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I'm always curious to know why Californians, in the land of milk and honey, would want to move out of their state. I know a couple here who are well off and who left the climate of Calif. several years ago to move here, where their daughter went to college. All their family is on the West Coast. They say they love it here. Yes it's lovely in many areas in NE, but to leave those winters for ours?
May I ask which state(s) you're considering?
In no particular order:
1st tier: WA, OR, PA, VA
2nd tier: DE, MD, NJ, CT, RI
3rd tier (only if unexpected financial catastrophe strikes): NV, ID, NC, GA*, AZ**
* Higher Piedmont and Mountain areas only
** High Desert, Mountain and Plateau areas only
Also: We are really only interested in relatively major cities.
I was born and raised in Rhode Island, and lived there all my working life. Raised our 2 daughters there, saw each of our 6 grandchildren born there. As I grew older, I found my tolerance for the heat and humidity there, to be fading. Also became very tired of cities, noise, crime, pollution, traffic, etc.
Right after retirement in late 2012, I found 33 acres in a remote part of Maine. I had spent a good deal of time in Maine as a boy, and liked it. So, there the new place went up. Property taxes are now $800 per year, instead of the $4500 back in RI. Zero crime here, no traffic, no pollution, and the only noise is the loons calling on the lake! As for snow, we love it, and winter is our favorite season.
Number one best thing about it - our grandkids are just 3 states away, and they love to come up here for lake fishing and snowmobiling!
1. Amazing climate, weather and geography.
2. Hometown-ish (its a region where DH and I both lived as kids, but had been away from for 40+ and 50+ years).
3. More welcoming to transplants.
4. Smaller city.
I think the potential to MOVE where you WANT to be should be added. Once you are no longer "tied" to your job and the requirements of being available at a certain location, some folks choose to "be where they have wanted to be vs where they are required to be".
None of the answers apply for me. We moved because we wanted a different lifestyle and our available cashflow would support that lifestyle more appropriately in a lower COL state. That's not to say we couldn't afford our old home after retirement. We lived there comfortably for a couple years after retiring. It just means we wouldn't have had the money for travel, toys, or the type of home and community in our old location. Also neighborhoods like the one we moved to don't exist in our old location.
1) To get out of Illinois before the state collapses, affecting home values.
2) To get to a healthier lifestyle in a location where we could exercise outside 300+ days per year.
3) As we both retired in our early 50s without a pension, we wanted to move to a LCOL area.
4) We wanted to live in a community where people are active and where we would make a lot of new friends.
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