For those who left PGH looking for greener pastures... (Pittsburgh: to rent, credit)

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by track2514

This is dead wrong and at best the education system in PA is about average or middle of the pack when compared to other states. North Carolina is very comparable to PA in terms of education quality and most of the state by state rankings I have seen show the two states to be very comparable. Pittsburgh is not the only place with good schools in the U.S. and the public schools in Cary (a suburb of Raleigh) compare very well with Fox Chapel. I know the U.S. News and World Report list is controversial, but it at least provides something for comparison. I have included a link to the list below and on the list they PA 25 and NC 26 respectively when compared to the other states.

How States Compare in the 2013 Best High Schools Rankings - US News and World Report

I know teachers who have moved to the Carolinas and came RUNNING back to Pennsylvania. There might be school districts that are comparable to Fox Chapel, but my point was that Rob wouldn't likely get that huge savings in housing price he expects if he's hoping to live in the best school district down there. It might end up being a draw or only small savings to live in the best school districts there.

[trackstar13]

Originally Posted by Hopes

I know teachers who have moved to the Carolinas and came RUNNING back to Pennsylvania. There might be school districts that are comparable to Fox Chapel, but my point was that Rob wouldn't likely get that huge savings in housing price he expects if he's hoping to live in the best school district down there. It might end up being a draw or only small savings to live in the best school districts there.

Okay I understand better now what you are saying. My sister taught in Cary for a while, Eastern PA, and now Pittsburgh. Cary has some excellent schools, but you are right the homes in the nicer neighborhoods of Cary with better schools are similar in price to Fox Chapel or other expensive Pittsburgh burbs. Overall, NC is not that much cheaper than PA and the places I would want to live Raleigh or Asheville are actually starting to get pretty expensive. In terms of your friends who were running back to PA, it was more than likely a salary related thing because teacher pay is not the best in NC. My sister makes almost 3 times as much as she did in NC as a teacher in Pittsburgh. The biggest difference though is her husband who works in construction always had more work in NC than he knew what to do with and they lived pretty well. He has been laid off for almost a year and a half in Pittsburgh, but at least he was accepted into the union. I would say Rob would need to look at a place like Houston to get the house savings he wants. I have a friend who lives in a gated community in Houston and his house is newly built, all brick, over 3,000 square feet and he paid about $225,000 so I know that Houston is an option.

[robrobrob]

Originally Posted by Hopes

The southern states have always had lower cost of living and more affordable housing. I don't consider those climates more desirable though. They're way too humid for me. My ideal climate is the Pacific Northwest. It has the same climate as Costa Rica, which is where we want to retire. The housing costs are crazy expensive compared to here.

That 200k and 450k house you describe is probably well over a million dollars there. New construction would probably be way more than that. The housing prices increased dramatically as people fled California for Oregon and Washington. (People in Oregon and Washington GLARED at my rental car's California plates! They hate Californians for raising their cost of living.) It's insanely expensive there compared to here.

If the weather of the Carolinas is your thing, I can understand your quandary. Being near grandparents and not relocating children will likely win out. Maybe you'll move there once your children go to college. Many of my friends have retired to the Carolinas.

I too hate the humidity. Not sure where we would want to move but we always laugh at people on HGTV who want a 3000 square foot house with granite counters for 175,000. The scary thing is that they usually find something. My friend lives in the Bay Area, more specifically, the Rock Ridge Section of Oakland, and he says the weather is awesome. Never that hot and never that cold.

For some reason, I have always thought that I want to retire to a smaller town/city. Never been to Asheville, NC but I heard it is very nice. I think the weather may be fairly nice and it would be cheaper than California.

Coming from Pittsburgh it is hard to retire to a more expensive area. Others when they retire have a house worth 750,000-1,000,000 on top of their savings. Most of our houses aren't worth that and we unfortunately don't save that much more than our friends in expensive areas.

[gortonator]

Originally Posted by Hopes

The southern states have always had lower cost of living and more affordable housing. I don't consider those climates more desirable though. They're way too humid for me. My ideal climate is the Pacific Northwest. It has the same climate as Costa Rica, which is where we want to retire. The housing costs are crazy expensive compared to here.

That 200k and 450k house you describe is probably well over a million dollars there. New construction would probably be way more than that. The housing prices increased dramatically as people fled California for Oregon and Washington. (People in Oregon and Washington GLARED at my rental car's California plates! They hate Californians for raising their cost of living.) It's insanely expensive there compared to here.

Bit of a sweeping statement. Seattle/Portland are def pricier than Pittsburgh housing wise, but if you live a little out of the cities, or in very desirable places like Salem, Corvalis, Bellingham, etc, prices are much more Pittsburgh.

And of course if you move east of the Cascades, it ain't pricy at all. PNW is a very big place and there's some fabulous places to live. Bend, OR is where I dream of. Pittsburgh prices ...

