My parents want to move!

[Chickerdoodle13]

...Not right away, but I went home this past weekend and found my dad looking at properties through the internet in faraway states! My dad doesn't retire until two years from now, but moving would be exciting! The only reason I would stay in NJ is to be close to my parents, but if they move, then I could eventually move too! They are surprisingly serious about this too.

Some states my dad is looking at are Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Kentucky, Tennessee, and just about any other popular "ranch" state. His plan is to buy a house on 50+ acres and get into raising some beef cattle and to play around with some crops. Nothing to get rich off of, but just to play around. He also would like to get more horses and have a nice barn. In other states taxes and property is WAY cheaper than NJ! Potentially we could sell our house for 500,000 or $600,000 when the market is good. We could probably buy a house bigger than ours now for half that in another state.

So my question now is where do you live and what are the positives/negatives of the area? Ideally my mom wants to live where there are mild winters. I told my dad I would do some research because wherever they move has to be a place I would want to live too! LOL. I will probably be a junior or senior in college.

 

[dragonlili]

Hi,
I live in TN, have been here for 15 years. I'm originally from LI, NY. I'm in northern middle TN , close to Ft Campbell KY. What I like about it here is that it is somewhat rural, no state income tax, low property taxes. Being near Ft Campbell KY we have people from all over. I have friends from NY and NJ that both went to the shore, like me, growing up. I don't think you can just pick up and plant yourself in the middle of another state unless some of your people are there, especially in the South.

Winters get cold, but not as cold. We have strange heat waves in January ad Feb sometimes. I've worn shorts in the winter. Land is reasonable.

And yes, you can get real pizza where I am.

Good luck in your search!!

 

[hsm5grls]

Sounds like fun, picking a new state. I would recommend arizona for mild winter temps. and cheap land. Although there are some negatives like insane heat in the summer.

 

[chickengirlnm]

I live in Clovis,New Mexico and I love the springs and summers here - I am a hot weather person, and our winters can vary last year it was pretty icey and cold-so far it has been in the 70-80's in november crazy weather !!
The only few down falls are the lack of rain at times, and if your are looking for something to do this town does not have much to offer but other parts of NM have lots of things to keep you busy and some places I am sure get more rain than here.
Good luck finding the perfect place.

Julie

 

[Dawn419]

I transplanted myself from South Jersey to White County, TN 20 years ago. I love the climate here...in ways it is alot like Jersey but we don't get near as much snow. The winters are usually mild but every now and then, we get smacked with temps in the teens or lower for a week or more, but its not the norm here.

Our biggest weather problem right now is rain, as in lack of. Many folks are predicting one heck of a winter because of the extreme/exceptional drought we;'ve suffered from so far this year.

For the most part, people are super-friendly here. I've made some of the best friends here...they are more like family to me than some of my blood-family.

Here are a few local links for you to check out...

http://www.spartatn.com/

http://www.tennesseeanytime.org/local/white.html

Best wishes with whatever you and your family decide.

Dawn

 

[Cuban Longtails]

Currently, I live in Southeastern Oklahoma.

Pros: Beautiful countryside, people keep mostly to themselves, rural land is cheap, property taxes are low, winters have been mild for sometime now (usually snows once a year, typically in January, and doesn't stick around for long), summers can get HOT at times (humid hot), lots of hunting and fishing

Cons: Most land for sale is largely wooded (sometimes rocky), state income tax, chances of tornados (I've not seen one, but witnessed some awesome storms), forget the convenience of wireless telephones, no DSL (satellite is available - i.e. dishnetwork), I'm not a fan of the local rural water service (a lot of people don't even have running water or electricity), develop a fear of deer and other large creatures who see fit to cross the road in front of moving vehicles, tons of chicken predators = coyote, bob cat, panthers (mountain lions), raccoons, possums, birds of prey, feral dogs & cats, etc...

Really though, it's an OK place to live.

 

[pipermark]

It would be hard choice for me, I have lived in many places, here is the positives and negatiive.

Texas:
positive: some of the best people I have ever met.
negative: to hot and ants that will eat you alive!
Lousiana:
people are harder to get to know than Texas , but worth the effort
negatives - see texas, but then add swamps and insects.

Arkansa -
positves: land and Taxes have to be some of the lowest in the Country
negatives: momma said if you dont have something nice to say about people than say nothing.

Missouri:
positves: land and Taxes have to be some of the lowest in the Country, though it is more expensive than Arkansas.
negatives: not enough chicken shows.


All the other stated wasnt hot or cold on.

States I would check out and why.

Indiana and Ohio.
Why? becuase they seem to have the most APA approved chicken shows!

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Thanks for all the info so far! I'm probably going to send this thread to my dad so he can get more ideas of places to look. Once he has a few in mind, he will hop on a plane with my mom and check them out. He has never been anywhere except for the few states bordering NJ!

I keep saying tennessee or North/South Carolina. He's convinced those places are too populated. I would love Colorado, but it seems to get pretty cold there too. He sure does have a LOT of research ahead of him, but I always said I didn't want to live in NJ forever. For me, college years would be the perfect time to move. I would still be able to come here during school, and could get used to being in another state during summer and my breaks.

My mom always said she never wanted to move out of this house after all the work they put into it, so I'm really surprised to see she agrees with the idea. Her parents are also getting older, so we see them less and less (They live about an hour away) Right now we probably see them just as much as we would if we were to hop on a plane once or twice a year from another state. While I have friends here, I don't see them very often anyways because I am at school. Not to mention, I am always up for adventure!

My dad has been talking about doing this for years, and now our taxes are over $8,000 dollars for the small piece of land we live on. We could pay $1,200 in any other state for the same amount of land. I think as he gets closer and closer to retirement, it seems to be more and more a reality. The only problem is I'm not sure if he would let me take all my birds and the goats. The horses would go, but I have no idea how you would transport some 30 chickens and two goats cross country. LOL, I told him if the chickens don't go, he can't move! I did make a compromise and said I would sell the pigeons! LOL

 

[Reinbeau]

Tennessee would be my choice, or Kentucky. Lots of land and yes, there are populated places, but there's plenty of wide-open land and it's relatively cheap. There's no income tax, but there are sales taxes, state, county and sometimes city, so it can get a bit pricey. One town we went to the sales tax was 9.75% (!!)