I want to leave California for Missouri (Gladstone, Commerce: safe area, taxes)

[northbound74]

Originally Posted by eslsensei

Fourth of all, stay in California!

[aragx6]

Tell that to all the people on the Missouri forum who it seems are daily moving to Missouri from California. COL, COL, COL that's all I can say. California is really only nice if you're rich as sin anymore (not to mention left-leaning)

[STLCardsBlues1989]

Missouri's nice, cheap, and beautiful. But the weather can be uncomfortable, too.

But I like Missouri a lot.

[Beca]

Well, here is an old California girl living here in Southern Missouri. Heres my two cents worth. This is just my experience, so nobody get your feelings hurt please. Please excuse my spelling, I have a flu and am not paying much attention to spelling, but rather the message. Mind you, I've lived in CA. all my life, until now.

Things I like and don't like about living in CA. and MO.

1. The cost of housing can be higher, however, most any older home you buy in CA are made sound and well made. Therefore, you get your moneys worth I think. In MO. most homes have mositure, tree or torandoe damage.

2. I lived in the areas of Northern CA. Between Sacramento CA. and the sierra foothills just before Reno. It's the best of two worlds there. You are about two hour drive from the Ocean or if you perfer, the mountains. The cost of living is cheaper in Northern CA. In MO. it takes you alot longer to get from one place to another, as things as very far apart.

3. CA. folks do not seem to be so nosey and they are much more friendly to outsiders too. If you need alot of "That a boy's" you most likely get it from CA. though. MO. folks are more cautious towards outsiders and they just don't say anything, but you walk away feeling not so welcomed. It takes a long time for MO. folks to even start to accept you, let alone be your friend.

4. The weather, of course is wonderful in CA. In northern CA, there are rarely earthquakes. If you have poor health, it's a much better pleace to live. And, think about it, you don't have to buy as much winter clothes, supplies, Ect. in CA. When its hot there, you can stand in the shade and feel a difforence. In States like MO. the humlity is never ending and standing in the shade, makes no difforence at all. And tornadoes, yeap, there here in MO. got one coming through here tonight. We also just got through an ice strom as well. Now that was a real wake up experience for this CA. gal!

5. CA is not as over populated as it use to be and prices of living and housing have gone down, compared to 10 years ago. Why? People, like myself, thought is would be better to move out of CA. to another state because it's cheaper.

6. CA. has very few hinden costs. They don't dare, as everyone is suring each other and winning their cases in CA. Here in MO. I have found so MANY hinden costs, that I am selling my home here in MO. and moving back to CA. very soon. Can'y afford to live here in MO. any longer.

7. If you get down on your luck, with no family to pull you out in CA. at least there's a hussle, getting cans, washing cars, mowing yards, Ect. The weather ther is so nice most of the time, there are cans everywhere! And CA. pays alot more for cans than MO. In MO. this is the bible belt, so there are ALOT more churches to help you. And the food banks here are alot better than in CA. You can also camp out if you need to in CA. The weather is not so bad in the winter there, so, if one is really down on hard times, you could do so. In MO. I cannot even see anyone doing that in summer or winter.

Now, it might be because I am an old California girl, like I said before. So if it sounds like I am suggesting not to move to MO. I am not! I am just saying for me, it was not a wise choise. I wish you the best of luck in any state you move to or stay in. My suggestion, is before moving to another state, do your homework and then go for a visit. You will save more money on a air plane ticket, checking it out than you would moving there first and regretting it later in you pocket book. Know what I mean???? By the way, my house in MO is for sell if your interested in MO that much!

[gwander]

Come back to the midwest. You will be glad you did.

[bazillion]

Resurrecting an old (but relevant) thread ....

