Where would you move to?

[Centaur]

We spend a couple of months in the winter in Arizona, but Wyoming is home. Winters can be pretty chilly, and the wind likes to blow, but you can’t beat the scenery, and we’re the least populated state in the lower 48.
I am just about ready to suffer through Wyoming winter again rather than put up with all the humans that flock to Az in the winter, and I sure wouldn’t live there in the summer.

[markiver54]

In spite of the fact that a year ago we had a biblical hurricane/tropical storm that hit western North Carolina, there is still nowhere else I would rather be.

I was born in Texas, but we only lived there till I was 4 years old, so no real experience there. My Dad was a corporate executive. He accepted a job in New Jersey and off we went. Was there till I was 16 years old and then my Dad accepted a job in the Chicago area where I attended HS.

During my previous profession of 30 years, I was re-located a few times. I lived in the Chicago suburbs when I began that job. I had been there for 20 years and never got used to the extreme cold and snowy winters. Was transferred to New Jersey for just under two years and did not care for that area for various reasons. Was transferred to southern California where I had an office for about 5+1/2 years. The weather was wonderful, but way too many people. The cost of living was off the charts, and I experienced several earthquakes, most notably the 7.2 Northridge quake. I guess that was about 1992 or so. I was then recruited to North Carolina. After 1+1/2 years the company was sold, and they transferred me to Cincinnati Ohio. Was there for just over five years. That was when I parted ways with the printing and packaging industry and made the decision to move back to North Carolina.

I do not regret making that decision. I love how green and beautiful these mountains are. The outdoor recreational activities are unlimited. We are far enough inland that we are USUALLY not affected much by coastal hurricanes such as Helene last year. Not much snow in the winter. Our worst threat are ice storms on occasion. Any snow or ice melts off pretty quickly. No notable earthquakes, and lower humidity on average than farther south. People are very friendly.

I could go on and on with comparisons of the different parts of the country where I have lived, but I won't bore you with anymore of that.

I will be in western North Carolina for the rest of my life. I feel blessed to have landed here.

[Hatchdog]

Thanks for the replies everybody, more are welcome.

I should expand on the HOA concerns more. Our HOA isn’t too restrictive, mostly relating to building a home with some very east requirements to follow. The issue right now is with our president. She is the glue that holds this community together and recently got very frustrated and told me in confidence she might either resign or at least not run for reelection. We have private roads here in the community and the road in front of my (and her) home had deteriorated terribly. We spent thousands of dollars dollars doing asphalt patching to the point the paving company advised us we were wasting money as the road was shot. So for the last few years we have just been using gravel to fill potholes. We had increased the dues hoping to save enough money to get the road re-paved. After several years we had only saved 50% of the estimate from several years ago of $80K. The saving rate was not even keeping up with the inflation cost for the project.

This year the community decided to get a loan to get the project done. Our president put many hours into getting the loan and contracting with the paving company to get the work done. Finally this week our road was paved and all she asked of the residents was to not drive on the fresh still warm/soft asphalt. So of course one selfish neighbor drove on it and caused some minor damage. So she got pissed and that’s when she told me she might be done with the presidency. Can’t blame her one bit.

Our concern is if she does quit this community could go downhill quickly including the financial aspect. She is also the treasurer and does a great job of getting after residents who are behind paying the dues. One condition of our paving loan is maintaining a very low amount of past due dues. So maybe we should get out while the getting is good??????

Heres a picture of the newly paved road that is wonderful. The pavers will come back and dress the edges and the driveway approaches. Note the three tire tracks, three inconsiderate neighbors who cut the caution tape that indicated the road was closed and just drove up anyway.

IMG_6129.jpeg (4.66 MiB) Viewed 750 times

[RanchRoper]

Paved roads? Way too civilized for me.

[BigAl52]

Thanks for the replies everybody, more are welcome.

I should expand on the HOA concerns more. Our HOA isn’t too restrictive, mostly relating to building a home with some very east requirements to follow. The issue right now is with our president. She is the glue that holds this community together and recently got very frustrated and told me in confidence she might either resign or at least not run for reelection. We have private roads here in the community and the road in front of my (and her) home had deteriorated terribly. We spent thousands of dollars dollars doing asphalt patching to the point the paving company advised us we were wasting money as the road was shot. So for the last few years we have just been using gravel to fill potholes. We had increased the dues hoping to save enough money to get the road re-paved. After several years we had only saved 50% of the estimate from several years ago of $80K. The saving rate was not even keeping up with the inflation cost for the project.

