Basic Tools for Deciding Where to Move (for sale, real estate)

[Mike from back east]

Having just spent the last 2 years figuring all this out for myself, I'm here to share what I've learned with others, as I believe in the power of the internet to make this a much better world. I'm not a realtor or a builder, nor am I in any way associated with any aspect of these topics. I’m just a retiree who has time to help out once in a while between chasing model trains or horses.

If you think you want to move a certain area or city, scope out the real estate there by using a free site called http://www.realtor.com (broken link). This site covers almost all areas of the USA and Canada by showing you current "For Sale" listings of EXISTING homes now on the market. Most NEW homes are not found in this site, as NEW homes are a whole different real estate ballgame. You can develop very finite queries in realtor for such things as home size, prices, features, and then you’ll only see what you’re primary interest is. It’s easy to use, self-teaching. Realtor will help you figure out the types of houses in an area, the prices, the appearance, etc and is worth using.

You can check homes by two basic ways:
- Use the map to drill down to a state, city and locality.
- Use the zip code feature to key in a zip code and you'll go right to the locality. (If you don’t know the zip code for a town, use http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp to find a zip and then you’re good to go with realtor.


BOOK SOURCES

Best book I have found is “Cities Ranked and Rated” by Frommer’s, a highly regarded publisher. This 820-page book has current, accurate data on populations, demographics, crime, weather, cost of living, tax loads, housing costs, job markets, recreation, culture, medical care, and more. This book has a focus on 400+ major USA and Canadian *metropolitan* areas and as such you won’t see data for the usual “retirement havens” of Lake Havasu City or Sun City, AZ, etc. We didn’t want to go to one of those distant retiree towns when we retired, besides, there are plenty of major metropolitan regions that are attractive places to live and/or work.

There are lots of books along the lines of “where to retire” but these do NOT cover the major areas. I have these books and they stick to the usual retirement towns, but don’t have most of the hard data that “Cities Ranked and Rated” offers.

I’m going to post a very long email on “Why Choose Colorado Springs” to another thread in the Colorado folder, and I hope you go there. The “Springs” is a fabulous place to live, read all about it in my other post.

s/Mike from back east, and I ain’t going back.

[Jillian]

I used the realtor.com link and found it to be quite helpful since I will be selling a home and buying another.

[baked bean]

Thanks, Mike. I've been trying to find out all I can before making a trip out to what I hope will be my new city. But since that's halfway across the country, I will look for Frommer's area guide, as you suggest. Thank goodness for Mapquest.com too.

[Mike from back east]

Originally Posted by baked bean

Thanks, Mike. I've been trying to find out all I can before making a trip out to what I hope will be my new city. But since that's halfway across the country, I will look for Frommer's area guide, as you suggest. Thank goodness for Mapquest.com too.

Bean, thanks for the feedback. Indeed, Mapquest is one of my favorites, is useful for all sorts of things. If you plan a visit to Colorado Springs, let me know, there are some more detailed stuff I can steer you to, like the Hilton Homewood Suites on Explorer Drive, where you get a great breakfast each morning and dinners Mon-Thurs nites, at no added charge. Our realtor got us a discounted rate for the times we stayed there. The place is top notch, cheaper than many other places, and convenient to all the home hunting here on the north side. The big airport in Denver is only a 75 minute drive. The airport here in the Springs is 20 minutes from us, but doesn't get all the good flights/times/prices that Denver does, but you may find a good deal there via NWA.

Lastly, no one should overlook all of the resources found at the reference desk of any good public library. The reference librarians are a great bunch of folks whose role is to help others.

s/Mike

[pioneer8]

Dear Sir, I just wanted to tell you how ironic it is... "Cities Ranked and Rated" has been my "bible" for a couple of years now (it's very worn and I wish they would update it) and I am always on realtor.com. My husband is moving up the ladder in his company (thank God!) and many places are offered to him along the way. I do my best to investigate and now I am so grateful to find a site like this. One day, I hope to find "my ultimate" place to reside. Colorado Springs certainly looks like a wonderful place to do so. Shhh... if you tell to many, it might get to crowded (smile). Anyway, you're smart and good to tell people. Have a great day! Why will you not go back east? Where do you mean? I just like to hear someone's opinion who's been around. Thanks!

