Anyone else fleeing their state?

[Garrett C]

@Dixie Highway good luck with your adventure South. My family and I are in a very unique situation for people who don't serve in the military as I will be retiring next August after 22.5 years. I am from California (Bay Area) which I love as I grew up in the not so good part of the bay. Joined the Navy and have lived in San Diego, Deployed and lived over seas a lot, Everett Washington which was nice but my wife wasn't about the winters and my final duty station is Key West FL. Initially we were talking Arizona as I have family there and I love the Phoenix/Scottsdale area. Then we got to Key West and fell in love with South Florida. I am not too familiar with North Florida as I went to dive school in Panama City but what I saw was nice there and a short stay in Pensacola as well which seemed nice on base at least.

We will not stay in Key West as housing costs are pretty comparable to the SF Bay Area, but love the Sarasota area. Plus no state taxes, are you kidding me!!!!! As an E-5, Cali would take almost 500 a month from me and I didn't own anything but a car and rented an apartment. Not going back except to visit family and go to sports venues. I could only imagine what CA would get me for now being an E-8 and eventualy retired. Again good luck with your adventure and whatever rout you go for your boating needs! Cheers !

 

[Dixie Highway]

Florida is pretty awesome, and we would probably be there if it wasn't so darn "touristy" in the Pensacola-Destin 98 corridor. Alabama doesn't have quite the same level of tourism yet (until you get to Gulf Shores/OB area). We found a great town with great schools, and if we want to venture over to Florida it's a pretty easy car ride away.

 

[biglar155]

The UP is awesome! Lakefront is reasonable....snowmobiling is excellent!

There are only two downsides:

Summer water Temps.....

And unfortunately it is still connected to Lansing (made more apparent by the MI Governor treating the UP just like Detroit for covid-related restrictions).......

The U.P. IS awesome and I don't see the summer water temps as a downside. Then again, I'm probably a little twisted from all the years of brain freeze. It was a rite of passage to ride home from the cottage after dark in the bed of Dad's pickup truck (single bench seat with Mom, Dad, and Aunt Eleanor filling the cab) with the temperature hovering in the mid 60's and my skin still blue from being in the water for too long.

I still remember slowing down as we came into Lake Linden and thinking of how WARM the air suddenly felt. (Maybe it was just the exhaust fumes coming through the holes in the bed of Dad's old truck.)

Agree about the issue of Lansing (or any governing body of any area for that matter) treating middle-of-nowhere with the same restrictions as a place where people are practically stacked on top of each other. (To fully grasp the - lack of - population, understand that the ENTIRE U.P. has only one area code.) Let's just say Mom is less than enthused about the situation.

To the original topic, as much as I tend to start whining about the length of winter around here (I think I'm just "acting like the Romans" when in Rome), any move for me will be north. As much as I'd love to, it's unlikely I'd make it all the way back to the U.P. I'm an only child, and my only family left now is my Mom (still up in Hubbell). So I'll want to be a reasonable distance from my kids (who - for now anyway - seem to want to stay in WI). I'm thinking near the U.P. probably... but probably not IN the U.P. It's a long haul - especially when the weather is sub-optimal.

 

[Cparker2]

Yep, just bought an acre and a half right on Norris Lake in New Tazewell, TN. Getting a plan together for an escape plane from Indianapolis area. Probably going to be a few years since I would need to find an equally or close to equal job in Knoxville. Kind of hard to do when you work for a pharmaceutical giant. So excited I can hardly handle it, beautiful scenery with a private marina in you're own neighborhood

No state income tax in TN, right? Huge benefit. Did you consider other TN lakes?

 

[Enduro900]

No state income tax in TN, right? Huge benefit. Did you consider other TN lakes?

12% sales tax though, even on food.......they find away to get you one way or another...

Norris lake is beautiful though, might be my retirement area as well.

 

[ninjakris]

congrats on your move. I'm active duty Air Force and have been fortunate to live in several places around the country. I grew up in Portland Oregon and its a total crap hole now. There is no way I'd ever go back. Currently I'm living in Destin, FL and we found a diamond in the rough piece of property. Its on a 1/2 acre, backs up to a small lake, less than 1 mile to the boat ramp, and a 8 min drive to the closest public beach. The house was a total dump but we are about 80% done remodeling. As they say, the only thing you can't replace is land. I have around 5 years left until I can retire and I'm totally happy with spending the rest of my days here.

