Who has MOVED from their home state ? How difficult was it for you?

[moparedtn]

Yes, the eastern part of the state is very much like eastern Tennessee. Northern Oklahoma has rolling hills like the great plains, western part looks like west texas. We even have a mountain, not very tall but a mountain nonetheless. We have 4 seasons and sometimes weather extremes.

They're around Shawnee I believe. Good people - and they love visiting here, enough so they'd talked
about moving here at one point.
As KD is finding out though, actually uprooting and making the move is tougher than one would imagine -
I mean, "home" is home, flaws and all right?
When I did it 25+ years ago, I had little more than friends and 20+ years familiarity to keep me where
I was (Dc suburbs) - and a WHOLE lot of reasons to get outta Dodge, including basically a medical mandate
to do so.
It saved my life to do so, I have no doubt.

 

[ckessel]

I lived in Georgia once, even married my 1st wife down there. Nice people but I found them to very clanish. I've been in Oklahoma now for 27 years and it is a very nice place to live. Low property taxes , reasonable property values and lots of things to do. Yes we have tornadoes but just about every state has a natural threat.

No matter where you are in the country, you have some sort of potential disaster to deal with. Fire and earthquakes here. At least with hurricanes, tornado's, massive rain storms you get a little heads up its coming. Not so with quakes. Fire you have to be mindful of when the winds are up and the humidity plummets. Thats how it was for us august to whenever the first rain hit when we lived in So Cal,

 

[BrianS]

I have talked to random strangers all of my life. That part will require no adjustment at all.
I am a busy dude though. I move fast, I react fast and I am not one to stand around. That would require some adjustment!

Life in Calif is fast paced period especially in the Bay Area and Sac but in Calif construction is very fast paced and the jobs are hard money and production oriented-if you aren't doing 100mph you are cash, what I am getting at is it carries over to all parts of your life. I grew up in SW Missouri and when I leave the Bay Area and go home I have a horrible time dialing it back. Life is more laid back, no one gets in a hurry. $ years ago I went back to Norman, Ok and did a project on the OU campus- great folks to work with but it drove me crazy watching guys work at that pace-and forget about getting anything done during deer season.......with that said I would move home in a heartbeat though. Missouri is a lot like TN as far as terrain goes but it can get humid, the old heat index will bite you in a hurry, being in the shade will not cool you off like it does in Calif.
My son lives in Idaho, the weather is a lot like Calif but there is snow. In Caldwell where he lives there is a small amount of snow but it is also not as nice looking as the rest of the state but the rest of the state gets more snow, a lot more.......real estate prices are off the hook there also, that is if you can find a place to buy. Funny story-my son's neighbor came over when he first moved in and introduced himself and then asked about the Calif plates on the car-I told him I was from Missouri so he decided I was ok then he looked at my son and said he was welcome as long as he wasn't a Mormon or a Democrat. Morale of this story is be prepared for some push back from locals.
Forget about renting a uhaul to move. It is cheaper to toss all your furniture and buy new stuff than rent a uhaul out of Calif.

 

[64BEL]

Or a Kern farmer.

 

[Kern Dog]

Interesting day today.
First up was a visit to Cooters Garage. This was in Nashville. I should have tempered by expectations a bit. If I was a local, a 20-30 minute drive to stroll through the place would have been fine. Instead, we drove about an hour or so to find a line to get in. As expected, there were fees for everything related to Tom Wopat. I knew this wasn’t a charity event but $50 to have a picture taken with him?
Pffft.
I bought a couple of trinkets from the lobby just for garage wall art back home.
I am feeling the heat here. Yeah, it does feel heavy. It doesn’t get me sweating like most people say.... it gets me irritable. It feels like I’m being pressed on all sides. I’ve heard about how one is supposed to feel drenched just walking around in it. That wasn’t the case. I just felt like I do wearing a heavy, tight jacket.

 

[Kern Dog]

I’m trying to keep an open mind though.
As the day wore on, we drove around some and the humidity seemed to drop off some. This may be the usual pattern that I am just now discovering....that the humidity peaks early and fades during the day?

 

[Kern Dog]

It is apparent that since Mary and I started looking at Tennessee properties a few years ago, the market has changed a LOT. 20 acres and a 2500 sq ft house could be found under $400k in 2018. Now that looks to be closer to $550k.
I do love this green grass and the trees.

 

[Kern Dog]

Hey...more pictures.

 

[Budnicks]

Check on what the property taxes are too
if you buy land sometimes there's different rates
for if it is to be kept unimproved/undeveloped

income/earning rates are lower too

from what I saw property taxes it's about average
of $933 per year on every $137,000 purchase
(0.68% before any city county or Melo Roose/type bonds,
they don't have it/them by that name that's a Calif. deal, they do
have similar bond measures, for water, sewer, schools, roads/tolls etc.)

