Insane Cost Of Living

[sta fwd]

If I were you I would not even consider buying a house for another 2-5 years. The dollar keeps going down, fuel keeps going up, the foreclosure rate is thru the roof and there is no end in site for that trend here in Minnesota. There is some talk that housing prices will roll back to what it was about 15 years ago. Saving your money and renting an apartment for now may not be a bad option.

As for other cost of living thoughts: My neibor recently sold his house and took a huge hit on it. Had it on the market for over a year and a half. Each offer that came in was lower then the previous one, but still he and his wife heldout for what that house was worth several years ago. However, those days are gone. Took an incrediable loss to sell the house and move from Minnesota, to Conover North Carolina. They hated the winters here, felt the people weren't friendly, the air quality was bad, etc. My neibors up and left with no job in place waiting for them in Conover North Carolina, no house or apartment, and neither one has a retirement 401k or a pension. Both are in their late 40's and I thought they were completely nuts and laughed about how recklace they were.

Then I started looking at the cost of living down in Conover North Carolina and my jaw dropped. Currently I pay almost $3,000 in taxes per year to live here in Rosemount Minnesota. Many of the homes in Conover NC are going for 90,000 to 130,000 for homes bigger then the ones here in Rosemount, plus the taxes were like $372. Thats right, $372 dollars per year! I just about gagged. They have better police and fire department service when I did a comparision and the weather appears to be much better thus the reason for my neibors move. Since looking at many of the stats between Rosemount Minnesota and Conover North Carolina my wife and I have been having serious talks that maybe, just maybe, my neibor wasn't so stupid after all...

I love the state of Minnesota, but I have to admit that I'm really now starting to question where all our tax money is going because I'm not seeing it like I should. This entire neibor moving incident has really rock'd our household as to our future here in Minnesota, and here I thought I'd never, ever, leave Minnesota. But I'm honestly questioning why I'm paying these incrediable taxes after the move that my neibor took. Or maybe I'm just plain jealous that they could just up and leave like that, I'm not quite sure. lol.

P.S. Could it also be: "the grass is always greener"

Any thoughts?

Dan
Rosemount, MN.

[moving123456]

Originally Posted by sta fwd

As for other cost of living thoughts: My neibor recently sold his house and took a huge hit on it. Had it on the market for over a year and a half. Each offer that came in was lower then the previous one, but still he and his wife heldout for what that house was worth several years ago. However, those days are gone. Took an incrediable loss to sell the house and move from Minnesota, to Conover North Carolina. They hated the winters here, felt the people weren't friendly, the air quality was bad, etc. My neibors up and left with no job in place waiting for them in Conover North Carolina, no house or apartment, and neither one has a retirement 401k or a pension. Both are in their late 40's and I thought they were completely nuts and laughed about how recklace they were.

Then I started looking at the cost of living down in Conover North Carolina and my jaw dropped. Currently I pay almost $3,000 in taxes per year to live here in Rosemount Minnesota. Many of the homes in Conover NC are going for 90,000 to 130,000 for homes bigger then the ones here in Rosemount, plus the taxes were like $372. Thats right, $372 dollars per year! I just about gagged. They have better police and fire department service when I did a comparision and the weather appears to be much better thus the reason for my neibors move. Since looking at many of the stats between Rosemount Minnesota and Conover North Carolina my wife and I have been having serious talks that maybe, just maybe, my neibor wasn't so stupid after all...

I love the state of Minnesota, but I have to admit that I'm really now starting to question where all our tax money is going because I'm not seeing it like I should. This entire neibor moving incident has really rock'd our household as to our future here in Minnesota, and here I thought I'd never, ever, leave Minnesota. But I'm honestly questioning why I'm paying these incrediable taxes after the move that my neibor took. Or maybe I'm just plain jealous that they could just up and leave like that, I'm not quite sure. lol.

P.S. Could it also be: "the grass is always greener"

Any thoughts?

Dan
Rosemount, MN.

I did the NC thing and ended up back in MN after a couple additional moves trying to find a place that I thought was both nicer and cheaper. The grass was definitely not as green there as it looked before leaving. NC usually had worse air quality across the state whenever I checked maps or charts on the subject, so I don't know why that was a factor for them, Charlotte usually had a nasty looking haze over it. Real Estate Property taxes might currently be lower in NC, but they get taxes in other ways. They have a personal property tax which charges yearly taxes on everything that you own in terms of Cars or Trucks, ATVs, Boats, Motorcycles, Aircrafts, Trailers, RVs, Jet Skis or anything else of value. You have to pay for a yearly "safety inspection" on your vehicles at just about any random mechanic shop, then pay for any "repairs" that he decides to charge you for before he will pass your car. Clothing is taxed. Goceries were taxed where I lived, but I think it was a local county or city tax. How did you come to the conclusion of them having better police and fire service? Most of the state could use more police as the crime rate is just absolutely ridiculous in much of NC when compared to MN. Most services seemed worse to me. Most state and county type roads off the interstate were thin with no shoulders. There is the whole "bible belt" thing which made me uncomfortable at times, people seem to like asking where you go to church, I was even asked while at work multiple times at a major NC company.

If you are still in contact with your old neighbors, give them a year for the "honeymoon stage" to wear off, then ask again how they like living in NC.

I was about 99% sure that I would love it there after reading everything about it online and taking a couple weeking trips there. I was very wrong.

Don't believe all the hype from Long island and New Jersey people in the NC forum here.