Ever thought about moving accross the country? Need some help

[foggy1111]

Another thought to consider: The Black Hills / Rapid City SD area...not the Rockies...but nice mountains and pretty nice 4 seasons climate with relatively mild winters (I call it the Bannana Belt...as the weather is pretty nice compared to MN). NO state taxes. Great hunting / fishing and access to the west and the Rockies for more hunting opportunities. Good growth area. National Parks, etc...... I like the area south of Rapid City. I have seen a number of business folk from the Great Lakes area re-locate their business to SD...and they seem to stick.

Always wonder why I stay here in the "land of 10,000 taxes" (Minnesota) But then....I got roots.

another .002 worth....

 

[EddieWalker]

I'll second the Black Hills. Probably on the Wyoming side because of the cheaper land and lower taxes, but either place is high on my list of places I might retire to. If nothing else, take a trip there. Custer State Park is awesome!!! Mt. Rushmore is a must see. Nothing else like it anywhere. There are more things to see and do there then you can cram into during two weeks. Just don't go in the end of July and the beginning of August unless you REALLY like Harley's. LOL

As to your decision on moving, been there, did that. I'm from California and by the end of the 90's, was ready to move. I wanted to go to Wyoming because I love to hunt and Wyoming is my favorite state. There are very few people there and land is fairly affordable. There's not allot of jobs, but then again, I had a whole list of options that I was going to try out. Unfortunately, after a few weeks of looking around, my wife at the time said no way.

I was stumped, but then her uncle passed away and his nephew flew out for the funeral from Tyler Texas. I never heard of it before, but thanks to the internet and Realtor.com, I found out that I could sell my house and buy one for cash there. I could buy a house on a lake, or even buy a few acres of land. We flew out here and was very impressed with the area.

The move sucked. My wife was a drama queen and made everything harder then it needed to be. She was supposes to clear out stuff she didn't want or need, but instead, started accumulating crap that she wanted to look through after we got settled in. Basically all her parents hand me downs. Once we got settled, she hated her new job at the same company that she'd worked at for the last decade. It was different in Texas then California and she never thought of that. Eventually she started drinking and we got divorced.

After that period of misery, my life blossomed and it just keeps getting better. I started my own remodeling business, bought a great piece of land and met the most amazing women ever. I look back on my previous life and wonder what the heck was wrong with me.

If you got the urge to move, live someplace different. GO FOR IT!!! You only have this one life. Spending it someplace you don't want to be isn't living your life. It's just surviving. Do your research. The other posters have some good points, but in the end, all that matters is what you make out of it.

Eddie

 

[jetsons]

We moved from Alaska to South Dakota 10 years ago, it was a great move and now we have our 10 acre hobby farm up for sale as we want to go about 15 miles farther west. I would encourage you to follow your dream, better to go to ones grave having tried than wondering what if I would have tried. God Bless

 

[TCBoomer]

f you got the urge to move, live someplace different. GO FOR IT!!! You only have this one life. Spending it someplace you don't want to be isn't living your life. It's just surviving. Do your research. The other posters have some good points, but in the end, all that matters is what you make out of it.[/B] Eddie

Eddie said it best...BTDT...If U really want to move, do it and dont look back!!

 

[nmu98]

Thank you all for your posts! Its great to look up thye cities online and see what they offer.

I also found out that we live in the out skirts of a suburb of a 40,000 person city. Its a bit larger than I thought. There are also 2 other cities that are larger within 20 miles of me.

I went to college in a town of 20,000 and it was perfect!

Water as it was mensioned has always been a thought in the back of my head. I looked at it as more of an expense,, but great points that i will look at. I have lived around water, and don't think i have went a day without seeing a river or lake, that it might be hard to move somewhere without a small lake? At least within driving distance...

We are so invested with real estate that it seems like it will be a nightmare to try to move. I think we are going to set a goal to have 2 or 3 places we want to seriously investigate, and try to see if this is exactly what we are thinking it will be...

I like the idea of no state taxes... we have a 6% sales tax and 4.xx% state tax.

