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

[Brandy]

I lived in Bisbee, AZ for awhile. Very nice tourist town. Average temps are mild as it's a mile high in the Mule mountains. Owned an ice cream parlor there. Great Mexican food, as the workers came over the border daily.

 

[MarPar]

Bisbee

Ironic

 

[Brandy]

Ironic

I was the first actual Bisbee to live there. The asked me if I wanted to run for mayor. lol. Showed my license at the super market and the lady was amazed. Thought it was a fake. lol. Owned and operated "Mrs. Bisbee's Crystal Palace Ice Cream Emporium."

 

[Billccm]

Emissions testing is required in Phoenix and Tucson. If you register as a historic vehicle and carry collector car insurance you can be emissions exempt.
Not sure how many times I've said this, but why not say it again. Arizona is now Eastern California. You might as well stay there and enjoy your grass lawn.

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

Times aren't what they used to be. I have identified no utopia within the United States that ticks all the boxes. Places I've considered myself over the past 5 years after visiting, locals told me - "you should have been here 15-20 years ago, you would have loved it - but now it sucks." (population increase, traffic, politics, etc)

KD - don't know if it's in your price range, but have you checked out Flagstaff? I went through there and liked the town feel. It's higher elevation and close to forested area so sometimes nearby occasional fires, but not just all desert from what I could see. Would love for others in the know to chime in on Flagstaff.

I keep coming back to Tennessee as many others have. I'm looking into Chatanooga area. Sure seems like your money goes farther for home property in certain areas. Humid in summers, but after living in Alabama a few years I think I could tolerate it.

 

[Kern Dog]

Greg,
I've moved way to many times and started over just as many. This move will be your last, so make it the right one. In your late 50's and willing to lowers your expectations so that if it isn't spectacular, I'm okay with it because the next one might be better, who are you trying to convince. By the time you get there, clean it up to your liking, and build a shop, you're more than a few years into this short term.

​

From reading your contributions to this forum, I know that you're not one to intentionally hurt or antagonize others but...
I am in better shape than most guys my age. I don't take any medications, I don't have any chronic ailments and I am still quite capable of doing what I have done all my life. I'm not as strong as I was when I was in my 20s and 30s but I still have a lot of life left in me.
The wife's parents are in their 80s and don't have a lot of time left. Mary would like to live closer to be able to see them more than once a year. Each trip is 12 hours by car. We don't fly because we prefer to have our car there and because holiday travel sucks.
This isn't a matter of us moving in with them as caretakers. The possible relocation would allow some contact with both families.
There are some issues that would put a kink in the works though.
I plan to use some sort of storage container for the car parts. Some of the properties we looked at have HOAs.....many times, these organizations prohibit storage containers on properties unless there is an open building permit.
Some HOAs require neighborhood approval before any additional buildings can be erected and they often must match the appearance of the nearby structures.
The shop I have here went from bare dirt to a framed and covered building in 3 months. I'm still capable of doing it again. I didn't retire due to any injuries or limitations, I stopped because I wanted a break from it.
This latest consideration is something that the wife wants. I am not against it but to be fair, she has been 100% supportive of everything that I have wanted to do since day one.
Tennessee is still a goal. I do prefer the green. I want the freedom to build what I want, to build cars and to shoot guns in my backyard if I want.
Rural Arizona would be a step away from California in terms of dollar value, lower taxes, gas prices, vehicle registration fees, insurance and other things. Nothing is set in stone at this point. The future is still undetermined.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

First rule of seeking property.... NO HOA's!!!
I'm not paying a fee to some jerkoff so he & his busybody wife can tell me how to live my life...

 

[Kern Dog]

Mary and I agree on most issues. The oppressive HOAs put a damper on people that have a life outside of their homes.
The mere notion that it would be prohibited to wash your own car in the driveway is ludicrous.
To require homeowners to keep their garage doors closed, to not have a car parked in their own driveway or to NOT allow an American flag to be erected is insanity.
At the other end....I don't want to live next door to Sanford and Son.