And I must look up Costa Rica climate. I have no idea about it at all.

[Goodjules]

Originally Posted by robrobrob

I too hate the humidity. Not sure where we would want to move but we always laugh at people on HGTV who want a 3000 square foot house with granite counters for 175,000. The scary thing is that they usually find something. My friend lives in the Bay Area, more specifically, the Rock Ridge Section of Oakland, and he says the weather is awesome. Never that hot and never that cold.

For some reason, I have always thought that I want to retire to a smaller town/city. Never been to Asheville, NC but I heard it is very nice. I think the weather may be fairly nice and it would be cheaper than California.

Coming from Pittsburgh it is hard to retire to a more expensive area. Others when they retire have a house worth 750,000-1,000,000 on top of their savings. Most of our houses aren't worth that and we unfortunately don't save that much more than our friends in expensive areas.

Rockridge is very nice. Haven't checked real estate prices there in a while, but I imagine you're looking at $750k and up to buy there. If you're thinking about retirement and don't mind rural areas, there are parts of northern CA well outside the Bay Area that have low humidity and reasonable home prices. Places like Ukaiah, Willits, Santa Rosa, Eureka among others. Redding, Chico, and Sacramento are very hot in the summer but home prices are reasonable there too.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by gortonator

Bit of a sweeping statement. Seattle/Portland are def pricier than Pittsburgh housing wise, but if you live a little out of the cities, or in very desirable places like Salem, Corvalis, Bellingham, etc, prices are much more Pittsburgh.

And of course if you move east of the Cascades, it ain't pricy at all. PNW is a very big place and there's some fabulous places to live. Bend, OR is where I dream of. Pittsburgh prices ...

And I must look up Costa Rica climate. I have no idea about it at all.

For retiring, those out of the way places are an option, but not while my husband is still working and needing to live near employment. Plus, we don't want our standard of living to decrease via a significantly smaller house and smaller yard.

Check out Costa Rica and New Zealand. There are other climates that are similar but the PNW, Costa Rica and New Zealand are my top three. I have no desire to live in Europe.

Here's a map of all the oceanic climates: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanic_climate

I just checked out Bend, OR. It's considered a high desert semi arid climate. That's not a desirable climate for me. I'm not just escaping humidity. I have a specific temperature comfort zone. I want the oceanic climate part of the PNW, not just any part of the PNW. It's irrelevant until retirement because there wouldn't be a job for hubby there. Otherwise, it looks beautiful and I can understand why you dream of it!

[robrobrob]

Originally Posted by track2514

Okay I understand better now what you are saying. My sister taught in Cary for a while, Eastern PA, and now Pittsburgh. Cary has some excellent schools, but you are right the homes in the nicer neighborhoods of Cary with better schools are similar in price to Fox Chapel or other expensive Pittsburgh burbs. Overall, NC is not that much cheaper than PA and the places I would want to live Raleigh or Asheville are actually starting to get pretty expensive. In terms of your friends who were running back to PA, it was more than likely a salary related thing because teacher pay is not the best in NC. My sister makes almost 3 times as much as she did in NC as a teacher in Pittsburgh. The biggest difference though is her husband who works in construction always had more work in NC than he knew what to do with and they lived pretty well. He has been laid off for almost a year and a half in Pittsburgh, but at least he was accepted into the union. I would say Rob would need to look at a place like Houston to get the house savings he wants. I have a friend who lives in a gated community in Houston and his house is newly built, all brick, over 3,000 square feet and he paid about $225,000 so I know that Houston is an option.

I agree with you, teachers come back here because we pay much better.

Carey is very nice. My BIL lives there and loves it. I am confused by the schools there. Not as simple as here.

I have to get to Asheville at some point to check it out. Honestly, with the way things are going we are never going to retire. We just may move someplace and work a little less and have our fun on the weekends. A friends father has been retired for over 20 years. That is a long time.

[tabinekotaro]

Originally Posted by robrobrob

For some reason, I have always thought that I want to retire to a smaller town/city. Never been to Asheville, NC but I heard it is very nice. I think the weather may be fairly nice and it would be cheaper than California.

I work in Asheville for a few weeks every summer, and it is a great, great town. Huge food scene, arts scene, indie/folk music scene. Spectacular scenery and fantastic hiking/outdoor opportunities. It's up in the mountains, so it does cool off at night, but it can still be very hot in the summer during the day. It also gets cold in the winter (again, the elevation), but it's not bad compared to the midwest and northeastern winters.

Yeah, it is expensive, but not California expensive.

[sealie]

Bellingham would be on my short list for retirement - easy access to the San Juans and Vancouver, college town with a cute walkable downtown, and I don't consider the real estate costs unreasonable. Clouds don't bother me though.

[Hopes]

Originally Posted by sealie

Clouds don't bother me though.

I love clouds and rain. Both are a big attraction for me. But it gets cold there in the winter.