 

[WarrenF]

Just don't go in the end of July and the beginning of August unless you REALLY like Harley's. LOL
Eddie

My wife lived for 50+ years in Rapid City. She tells me that the two weeks of the Black Hills Motorcycle Rally in Sturgis, is the longest two months in your life. Having been there numerous times since she and I were married, it is really a pretty area.

 

[capi75rs]

One thing I'd like to mention it to also keep you children in mind,( I'm sure you have and that they are your top priority so don't take that wrong) When I was younger we moved 17 times before I graduated from high school. I know this doesn't seem to apply to you for only one move, but my point is it was hard to relocate and make new friends all over again. It got to the point that I didn't even unpack the boxes just because I knew we were going to move again.
I lived in Montana, around Townsend, and it was beautiful, I'd love to move back someday, but with my children at the ages they are, I'll have to wait. If your children are close to the age of graduation, I'd have a talk with them and see what they had to say, If your wanting to move just to move, it may be best if you waited until they graduated, however, they may be all for the move as well. If your wanting to move to better yourself and your family, then staying where you are will only delay your chance to better your lives. There are lots of great points that I've read in this thread that I'd never even thought about. I do wish you all the best with your decision.

 

[Tororider]

I would love to move to some wide open spaces, but we have so much family here it would have to be a mass migration, which I am working on.

NMU98, I know what you are talking about, I am young, but these MI winters, especially this one, are getting rough, so much for global warming.

Anyways, my wife has some family in Austin and Dallas TX, and I could definitely see myself in TX. I don't mind the heat and I am sure I could get used to it.

Also, although I have never been there, my cousin lived in the Grand Junction area of CO for a couple years and the pictures they sent back from there were absolutely amazing. They like it, but moved back to be closer to family.

Good luck with your move. I think I will end up being here in MI for awhile longer.

 

[nmu98]

My kids are still so young that the move would not matter to them. With that said, I don't want to move multiple times, or any more than needed.

Toro, the winters don't bother me. This winter has been a blast. It was a lot easier trapping without the freeze and thaw, and the snow was a nice change.

What bothers me, sometimes more than the lack of hills, is the people that seem to be "moving in". More and more, the one city close to me is degrading and having problems. Those problems are spilling over into the other communities.

From watching Fox News, I want nothing to do with Texas. I could not deal with the illegal immagration and violence. I want a very safe place for my family.

 

[EddieWalker]

Texas is a big state. The problems you are hearing are along the boarders, and go from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. I wouldn't want to be in those areas either. LOL But I don't want to live in the desert, so it's not an problem. My area is fairly flat, so that's probably the think I miss the most. We have allot of trees, plenty of rain, and some of the best schools in the nation. We're a very conservative state that is very business friendly, which is why I think we're not having any of the problems that some other states are going through. Our tax money is used for what it is raised for and we don't spend money that we don't have. Compared to California, where the tax money goes into a general fund and is spent on social programs that keep the politicians elected, but don't actually accomplish anything. Our roads are good and well maintained. Our schools are in excellent shape and we're always building new ones.

I went from a place with hundreds of murders a year, to just a few. Where I'm from, the news only reported the more sensational murders or crimes. Most of it wasn't even reported because there was just too much of it. They were always politically correct in the reporting of the news and would not describe what the person looked like. Here, if the gas station gets robed, it's headline news. There is so little crime compared to what I'm used to that if it happens, it's an event. Everything that happens here makes the news. From high school sports, to who caught the biggest fish in the lake to an accident in one of the local towns.

Tyler is about 80,000 people, but the little towns all around it are just a thousand to a few thousand people. The town that our kids go to doesn't have a grocery store, and has less then a thousand people living in it. The town that we shop in is ten miles away and has less then 3,000 people. Everyone hunts, fishes, or at least supports it.

Don't just visit a state, investigate it. Find those areas that you think you will like and then research the heck out of it. If you are political, be sure to find a state that supports your view.

Good luck,
Eddie