MrsZ and I had a Talk the other night (with me half-asleep, always a good start), and both of us foresee a time when moving from this state is going to become not just desirable, but essential. Don't get me wrong: I *like* where I live, in the geographic sense - and even culturally to a certain extent. However, fiscally, New York is making it harder and harder for someone to make an honest go of it.
Our house is modest - 1800sf, three bedrooms, bath-and-a-half, unfinished (read "dirt floor") cellar, detached three-car, on just over an acre. There's no high-speed internet, no cable TV service, and no natural gas service. Our appraised value (according to the county) is about $115k.
We are paying nearly $4,000 a year in property taxes. Almost HALF of our mortage payment goes into escrow to pay our taxes and PMI.
Plus our state income taxes. And sales tax (8%).
We are ostensibly that enviable income type of "DINK" - but we're pinching pennies to keep things reasonable.
At the current rate that New York is trying to take our money, there is no way I'm going to make it to retirement in my current job. (Hey, guess what? I'm a union employee, without a contract, stalled negotiations, no dental or vision benefits, and no raise since January of 2009. And I'm still going to work! But unions are another rant entirely.)
If we can hang tight another five years or so, I'll be vested into my retirement program and will have SOME of it coming no matter what, and hopefully we'll have finances well in hand... and then we'll be getting serious about moving.
We don't have any one place in mind yet. I can automatically eliminate New York, Massachusetts (sorry Jay), New Jersey, California, and Hawaii, on the basis of gun laws alone. The ideal place for us would be a fairly low population density, with a small city (30-50k) nearby, preferably with a reasonably-sized college (some hope of "culture" showing up occasionally), and larger cities (>100k) within a two hour drive. Enough open space that buying a 30-100 acre parcel is possible and land values aren't prohibitive. (Local real estate ad I saw this week, guy wants $8,000 PER ACRE for undeveloped ag-zoned land.)
Solid economy, of course.
I like the non-coastal Southeast (northern AL/MS/GA, mountain-ends of NC/TN/KY, etc), would consider the midwest to a certain extent, not interested in the true plains states (KS, NE, OK, SD, ND)...
Mostly just looking for suggestions, ideas, things I may not have considered.
Ready? Go!
