Should we move south???

[LeeFlan7]

Long story short, I don't like the winters, never have and never will, neither does my wife, however we live in the area where she grew up...
For the last 12-18 months we have been playing with the idea of moving south (currently live in PA).
This is aimed towards any members who live anywhere in the south of the country....what are the best and worst parts of living in the lower half of the country?

 

[djetok]

Long story short, I don't like the winters, never have and never will, neither does my wife, however we live in the area where she grew up...
For the last 12-18 months we have been playing with the idea of moving south (currently live in PA).
This is aimed towards any members who live anywhere in the south of the country....what are the best and worst parts of living in the lower half of the country?

Heat and humidity!

 

[Ramblin Wreck]

Long story short, I don't like the winters, never have and never will, neither does my wife, however we live in the area where she grew up...
For the last 12-18 months we have been playing with the idea of moving south (currently live in PA).
This is aimed towards any members who live anywhere in the south of the country....what are the best and worst parts of living in the lower half of the country?

Best = women
Worst = population growth (but that's from an Atlanta perspective)

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Northerners moving in , just kidding, I did it 45 years ago and would never move back Last year I spent 151 days out on the water and that is the norm here. Hurricanes could be a problem in the summer like last year. 8 days with no power but I still made it to the water.

 

[Andy S]

Ask @Mainah, he just moved from Maine to South Carolina and it is partially my fault he ended up here.

 

[jeff_s]

These winters make me question living in NJ. It’s been miserable.

 

[Neutron]

I moved from Rhode Island to New Bern, NC and would never look back. Not even going back to visit.
Best thing we ever did!
I even made substantially more money last year than ever in my life, so those who told me i wouldn't make the same money as up north were right, just not the way they thought. Less hours- more money
Its been a win, win, win in my book

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Gee I really also miss all the taxes like state income tax and excise taxes on everything, But one must make sacrifices to live in Florida.

 

[Neutron]

Gee I really also miss all the taxes like state income tax and excise taxes on everything, But one must make sacrifices to live in Florida.

You poor deprived man, Jeff!

 

[CraigAR]

Swfl here. Moved down here in 2012 from upstate NY and will never go back. Pro's: Boating all year long, making more money and 70's in the winter. Con's: Hot as balls for 6 months out of the year

 

[Cobra Jet Steering LLC]

Even the water gets in the high 80's in the summer but I still love not having to SHOVEL SNOW . DRIVE IN SNOW , OR LOOK AT SNOW,
OR WATCH IT SNOW!

 

[CraigAR]

Even the water gets in the high 80's in the summer but I still love not having to SHOVEL SNOW . DRIVE IN SNOW , OR LOOK AT SNOW,
OR WATCH IT SNOW!

There are times when I go into the water off the boat in the summer and I'm still sweating lol then head back to the house and jump in the pool which has a screened in cage so the water is a few degrees cooler.

 

[njmr2fan]

YES! MOVE SOUTH.

We moved from N.J. after a lifetime there. We were paying $12K in property taxes on a 4Br 2Ba 1Cg 1900 SqFt house on 0.29 acres to G.A. where we're in a house that's 2.5+ the size on an 1 acre lot and paying under $4k in taxes. The schools are all rated in the 9's and 10's. The weather this week has been in the mid 60's. The roads are clean, people are pleasant and helpful and I've never visited a place that was more proactive in kids sports and family. Gas at Costco today was $2.10 for regular. Car insurance has never been cheaper for me. Home insurance has never been cheaper for me. My Wife tells me that although most groceries are nearly the same price, we are spending less on food while our boys are growing and eating more than ever. We really do boat all year. We're 6.5 hours away from Orlando Fl for the kids. We own 3 palm trees and 21 Banana trees. I can't think of any drawbacks down here except that the areas are growing at a crazy rate and the wooded sections of this once rural area are shrinking.

 

[veedubtek]

My only regret moving from the Pittsburgh area to NC? Not moving south-er. Hoping to fix that this year.

 

[Julian]

Do it! You wont regret it! I lived in Chicago for 30 years move to NC 8 years ago and wonder why I didn't move south sooner!

But you do have to like the heat more than you hate the cold....

 

[bobbie]

I’m in the same boat...except our issue and constant rain and grey during the winter. Even though we don’t get snow, we get 40 degrees and pouring rain day after day. We are looking at the austin area or arizona as soon as our daughter graduates high school. Timetable is just under 24 months...the hunting for an area is already in progress!

 

[Ronnie]

Don’t know anything about the south east states but move to central California or Southern California and the only time you will see snow is when you want to drive to it, scal residents can boat all year long but it gets too cold in the winter for most here in the sf Bay Area to go recreational boating. Wages and salaries are high, especially in the Silicon Valley area but ...

the cons are costs, costs and more costs. It’s not uncommon to have the highest average cost per gallon of gas in the continental u.s. (I think I paid$3.09 per gallon of 87 octane at shell yesterday). if anything is tax free I don’t know of it and currently pay almost 10% sales tax per transaction in the county I live in, federal and state income taxes, property tax of 1.5%, 1% luxury tax on the boat and I’m sure a few other taxes annually. The tax on gas just went up 12 cents per gallon, 20 cents for diesel. Thinking buying a home? See the screen shot below. Almost forgot about the traffic which for some can be measured in hours per direction not miles traveled. I would say that LA is worse than SF but only because there is more of it/spans a bigger area.

Still I don’t think I’d leave the state, maybe for the same reasons others won’t leave the states they live in now. I grew up here, my friends and family are here, I’m comfortable here. If I was to relocate it would not be to anywhere that I would have to shovel snow to get out of the house or driveway come to think of it Hurricane alley is out as well.

 

[captras]

Central Texas. ..hill country. ..no income tax, good gas prices, great economy, friendly people, plenty of places to boat!

 

[adrianp89]

Wouldn't trade it for the world. Does it get hot? Yeah... but fortunately that means you can go cool your self off in the water pretty much year round. We spent a few days before Christmas on the water, and New Years Eve on the water.

Downside - good amount of rain in summer (showers are short though), Tampa Bay area is very dense in population, traffic sucks in Tampa, a little bitter in Pinellas but still annoying. I would say Hurricanes but Tampa Bay hasn't been hit in like 120 years, they always change last minute. (the one that might hit us every ten years). Salt water requires extra maintenance on the boat. Our football team sucks. Snow birds clog up traffic a little more. I am stretching for negatives here... by far many more positives.

 

[haknslash]

You guys are doing it all wrong. DO NOT MOVE TO THE SOUTH.