moving from NJ to?

[njkate]

Originally Posted by Gerania

I guess they like flat and brown. There's a lot of that out there. I could never do that.

Only flat in the eastern portion of the state,the more west you go you have the rockies which are no where near flat.

[Gerania]

They're certainly scenic. To me, pretty.

I'm an East Coast devotee.

[Mightyqueen801]

Originally Posted by njkate

Only flat in the eastern portion of the state,the more west you go you have the rockies which are no where near flat.

I went to Colorado many years ago. I could not take my eyes off the Rockies.

My friend that I was visiting said "oh, you live here, you don't even notice the mountains anymore."

I saw that same friend at my 40 year hs reunion last September. She went to Colorado when she was 19 and has lived there ever since.

She has a successful business, a nice house on five acres and four horses. And she said, "I miss the East Coast. I would like to move back here."

[macrodome2]

@eastcoastguyz- You've got some other things to consider. We retired. We lived in NJ. Our costs carrying were around $24K per year for the taxes, utilities, insurance, and upkeep. We bought a house in SW FL and our carrying costs are around $12K per year. We were in NJ for 25 years, so we got new stuff in FL and only shipped what I could ship via UPS. Moving costs around $1K. Yes we did have closing costs.

The nastiest is the state will keep 2% of the sale of your house to make sure you file your final income tax if your new address is out of state. We sold the house in May of 2016 and I'm still waiting for that refund. The stat of course found something wrong on the tax return so they could delay the refund. Should get it in the next 2-4 weeks.

We wanted to move from a 2 story house to a one story house so we would have incurred that 6% cost sooner or later. We downsized so our new house (which was 27 years newer than the one in NJ) cost us less than half of what the one in NJ cost. I know the OP said he didn't want to move to FL, but we pulled money out of the NJ house and it won't take long before we recoup the 6%.

The other side of the coin to consider.

[njkate]

Originally Posted by macrodome2

@eastcoastguyz- You've got some other things to consider. We retired. We lived in NJ. Our costs carrying were around $24K per year for the taxes, utilities, insurance, and upkeep. We bought a house in SW FL and our carrying costs are around $12K per year. We were in NJ for 25 years, so we got new stuff in FL and only shipped what I could ship via UPS. Moving costs around $1K. Yes we did have closing costs.

The nastiest is the state will keep 2% of the sale of your house to make sure you file your final income tax if your new address is out of state. We sold the house in May of 2016 and I'm still waiting for that refund. The stat of course found something wrong on the tax return so they could delay the refund. Should get it in the next 2-4 weeks.

We wanted to move from a 2 story house to a one story house so we would have incurred that 6% cost sooner or later. We downsized so our new house (which was 27 years newer than the one in NJ) cost us less than half of what the one in NJ cost. I know the OP said he didn't want to move to FL, but we pulled money out of the NJ house and it won't take long before we recoup the 6%.

The other side of the coin to consider.

SWFL is NOT a utopia, housing and taxes cheaper sure, no state income tax but they nickel and dime you every other way possible.
Unbearable traffic during season and don't get sick in season because it's dam near impossible to get a doctor appointment, you end up in ER waiting forever.
Unbearable heat and humidity with torrential rain in summer. Just some of the downsides.

I return after Labor day to SWFL and first thing I'm doing is calling a realtor to SELL.
I'll be what they call a halfback, looking on NC/SC border, yes hot there in summer but won't be sweating at 88 degrees on Christmas day, also a much quicker trip up to Jersey.

There are pluses and minuses no matter where you go, just have to decide whats best for you