Spa itself is pretty nice overall. There’s a great German restaurant there – Spa Brauhaus. It’s also home to the National Bottle Museum.
You get used to the cold. When I first moved up here, I was greeted with a week of -20 temperatures, but it hasn’t been that bad since. Wear sweaters and get a down jacket and you’ll be fine. Snow is a problem in winter, and a snowthrower is a must for homeowners.
The economy isn’t the healthiest, though. But for a short-term stay, you could probably get something in one of the malls.
I just want to chime in and correct the “4-5 hours from Boston and NYC” comment made upthread. This is definetly not true, unless you’re driving to Boston on the day before thanksgiving, or, I’d imagine, NYC during rush hour.
Both rides are much closer to 3 hours long, tops. I’ve personally made it to Boston in 2.5, without really speeding that much at all (75 or so on the Mass Pike).
Saratoga is a charming town with a great, low-key nightlife. I forgot the name of the street, but virtually every establishment is a bar. I always liked Desperate Annie’s.
Expect to be cold. Winters can vary quite a lot from year to year, but you are unlikely to have a winter that never gets below 32° F. If you only expect to spend one winter there before moving on and never returning, I would not advise that you invest in winter coats. Layering sweaters and sweatshirts beneath a Spring jacket should get you through, OK. (You’ll need the sweaters to wear around the house after your first heating bill arrives, anyway.) If you find yourself walking outside a lot, long underwear will help–although with most winter sports, you’d be too warm to wear it. Unless you take up winter sports, you should be able to get by with inexpensive mittens or gloves for a single winter, although you ought to look for some that will hold up under steady use.
A stocking cap that pulls down over the face with holes for the eyes and mouth might be useful if you’re outside during the annual 3-5 days of sub-zero weather. But, again, if you’re only looking at a single winter, you can get by with a cheap one. (Scarves are wonderful, but they can be a hassle to fuss with in bitter cold.) I keep one in the car with my other emergency gear, but I haven’t had to wear it in several years.
Make sure you have jumper cables in your car(s). (Even if your battery never dies, it is handy to have them to help other folks.) I also keep a collapsable snow shovel in the car “just in case” along with a heavy blanket.
You might have the personnel department give you the names of the appropriate electric and gas companies (and maybe some local fuel oil distributors) that you can contact for estimates of heating the size domicile you’ll be using. Heat in the Northeast is about the most expensive in the country, so you may be in for some sticker shock. (NY may not be as bad as MA, but it will be quite a bit more than TN.) (If you rent or buy, ask the landlord/seller/departing occupant what their monthly bills were.)
Now I’m getting scared of the heating costs. Last winter I spent $80 to heat my one bedroom down here. It was a fairly cold winter. And I do have a very old and leaky apartment.
So should I be budgeting for about $200 for heat? When does it start to warm up? April, May, never?
$200 a month sounds fair for heat in a 2 bedroom, assuming you have gas. I don’t know the costs for oil. Maybe a bit less ($150?). You can usually count on the heat not being needed TOO much by April.