 

[F4R/T]

All I can say Greg is stay out of Illinois ! It’s a well known welfare / sanctuary state .. if commiefornia does something the Colorado will and here come Illinois jumping on the wagon.. Good luck! I really believe Tennessee is a safe bet for you guys... but Nashville area is libtarded.

 

[Kern Dog]

People make trade offs to stay close enough to family. It is all about what is important in life.

This idea is not meant to be the end goal. For years, I have wondered what it would take to push me over the edge and leave this state. I am thinking that this step could be an easier way to leave California since I'd be close enough to visit by car but we'd finally be out from under the "spell". From there, the move elsewhere should be easier.

Moving can take a year of your life if you stuff, get it right.

The biggest hurdle is the cars and the parts. We wouldn't bring much furniture. Most of the stuff here would get thrown away.
I've considered a construction storage bin to haul the parts. I'd need to hire a hauler to move the cars.

 

[Hey-O]

From reading your contributions to this forum, I know that you're not one to intentionally hurt or antagonize others but...
I am in better shape than most guys my age. I don't take any medications, I don't have any chronic ailments and I am still quite capable of doing what I have done all my life. I'm not as strong as I was when I was in my 20s and 30s but I still have a lot of life left in me.
The wife's parents are in their 80s and don't have a lot of time left. Mary would like to live closer to be able to see them more than once a year. Each trip is 12 hours by car. We don't fly because we prefer to have our car there and because holiday travel sucks.
This isn't a matter of us moving in with them as caretakers. The possible relocation would allow some contact with both families.
There are some issues that would put a kink in the works though.
I plan to use some sort of storage container for the car parts. Some of the properties we looked at have HOAs.....many times, these organizations prohibit storage containers on properties unless there is an open building permit.
Some HOAs require neighborhood approval before any additional buildings can be erected and they often must match the appearance of the nearby structures.
The shop I have here went from bare dirt to a framed and covered building in 3 months. I'm still capable of doing it again. I didn't retire due to any injuries or limitations, I stopped because I wanted a break from it.
This latest consideration is something that the wife wants. I am not against it but to be fair, she has been 100% supportive of everything that I have wanted to do since day one.
Tennessee is still a goal. I do prefer the green. I want the freedom to build what I want, to build cars and to shoot guns in my backyard if I want.
Rural Arizona would be a step away from California in terms of dollar value, lower taxes, gas prices, vehicle registration fees, insurance and other things. Nothing is set in stone at this point. The future is still undetermined.

I never meant for you to think that you're to old to do these things and I'm sure you're very strong, but let's not **** each other, mid sixties is for living it up, not starting over. You need to do whatever mary and you decide. This is the first since you started this thread that you mentioned you had her parents to help. Would have saved a lot of time to know that. Arizona it is.

 

[barbee6043]

Fact, If you can see your neighbors house, you need to live further out/
HOA.. You have to be kidding me!
Strong as always. Be sure. A few years ago, I had been putting up fence for weeks, then I was in hospital getting a triple bypass. Be sure.

 

[Brandy]

Times aren't what they used to be. I have identified no utopia within the United States that ticks all the boxes. Places I've considered myself over the past 5 years after visiting, locals told me - "you should have been here 15-20 years ago, you would have loved it - but now it sucks." (population increase, traffic, politics, etc)

KD - don't know if it's in your price range, but have you checked out Flagstaff? I went through there and liked the town feel. It's higher elevation and close to forested area so sometimes nearby occasional fires, but not just all desert from what I could see. Would love for others in the know to chime in on Flagstaff.

I keep coming back to Tennessee as many others have. I'm looking into Chatanooga area. Sure seems like your money goes farther for home property in certain areas. Humid in summers, but after living in Alabama a few years I think I could tolerate it.

My wife used to live in Flagstaff. She has always said it was colder than a well diggers butt crack in the winter. and windy.

