My gosh, now I know why folks who DON'T live in CA. can afford fun stuff!

[ezbtr]

Dayum, your car payment (if you have one) is more than the mortgage!! LA., TX, decent weather, people, no smog, fish/hunt/shoot on your property or nearby, less traffic, yada yada. I'm seriously thinking about relocating after son outta high school and in college in 2.75 years! Job dependant of course, but TX, LA and AZ a thought. Only thing I don't like is snakes in LA. and hate the cold weather anywhere else !! LOL
P.S. Been to all states except maybe 9 and seen lots when traveling for work.

 

[bspeth]

Re: My gosh, now I know why folks who DON'T live in CA. can afford fun stuff!

duh,best thing I ever did leaving that place.

 

[tomdinwv]

Re: My gosh, now I know why folks who DON'T live in CA. can afford fun stuff!

Went to CA once for work. Was talking to a guy at the factory we were visiting and he was telling me he had just purchased a home recently. I had done the same here in WV. We were comparing notes. My house was about 1.5 time the one he had purchased and my property was 4 or 5 times bigger. His real estate taxes were about 5 or 6 times what mine were. His purchase price was $250,000 if I remember correctly and mine was $70,000. I don't think I'll be moving to CA any time soon. I know there is quite a few more things to do out there and I'm sure there are more opportunities, but dang. I think I'll just stay here.

 

[southkogs]

Re: My gosh, now I know why folks who DON'T live in CA. can afford fun stuff!

My property taxes here in TN are roughly the same as my father in law's in Michigan. Roughly; what he pays per month, I pay per year

 

[JimS123]

Re: My gosh, now I know why folks who DON'T live in CA. can afford fun stuff!

I live in Buffalo, NY. Just finished a 3-year contract in San Jose. I was there every other week. The first 11 months of the first year it was colder every time there than it was in Buffalo. I was in a beautiful hotel with a beautiful pool. I got out of work every day at 4 PM. Not once could I swim in it....too cold. One of the young men at the plant came in one day jumping and screaming because he just found an open 1 br apartment with off-street parking for $1200/month. When I told him my $200,000 house only cost $700/month he thought I was lieing. I met a person from Buffalo out there that was complaining that her $600,000 house was now only worth $400,000 and she owed more than it was worth. She showed me a pic - it was a doublewide. I had a chace to get a boatride in SF Bay. The water was cold, murky and choppy. In Buffalo the water is calm, blue and you can see down 35 feet. One day I had to visit a new home that was complaining about a defective product. The house looked very much the same as mine, except no basement and only a 2 car garage. Mine has a 5-car, basement and 1 acre. This lot was 50' x 100'. I asked the Real estate person what the house was selling for. I said well mine is worth $200,000. She said the lot cost $1,000,000. I thought it was a nice house but a crappy lot.....LOL.

I could go on. So happy where I live....

 

[64osby]

Re: My gosh, now I know why folks who DON'T live in CA. can afford fun stuff!

My property taxes here in TN are roughly the same as my father in law's in Michigan. Roughly; what he pays per month, I pay per year

That may be true depending on where he lives. I moved 15 miles away from the city, paid 2.5 times the value of the city house, went from a half lot to several acres; the taxes were half of the city taxes. Go figure.

 

[dingbat]

Re: My gosh, now I know why folks who DON'T live in CA. can afford fun stuff!

My company moved to La Jolla several years ago. They flew my wife and I out to look at homes to relocate. We like La Jolla and the surrounding area but I didn't accept the transfer for a couple of reasons.

San Luis Obispo is on our short list of retirement areas

 

[QC]

Re: My gosh, now I know why folks who DON'T live in CA. can afford fun stuff!

There's a reason CA has 30M people and their associated issues. Some of it has to do with all the biotchin' the rest of you do 'round this time a year... For me it is 45 mins to the Desert, 45 mins to the Pacific. 45 mins to 8,000 ft. and 45 mins to some cruddy lakes. OK, so the last part ain't so great. I drive 4 hours east or northeast for the Colorado River and her awesome lakes. We had a relatively cold Super Bowl Sunday party outside on the patio, it was 60 degrees so we were a little bummed. It reached 80 today, clear as a bell. Low just before dawn was 52. Most summer nights get down below 65, highs in the high 80's. Very little humidity and it rarely gets more than 10 degrees away from 70 degrees at our beach towns 365 days a year. That's the rest of the story.

 

[roscoe]

Re: My gosh, now I know why folks who DON'T live in CA. can afford fun stuff!

There's a reason CA has 30M people and their associated issues. Some of it has to do with all the biotchin' the rest of you do 'round this time a year... For me it is 45 mins to the Desert, 45 mins to the Pacific. 45 mins to 8,000 ft. and 45 mins to some cruddy lakes. OK, so the last part ain't so great. I drive 4 hours east or northeast for the Colorado River and her awesome lakes. We had a relatively cold Super Bowl Sunday party outside on the patio, it was 60 degrees so we were a little bummed. It reached 80 today, clear as a bell. Low just before dawn was 52. Most summer nights get down below 65, highs in the high 80's. Very little humidity and it rarely gets more than 10 degrees away from 70 degrees at our beach towns 365 days a year. That's the rest of the story.

Sounds a little monotonous.

I can't stand heat, feel pretty miserable with anything over 80*, or 70* if I'm moving, or over 60* if I'm working.
I don't mind the cold so much, but our rainy season seems to be "on my days off".
But this has been the longest coldest stretch I have lived through ( 100 days ).

