Tell us about your state ... The good, the bad, and the crazy.

Fordy I haven't lived there in 3 years..couldn't hack the humidity and tornadoes..(my illness and very high humidity don't get along, and it's hard to "do" tornadoes in a wheelchair)

North Central AL where I lived is nearly identical to Maine..drop-dead gorgeous pine forests, beaver ponds, deer (and armadillos too), hilly country..hard to farm due to fairly rocky area..it's quartz heaven..Coosa River..good dairy area though.
EXCELLENT healthcare at Gadsden Regional Medical Center..fishing is wonderful..zero zoning..zero state income tax for 65 and older.zero property tax on the first (I think it's ) $85K of assessed value property where you actually reside if you are disabled..
Gun control? what's gun control? You can renew your permit to carry through the mail for $10/year. ..I posted somewhere a little while ago about "Little River Canyon" one of the most unspoiled spots I've ever seen in my life..magnificent.

The entire area between Gadsden and then to the SW towards Talledega (of racecar fame) is, IMHO wonderful. Good people.dirt cheap taxes,reasonable state laws and country that's easy on the eyes. Seriously, take a trip to Little River Canyon and then down to Gadsden..

Here you go.. http://www.nps.gov/liri/home/home.htm

Let's see, we have had Vermont, Ky, Wis., Pa., Wa., Miss., Tex., Flor., N.C., N.Jersey, Col., Neb.; still a lot to go.
I wish I could cover some of the other territories, but all I can do is tell you Farmer Willy is right.
We bought land here and when I look at our place a phrase from a Tom T.Hall song comes to mind: "Not much to start with and worse for the wear."
I am still laughing......My husband hails from Breathitt County....RC and Moonpie...
Not being a native myself, I think Willy just exaggerated a little bit. The weather is awful, true, and the people are different, but I don't know how different from other states. I like Kentucky, but ...lots to learn. You find good and bad, dumb and smart, just like everywhere else, really nice and some I would not want to touch. I think the bureaucrats are the worst I have ever encountered aside from East Germany. I am serious.

Best Kept Secret is Mississippi

Pros

Low Population
Low housing land costs
No taxes on pensions
9 months of beautiful weather each year
Lakes, streams, ponds, green everywhere, everything grows, don’t even need to water it most the time.
Property taxes are very low couple hundred for every 100K worth of property

Cons

3 months of too hot humid weather
No jobs, OK if you’re retired or homesteading
Hurricanes if you move too far south

And snow.

Lots of snow. And ice. And scraping windshields from October to May. And scraping snow off windshields from November to April. And brushing snow off cars. And lots of snow. Snow down the boots whenever you walk anywhere. Buying lots of snowshovels. Ice buildup on the roof and icicles to the ground. A growing season of maybe 100 days if you are lucky, because you will get snowed on.

Did I mention we get snow?

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Recognize the beauty in things, in creation, even when thats difficult to do.
Be loving, show compassion. Create while we're here.
Enjoy this life, be in this life but not be of it.

OK, I'll be the first for Michigan. Spring is great when it decides it's going to be spring. Autumns can't be beat. Winters aren't what they use to be but I think that's pretty much true for the whole country. Summers are nice with usually a few hot and humid days thrown in. Lots of water - lakes, rivers. Never too far from one of the Great Lakes. Great for outdoor sports - winter and summer. West side of state is pretty conservative - the way we like it. East side - Detroit - liberal. Great colleges and universities. Jobs are moving out of state in a lot of areas... not enough of you buying AMERICAN cars and trucks! Still a lot of agriculture in the state. I'd rate it a 90% overall.

Y'know, I keep thinking about Alabama too.. I've never been there, what are land values like, how humid is humid? How many BUGS?? (lived in MN, skeeters don't scare me, big hairy spiders might...)

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Procrastination is just another way to get an adrenaline rush - and much safer and cheaper than bungee jumping!

"A friend will help you move, a true friend will help you move a body"

Just gonna add to what Daddyof4 said about Georgia...I pretty much agree with everything he said

Land seems overpriced, everything within 100 miles of Atlanta is being purchased up as 2nd homes keeping things very propped up. Further south there are more bargains, but the weather gets hotter and muggier.

