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

[Hey-O]

We have looked there. Over the past few months, there are very few properties there that meet our needs and price range.
I asked several months and pages back about property close to the Mexico border. Some of those areas are also cooler than Phoenix due to the higher elevation. What worries me is that having property so close to a border that nobody enforces, I fear there is a greater risk of theft and violence. It may be a long shot but I still think it is possible. These classic cars can be stolen and dragged across the border where I'd never see them again.

I look at a home for safety first. In the middle is a phrase I use, because like eating anything, they start on the outsides, not the middle.

 

[Fran Blacker]

Remember the guy with a truck mounted welder and tools was stolen near the border? Never heard that it was recovered. Guy was out of business.
Probably insurance is higher.

 

[barbee6043]

Remember the guy with a truck mounted welder and tools was stolen near the border? Never heard that it was recovered. Guy was out of business.
Probably insurance is higher.

Oldest step son lives in outskits of El Paso a high end horsey community. He had a pretty new Ford 550 stole last week. He has 7 kids everyone has a vehicle. In the last 8 mnths he has had 5 vehicles stole. He got them all back. Long stories. And not because of the law was any help. All stole by illegals except the one crazy white woman.

 

[Kern Dog]

Illegals in El Paso? Are you sure ?

 

[Kern Dog]

Sorry to learn of the trouble. It is specifically because of this that I have been apprehensive toward South Arizona.
There have been some nice properties listed down there at good prices too. I can't imagine how pissed I'd be to have my stuff stolen with zero recourse to get it back or to hang the bastards that took it.

 

[MIKESPOLARA]

Back in early 70's

Sorry to learn of the trouble. It is specifically because of this that I have been apprehensive toward South Arizona.
There have been some nice properties listed down there at good prices too. I can't imagine how pissed I'd be to have my stuff stolen with zero recourse to get it back or to hang the bastards that took it.

El Paso was a pretty nice place, so was going across to Juarez. It has definitely changed to a scum bag **** hole. And the change occurred well before the current border crisis

 

[barbee6043]

Oldest step son lives in outskits of El Paso a high end horsey community. He had a pretty new Ford 550 stole last week. He has 7 kids everyone has a vehicle. In the last 8 mnths he has had 5 vehicles stole. He got them all back. Long stories. And not because of the law was any help. All stole by illegals except the one crazy white woman.

When his latest vehicle was stolen, his daughter told him they could track it with his cell and GPS which they did. It was down the road about 10 miles. They pulled up to he yard and a mexican was busy fueling it with diesel, he say them and jumped in the truck to get away, but Calvin jerked his *** out and beat the chit out of him as the two daughters held a pistol on what was left and called the law. The law arrived to see a bloody mess but the cop scolded Calvin for not shooting him as he tried to escape with his truck.

Calvin has been known to kick *** when needed.

He has been looking to sell his place and move further out from El Paso where he has lived for the last 25 odd years.

And so it goes.

 

[Richard Cranium]

The Biggest Pros And Cons Of Living In Each State

Aug 12, 2023

While every state in the Union is way better than France, each has its upsides and downsides. We at The Babylon Bee have collected for you the biggest pros and cons of living in all fifty of these United States:

---

Alabama
Pro: Unlikely to be a target in a nuclear attack.
Con: Punishable by death to finish a conversation without saying, "Roll Tide!"
Alaska
Pro: Beautiful nature and solitude.
Con: Everything in the beautiful nature and solitude is trying to kill you.
Arizona
Pro: It's a dry heat.
Con: The dry heat is 379 degrees Fahrenheit.
Arkansas
Pro: Birthplace of Walmart, also known as "Not Target".
Con: The Clintons started burying their enemies there.
California
Pro: You can steal anything you want up to $950 and nobody will stop you.
Con: There's no electricity, so you have to do all your stealing in the dark.
Colorado
Pro: The Rockies (mountain range).
Con: The Rockies (baseball team).
Connecticut
Pro: Was the headquarters for ESPN back when it covered sports.
Con: Is still the headquarters for ESPN now that it covers the WNBA.
Delaware
Pro: Endless supply of classified documents everywhere you look.
Con: If you go to the beach, may have to see Joe Biden shirtless.
Florida
Pro: Ron DeSantis.
Con: Donald Trump.
(This list item was paid for by Ron DeSantis for President 2024)
Georgia
Pro: Chick-fil-A.
Con: Everywhere you look, you can't help but see Stacey Abrams.
Hawaii
Pro: Tropical island paradise.
Con: Island can erupt at any moment if sacrifices aren't made to the volcano god.
Idaho
Pro: Incredible fly fishing.
Con: Brian Stelter could turn up at any minute.
Illinois
Pro: One slice of Chicago pizza feeds a family of 5 for a week.
Con: You can't eat the pizza because you have to be in shape to run from mobs. Also, you can't say "mobs".
Indiana
Pro: Race cars and basketball.
Con: Stray bullets sometimes fly over the border from Chicago.
Iowa
Pro: Tons of beer.
Con: You need to drink tons of beer because you're in Iowa.
Kansas
Pro: Tornadoes don't happen every day.
Con: Tornadoes do happen sometimes and people just live there like it's a normal thing.
Kentucky
Pro: Resting place of Noah's actual ark.
Con: No one can agree on how Louisville is pronounced. This is actually what started the American Civil War.
Louisiana
Pro: Incredible food.
Con: You have just died of diabetes.
Maine
Pro: Lobsters and the world's largest globe.
Con: Stephen King could appear at any moment to lecture you about Trump.
Maryland
Pro: It's not technically Washington, D.C.
Con: Swamp creatures from Washington, D.C. constantly roaming over the southern border.
Massachusetts
Pro: It's the home of the Patriots (a pro for Patriots fans).
Con: It's the home of the Patriots (a con for everyone else in the country).
Michigan
Pro: Everything that's not Detroit.
Con: Detroit.
Minnesota
Pro: Invented by Laura Ingalls Wilder.
Con: All police have been replaced with a giant suggestion box down at City Hall.
Mississippi
Pro: You get to eat lots of delicious food.
Con: The mosquitoes get to eat YOU.
Missouri
Pro: Low cost of living, lots of land, great real estate prices.
Con: You live in Missouri.
Montana
Pro: There's nothing but wide-open land.
Con: No, seriously, there's nothing but wide-open land.
Nebraska
Pro: Vast corn fields with occasional friendly people amongst the corn.
Con: Entire identity still built around being good at football thirty years ago.
Nevada
Pro: You could strike it rich in the casino.
Con: You won't.
New Hampshire
Pro: The slogan is "Live free or die", a libertarian philosophy.
Con: This slogan has attracted many libertarians.
New Jersey
Pro: Cool TV shows like Jersey Shore.
Con: If that's the pro, we're not even going to tell you what the con is.
New Mexico
Pro: Weird Al wrote an epic song about Albuquerque.
Con: Everyone asks you if you've seen the places from Breaking Bad.
New York
Pro: Low crime thanks to the efforts of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man.
Con: Spider-Man isn't real and you've just been mugged.
North Carolina
Pro: Hurricanes (hockey team).
Con: Hurricanes (like, LITERAL HURRICANES).
North Dakota
Pro: Funny accents like in the movie Fargo.
Con: If you forget to close a window you freeze to death.
Ohio
Pro: It's not Michigan.
Con: It's Ohio.
Oklahoma
Pro: All the Californians are moving to Texas instead of here.
Con: Several times a year a massive tornado will threaten to murder you.
Oregon
Pro: Beautiful beaches, trees, and mountains.
Con: Like a cancerous tumor in a healthy lung, Portland exists.
Pennsylvania
Pro: You can live in an uppity city or in the backwoods country with the Amish.
Con: PennDOT.
(note: we have no clue what this means, but our Bee writer from Pennsylvania said locals will find this hilarious. If you locals don't like it, please let us know and he will be sacked).
Rhode Island
Pro: Everything is close together.
Con: Not an actual island - false advertising.
South Carolina
Pro: Amazing food, golf, and beaches. Surprisingly cool pirate history.
Con: There are more alligators than people, and they are surprisingly organized.
South Dakota
Pro: Mount Rushmore.
Con: Mount Rushmore still doesn't have Trump's face on it.
(Ron DeSantis did not pay us enough money to sponsor this list item).
Tennessee
Pro: Incredible music scene.
Con: It's country music.
Texas
Pro: It's such a great place to live that all the Californians are moving here and becoming conservatives and voting for Republicans to keep Texas red.
Con: Wait - what? They're moving there and voting for the same policies that ruined the state they left? Why in tarnation would they do that?!
Utah
Pro: Lots of big families and friendly people.
Con: Hard to remember if your neighbor's 7th kid is named Rayleighlynn or Reighlynnleigh.
Vermont
Pro: Fall foliage, maple syrup.
Con: Statistically speaking, you're pretty likely to be living next to one of Bernie Sanders' homes.
Virginia
Pro: Long history of political philosophy and secession.
Con: You're getting a bit too close to those rich men north of Richmond.
Washington
Pro: Most of the state is not Seattle and is actually quite nice.
Con: Overrun with teenage girls looking for the places where Twilight was shot.
West Virginia
Pro: The mountains are gorgeous.
Con: You have to spend your entire life inside the mountains getting coal.
Wisconsin
Pro: They make incredible beer and cheese.
Con: Future Hall-Of-Fame quarterback just left the Packers for the Jets. The JETS.
Wyoming
Pro: Very remote and secretive.
Con: It may not exist. Have you ever met anyone from there?

