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have you seen the latest demographic information about the SF bay area?
Also regarding costs- the median price for a single family home in Sacramento is 400K- where are the jobs there? Mostly in California state government.
Housing prices are to high for local incomes and economic growth.
Connecticut is not that far better- but costs here are still below California.
I understand. Sacramento has issues. As do Austin and Tampa, two other areas I am considering.
If you could take Connecticut and place it over the northern part of California and call it ConnCal I'd move there, if you keep everything the same, but the weather. Same tax base, same demographics, businesses, etc...
CT has far cheaper real estate then California- in eastern CT a new home of 2000 square feet on 1 or more acres is from 280K to 320K
In most of California-not attainable
Far cheaper then California- frankly I am very surprised you have not seen that.
Tampa/ high crime rate- problems with climate-global warming (high home owners insurance) Poor local services- and RISING taxes.
Austin is perhaps the most benign location- but not without problems
real estate there is considered 'fair value' for local economic conditions- and again the problem of climate change and HEAT.
Something weird- I garden- over the winter I grew two cold hardy Asiatic fan palms (with protection) that survived- plus a Giant sequoia that has survived 2 winters here- might be a hint that climate is changing.
No I'm aware of the issues with California. I see homes for me around 300k on .19 acres and nowhere near the sq footage. Tampa I can easily get a job. Contacts. Good contacts. Austin is a place and I like. Florida is last on my list. As a friend told me, "you can dress it up,but..."
Hey maybe I can buy a 300k home now and sell it for $2 billion 20 years from now
In the grand scheme of things. I'm really down to CT, CA, FL, TX. In that order. Damn winter!
Trek - give it up please. If you want to discuss politics - go to a forum that specializes in that. I don't have time for it, especially here.
I tend to agree...if it was politic-data.com maybe we can go crazy over it.
Perhaps I should apologize. I made the statement "liberal" in regards to the Courant and it sprang from there. I guess you can't say "liberal" or "conservative" these days without a fight. Sorry.
Sky, the post got deleted before I could read them. I sincerely hope it wasn't an attack on me as I agree with you more than not. We disagree politically, and that is okay and what makes us the USA. I hope you can see that and don't alienate yourself in the process from otherwise well thought out and informative posts.
No harm no foul as they say. Lets help build our state into the great place that it is.
Stellaj.........
I moved 30 years ago from the "quiet corner" of CT. NC has been home since. I'll give my perspective since I'm in Real Estate and I hear much of what is being said. I truely enjoy working with NE families for obvious reasons of being on both sides of the fence. I do appreciate what they are saying...negative or positive. It gives me more insight when a NE family comes to town to reloacte.
First, let me try to explain Wake County since I've lived in 3 different areas the past 20 yrs. It has many suburbs (towns), and they are all governed by a different town board. They set the rules for their citizens of that particular town...bottom line. From experience, you can live in 1 suburb of Wake County and hate it, move to another suburb and love it! It happened to me. You can also move from 1 neighborhood to another in the same town and feel a difference. It could be related to size subdivision, HOA, amenities, location, projected growth, what that particular area offers, etc.
My home is within 2 miles of many things, including a hospital, amphitheatre, and a nature park w/ hiking trails. Does everyone have the same within 2 miles of their home? NO. It is by choice I did this, and not everyone wants what I wanted.
Bottom line is: locate a section of Wake County that feels like home while riding around, investigate, check out the neighborhoods, monitor them, ask questions to anyone you meet.
I tell my clients ...you and only YOU will know if it feels right.
For some statements made in this thread and some tips for anyone looking to relocate:
we get billed monthly for water here so instead of paying $50 per quarter
Yes, p/m and it is anywhere I ever lived in NC unless you have a well. You could have asked for the average cost of any utility you would need if it was a resale home. I assume you knew you were not on a well, so why not ask about the billing cycle since it seems to be an issue?
you will have to pay an HOA fee for whatever community you are in
Not correct, some in Cary do NOT have HOA fees. Need to do research if you don't want them.
lot of jobs although they do not pay as well as up North
Depends on what field of work you are in. But, the cost of living is cheaper, so it washes itself out.
it gets very hot here in the summer. Summer weather is absolutely horrible.
This is NC and not CT. NC is in the South, CT is in the North.
No grid work of roads
No, we are not NYC or any large city with a grid system. Downtown Raleigh is if you are looking for grid. Suburbs are not! How many suburbs outside a city are on a grid?The roads here are developed around the subdivisons instead of tearing them down to make a grid. They try to respect a person who has lived here all their life with much acreage (farm) not to put a road thru the center of it. Would you want that to happen to your family farm if you had one in the family for the last 60 years because of growth?
CT has a very educated population
Maybe I am seeing something wrong but Cary seems to have a %. Cary
High school or higher: 95.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher: 60.7%
Graduate or professional degree: 23.0%
Hurricanes won the championship last year and it was only big news for a couple of days. Raleigh is really all about the NCAA sports
I couldn't agree with you more! Collegiate sports have dominated this area for so long it probably will not change with the 3 large universities here.
The bottom line for all of this is research. Take your time in moving, and finding the suburb, and home for you. Don't let someone else talk you into or out of your own ideas.
Last edited by LindaGlover; 04-06-2007 at 12:15 PM..
Good info although I live here now and have to disagree with some of the things you say. Cost of living is NOT cheaper here and we have come to realize that the hard way. Summers are much more hot here than in CT, don't know what Alaska has to do with anything. There are some communities without HOA's but they really are far and few between. Education is nowhere near as good here as in CT.
Some of the things that you cannot see until you come here and live are the traffic and infrastructure issues. Much more of a cookie cutter bland lifestyle.
Just my 2 cents (again), but I thought I would share my observations.
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CT to Raleigh
