Thinking about relocating to Michigan. Thoughts?

[Sir Henry]

Cost of living was on my list of things that was important to me. Number one was being able to shoot on my own property. I looked at Montana and found a lot of restrictions on shooting. A lot of places had Restrictions coming from the HOA’s and home values were high.

Here in the north woods there are no restrictions and home values are low, crime is low, and income is middle. Sales tax is low and state income tax is low for me as most of my income is tax exempt. Property tax rates are high yet because of the low real estate values I pay very little compared to Washington. I paid 18% of my selling price for a home here in Wisconsin.

I bet you will find it similar in Michigan.

[BrokenolMarine]

I posted a reply a few days ago, but it didn't post...

When we decided to move from VA, we looked at several states, and chose Oklahoma for a number of reasons, the three main reasons were a daughter lived there. Their treatment of Veterans, and 2A stance. Then it was a matter of finding the property we wanted. Oklahoma had good land values at the time and we wanted to get the most for our dollar as well. We wanted a rural property with a minimum of 20 acres.

As we started looking, we made sure we checked out a number of things, we did our research.
* Looked at the crime stats for the specific area the homes were located in.
* Demographics - Gives you a feel for the area
* Looked at employment opportunities. We were both retired, but lack of employment often drives crime stats.
* Google Satellite View - You can see a lot on that view that the photos in the ad won't show.
* Wow - is that a Junk Yard on the other side of the trees at the back of the property line. Noise, dust, and high traffic.
* Trains running along the tracks 1/4 mile away? Carries a long way at night.
* Trash and debris along the approaches to the new property... is that what you want to look at every time you drive to and from the house.
* Overview of the area tells a huge story.
* Location of medical and shopping vs. population density; what matters to you.

We had a dozen houses on our list, we narrowed them down to six. Tina drove out and looked at them. Narrowed that down to two and made an offer on one. We are in the middle of nowhere. Love it here. Shopping, 30 minutes to an hour depending on what you are looking for. VA hospital is 90 minutes but clinic is 20. I'm good.

[markiver54]

Excellent words of wisdom.