NYC Real(i)ty Speak: Friends don't let friends move to Westchester

Real estate agents aren't the only people in New York City who play cagey with real estate reality.

While it may seem like a bomb has dropped when your friends, neighbors, and co-workers announce they're defecting to the suburbs, in real(i)ty they've been sending coded messages for months.

Pay attention, and you will have a chance to  talk some sense into them before it's too late:

• "We are waitlisted at our local public school." Translation: "Scarsdale, here we come!"

• "We are visiting relatives out of the City." Translation: "We are meeting with real estate brokers all over the Tri-State area."

• "I spent my summers on Long Beach Island." Translation: "Livingston, New Jersey is looking awfully good right now."

•  "I love the City but the taxes are killing us." Translation: "Next stop: Greenwich, Connecticut!"

•  "I've been so nauseous lately and can't understand why." Translation: "We are pregnant with number three and just priced ourselves out of Manhattan."

• "I grew up in the Five Towns." Translation: "I would never live on the South Shore but we are looking at places in Port Washington, Syosset, and Dix Hills."

"Veronica X." is a Canadian by birth, an Upper West Sider by nature, and an Upper East Sider by choice and circumstance. She is presently looking to buy an apartment big enough for her family, her books, and her shoes - not necessarily in that order.

See more N.Y.C. Real(i)ty Speaks.