Where to buy a house in the US?

[Dave Hess]

Under 30

You‘re still a baby.

Just kidding. LOL

 

[Chris142]

Anywhere you move will cheaper than your currant location. I would figure out what I want for weather and views,things to do etc then start visiting places that have the things you are interested in.

 

[Dave Hess]

Thanks, we pretty much canned the idea of moving to Florida.

Check out Five Forks, SC.

You can really stretch your retirement dollars, no hurricanes, reasonable taxes, delicious BBQ, mild winters, close to Greenville and major hospitals. It’s a nice area that I’m VERY seriously considering in the very near future.

I was there 2 weeks ago and lots of open land if you want to build a home. Trust me, fly out there and spend a few days looking around the area.

*** Edit ***
Simpsonville was a nice area too.

 

[dogememe]

Anywhere you move will cheaper than your currant location. I would figure out what I want for weather and views,things to do etc then start visiting places that have the things you are interested in.

For now I'm staying here because I have a new man and a new place where I am renting affordably with him. Long term I still want to buy for sure. But I will wait a few years til I'm married and perhaps then buy with him instead of my mom. Her wants and priorities are very different from mine. I do like the idea of the Carolinas still, I really do.

 

[demarpaint]

Check out Five Forks, SC.

You can really stretch your retirement dollars, no hurricanes, reasonable taxes, delicious BBQ, mild winters, close to Greenville and major hospitals. It’s a nice area that I’m VERY seriously considering in the very near future.

Thanks. We were planning on looking into Summerville and the surrounding areas. My wife does not want to see snow anymore, and doesn't want to go too far west into the state. We just started talking about it a few months ago and are planning a few trips to look around at different areas.

 

[HemiBenny]

Northwest Arkansas. It’s a mix of conservative and liberal values without being in your face about it. People with differences in opinion can still get on.
Just Google it, Northwest Arkansas. (Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers, Bella Vista, etc..)

 

[JHZR2]

Packed and growing very fast. It is heading down the same path Nassau and Western Suffolk counties on L.I. did decades ago. The same writing is on the wall, only at a much higher acceleration rate.

At least in established places you know what you’re going to get, traffic, p, etc. some places are getting run into the ground, but most places aren’t.

Some of these other places you get massively changing population, excess development, people moving in that ruined the old areas with bad policies, and bringing them into new places. Sounds like fun.

 

[wander2039]

Northwest Arkansas. It’s a mix of conservative and liberal values without being in your face about it. People with differences in opinion can still get on.
Just Google it, Northwest Arkansas. (Bentonville, Fayetteville, Rogers, Bella Vista, etc..)

I was telling my wife last week I wouldn't mind living in this area. A lot of outdoors stuff to so.. and well Arkansas is the natural state.

 

[JHZR2]

My mother and I want to buy a house together.

Budget is a concern. So our current location SF Bay Area is obviously out. We could have done Vallejo but I lived and worked in that city for a year and I never want to go back. I don’t even like driving through it.

I’m more conservative so I’d like to move to North Carolina because I have a long time friend there who has a good quality of life there. And I would love to get away from the way CA is going with the way crime is handled (as in, it’s not). But my mother is the opposite… and she’s putting down the down payment so ultimately it’s her choice.

I’m recently single and don’t have many friends so I’m not stuck here. Currently I work retail and could easily transfer to any of the 6000 US locations. My next job is probably going to be a work from home web development job so location for that doesn’t really matter.

My mother wants to stay as close to here to be near the rest of our family. But her partner has family in Portland and my aunt has family there too so she thought maybe there. But my research shows it’s the Vallejo of Oregon and things don’t seem much different up there?

Any suggestions? I know it’s a broad question with no right (or wrong) answer but I’m just curious where people here found a good quality of life place to buy a home. Because we’re both sick of renting.

This has become a long thread that I havent fully read, but what comes to mind first is if you really want to buy with your mother???

You mention your mother and “her partner”. So does this mean you would live with your mother and your father/stepfather/etc? As a grown adult do you really want that?

Proximity to family is huge. If that’s important to her that’s a major consideration. If you and she are in CA, and family proximity is a consideration, the east coast isn’t going to work.