(I was looking at undeveloped land, a recreational business)

But at that rate (slightly better than here) on a $500,000 purchase
that's going to be near $4k a year
before any Melo Roose or any bonds or HOA's crap
or any type of reassessments, be careful of them
of the original purchase price, %'s go up
before any added water bonds, wtf ever, city or county bonds/measures
many rural areas all 'have them'

That was in the Bristol area I was looking in

That also was 20 years ago almost now
I was going to buy a bunch of property 159 acres
a 4,000 sqft Clubhouse/pro-shop
& a huge beautiful 3500sqft house/4 car garage on site &
& a golf course/business, it had reduced rates
sort of across from Thunder Valley, Bristol Tenn.

There was all kinds of extra expenses/stuff up & above
the property taxes themselves...

if you're used to being a city dweller
all the conveniences of being close to shopping, hospitals etc.
you need to account for all contingencies

Personally;
I didn't like the rain & humidity at all
it rains 3-4 times as much as here, not just a lil' more
41+ inches a year, average

& as you noticed it's humid, it weighs on you

& where I'm at rains more than where you're at
in Granite bay/Folsom,
We have very lil' humidity to speak of
hence the fire danger

I had local people there/Bristol area tell me
'it didn't rain that much', in the Bristol area
I just laughed...
I had been going there 20 or so times for 35 years,
I know what it was like...
I was stuck in a Tornado Warning there at the track one time too...
A different story, for a different day...

As you noticed the green comes with a price too
it's a lot different back east or east of the Mississippi anywhere
north or south

if you can get a shitload of equity/cash out of your place
you can buy more there, the property value is lower
depending on where you look

Also the costs of going back & forth from a rural area,
to a township etc.
for shopping, for hospitals, for gasoline, for car parts,
building materials, for schools (you don't have kids so that doesn't matter)
A lot of that **** can be stuff people don't plan on
all the extra expenses of living in rural areas
propane for heat
(could have radiated/water heat, that is crap)
or fuel oil neither is cheap
or several cords of wood a year, cheap maybe but labor-intensive
are also all added extra expenses,
you really need to check 'all aspects out'
the building is a lot different back east too, different std.'s & codes
(way different than here)

The weather is completely different, all 4 seasons...
Not just late spring & early summer, do your due diligence...
I know you will...

good luck in your search Greg @Kern Dog

I'm done rambling

 

[Richard Cranium]

Hey...more pictures.

View attachment 1123367 View attachment 1123368 View attachment 1123369

Lo-ooota grass to cut!

 

[barbee6043]

KD. Texas. East of I 35 humid bad humid. West of that, great but hot. low humidity. Far west Tx hot dry and lots of wind. Hill country is great and expensive. Maybe the only area East you might really like?
SE Tx We do not gauge humidity here by %. If the sweat runs down your legs and puddle in your boots it is beginning to get a little muddy! Meant to say MUGGY but yes it would be muddy also!!!
Take lots of time to look East, not sure you would like it;

 

[BrianS]

I am feeling the heat here. Yeah, it does feel heavy. It doesn’t get me sweating like most people say.... it gets me irritable. It feels like I’m being pressed on all sides. I’ve heard about how one is supposed to feel drenched just walking around in it. That wasn’t the case. I just felt like I do wearing a heavy, tight jacket.

When I was a kid the old timers would refer to it as "close". I remember them saying "it sure is close out today". The best part of it is it is not like that all summer it comes and goes. When it gets really "close" it will rain-trust me it can rain in that part of the country-not that Calif sissy rain, thunder so hard it shakes the house and rain so hard you can't see to drive. Just thought of something else, this may sound dumb but those who have never lived in Calif won't understand but Calif does not have insects compared to the rest of the country. Sitting on your porch in Calif you might get a few small mosquitos. In the Southern states they have bugs big enough to carry off the family dog and lots of them. Ticks and Chiggers abound in TN, you will love Chiggers, not!

To answer your original question about how hard is it? I think the hardest thing is family. I ended up in Calif after I was discharged from the Navy in '86 and even though my wife's family is here it is still not the same as being with your own family. My family has been in SW Missouri since the mid 1800's and I have ton's of family there and I feel I have missed watching all my cousin's kids grow up and now many of the older folks are passing and I have lost track of the new generation, my Mom is 80 and not in the best health. Visiting every 3-4 years is not a substitutive for being there. Don't know what your family situation is but at the end of the day they are important. Heck even with my Grand kids in Idaho it is tough, technology helps but it is just not the same watching my youngest Grandson learn to walk on facetime vs being there to catch him.

