Small town/country life in Wisconsin (Stevens Point, Bangor)

[KateDaum]

We bought our property in northern WI about 5 years ago and we moved here 2 years ago. My brother bought land here over the summer (he is in Georgia) and plans to retire here in 10 years. Nothing wrong with buying land especially in this economy. We are always looking for more to buy too.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by ImaloneJill

That IS something to consider! Thanks.

Yeah... if what he says is true about taxation, I'd look into buying in South Beloit rather than Janesville and making that your permanent residence for tax purposes.

[susancruzs]

The tax issue changed for Wisconsin effective for 2008. Taken from the Wisconsin Dept. of Revenue website:

Effective for taxable years beginning in 2008, social security benefits will no longer be taxable for Wisconsin income tax purposes. This will be reflected on the 2008 Wisconsin income tax forms.

I moved from Illinois to Wisconsin in 2007 and Wisc. no longer taxing social security made a difference to me. They will still tax my pension up to a certain point but now that I can collect ss, my pension was reduced.

[Drover]

Well that's something.

[ccjarider]

Susan, that is a very good thing!

[notmuch69]

From what I've read, WI doesn't tax military retirement either, which I hope is true.

[angieinwis]

I live in a small town (like 8000 people) and hate it. I keep trying to leave for a bigger town every chance I get however I am married and have to wait for the husband to agree.

[badgerfan1337]

8000, youre living large! I have lived in a town that has 435 people all my life, minus my college years, then I went to the huge city of Stevens Point!

[notmuch69]

8000 seems large to me too. I think of small being <1,500 with no traffic lights.

[Central Illinois 1]

Originally Posted by notmuch69

8000 seems large to me too. I think of small being <1,500 with no traffic lights.

The good thing about alot of the small WI towns is that they are clean, there are still a few businesses in most of them and people still seem to share a sense of community. Here in IL, a typical small town with 1500 people usually has a convenience store, a couple of churches, a scummy, run down bar that you wouldn't want to step foot in, and alot of abandoned buildings. You can drive through these towns alot of the time and not see a single person walking down the street. Unless they are near Chicago, they are usually pretty much run down ghost towns.