[Mike from back east]

Pioneer8: I can't stand the thought of going back east to Northern Virginia. It's one huge sprawl with pitiful roads, about the worst traffic in the nation, except for one or two other areas. It's a self-inflicted wound, courtesy of local politicians who proved very poor visionaries - yes they grew the area, but they put in precious little infrastructure. Then along came the anti-tax crowd, the nimby's, the environmentalists, all of which worked to reduce road-building and mass transit, making the whole area impassable except for late at night.

We were fed up with living our life around getting up at 4AM to beat traffic, and having to plan everything with an eye on road situations. We felt the quality of life there was not acceptable. As soon as we could retire, we did, and we took our money and put Northern Virginia behind us. We'll go back to see family every so often, but I look at it this way - with the $1/2M we saved on a new house by moving here, we can afford a few airplane tickets now and then, and not be house-poor like a lot of couples back there.

Real estate prices are so high in Northern Virginia we couldn't afford a nice new house like we wanted, unless we had $1M to spend. So we came to Colorado Springs and got a million dollar home with ALL the trimmings for only $550k. That's still a lot of money, but we were able to pay that by selling in Fairfax last year when prices were going up by the day - and we were locked in on our price here, in a much lower-cost area. People from California are coming in here and actually buying multiple homes with the appreciation from their home in California.

Homebuilding and sales here in Colorado Springs are strong, only a slight softening in the market due to interest rates going up a bit, but nothing like the clobbering now happening in Northern Virginia. For insights on the Northern Virginia market, see discussions in the Washington Post at http://forums.washingtonpost.com/wpr...es/?msg=5641.1 The "Spring Market" posting on this page has some amazing stats.

My hometown of Baltimore is the murder capitol of the nation, much industry has left and there's nothing to hang around for anymore.

Colorado is like the promised land, and if you can see your way to get out here, you'll love it and never want to leave. The quality of life here is simply outstanding, weather is great, and we have all the same sorts of jobs and firms they have back in Northern Virginia.

s/Mike

[thepizzaguy]

Another great Real Estate website where you can search the entire country for real estate, homes and land is URLs removed

EDIT:

Here is a list of current sale tax rates for all 50 states.

www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/sales.html (broken link)

Here's a list of the current income tax rates for all 50 states.

www.taxadmin.org/fta/rate/ind_inc.html (broken link)

Here is a list of the real estate tax rates for all 50 states.

[pixieshmoo]

If I may add something... I've seen a lot of these websites and books myself, as we are considering moving from our home-state, and I agree, they are very helpful. In addition though, whether it be in this forum or another one, or even some other form of communication, it is also wise and helpful to get firsthand opinions of people (of all ages and professions) who live in whichever place you are researching. Especially if you're interested in school systems and such. Lastly, don't always count solely upon a realtor without doing some of your own personal research. Being one myself, I know we are entitled to give out as many statistics as we can but we cannot give an actual opinion... so even if a place "sucks" (I wouldn't say that at my office ) we cannot come right out and tell you that. Not that we can deceive, by any means, but by law we cannot give opinions, no matter how honest or helpful they might be. It's "code of conduct" and I am not saying this to give realtors bad names (we're salespeople of course) but again, don't move somewhere based solely on statistics (they're not always accurate or even updated either).

[Peggy Johnson]

Hi. What is it about China Grove that makes life good?
I'm currently living in SA. My daughter and I want to move into another house, get a fresh start.
Any information about life in China Grove would be helpful.
For instance, places to worship and are there any Christian schools there.
Thanks.
Peggy

[nova]

Thanks Mike from back east for the info. It was very helpfull