 

[Brandy]

I had my go 'rounds with HOA's in the past. I hate 'em with a passion. It's one of the reasons I have have my own land now. There's nobody who can say no, you cant do that. We looked hard at Tenn as well. Lots to like there. But, we chose VT to be where the seasons change, her fam is from up here and i'm from PA below Buffalo. So, she's 3 hours from her crew and i'm 6 from mine.

 

[DeltaV]

I had my go 'rounds with HOA's in the past. I hate 'em with a passion. It's one of the reasons I have have my own land now. There's nobody who can say no, you cant do that. We looked hard at Tenn as well. Lots to like there. But, we chose VT to be where the seasons change, her fam is from up here and i'm from PA below Buffalo. So, she's 3 hours from her crew and i'm 6 from mine.

A safe and manageable distance!

 

[Hey-O]

HOA's don't bother me. My house was always big enough to put everything I own in it. I don't do cars parked all over the yard for years and a swing set in the driveway with a engine hanging on it. My home is my sanctuary, not a junkyard. 40 years ago a neighbor had his yard lined with cars, none of them ran. He told me it was his fence around his property. I moved!!! If you enjoy that, don't tell me, I don't want to know.

I have owned 1 1/2 of woods in the middle of town, carved out a place to build a house and had all the privacy you'd ever want. It had a 5 acre lake in the back yard. City living at It's best. Not cheap, but beautiful.

 

[turbo36]

HOA's can be a pain in the a** but they do serve the function of preserving property values. I have the best of both worlds, a nice house in a pretty moderate HOA and a 5 acre parcel 2 miles away with a rental house and 40 x 60 shop that I keep my cars and trailers.

 

[68BabyBlue]

Mary and I agree on most issues. The oppressive HOAs put a damper on people that have a life outside of their homes.
The mere notion that it would be prohibited to wash your own car in the driveway is ludicrous.
To require homeowners to keep their garage doors closed, to not have a car parked in their own driveway or to NOT allow an American flag to be erected is insanity.
At the other end....I don't want to live next door to Sanford and Son.

I live in a neighborhood with a HOA, and restrictive covenants. I agree with those who don't like them. My dad refused to live in town and deal with that stuff. He lived on a full wooded acre on a mountain outside of town until he went into a retirement home at the age of 80. He told me he cherished being able to relieve himself in his front yard if he felt like it.

There are financial trade offs. Dad lived in an area that was zoned industrial. The neighbor across the road had junk cars on the roof of his house, which was configured like a fall out shelter. When dad sold the place, it brought a relative pittance, probably bottom 5% of homes in the school district. My place is appraised in the top 5%, with significant appreciation in the 20 years I've been in it. My spouse put up with me working 42 years in the trucking business, which is no picnic for a married woman. Living in the house of her choice, not mine, was part of the package.
We settled where we are for a lot of reasons, and like you, family was a big part of the equation.

I had a reputation for being invincible in my 50s, never falling prey to the stuff that gets most truck drivers (back) or executives (heart). Mother nature caught up with me in my mid sixties. Some folks dodge the physical stuff, but it doesn't hurt to weigh the possibilities.

 

[Hey-O]

HOA's can be a pain in the a** but they do serve the function of preserving property values. I have the best of both worlds, a nice house in a pretty moderate HOA and a 5 acre parcel 2 miles away with a rental house and 40 x 60 shop that I keep my cars and trailers.

View attachment 1395145

My point exactly, nice set up !!!! It's hard to sell a house with a yard next door with 10 **** buckets parked every which way, everywhere.

 

[dart4forte]

I'm pretty sure the only area in AZ that requires emissions checks is the Phoenix area.
There is really not going to be that perfect area to move to. It's always
going to be an exercise of weighing the pro's and con's and making the
best decision you can at that particular time. BUT, do make sure the wife
is in complete agreement with the decision.

Tucson