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We are New Englanders from birth, living most of our lives in Rhode Island, and the past 2+ years in northern Maine. Both of these states are snow country, which I love. I have a pickup with a plow, so it's fine for me. RI has high property costs and high taxes. We found some relief from that here in Maine.
This past spring, we bought some central Tennessee acreage and put a modular home on it. My wife has family in the WNC and TN areas. We quickly ruled out both NC and SC due to high property costs and high taxes. TN was left, and we bought rural land for a low price. It's near a lake, so I had my fishing spot. We continue to live in northern Maine, and will use the TN property for winters (far too hot for me in summer!) and non-summer vacations.
The heat does not bother my wife as much, nor her brother (he's down in TN now, doing some work on the new place). We are thinking of switching our legal residency to TN from Maine to avoid the income tax issue. If you can have 2 places, it's much better; as someone mentioned, there is no one perfect place. But it seems that we have found 2 perfect places, at different times of the year!
For those in the N.E. who are thinking of moving south because of winter, I agree with River Bird that you just stay home until the roads are clear- easy enough, if retired. And all you have to do for shoveling is hire someone. Now, of course if you just plain dislike winter temperatures and weather, that's different, but if the issue is the driving and shoveling, it easy enough to take care of that.
But, why would you live like that, when you can move anywhere you want? Like volunteering to be in jail.
I know the NE has it's charms, I liked visiting from time to time when work took me there - but over-winter there? On my own dime? I don't think so.
There can be huge differences just in the cost of utilities in various locations, even within one state. Right now we pay roughy $3K per year for heating the house (a.c. seldom used); how does that figure compare with heating & cooling in these mentioned states?
Where I am my utilities run between a low of about $70 a month during spring and fall when it's open window weather, to a high of about $170 during the coldest part of the year, usually January or February, most of the time it's about $100+/- . Three people in an older 1100 ft home, up in elevation at 1700 ft.
The water and trash pick up bill is separate, which shocked me at first, but it runs $40-$50 per month
Well, as people have pointed out, there is no perfect place, and if there are other reasons besides winter to stay in N.E., it can be done. I personally plan to leave because of the sticky summers and don't care how much winter I get elsewhere. I have friends in Boston who are planning to retire to Minneapolis for cheaper housing and cooler summers!
Coming from Socal, Raleigh area still seems a bargain for me for what you get for your money. I'm a "suburb with a city nearby" kind of gal. Coming to visit in late Oct/early Nov...hope to see some fall foliage while I'm there too.
Coming from Socal, Raleigh area still seems a bargain for me for what you get for your money. I'm a "suburb with a city nearby" kind of gal. Coming to visit in late Oct/early Nov...hope to see some fall foliage while I'm there too.
The leaves should be late peak then, but not gone. Native trees are still mostly green right now but a lot of ornamentals have already started turning. There are great deals if you look hard enough and don't insist on being in the newer high end developments.
In east TN (near Loudon) we pay $1.50ish per gallon for propane (we own our tank so we can shop for the best price), 500 gal/year, so that comes to about $750/ year for supplemental heat (we have a dual fuel heat pump), stove, dryer, water heat, and occasional fireplace use. Our electricity has been below $75 month year round. We have 2700 sq ft of a/c space on 2 levels and our electric bill for August was $62. We keep the a/c set at 77-80 degrees 24/7. Our water/sewer is about $36/month, and our trash pickup is about $15/month.
In northern CA, we paid about $2.00-3.75/ gallon for propane, used about 600 gallons/year just for heat, so that's over $1800/yr. We lived in the foothills, but set night time heat at 60-64 degrees and daytime heat at 68. We paid between $75 and $150/month ($150/month for 4 months of summer) electricity, but had to set the a/c at 82-84 during the day and off at night in 2900 sq ft of a/c space. Our trash we took to the dump for about $20 every other month, our water was $100-200/month, we had a septic tank so no sewer cost. Most people pay at least $50 every other month for sewer and trash in CA.
Good luck finding those items in southwest VA and east TN outside of Johnson City.
Good grief emigrations or whatever your name is now, will you quit lying. There are organic foods of all sorts available in Knoxville and Chattanooga. Then there is Collegedale for crying out loud. And most Krogers and even Wal-Mart have organic sections. Probably even in Kingsport if you'd take the time to visit a store.
BTW I'm drinking grass fed cream top milk grown right here in Knox county - $3.29/half gallon. It may not be certified organic to please the elitist but it does taste good. As does the locally grown food at the farmers market with varying types of farming methods. BTW, home grown food sold by the farmer is not taxed in TN.
Should I visit a little earlier to catch the foliage in Raleigh? I was told later Oct/early Nov but maybe that's not the case this year....I'm flexible on travel dates.
Reading this thread made me realize that TN has a higher sales than NYC!
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