This year the community decided to get a loan to get the project done. Our president put many hours into getting the loan and contracting with the paving company to get the work done. Finally this week our road was paved and all she asked of the residents was to not drive on the fresh still warm/soft asphalt. So of course one selfish neighbor drove on it and caused some minor damage. So she got pissed and that’s when she told me she might be done with the presidency. Can’t blame her one bit.

Our concern is if she does quit this community could go downhill quickly including the financial aspect. She is also the treasurer and does a great job of getting after residents who are behind paying the dues. One condition of our paving loan is maintaining a very low amount of past due dues. So maybe we should get out while the getting is good??????

Heres a picture of the newly paved road that is wonderful. The pavers will come back and dress the edges and the driveway approaches. Note the three tire tracks, three inconsiderate neighbors who cut the caution tape that indicated the road was closed and just drove up anyway.


IMG_6129.jpeg

Thats just living proof of you cant fix stupid Hatch. Surely those people knew the road was going to be redone ahead time and could have made arrangements

[Mags]

just for snickers and giggles here’s my question to the forum. With the variety of areas that you members hail from, north to south and east to west I think this is a great place to post this inquiry. From time to time my wife and I discuss moving and in the past we mostly talked about heading to Idaho or perhaps somewhere in the southwest. But we are expanding our thoughts. We have NO firm plans to move but both the political climate here in Washington State and some issues with our HOA we are talking again.

So, if you were moving to anywhere in the lower 48 where would you likely land? No large cities please but most folks on here don’t live in the huge metropolis around. We live rural and would like to continue that but we may be priced out of some areas.

Other than New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, etc there’s no wrong answer here. Would love to hear your opinions.

To your property up north, or idaho.

[fortyshooter]

Too late for me to move but I have been in Central Va. for 71 years. One thing I don't like is that Northern Va. is still part of Va. as far as politics go.
Yes we have lots of little taxes that all add up. Weather can be anything at anytime! Right now we have a great Fall type system moving thru finally to break the months long heat and humidity. If I were to move it would be East Tenn. if you like beautiful mountains and valleys. We have a Govenor Election coming up in November which will be VERY interesting how the vote goes....check it out!

[Hatchdog]

just for snickers and giggles here’s my question to the forum. With the variety of areas that you members hail from, north to south and east to west I think this is a great place to post this inquiry. From time to time my wife and I discuss moving and in the past we mostly talked about heading to Idaho or perhaps somewhere in the southwest. But we are expanding our thoughts. We have NO firm plans to move but both the political climate here in Washington State and some issues with our HOA we are talking again.

So, if you were moving to anywhere in the lower 48 where would you likely land? No large cities please but most folks on here don’t live in the huge metropolis around. We live rural and would like to continue that but we may be priced out of some areas.

Other than New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, etc there’s no wrong answer here. Would love to hear your opinions.

To your property up north, or idaho.

Both great suggestions in my opinion. Our property is pretty remote from civilization and I don’t think I could get my wife to live there. However I sure would love to buy a place in a southern state, AZ or Texas maybe and do a reverse snowbird heading up the the property in the summer when it’s so hot down south. The property has power and phone but no well so one would have to be drilled. Moving to Idaho is pretty much my number one choice, no improvement on weather but a huge improvement on politics. Also an Idaho move would be only 30 - 40 miles which makes a move very easy.

[cooperhawk]

Too late for me to move but I have been in Central Va. for 71 years. One thing I don't like is that Northern Va. is still part of Va. as far as politics go.

I lived in Northern Virginia for 15 years and loved the area, just not the politics. I was actually in Loudon County, the center of all the discourse and it was bad when I left in 1983 already.

[Hatchdog]

Thanks for the replies everybody, more are welcome.

I should expand on the HOA concerns more. Our HOA isn’t too restrictive, mostly relating to building a home with some very east requirements to follow. The issue right now is with our president. She is the glue that holds this community together and recently got very frustrated and told me in confidence she might either resign or at least not run for reelection. We have private roads here in the community and the road in front of my (and her) home had deteriorated terribly. We spent thousands of dollars dollars doing asphalt patching to the point the paving company advised us we were wasting money as the road was shot. So for the last few years we have just been using gravel to fill potholes. We had increased the dues hoping to save enough money to get the road re-paved. After several years we had only saved 50% of the estimate from several years ago of $80K. The saving rate was not even keeping up with the inflation cost for the project.

This year the community decided to get a loan to get the project done. Our president put many hours into getting the loan and contracting with the paving company to get the work done. Finally this week our road was paved and all she asked of the residents was to not drive on the fresh still warm/soft asphalt. So of course one selfish neighbor drove on it and caused some minor damage. So she got pissed and that’s when she told me she might be done with the presidency. Can’t blame her one bit.