And you’re renting with a man, so I guess this would turn into four people/two generations in a home? Does that make sense? Or did I miss something across 8 pages of posts?

 

[Jay73]

I'm going through this right now only with my wife. My wife wants Florida, the outskirts of Tampa, I'm having second thoughts. My son is there and hates it. I have to find the right house, and I haven't. Crowded, congested, and taxes are rising, three strikes. My wife hates cold weather, I'm not a fan of blistering heat. LOL Good luck OP. Subscribed.

Most of my family ditched Chicago for Bradenton & Valrico Florida about 25 years ago. I drive down there every year for vacation but have resisted a move. All I hear from them is how traffic keeps getting worse due to retirees moving down there. I probably don't notice this much as I'm on vacation so no hurry and compared to Chicago wouldn't seem like much to me. Don't think my mom/dad/bro/sis going anywhere but pretty sure one of my cousins thinking west coast and my aunt thinking Tennessee. Not sure where my other cousin is looking. I do like Tennessee as it's not so hot as Florida and not so brutal cold like Chicago.

 

[Dinoburner]

it seems that https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/City_quality_of_life_indices lack of reality!

well according to forbes.com
View attachment 148100
2 of your initial choices ,portland an north carolina are in there! so, there you go!

I`d rethink Lewiston Maine.

 

[GON]

Most of my family ditched Chicago for Bradenton & Valrico Florida about 25 years ago. I drive down there every year for vacation but have resisted a move. All I hear from them is how traffic keeps getting worse due to retirees moving down there. I probably don't notice this much as I'm on vacation so no hurry and compared to Chicago wouldn't seem like much to me. Don't think my mom/dad/bro/sis going anywhere but pretty sure one of my cousins thinking west coast and my aunt thinking Tennessee. Not sure where my other cousin is looking. I do like Tennessee as it's not so hot as Florida and not so brutal cold like Chicago.

Jay,

Good points.

I lived in Southeast Florida in the early 1980s. In the early 1980s, one had on peak and off peak. On peak, from December through April, things were very congested in SE Florida. The tourist would fill the roads, and not always fluent on where they were going, and more often than not these mature Americans and Canadians were not heading to work to report on time, but likely the early bird specials at a area restaurant.

I suspect things have changed since I departed SE Florida in the mid 1980s. From what I have read, the average age of a Florida resident continues to decrease, there is no longer an "off season" where population dramatically decreases, and a lot of big corporations have relocated their headquarters/ offices, etc to Florida. One example from your backyard is wealthy and massive hedge fund Citadel. When I lived in SE Florida, American Express was migrating many jobs from the Northeast and Midwest to SE Florida. Florida appears to have grown from a tourist/ snowbird state from 40 years ago to a state that offers it all. But of course, one only needs to look at Southern California to see what happens when an area offers it all.

On a supplemental note, Chicago and Illinois will have a financial crash, that is without question. Ten consecutive years of population loss, and the loss of so many tax paying corporations- what happens to the residents still in Illinois? I think a resident of Illinois would be prudent to have an exit strategy, as opposed to being a bag holder. I have read an article that every man, woman, and child (to include newborns) is indebted to the state of Illinois on or about $110,000 USD personally for unfunded pension and other retirement liabilities. The $110k USD figure DOES NOT include the state of Illinois debt, which is another subject and personal liability for every person, including babies, that have a domicile of Illinois.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

My mother and I want to buy a house together.

Budget is a concern. So our current location SF Bay Area is obviously out. We could have done Vallejo but I lived and worked in that city for a year and I never want to go back. I don’t even like driving through it.

I’m more conservative so I’d like to move to North Carolina because I have a long time friend there who has a good quality of life there. And I would love to get away from the way CA is going with the way crime is handled (as in, it’s not). But my mother is the opposite… and she’s putting down the down payment so ultimately it’s her choice.

I’m recently single and don’t have many friends so I’m not stuck here. Currently I work retail and could easily transfer to any of the 6000 US locations. My next job is probably going to be a work from home web development job so location for that doesn’t really matter.