 

[Rick@Laysons]

Just a small edit for you RC.........

IOWA
Pro: You'll be out-standing in your field!
Con: I Outta Went Around

 

[68 Sport Satellite]

Here's one with lots of interesting maps.

 

[Kern Dog]

The wife and I are in Arizona for the annual Christmas visit. This time we made it a point to look at two homes that we are considering. One was huge....

Beautiful house. Just shy of 4000 sq ft on 7 acres but the negatives outweighed the positives. The buildings were at the back end of the property leaving very little space to hide my car parts that I like to keep outside. The landscape is too barren looking. The house has 10 garage spaces but none allow enough ceiling height for the car lift. The location is also a bit too far out of town.
The second place, built in 2006 is closer to town, about $100,000 less, has the house closer to the street but does need some work. The tile in the living room is cracked in two long sections making us wonder if the foundation is somehow splitting or if the cracks are cosmetic and nothing to worry about. Finding exact duplicates could be impossible, meaning I'd have to replace all of them to have a matched set. The affected area could be 400-450 square feet of tile work.

It has a "guest house" that I'd convert to a garage. The house is just shy of 3000 sq ft on 5 1/4 acres.
I've never dealt with cracks in foundations. All slabs are reinforced with steel rebar nowadays. I'd have to call in a structural engineer to write a report to know whether this is a problem or not. My own shop back at home was built in 2006 and has some cracks in the foundation. They all seem to.
It just seems unusual to see a 1/16" wiggly crack run 18-20 feet through a tile in a floor in more than one area.

Also...
While I have maintained my desire to move to a better area, I still find myself tethered to this state.
It is difficult to just cut ties and bail out since it is all that I know. Things are not as good here as they used to be but they are not terrible. It is like the guy in the nice neighborhood that sees crime just outside of town...It is creeping in but hasn't affected me yet.
I look at properties online and wonder if I am giving these places a fair shake.
I do try hard to be open to some issues where something isn't just right.
Each time I dismiss another property I wonder if I am being too picky as a means of unintended self sabotage.
Every one of them I look at is a step up from where we live now in terms of square footage, lot size and quality of house. The main drawback of the properties is the lack of the grass and trees that we love so much.

I try to convince myself that this move is partly to allow the wife to be closer to her family. Doing this will really make her happy.
When I am critical or choosy, part of me thinks I am being selfish. Still, I can't help these feelings of apprehension to leave.
I've known and read from those that picked up and left their home state and applaud them for being able to do it. I just need to figure out a way to get there myself.

 

[JackR]

Some Az areas have expansive soil. The procedures to temper that are not always effective. The result is some foundation shift a few years after the build. It can be corrected and the tile floor cracks you described are exactly from this.

 

[Richard Cranium]

House #2 and its surroundings looks more visually appealing.

 

[Fran Blacker]

Hiding things so people don't see it,"tall fence make good neighbors". I vote House #2 don't I see 2 garages, not tall enough for a lift, I guess?

 

[DeltaV]

The wife and I are in Arizona for the annual Christmas visit. This time we made it a point to look at two homes that we are considering. One was huge....

View attachment 1582271

Beautiful house. Just shy of 4000 sq ft on 7 acres but the negatives outweighed the positives. The buildings were at the back end of the property leaving very little space to hide my car parts that I like to keep outside. The landscape is too barren looking. The house has 10 garage spaces but none allow enough ceiling height for the car lift. The location is also a bit too far out of town.
The second place, built in 2006 is closer to town, about $100,000 less, has the house closer to the street but does need some work. The tile in the living room is cracked in two long sections making us wonder if the foundation is somehow splitting or if the cracks are cosmetic and nothing to worry about. Finding exact duplicates could be impossible, meaning I'd have to replace all of them to have a matched set. The affected area could be 400-450 square feet of tile work.