My wife and I, not quite ready to retire yet, plan to move from CA to MO shortly. Why? We like the slower pace, the less-superficial people, the flourishing nature, and the four seasons. We want to own a home again (next-to-impossible in CA) and we don't have wild and crazy expectations. We lived in Oklahoma City for a while and liked it but we want winters that are a bit colder, so we're looking north just a skosh. Right now we're looking at places like Excelsior Springs - we don't want to be smack dab in the middle of everything but we want to be close enough to get there if the whim strikes us.

Our questions, not being familiar with the area yet, run along the lines of

- How's the public transport system outside of KC proper? Are there bus lines, etc., that run out to the 'burbs? (This is because my wife doesn't drive.)
- What about growth plans? I've hears about NKC expansion to the east of the airport - what about up the I-35 corridor? Do you know of any major development plans out that way?
- What's the air quality like? I've read about coal-fired power plants as of 2007 or so - are these currently an issue?
- And mostly, what's the job market like for people who are, shall we say, well-seasoned?

[kcmo]

^ If you want any sort of transit options at all and want to live in the suburbs, I would to with the I-29 corridor possibly near the transit center in Tiffany Springs or in Northeast Johnson County near Mission's transit center. I'm not sure when the Metcalf BRT will be operating. There is very limited transit other than commuter service in the suburbs of KC.

[racer56]

I would suggest you look at Iowa City,Iowa before you decide on any certain town. They have a great transit system, plenty of jobs, educated people, town is very clean, stable economy and cheap to live. The area is very accepting to transplants, has four seasons and cheap housing. Some things about Iowa that may be a better fit is they don't tax food and no personal property tax like in Missouri.

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by racer56

I would suggest you look at Iowa City,Iowa before you decide on any certain town. They have a great transit system, plenty of jobs, educated people, town is very clean, stable economy and cheap to live. The area is very accepting to transplants, has four seasons and cheap housing. Some things about Iowa that may be a better fit is they don't tax food and no personal property tax like in Missouri.

Missouri's total tax burden is ranked by the Tax Foundation as 33rd nationally. There are differences in exactly where taxes are collected, but overall, the burden here is very low and certainly not a reason to not consider moving to the area. And given that you're likely to only have one car because your wife doesn't drive, personal property tax should be way down on your list of concerns. Iowa's tax burden is ranked slightly higher at 29th.

The Tax Foundation - Tax Research Areas > Missouri

Public Transit from Excelsior Springs would be an issue -- I'm not actually sure there's any. I would urge you to look at Parkville. It's certainly closer to the city proper, but its small time charm is very endearing and I do think it would be all-around easier for your wife to get around.

If your share your housing budget we could probably offer more tailored suggestions!

[bazillion]

Thanks, folks. Taxes aren't really a major concern (I figure it's a bit late in the game to exorcise the Hand of Big Brother from my pocket) and transport is not an insoluble problem - after all, we can always get a second car and she can learn to drive. It would be convenient if there was a bus line out there but it's not a killer. We've pretty much decided on the KC area, mainly because there are a lot of things available there that we're interested in.

The major factors that we're looking at are employment and air quality. Re air quality, we know that it's hot and humid in the summer and cold in the winter - that's OK - but what about airborne pollutants? Are there areas where people are more or less prone to breathing problems or is it all pretty much the same all over?

Housing budget is more difficult to pin down, mainly because so much depends on whether or not I'm able to find work once (or before!) we move. We took a major hit in the downturn and are just now poking our heads up above water again - we figure that $100K is going to be a good starting point. That leaves out Parkville, if I read zillow correctly, but puts us in good shape for a more outlying area.

As far as work, I'm in real estate - started with selling houses and wound up in analytics: predicting market trends, assessing and mitigating risk, that sort of stuff. There are a couple of companies in KC that I'm looking at but if worst comes to worst I can always get a license and start selling houses again. On the other hand, we could both retire and live off our combined SS, which would mean bringing our likely housing expense down a notch or two.

Anyway, that's where we stand right now. We're itching to move though and we'd like to get as familiar as we can with KC before we finally pull the plug on California. Thanks for reading - any advice / guidance / feedback would be appreciated.