Politics - State as a whole is very republican, but Atlanta is very liberal. Somehow we still manage to elect a fair amount of Democratic state officials. Also very liberal gun laws...some cities it's manditory to own a gun.

Some of the farther out areas of "metro" atlanta are okay, more conservative with better schools, etc...

Temperatures are pretty mild in general, not too hot in the summer, not too cold in the winter. Pretty humid though, and the mosquitos will carry you away

Fayetteville AR area some surounding counties,PRO's No zoning if you own it build what you want (but if you want the power company to hook you up the power has to be to code atleast the obvious stuff box line coming in e.c.t.) PLenty of factory and service jobs in town lots of construction related jobs from the huge influx of people moving in. Great weather, The university of AR , wonderful thriving farmers market.Low taxes, Low crime

cons, do to the rapid growth they are upgrading the water pipes and are unable to supply anymore rural WA county folks with new water hook ups at this time.
High priced land 3k an acre if you look hard. Lots of traffic and people in the city areas bentonville (walmart/tyson headquarters)rogers, springdale, Fayetteville,

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marching to the beat of a different drummer

Want to add a "pro" for Texas: Very nice homeschool laws! In Texas, homeschool is classified as a private school, therefore, the state has absolutely no say whatsoever in it AT ALL! None of their business!!

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~BARB~
East Texas
Homeschool Mom to Chassidy, Bethany, Luke and Rebekah.
Wife to Michael for 16 yrs.
MooMommy to Maggie, Zena, Kizzy, Peigi, Morris, Stormy, and Zoro.

Indiana.

I've lived in NW Indiana my whole life. It is becoming a suburb of Chicago, because lots of people moved here from Illinois. Most people are caught up in the rat race. They are in a hurry, drive dangerously, and behave rudely because they are focused on themselves, their cell phone conversations, and their personal priorities.

The air is extremely polluted from all of the industry along Lake Michigan.

Real estate is high priced. The property taxes has doubled for most of us in the last 3 years.

Local politics is full of corruption. The Feds come in around every 20 years to clean things up. The next group takes over and it starts again, and the people are too stupid to vote for anyone outside the party of choice.

Jobs are plentiful and pay is pretty good.

The Indiana Dunes is a beautiful park worth visiting, but other than that we don't have much to offer.

If you come to Indiana, avoid the NW corner and any other urban areas.

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Terri

duplicate post

UpState NY -

Taxes are very high here - on everything. 7 1/4% on everything except dairy and just recently, most clothing. If you have someone do service at your house, you pay 7 1/4% on the service call, not just on any materials they use. Property taxes are enormous. Our house was assessed at $88,000 on about a 1/2 acre lot. Between local taxes, town taxes, and school taxes we pay over $3,000! A lot of our taxes support projects and schools in NYC. When DH retires, we will be looking to move somewhere where the taxes won't eat us alive!

Even in our little village and surrounding area, traffic is starting to get crazy. Not sure what is causing this, as the state overall is losing population.

On the bright side, the weather is generally beautiful. We get a lot of snow between November and April (usually 65 - 100 inches) but the rest of the time it is great. It's rare to get over 88 in the summer, rare to have humidity (although this has increased in the last few years), lots of blue skies and mild temps! And the views are tremendous!

Don't forget the crime rate in Atlanta - one of the many reasons we moved out of there!

RE; Alabama humidity and bugs..

Well now..Remember, this is from the perspective of "BOSTON"lesley..
Imagine you just took a shower..you've toweled off..you get dressed..you walk outside..it's 98 degrees. By the time it takes for you to smile and say "good morning", it's as if you never used the towel.

Bugs? I wasn't aware that the Northern hemisphere had bugs that large. Thought they were some kind of alien life form. I took a photo of a moth-eating spider that had taken up residence next to my porch light.it was bigger than a Texas grass spider but smaller than a California tarantula..it was the beetles that won the prize for "huge" and "unique". The only time I'd seen anything like them was in stores at Halloween..made out of plastic.

