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Old 01-09-2006, 08:41 AM   #1  
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Default help me find a state to live in!

ok, here's the deal. we want to move. desperately. but we are having trouble deciding on where to look!

my husband is pretty flexible. he doesn't much care about the weather. me, i don't particularly like snow. we get too much of it here on long island for my liking. plus, its so dang expensive here!

i guess i'm looking for someplace with relatively mild winters. and lots of sunshine. and where you can buy a house with at least a half acre of property. would also prefer to keep the humidity to a minimum. i mean, it doesn't have to be desert... but comfortable enough for someone with a decent case of rheumatoid arthritis.

wow. i'm picky. so, does a place like this exist? or even close to all those criteria? if you think your state might work, can you tell me so i can look into it?

thanks!
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Old 01-09-2006, 09:04 AM   #2  
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Well, I guess Canada is out of the question.
Good luck, Susan! I hear ya on wanting perfect weather.
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Old 01-09-2006, 09:44 AM   #3  
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North and South Carolina might fit your bill for mild winters, but as my mother use to always say, in the US no matter where you live one season is generally indoors.

Winters in the south last about 2 months and never get much below 40. But the summers can be hot. the cost of living is lower, but it can be a little difficult to find something as some areas are less developed.

I have spent some time in the Southport, Willmington NC area, as well as mertle Beach, (Close accually) and a little bit of time in Hilton Head....in truth many of theses places it is best to look in some of the gated comunities. They have regulations of what can be built on a property. Lots of NY'er and east coast northeners relocating down that area.

I too am looking to give up winter too, but my kids like their friends and school so not just yet...
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Old 01-09-2006, 10:26 AM   #4  
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Arizona is the place for you. Mild winters (snow in the mountains), although the summers are a bit toasty (but it is a dry heat-and we all have air conditioning).

You can get homes with lots of land, in and near the cities.

I live in Tucson, nice city. Lots of shopping, restrauants, things to do. Easy 8 hour drive to Las Vegas, 6 hour drive to Los Angeles.

Winter gets cold, only up to 50 degrees sometimes in the day, and we do get a few freezes in the night. Fall and Spring are really nice, we leave the doors open all night for the nice breezes. Summers are HOT, but that dosent keep us from doing things outside.

The cost of living is lower than back east. A 3 bedroom house on a half acre lot can run you about $225,000 (newer houses usually are built on zero lots).
You can go up on a realtor web site (like LongRealty or remax or any national realtor and type in the city name).

It is a hard choice to make. We retired here because my parents we here and they needed some care (my mom has since died and my dad lives with us now).

Lots of luck finding a place.

Chris
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Old 01-09-2006, 10:34 AM   #5  
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hi tucsonchris...
thanks! tucson has long been on my list of places to visit. i am mostly just worried about finding any land... the one's i seem to see around are all on like .08 acres or something! holy cow, i could move to queens, ny and have that! LOL! but you say there are some with land. so, i think we will have to schedule a visit to tucson this year.

california looks great too, but tres expensive. and, again with the land. oregon looks nice, but i understand its very rainy.

anyone know anything about kentucky? or new mexico?
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Old 01-09-2006, 11:00 AM   #6  
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I grew up in Florida, so of course that is my first love! The humidity is worse in some parts than others. The Orlando area seems to be much more hot and humid - I grew up in Jacksonville/Amelia Island which is closer to the Georgia state line.

I do live in North Carolina now, Raleigh area. We get some snow, maybe once or twice a year, enough to build a snowman or two and then it melts, and we have great summers, and it is not nearly as humid.

Ahh, but for low humidity, you know, there's always California!!

Good luck
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Old 01-09-2006, 11:55 AM   #7  
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New Mexico. Definitely. I LOVE it there! And I'd say northern New Mexico....near Taos or Santa Fe. It's not too hot in the summer compared to southern New Mexico, the people are SO nice, and the culture there is seriously like a whole 'nother country. There's great concerts, museums, architecture, and food in and around Santa Fe. The history is fascinating...fabulous art, etc. And oh, how cool would it be to live in a adobe house????

My mother keeps "threatening" to move there from Colorado and I can't WAIT until she actually does it!!
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Old 01-09-2006, 08:27 PM   #8  
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California! But it definitely depends on your budget. It sounds like with the humidity situation you would want something more inland. Which is good because then you can find more land and it's cheaper (I use that term losely). Look up houses in Temecula, Murrieta, and the surrouding areas. They are about an 1.25 to 1.5 hours north of San Diego. A little further inland. Lots of new houses. And actually the real estate market in the area is starting to go down because of the rising interest rates. Look it up on www.realtor.com (hopefully the link doesn't get removed!) and good luck!
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Old 01-09-2006, 08:42 PM   #9  
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Stacy and I live in connecting cities on the coast. It is gorgeous here most of the time in southern California, however, the price of housing is outrageous! Stacy is right about Temecula being more affordable.