 

[agannole93]

Florida is pretty awesome, and we would probably be there if it wasn't so darn "touristy" in the Pensacola-Destin 98 corridor. Alabama doesn't have quite the same level of tourism yet (until you get to Gulf Shores/OB area). We found a great town with great schools, and if we want to venture over to Florida it's a pretty easy car ride away.

@Dixie Highway you'll like Alabama. Only benefit to Florida is no state income tax. We are up in central Alabama but venture down to LA at least a few times a year. Great area and close enough to drive to some cool places in neighboring states.

 

[Crob83]

No state income tax in TN, right? Huge benefit. Did you consider other TN lakes?

Ya I did. Looked at Douglas and Cherokee as well. Wanted something in eastern TN sorta close to Knoxville, that part of the state is just awesome

 

[Dixie Highway]

I do love TN as well, I spend a lot of time there for work between Chattanooga and Nashville. Visited Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, lovely in the mountains. Unfortunately no white sand and clear salty water...

 

[Dixie Highway]

Officially putting the house on the market next week. We are planning on about 3-5 days on the market based on comps here. Flying down to AL to house hunt. It's getting real!

 

[I_squared_r]

Officially putting the house on the market next week. We are planning on about 3-5 days on the market based on comps here. Flying down to AL to house hunt. It's getting real!

Congrats! How does the job climate look there? I just found out that a lot of our large jobs are closing out this year and we have nothing new coming in. Seems like NYC building developers are pulling the plug after COVID, BLM riots, and surge of gun violence here in NYC. I don't have much roots here so i'm not too far behind!

 

[Dixie Highway]

To be honest I haven’t looked at jobs too much, I’m able to work remotely so no need. I can tell you that there is shipbuilding and oil work there, if you have any type of engineering you can probably find something.

 

[tomoc sx190]

11 years ago we bought a beach house in Daytona Beach Shores. Going to start wintering there and summering in PA, at least for a bit. Eventually we’ll end up just staying at the beach house full time and sell in PA. Can’t wait!

I pulled the trigger 18 months ago escaped cali now living in Flagstaff AZ best decision we ever made picking up my 2021 sx190 on Sept 19th couldn't be happier good luck life only gets better once you escape

 

[Brad_Ct]

We just completed our move from CT. to SWFL yesterday. It took exactly one year to complete but it was well worth it for this view.

 

[Dixie Highway]

Status update...we put our house on the market this past Friday, got an over-asking offer Sunday night. We accepted so it’s under contract now. In the meantime, I came to Mobile last Thursday to house hunt, we found one that went on the market Friday. Put an offer in yesterday, they accepted today. My flight home was supposed to be tomorrow, obviously Sally cancelled that lol. So I’m here in a hurricane, the eye is projected to basically pass right over our new house tomorrow morning so it will be interesting to see how it does. Its all happening pretty fast now but looks like by November we will be Alabama residents.

 

[PeterB]

Wow - glad it sold so easily! We plan to list ours in he next few weeks- hope to get a similar outcome!

 

[Dixie Highway]

Well I can tell you in Boone county there isn’t much in the mid price category, especially if it’s in good shape.

 

[scriz]

Florida Panhandle/Lower Alabama is awesome, minus these pesky hurricanes (which I am sitting through right now). I live in Navarre, which is right between Pensacola and Destin. I used to hate it as I grew up in Point Pleasant, NJ and it reminded me of it with all the summer traffic and tourists. My outlook changed a lot after a boat and a couple jetskis. Now I love it here. Everything is better on the water.

 

[svana]

I think the equation is pretty simple, move to any state that isn’t run by Democrats. Simple!

If only. Tell that to VA, CO, etc.

 

[jtwrace]

All I ask for any of you fleeing your state, do NOT try to make the new state you move to like your old one. This seems to be a common occurrence more often than not.

Example: I'm out of CA....moved to NC. OMG!!! It's so inexpensive here...they should do XYZ and it will only raise the taxes "$xxx".

Nice job, you've now totally f'd another great area.