Our concern is if she does quit this community could go downhill quickly including the financial aspect. She is also the treasurer and does a great job of getting after residents who are behind paying the dues. One condition of our paving loan is maintaining a very low amount of past due dues. So maybe we should get out while the getting is good??????

Heres a picture of the newly paved road that is wonderful. The pavers will come back and dress the edges and the driveway approaches. Note the three tire tracks, three inconsiderate neighbors who cut the caution tape that indicated the road was closed and just drove up anyway.


IMG_6129.jpeg

Thats just living proof of you cant fix stupid Hatch. Surely those people knew the road was going to be redone ahead time and could have made arrangements

Yep, plenty of warning and suggestions to work around the paving. Most of the “non stupid” neighbors parked their cars ar the end of the road and walked to their homes. It was only one day so not much of an inconvenience.

[Mags]

....
Yep, plenty of warning and suggestions to work around the paving. Most of the “non stupid” neighbors parked their cars ar the end of the road and walked to their homes. It was only one day so not much of an inconvenience.

From the picture, I'm pretty sure the "stupid" neighbor can be 'tracked' down and maybe made to cover the repairs.

[PBSnooker]

I live on East Coast Florida, which is ideal for many of people. Traffic is bad. I'd rather have 20+ acres of mostly wooded land near the western center of the state. My wife will never move there. As a compromise, we bought a small waterview vacation cabin 65 minutes away. The drive through wooded and farmland is enough to chill my attitude.

[Rifletom]

S/E Idaho. Pocatello, Rigby, that area. Heading there in three weeks to hang out with some friends. And look around.

[JVogler]

Around 2020 my son in law suggested we buy a track of land in middle Pennsylvania between 25-50 acres. The idea was to have 4-5 prefabricated houses spread out and we each have a nice homestead. Well if we followed that idea we wouldn't be in this state of disarray that is New Jersey.

[Hatchdog]

Around 2020 my son in law suggested we buy a track of land in middle Pennsylvania between 25-50 acres. The idea was to have 4-5 prefabricated houses spread out and we each have a nice homestead. Well if we followed that idea we wouldn't be in this state of disarray that is New Jersey.

My sister is in the process of moving back to Spokane from Pennsylvania. She has really enjoyed her time there living close to kids/grandkids but now the whole group is moving here. She is looking forward to being back where she grew up and lived for most of her life.

[Hatchdog]

S/E Idaho. Pocatello, Rigby, that area. Heading there in three weeks to hang out with some friends. And look around.

Good suggestion Tom, I hadn’t considered southern Idaho as I’m just too plugged into the northern end of the state. I’ll take a look around.

[daytime dave]

I'm probably never moving from NY State. I like most all of Upstate NY. We have four weather seasons, several different types of countryside and a lot of rural areas. I enjoy being able to go outside to shoot, hunt and grow things on my own land.
I don't like any of the cities, so I tend to stay away from them. The NY City and Albany crowds are driving people away in record numbers I hear.
We would move to the Adirondack region of the state if family wasn't close by where we are. I enjoy spending time in the Adirondack Park while at camp. Winter is rougher there, but manageable.

[Mags]

... I enjoy being able to go outside to shoot, hunt and grow things on my own land.
I don't like any of the cities, so I tend to stay away from them. ...

Similar here. Unfortunately the UGB (Urban Growth Boundary) has been moving closer. Once we get forced in, can't shoot, can burn winter downfall, can't use noisy and fuel powered tools, can use any type of blower tool. Adding UGB property taxes will be significant. We'll have to eventually move further out or even move out of state. If I thought we could handle the cold, in my mind Montana and Wyoming feel appealing. Up country AZ around Payson AZ feels attractive. Year round temps there are similar to here.

[BrokenolMarine]

It gets REALLY hot here, but not that cold, for long. We get real cold days, but they don't last and real cold here is in the single digits and those are rare. The cold days normally are in the 20s. Not like up north where cold days start with a dash and can last for weeks. Like -10. NOT in my playbook.

Oh, and I forgot, snow up there is measured in FEET not inches.

[Sir Henry]

It gets REALLY hot here, but not that cold, for long. We get real cold days, but they don't last and real cold here is in the single digits and those are rare. The cold days normally are in the 20s. Not like up north where cold days start with a dash and can last for weeks. Like -10. NOT in my playbook.

Oh, and I forgot, snow up there is measured in FEET not inches.

Don’t forget about the wind and drifting snow. Last year the low was -30F but it only lasted a few days. It may sound bad but it’s not if you are prepared.