My wife and I built a home this last year in Washington State, the tri-cities area of Richland~Kennewick~Pasco. It is in south east Washington. Very affordable and mild winters (if you are used to WINTERS! ~~ here in southern Cal. we are not.) It is a growing area, new wine country....might be up your alley. We had a gorgeous brand new home for the summer, a second home for us, we decided though that it wasn't quite time to leave our family and friends here so we sold it. It is the most affordable area in Washington, located just a few hundred miles from Seattle, Spokane, Boise and Portland. It is dessert, but considered mild for dessert.

Enjoy your search!

Gary
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Old 01-09-2006, 09:24 PM   #10  
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OK, I'm a California NATIVE but I moved away several years ago. Make sure when you do your research that you look at a LOT of things. Are there some cheaper places in CA? yes. But....what about weather? (some of the inland areas are STAGNANT and I could NEVER go back to that). Smog?? Some inland areas you will be lucky to see BLUE sky a couple weeks a year. Other things to think about that I've run into based on the state I live in: car registration (California sucks in this respect), taxes--sales, property, etc. One of the problems with poor California is that the state seems to jump from one natural disaster to another. I knew somebody once who thought we must all be living in the middle of a fire because there were so many reported that year! It's not that it's THAT bad, but between earthquakes, floods, fires, landslides, etc. the taxes keep going up and up in so many ways.

I would add Nevada to your research list too (in line with places like Arizona & New Mexico). And NOT Las Vegas or Reno--check out some of the other areas. Also...Idaho could be a possibility. Oh! which makes me add--politics--to your list. If you strongly political (either left or right) you should consider that with the region/town you move to. When I'm working on my wish list, I also list my hobbies and the kinds of places I couldn't live without or that need to be within an hour or two drive....like...hobby shop (for me quilting), pet store, is the hospital and or vet care up to snuff? Do you bowl? Like dancing? What about the school system if you have kids? If you're a smoker (or rather avid non-smoker) checking out the laws for that could be important too (like...here in Washington we just passed one of the strictest anti-smoking laws in the state). What about "high culture"--like to you feel that your life wouldn't be complete without an occasional trip to a live theater or concert? Etc., etc.

Can you tell I've moved states a few times?? I think each time I move my list is longer, but basically, I think it helps to look at more than just climate and housing--it's a really big quality of life thing. One of my favorite research sites is http://homefair.com. They have a lot of calculators and resources to help you out
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Old 01-09-2006, 10:18 PM   #11  
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Hey Now or Never, I have lived my entire 51 years in southern California and NEVER been in a fire, flood or an earthquake that damaged anything within a hundred miles of me or more. The state is quite diverse...coast, mountains, desert....weather will change 30 degrees in 30 minutes.

We all can't live in Sequim!!
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Old 01-09-2006, 11:04 PM   #12  
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Well, I don't live in Sequim. I was born in 1959 and have been in several "small" quakes in the 4 and 5 variety, in at least two 6ish quakes, and I spent the 1989 Loma Prieta quake in an elevator that fell half a floor in downtown San Jose (and then I waited out about an hour's worth of aftershocks listening to the metal in the elevator shaft shriek while waiting for the fire department to arrive). Im well aware that the state is diverse. Most of my family lives in the Central Valley and they've been dealing with flooding lately. My point really wasn't that no matter where you live, you'll be flooded, burned, shaken, or stirred, but that the tax rates for the state are reflective of one disaster or another that the state seems to be recovering from. State fiscal problems did seem to be the primary reason for the gubernatorial recall and election of Schwarzennegger. I was a state employee for many years in the CSU system and I sure as **** remember the days of being told I would get a *voucher* instead of a paycheck because the state budget for that year hadn't been approved yet (luckily this was declared an illegal action by the legislature which was handy since I was trying to figure out how to pay my rent or buy groceries with a voucher).

Gary if you're thinking that I'm not REALLY a Californian, then you called the wrong person (for some reason, your email has just REALLY rubbed me the wrong way tonight).

Where in SoCal are you? My aunt and cousin live in the LA area and anybody near that area definitely felt the 7-ish quake of a few years ago (I don't remember the exact year). Also, if you're 51, then you should remember the '71 San Fernando quake if you're in the LA area.
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Old 01-09-2006, 11:25 PM   #13  
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My apologies to everybody and especially Gary--I didn't mean to get so snappish. I'd like to blame it all the hormones tonight, but my brain is still attached to the rest of my body and I should have thought more before hitting "send."
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Old 01-10-2006, 12:04 AM   #14  
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Well I am from Illinois, and we all know the winters here are pretty cold and snowy. However, this year *knock on wood* hasn't been too bad so far. Fortunately though, this is my last winter to live in IL as I am moving to the Orlando area in May (hopefully). yeah I know the humidity is going to be sticky icky but the weather, not including June-Aug is beautiful IMO! Can't wait to get there!!
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Old 01-10-2006, 12:19 AM   #15  
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Hey NoworNever, my husband works in CSU system as well. He's been warned several times they they could be put on mimimum wage until the budget was balanced but it's never happened! I've been here for 4 years (my husband is a Ca native) and have only experiened a couple *tiny* earthquakes. The only thing that gave it away was it sounded like someone was knocking on the sliding glass doors. Never any mud slides around here. We did have fires a couple years ago. No fires close by but there was some smoke for about a week. I'm in Carlsbad by the way.
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