I think I'm going to look up some info on MS because that sounds like my kind of place to live! CT definitely isn't anymore, it is way too expensive to live here if you don't have a high paying job. Don't think we will be moving anytime too soon but it is nice to know that there are places like that today.

I think it differs where you live in new york. My taxes on a 75 acre farm with 3 huge barns and 1300 sf house is 1800 year. And we have a high rated school, I am located between 2 big towns with 100's of great paying jobs like cummings desiel,purina, juice and food manufacturors, ice cream plants and colleges. I am 1 hour from buffalo too.

I dont think taxes are high here in new york, just depends on where you live. I think when the political people of the town/county tell the state no higher tax bill then they listen. Thats why many big companies are here in chautauqua county as our politicians dont say they will give them a break and then dont, they really do give them tax breaks and in turn they keep their business here. But a big fancy town like orchard park or buffalo, they tax high because they like to spend money on stupid things and pay the politicians of the town lots of money. and I see many big businesses leaving from there.

As for gun control, its encouraged where I am at. this weekend is the gun raffle of over 55 guns and 300 other gun related prizes and 4 wheelers. this includes pistols...

We have groomed snowmobile trails all over the state. And it cost $20 to go on them all winter. thats a good deal for groomed trails with signs.

The soil is the best too. Glacial silt mixed with rick black earth. I hardly ever need to fertilize my fields. We get just the right amount of rain and sun for crops, I never had to water any fileds since I been here for 7.5 years. and the winter frost kills lots of bugs. We have very little pest problems. I live in a wooded spot and no misquitos.

The town is leanient too. I have 2 unregistered vehicles and if you have over 50 acres your dog can roam free as long as its not destructive.
You can drive a vehicle with rust, unlike pa...lol

And in states where there is no say state tax. Folks dont be fooled. You will pay out the nose some where else in the state. Like florida for examlpe. You may pay no state tax but your vehicle insurance is outragous, thats where it comes back at you. here in new york, my vehicle insurance is 161$ for 6 months. In florida you are paying your state tax through your insurance. thats means your forking the tax bill for people who dont have a vehicle...so its higher...

I like new yorks health care too. You can see a doctor with no insurance for 20$... My vet bills are cheap too. I had my dog at 10 y/o spayed and had a booby removed with a tumor for 60$, another vet put our pony down for 25$.

I think its all in where you live in new york.

By the way, I am sellin this house and moving down the road.. It comes with 2 acres, huge 2 story barn,creek and woods... see the barter board for more info...lol

Marie

I can do three states, No Va, Eastern panhandle of WV and the part of Maryland that touches those two.
D.C. government liberals. Do I need to say anymore? 3 acre lot for sale, perced- $375,000. Wash. Co, Md
It used to be considered redneck-hill billy country here. Not anymore since the D C liberals found out they can buy more for their money here and still commute to D.C. Jobs are plenty. People have money even when the economy is slow since they work for the "govment"
But, if you can think it, they will tax it. It's no good for homesteaders around here anymore.
I own property further south in WV too. I can't wait till I can move.
Willie did such a good job, the whole she-bang here should move to Kentucky. I want the land next to him. I'll take spiders and snakes over D.C. liberals any day.

I'm getting one heck of an education here!

There are now a couple of places I have to put on my look into further list.

I grew up in New York, Long Island to be specific, and have been trying to convince the husband that we should look into Upstate, But, He was scared off by the taxes, the gun control laws, and the politics. That and the fact that NYC pretty much votes for the resat of the state, and spends their tax dollars.

We may have to look at it again, but I'm going to have aq heck of a time trying to convince him.

Wisconsin is definately on the look into harder list now.

Alabama - that one needs a lot of discussion. I've lived in Dothan, and those tornadoes and humid summers can get pretty rough. Plus, (I know some of you are going to laugh at me for this one, especially the northerners) I miss snow.