My mother wants to stay as close to here to be near the rest of our family. But her partner has family in Portland and my aunt has family there too so she thought maybe there. But my research shows it’s the Vallejo of Oregon and things don’t seem much different up there?

Any suggestions? I know it’s a broad question with no right (or wrong) answer but I’m just curious where people here found a good quality of life place to buy a home. Because we’re both sick of renting.

Your last post above says different things than your 1st post on page-1.
You seem to be teetering left and right so I'll bow-out of this discussion.

 

[demarpaint]

At least in established places you know what you’re going to get, traffic, p, etc. some places are getting run into the ground, but most places aren’t.

Some of these other places you get massively changing population, excess development, people moving in that ruined the old areas with bad policies, and bringing them into new places. Sounds like fun.

LOL it's everything but fun. It's all the things many people move to get away from. My goal is to do this right, once, so I'm taking a slow pace, no rush to run out of here and screw up.

 

[billt460]

Packed and growing very fast. It is heading down the same path Nassau and Western Suffolk counties on L.I. did decades ago. The same writing is on the wall, only at a much higher acceleration rate.

A good portion of that is because in just the last 2-1/2 years we've had well over 8 million new "additions" to our population. These people have to live somewhere.

And the bulk of them don't like cold weather either. Look for a LOT of change coming to the demographics in the sunbelt, in the upcoming years. And the bulk of it isn't going to be good. I can't post the link because of politics. But you can find it and much more in a 30 second Google search.

This is going to affect everyone. But it will be worse in the places a lot of retirees go. (Low housing costs & property taxes).

"Illegal aliens since 2021 total more than individual populations of 38 states; illegal crossings top 8 million since ***** took office".​

 

[Speedbird001]

I can tell you where NOT to go:
- Within 100 Miles of Washington, DC (WAY overpriced housing, terrible traffic, COL, taxes and now woke AF)
- Immediate Baltimore Area (Something in the water I think)
- Long Island, NY (I have colleagues there, like DC, stupid expensive with even higher taxes, were talking ~$11k a year for a modest, 20 year old house, plus even if you don't live in the city, if you are even close, or your office is, they you with NYC taxes)

 

[John105]

I can tell you where NOT to go:
- Within 100 Miles of Washington, DC (WAY overpriced housing, terrible traffic, COL, taxes and now woke AF)
- Immediate Baltimore Area (Something in the water I think)
- Long Island, NY (I have colleagues there, like DC, stupid expensive with even higher taxes, were talking ~$11k a year for a modest, 20 year old house, plus even if you don't live in the city, if you are even close, or your office is, they you with NYC taxes)

I always thought it was funny.

A person lives in NJ, and works in NYC. Very common scenario up to the pandemic.

Said person gets a credit for all income taxes paid to NY.

They subtract this number from their tax obligation to NJ, and only pay an ADDITIONALLY modest amount

Today, said NJ resident gets a dr’s note stating they are unable to go to work in person 4x a week (commonly dr says it’s vertigo) and can work from home even though their CEOs said return to work or be fired. Now they shop at Costco on co time.

How in the world did this ever happen

 

[sloinker]

You work retail? You bringing anything to the table or is it all mama? If it's all mama, let her post on here. If you are currently in Napa why not stay there? Beautiful place and great weather.....

 

[k1xv]

Williamsport PA is a former lumber town. It has a "Millionaire's Row" of 19th century mansions that come on the market in the $500,000 price range. If I ever left Vermont for in town living, I would look in Williamsport.

 

[gfh77665]

A good portion of that is because in just the last 2-1/2 years we've had well over 8 million new "additions" to our population. These people have to live somewhere.

And the bulk of them don't like cold weather either. Look for a LOT of change coming to the demographics in the sunbelt, in the upcoming years. And the bulk of it isn't going to be good. I can't post the link because of politics. But you can find it and much more in a 30 second Google search.

This is going to affect everyone. But it will be worse in the places a lot of retirees go. (Low housing costs & property taxes).

"Illegal aliens since 2021 total more than individual populations of 38 states; illegal crossings top 8 million since ***** took office".​

Yep. The USA's best days are behind it.