 

[Hey-O]

No place is perfect, I've heard the best all around weather in the world is in San Diego. Now, I think you're trying to get the hell out of California. The housing market is going crazy right now. I moved into my new house two months ago. They've had two price increases and my house is worth 40 thousand more than I paid for it! The problem is, sell high, buy high. The humidity is going to rear it's ugly head in most places from the midwest to the east coast at some point. Yes, in Missouri, some days it feels like you're dragging an extra hundred pounds around your neck. Taxes are going to be paid in one form or another, weather changes daily and the one thing the rest of the country has that California doesn't, they're not California and to most of us, that's a plus right there. Sorry to all living in California, but, it's a great place to visit for a few weeks and home we go. The one thing about housing outside of California is, a half a million dollar house where I live is a VERY nice house. I have a friend that lives in San Francisco and you can get a **** box for a million. They have nothing there that makes that right to me, as a matter of fact, I understand very little about that state. They kick you around with their BS and charge you out the butt for the pleasure of doing it. Anyway, don't buy anything that's nothing but work. Buy some woods and a house and start enjoying your retirement. You know what they say in Missouri, if you don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes, it'll change.

 

[alsant]

I would say most of my Neighbors are refugees from Cali. We were lucky we bought last year the housing has gone up crazy.

 

[barbee6043]

SE Tx here wife has a little country R/E business for last 12-13 yrs. We are 30 min from N very most EDGE of Houston. WE sell small parcels, sometimes 100-200 ac tracts, very seldom a 2000 ac timber tract. Yes homes in Houston are going stupid. BUT here is an example of a property we are closing on this week. Interesting property.
5000 sq ft 2 store home on JUST 3 ac. sits another 30 mi N of us. Too far for Houston commuters. Very expensive home with sheff's kitchen and an elevator! About 20 yrs old maybe. It would cost well over a million to replace probably more. Advertised at $750,000 for 9 months , closes at $650,000. A bargain, but being on just 3 ac hurt it bad. If it had been located same distance from Houston, but west it would have sold for the list and/or well above. It is in good area just very rural.
Stepson and wife bought a smallish ranch home on rural 1 ac 30 mi N of Conroe which is on the edge of Houston. They are selling at a $75,000 profit, BUT they will pay out the *** for 1 ac. and build a larger home. Just trading $$$$$$ but they are 28 with a child a need a bigger home and can afford the stupidity of everything right now.
Yea I lived in Mo for 37 years and love it but I am a country bumkin. If I could get the wife to quit the R/E BS, and move, we would go to her home area of Llano. Good weather, rural, far enough from the Left winged idiots of Austin. 10 ac i sall we could afford there, same money in SW Mo would buy us 50-75 ac. depending on exactly where.

 

[ckessel]

As a Cal native I have lived in both San Diego county and San Luis Obispo county. I'm an SD county native. For sure the weather is great down there in SD, although I much prefer SLO county for climate, beauty and open space. Its not as populated as SD.. SD does come with a price tag because of location, weather and other stuff. I look at it as "how bad do you want to be here and are you willing to work for less than someone else". With a large population and being closer to the border, the job market can be very tough. Depending on what you do there can be a huge amount of competition for work. Up here in SLO, the problem is the availability of cheap labor courtesy of the two colleges. That can translate into your wages not being what they should be. Like many areas in the state, the closer you are to the ocean, the more its going to cost you.

 

[Fran Blacker]

Hey...more pictures.

View attachment 1123367 View attachment 1123368 View attachment 1123369

In the last picture of that house, there's a house just like in town on 40 acres. Guess what they're going to do with it? Demolish it and build 40 senior housing units. One acre in that area is 100k or more.

 

[halftrackman]

This is a great post, so most of us think,s the same. I think the weather has a lot to do with where we live. I was borned and grew up east Tn. its also a great place to live. I have lived in NY. IN.Mi. Tx. overseas, but TN. is the best for me. I live in west TN. for several years now. Have you seen the movie walking tall Well, Bufford Pusser wife was killed on the road I live. This is a badass place, so you can carry your pistol all the time. TN. is a GOP state, thank god. My gun permit is good in 38 states. Back in the old days me and my army buddy ran the bar in Chicago and Gary IN. A great place to have fun. Also driven new roadrunners .I had fun all my life, so be happy, also move to TN.

 

[747mopar]

We just made the trek from Ohio to Pensacola Florida and can say there wasn't an ugly stretch of land the whole drive except when we hit Florida. Our route took us through Kentucky, Tennessee passing through Nashville then the whole length of Alabama... Damn is Alabama beautiful! One thing that struck me is the lack of anything, is Alabama a poor state?? Once you hit Florida the foliage is gone, tons of overgrown structures and baron lots? Anyways, the whole trip looked much like my parcel of paradise.

This morning I woke up for my morning run and decided not to chug through the sand but instead ran the sidewalks, ugly is all I have to say about it. I'm used to running through the woods and farm land where the foliage is heavy.. I suppose this is what people refer to when they say you will never replace HOME.

 

[Hey-O]

I had friends that transferred to California when the Huntsville Alabama instrument plant shut down. They were fighting for the openings there. Once they got there and found out how far their money didn't go they screamed at Chrysler to get them out of there. Those that transferred to St. Louis stayed long enough to get their 30 year pension and went back home. Some stayed here, but nobody stayed in California more than a day after retiring.