[EscAlaMike]

Originally Posted by MucizeDoktor

West Virginia seems to be extremely affordable to me. That area between Pittsburgh and Morganstown has been where I been looking.

That is a beautiful area. If you don't mind icy weather and grey skies, it's really not a bad option.

[A.Typical.Girl]

I'm assuming you want to remain on the east coast? I'm not a homeowner but had to leave FL due to high rents & low pay around the Tampa area.

I'm in Waukee, IA, a suburb just west of downtown Des Moines. Never thought I'd settle in the midwest, but it looks like financially, this is where I'll be for the foreseeable future.

In FL, my rent was close to $2K for a 1-bedroom in an old bldg that needed a lot of maintenance. My rent here is $775 for a brand new bldg with amenities. Since everything is brand new, my heating or a/c bill is about $60/mo, water is $35/mo for 1 person... it was double that in FL.

This city has 100 construction projects going on & it's one of the top 10 places in the country for new jobs, #4, I believe. Amazon & a number of large companies have offices here & I understand some will relocate HQ here next year.

It's growing rapidly as many transplants from CA & CO are coming here to scoop up cheaper housing & to have a nice place to raise kids. Crime is on the rise with the new wealth coming in, but it's property crime & theft rather than violent crime.

Yes, there's snow, but I grew up in the mountains of PA & Boston, where it's far colder, windier with far more snow... far more. That surprised me. I went through 2 winters here without owning a coat... a giant sweater & huge, heavy scarf was enough (to be fair, I had my arm in a sling for those winters, so I couldn't really fit into a coat), although I drive everywhere since I'm located on a smaller highway. This year I'll buy a coat, but back east I could not go outside without heavy clothing.

Just an FYI should you expand your search further. The IA board in general is a ghost town on this forum, but you can google many articles about Waukee. Good luck!

[trobesmom]

TN.

Native Floridian whose ancestry goes back a few generations. DH is the same. You couldn't pay us to move back. I've never been happier in a place than I am now.

[twinkletwinkle22]

We left SW Florida 4 years ago and live in Charlotte NC near family, we're retired.
A relative recently left Houston and moved to a small town hour north of Charlotte with her husband and young kids.

Real estate prices in Charlotte have increased about 40% since 2019 but that is true in many places in North Carolina.
Charlotte has been building apartments like crazy but you might want to look for rental outside of town to save money.
There are a lot of nice smaller towns in North Carolina and people in the state are nicer IMO than Florida.

Getting around Charlotte is pretty easy once you get used to I-77 (goes north-south) and I-485 (circles the city).
Realtor.com used to have an overlay so you could search for crime in the area you are considering moving to (I haven't checked it lately so don't know if that is still available).

[beachmouse]

Originally Posted by MucizeDoktor

West Virginia seems to be extremely affordable to me. That area between Pittsburgh and Morganstown has been where I been looking. Worried about the drugs in that area. Don't wanna get robbed by a methed up junkie.

There are parts of West Virginia where Robert Byrd managed to relocated a bunch of reasonably well-paying federal jobs back during his time as a DC power broker. I don’t recall the details but the jobs and resulting spin off economic activity should still be there.

It’s the hollers you need to avoid in WV. My father spent a summer teaching in rural WV in the 1970s and the drug running was already in the poorer rural areas even then from the stories he’d tell of his experiences there.

We’re trying to decided between the front range of Colorado and the PNW for the next hop in life- as long as people are willing to keep coming here and we can sell our paid off Florida house, we’ve got a good start somewhere else. Our concern with western Oregon is that the Spousal Unit hates 45F and drizzling/cloudy weather and that’s extremely typical for a PNW winter day.

[Zenstyle]

I can’t imagine any state with a lower cost of living than West Virginia. It’s also quite beautiful. Berkeley Springs is nice.

[popcorn247]

I moved to Miami-Dade County one week after graduating from Purdue. I lived in Miami-Dade for 43 years. 18 months after I retired, I moved back to my hometown, Lafayette, IN. High Florida homeowners and auto insurance was just too much for me. As of today, I have lived in Lafayette seven years and am very happy with COL, the four seasons, the safety of the area, the friendly, polite, helpful people. A different world. Lafayette has ~ 70,000 population with West Lafayette (across the Wabash River) has close to the same population. We are two hours from Chicago, one hour from Indianapolis and about eight hours from the Smoky Mtns. Indianapolis has a wonderful airport.

Watch this brief video to learn more about the area:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNydrq5I97I

[EscAlaMike]

Originally Posted by popcorn247

I moved to Miami-Dade County one week after graduating from Purdue. I lived in Miami-Dade for 43 years. 18 months after I retired, I moved back to my hometown, Lafayette, IN. High Florida homeowners and auto insurance was just too much for me. As of today, I have lived in Lafayette seven years and am very happy with COL, the four seasons, the safety of the area, the friendly, polite, helpful people. A different world. Lafayette has ~ 70,000 population with West Lafayette (across the Wabash River) has close to the same population. We are two hours from Chicago, one hour from Indianapolis and about eight hours from the Smoky Mtns. Indianapolis has a wonderful airport.

Lafayette/West Lafayette is a very nice area. I was just there a couple of months ago and was very impressed, particularly with Lafayette's downtown.

If OP is looking for something similar to Live Oak in size, Vincennes, Indiana is a good option - a cool, historic river town with a small college.

[popcorn247]

Here is another brief video.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZMxWSj-wMs

[Pincho-toot]

I left Florida in 2014 and moved out to Texas. I lived in San Angelo (small city), Cisco (small town), Abilene (small city) and Denton (college town/suburb of DFW) until 2017, then I moved to Minnesota. Lived in Saint Paul, Minneapolis, Brooklyn Center and now South Saint Paul. Moving to St. Louis Park at the end of next month.

I personally dunno why anyone wants to avoid snow. I love snow and always get excited when it starts to fall! But I am crazy like that

Should add for context I grew up in Miami and got family in Live Oak, so I am familiar with that area. Its very country. Judging by your list, you prefer areas more country. I am a city person. I don't mind small towns (if they're nice. Cisco is not nice) but they're too gossipy for my taste.