View attachment 1582273

It has a "guest house" that I'd convert to a garage. The house is just shy of 3000 sq ft on 5 1/4 acres.
I've never dealt with cracks in foundations. All slabs are reinforced with steel rebar nowadays. I'd have to call in a structural engineer to write a report to know whether this is a problem or not. My own shop back at home was built in 2006 and has some cracks in the foundation. They all seem to.
It just seems unusual to see a 1/16" wiggly crack run 18-20 feet through a tile in a floor in more than one area.

Also...
While I have maintained my desire to move to a better area, I still find myself tethered to this state.
It is difficult to just cut ties and bail out since it is all that I know. Things are not as good here as they used to be but they are not terrible. It is like the guy in the nice neighborhood that sees crime just outside of town...It is creeping in but hasn't affected me yet.
I look at properties online and wonder if I am giving these places a fair shake.
I do try hard to be open to some issues where something isn't just right.
Each time I dismiss another property I wonder if I am being too picky as a means of unintended self sabotage.
Every one of them I look at is a step up from where we live now in terms of square footage, lot size and quality of house. The main drawback of the properties is the lack of the grass and trees that we love so much.

I try to convince myself that this move is partly to allow the wife to be closer to her family. Doing this will really make her happy.
When I am critical or choosy, part of me thinks I am being selfish. Still, I can't help these feelings of apprehension to leave.
I've known and read from those that picked up and left their home state and applaud them for being able to do it. I just need to figure out a way to get there myself.

Can you find a 5 to 10 acre lot suitable for a house and outbuildings that isn't too far out, but not too expensive? Then, build what you need.

 

[Billccm]

Can you find a 5 to 10 acre lot suitable for a house and outbuildings that isn't too far out, but not too expensive? Then, build what you need.

My two cents for today is I have learned that for two, or three people 1900 sq feet is perfect. I have owned a 3600 sq foot house, a 3300 sq foot house, and now live in a 1900 sq foot house that is 'just right' for my wife and I and the occasional long term stay of my daughter. Heating/cooling, and general upkeep/maintenance is just cheaper and easier on homes with lower sq footage. Easy to maintain, and just enough room for three, an occasional guest, and even the occasional old car guys cookout for entertaining.

Now acreage is different. I live on just a little over 1 acre and that seems too small to me. I think 3 acres would be nice, but I am retiring soon and comfortable where I am at for the present and future.

Of course, we all know there is no such thing as a garage too big..............................

 

[Kern Dog]

My two cents for today is I have learned that for two, or three people 1900 sq feet is perfect.

Hey heh…. Add in two dogs, maybe three.
The wife needs a room for a home office and then there is the the clutter to hide.

 

[eldubb440]

carve out a little corner for me, I don't need much....... and I can be quite handy

 

[Richard Cranium]

My two cents for today is I have learned that for two, or three people 1900 sq feet is perfect. I have owned a 3600 sq foot house, a 3300 sq foot house, and now live in a 1900 sq foot house that is 'just right' for my wife and I and the occasional long term stay of my daughter. Heating/cooling, and general upkeep/maintenance is just cheaper and easier on homes with lower sq footage. Easy to maintain, and just enough room for three, an occasional guest, and even the occasional old car guys cookout for entertaining.

Now acreage is different. I live on just a little over 1 acre and that seems too small to me. I think 3 acres would be nice, but I am retiring soon and comfortable where I am at for the present and future.

Of course, we all know there is no such thing as a garage too big..............................

I agree with your assessment on house size. My 3 bedroom house is slightly larger @ 2,300 square feet, all on one floor, which gives us bit larger kitchen (for Submit) and a comfortable size living room. Personally, I wouldn't want anything larger.

Coincidentally, my separate garage has the same square footage.

 

[demonram]

I will say this about the cracks in the concrete. Depending on when the house was built, there isn’t rebar or wire in the floors. Rebar in the footings, yes, 2 4’s or 1 size 5. Prior to a couple years ago, 2500 psi concrete was used. 3000 is now required. Unless it’s a post tension slab, I have never seen wire in a slab, except for what I’ve done. Compaction of soil here is a joke, meaning none. You will find cracks in damn near every house you look at, some worse than others. Depends on what the base is, the pour was made on. I will say this too, the building here as opposed to where myself or you’re from, is atrocious. Just to let you know what to expect, looking here.