I'm 2 hours to the Mississippi, 2 hours to Lake Superior, 2 hours to Lake Michigan, 37 minutes to the WI river, and several thousand smaller lakes and a few million acres of state and national forest land within a 2 hour drive.
3 acres of land I can shoot on, 3 car garage, house, and my taxes are $1250, per year. Electric is cheap, $60 or so a month.
I love the spring summer and fall, tolerate the winter.
There is no way I could live this well, with the skills I have, anywhere that I know of.

 

[kahuna123]

Re: My gosh, now I know why folks who DON'T live in CA. can afford fun stuff!

California is a beautiful place. Its a shame the government there is what it is. They are way past broke and getting worse. The money has to come from somewhere. I think yo are going to see a mass exit of a lot of people in the next couple of years. NYC is right behind them.

I been all over the county and its either my home of Florida or maybe Texas

 

[southkogs]

Re: My gosh, now I know why folks who DON'T live in CA. can afford fun stuff!

That may be true depending on where he lives. I moved 15 miles away from the city, paid 2.5 times the value of the city house, went from a half lot to several acres; the taxes were half of the city taxes. Go figure.

I padded the gag a little bit ... he does have a nicer place on a private lake. Other family have more reasonable taxes, but still WAY more than I pay.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: My gosh, now I know why folks who DON'T live in CA. can afford fun stuff!

Umm, no.

California Budget Increases Spending as State Enjoys a Surplus - WSJ.com

Yup, despite all the wackiness, and it is very wacky, they nonetheless have money in the bank and are home to the most diverse population in the country (world?), Google, Yahoo, Apple, Silicone Valley, produce virtually all of the produce most of us eat every day, have Mountains, deserts, rain forests, redwoods, whales, the largest solar plant in the world, Tesla autos, etc...and are generally less obtrusive in peoples bedrooms and backyards than many other states. Not perfect, but there's a reason people from all over the world continually move there.

 

[QC]

Re: My gosh, now I know why folks who DON'T live in CA. can afford fun stuff!

Sounds a little monotonous.

Yeah, but that's why getting to the snow to ski and back in time for dinner is such a cool bonus.

It is funny, I can't stand high humidity which is why I don't think I could do Florida for example. One thing I have learned here (iboats), and with travel, is that home is home. Most people like, and understand, where they're from.

 

[jkust]

Re: My gosh, now I know why folks who DON'T live in CA. can afford fun stuff!

Interesting discussion. If you are a boater or an outdoorsperson, Minnesota is fantastic. Problem is all houses and the Governor are of a certain shortsighted view and have raised taxes in all forms and fashions to outrageous levels (property taxes are the only saving grace to some extent). We are generally/always in the top 5 in all of the 'worst of' lists where anything fiscal or financial is concerned from retirement to owning a business, to income taxes to sales taxes. If you don't earn a lot of money you don't really notice a lot of the more egregious tax issues however. Our income tax is very, very progressive and a small percentage of citizens pay almost all of the personal income taxes. The bummer is that it doesn't need to be like this.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: My gosh, now I know why folks who DON'T live in CA. can afford fun stuff!

It's expensive here for a reason...

...it's worth it!

But I don't mind all you guys staying right where you are! I will just keep reading all your winter woes while I ride my bike in the middle of winter in 70? weather.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: My gosh, now I know why folks who DON'T live in CA. can afford fun stuff!

I live in Buffalo, NY. Just finished a 3-year contract in San Jose. I was there every other week. The first 11 months of the first year it was colder every time there than it was in Buffalo.

Tomorrow's high in Buffalo 32?. Tomorrow's high in San Jose 70?...Nuff said.

Everything is relative. I probably would make a third of my salary in Buffalo as I do in So Cal. If lost my job today, I would have my resume to a dozen companies in the morning.

When I told him my $200,000 house only cost $700/month he thought I was lieing.

The house I live in is probably worth $700K now. My house payment on a 15 year loan is around $1400. Granted I have had my house a few years and my loan is a lot lower than what the house is worth but typically, California real estate has always had one of the best long term appreciation.

 

[sphelps]

Re: My gosh, now I know why folks who DON'T live in CA. can afford fun stuff!

Umm, no.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/

Probably won't take them long to squander that little surplus away .. That they got by voting themselves a tax hike .
And I,m sure the ones that voted it in don't pay much taxes anyway . Just me but I would hope the gov would cut cost before asking for more taxes . Maybe I am just living in a fantasy world to think that .

 

[Teamster]

Re: My gosh, now I know why folks who DON'T live in CA. can afford fun stuff!

My cousin just moved his family somewhere near a beach north of Los Angeles,....

He keeps sending me pictures, And trying to get me to move,......

If I thought I could find a way to make a living I'd consider it,..Soooooo sick of winter in WI,...

 

[bruceb58]

Re: My gosh, now I know why folks who DON'T live in CA. can afford fun stuff!

Probably won't take them long to squander that little surplus away .. That they got by voting themselves a tax hike .
And I,m sure the ones that voted it in don't pay much taxes anyway .

 

[bonz_d]

Re: My gosh, now I know why folks who DON'T live in CA. can afford fun stuff!

Born in a US Army hospital in Germany and raised in the Northern Midwest. Will be 60 next month and though heat and sweat are uncomfortable bitter cold hurts! All-in-all I'll stay here and live it out with joy and family.