Alaska - I would love to move there, and even had two excellent job offers, one in Ankorage, one in Fairbanks ... But the real estate prices for decent sized acreage are horrendous. Or at least the ones I managed to find were. Plus, I worry about sustanability issues in the area. Talk about a short growing season.

Please keep the information coming, this has been extremely educational for me, and I'm sure for others as well.

Nikki

Dead Central VA

Central Va -
Everyone waves, holds the door, and ays hello
People of different races are friends or friendly
We have cows, plows, and lots of churches
Cheap taxes
Teachers are excellent! I should know!
Students are eqully as excellent
We are in the Peidmont of the Blue Ridge Mountains
Average Winters - not too cold, ice instead of snow usually
Summers are HOT and sometimes dry
I left PA for this plce - no regretts!

I agree that a lot of Alaska isn't going to be a very good place to be soon. I've been trying to tell my brothers and cousins that (most of them in or around Tok -- 200 miles to Fairbanks, 300 miles to Anchorage, growing season almost non-existent).

I'm living in Oregon right now, and have been hesitating on posting. Oregon is a large state, with several different climates, and both large urban and extremely isolated rural areas. In other words, it's too much to accurately assess in a short post!

I can't speak to the Portland area, as I've never lived there, nor would I. I have lived on the central Coast (Florence -- most beautiful spot on earth, I think, but so do way too many other people); in the Willamette Valley (good growing season, too many people, high real estate cost, and bad air pollution in summer); and now near Klamath Falls, which is the area I'm going to talk about.

Klamath Falls is east of the Cascade Range, which means we are in a semi-arid, high-desert climate. However, the Klamath Basin has large lakes, and the Klamath River, so it's not as dry as you'd expect. Down side of the elevation is that we can have frost any time of the year, up-side is that it always cools off at night enough to sleep comfortably. Bottom-land soils are fertile but heavy (volcanic clay), hill-side soils tend to be rocky with a lot of lava rock. Trees are in short supply here -- I worry about how we'll supply everyone in the Basin with firewood when the gas and oil get too expensive to use for heating houses. But we do get a lot of sunshine, and passive solar would be very doable here.

There's no sales tax; Oregon does have income tax, but my income is too low to even bother to file, so I don't know how bad it is. Property taxes are middling. We pay about $1100/year on an acre with a new manufactured home (smallish, just under 1400 s.f.). That is a lot more than some states, but compared to a lot of the East and Northeast, it's not too bad.

Klamath Falls itself is a mid-sized town, the main shopping area for three counties, including one in northern California. There are two colleges, a community college and a good tech school (Oregon Institute of Technology). I can't speak to the public schools -- my children are all grown, and I would never put a child of mine in the public schools anywhere. But Oregon's homeschool laws are favorable, and there are also three Christian schools in town. There is also a theatre, and several local musical groups of one kind or another, if you go in for that kind of thing. Plenty of shopping, though it seems like a lot of people 'go over the hill' to Medford, about seventy miles away, for some things. I think that will decrease as the price of gas goes up, though. For outdoor recreation, we have Klamath Lake and Klamath River, a couple of nearby wilderness areas, and lots of National Forest and BLM land. Lots of campgrounds, many free. Downtown is alive and well, but the town is sprawling. Lots of new construction, which may go down the tubes if the housing bubble is really popping (as it looks like it may be in many areas). There's a thriving Farmer's Market, lots of agriculture in the area (we may lack firewood, but there's plenty of potatoes and beef, so we won't starve, LOL!). There is Kingsley Field, which used to be an AF base, but is now Air National Guard -- and it's growing. Seems to be plenty of work for most people -- this is a major rail transport hub, for one thing (two of the guys at our church are RR engineers). It seems to be a pretty quiet town -- there are the usual teen problems, of course, and some crime here and there, but overall it's still a small town with a few growing pains. I like it here, for the most part (wish there was a better supply of firewood for the population, though).

Kathleen

I live in a state of ambivalence, with much confusion also.

My province is New Brunswick. This probably explains it.
It is right next to Maine, but don't hold that against them.

Very mild this winter. 4 deg celsius above normal.
I think that works out to $7.20 at current exchange rates.