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

Thanks for the advice I was not even aware that you had hills there. When I get home from this I am planning on taking my wife to visit an aunt in CA then see my grandpa in KY and a tour of the south Godwilling. Before we start our homestead back up again and stay home.

__________________
marching to the beat of a different drummer

Western WA- agree with other posters and need to add that it is very dark in winter. 42 and raining is a standard winter forecast. The damp makes it feel colder and chills right through your bones. People drink lots of coffee to stay sane through it.

Then summer comes with clear, bright skies. It is beautiful! Sometimes summer lasts one month, sometimes 3. You need to water in the summer because it is dry. There are few bugs.

Real estate is way overpriced (but probably will not go down since its a growing area). The air can get nasty in winter when fogs roll in and everyone is burning.

Plusses- close to the ocean and mountains, green winters, beautiful summers, lots of fresh food available year round. However, not an affordable place for most.

I'll add my 2 cents about northeast Kansas (with the caveat that I grew up in Delaware Co, NY):

It's not as flat as you might think, though it ain't Colorado. In the NE there are interesting limestone bluffs where I am, plenty of creeks, and some glacial till. The bottomlands are good for row crops, and the highlands good for grazing. There are plenty of creeks (though most of the smaller ones dry up during the summer), and there are oak/hickory forests along the rivers and on the rocky, untillable/ungrazable slopes.

The climate can be challenging; winters tend to be windy, cold, and dry, though relatively short. Spring is muddy but lovely, summer can feel like a convection oven with searing winds, but autumn is nice. Because the jetstream bobs up and down right over us, the temperature can vary by 50 degrees in a day (no kidding!), though the sun shines most of the time. When it's raining, it's probably just the particular cloud overhead and will be over soon- it isn't often drizzly and rainy for days on end. It has been droughty over the last couple years.

We have plenty of ticks, chiggers, mosquitoes, and horseflies, along with poison ivy, greenbriar and wildgooseberries in the woods, making it challenging to enjoy yourself outdoors during the summer. I can't tell you how many ticks I've pulled off my privates after a day outside. Just the way it is.

Except for the bigger cities (and the corridors linking them), land and houses are pretty cheap, but jobs scarce, causing population decreases in most parts of the state. I've seen land go for 10,000 an acre close to Lawrence, but I bought ours for less than 1,000 (120 acres total about 35 minutes from Topeka and Lawrence). Zoning and regulations depend on the county- the more urban, the more complicated.

Except for the cities (and most particularly Lawrence), Kansas tends to be pretty darn conservative, though with an interesting streak of populism and individualism. While most folks are god-fearing upstanding citizens, we have a fair mix of home-grown eccentrics that add a bit of flavor. Most folks are generally friendly regardless of your particular beliefs or skin color, but there are definitely pockets of less than pleasant folks.

Can't say much about taxes- our 120 acres of bare land cost us about $200 I think, though we're about to be re-valued according to our new construction.

That's a start...

thebugguy

Quote:

Originally Posted by spam4einstein Lived in CT for 30 years. The beauty of the history, and the old buildings are great as well as some of the cultural life. ITS HELL ON EARTH IN MOST EVERY OTHER WAY. I CANT BELIEVE WE STAYED AS LONG AS WE DID. Thousands of dollars in car tax, 5k a year tax on my $240,000 house on 1/3 acre. $2300 a year for House insurance. Overcrowded, expensive, lots of low life people as CT has a HUGE very desprate underclass. Tons of gov. regulation. Very competitive in many bad ways.

I agree.

The crime is everywhere and prolific.

We bought in Ct, in 1991, as I was stationed there. but wow it is expensive. We pay over $5k/ year taxes on our house too.

Moved to Maine and now we pay 1 dollar per acre in property taxes.

+1 Connecticut transplant. So far here in western NY state: really quiet, beautiful, cold. Property taxes are high but the asessments are mostly really low so it evens out. Land is dirt cheap, groceries are cheap, crime is nonexistant, zero traffic, the schools are good, mostly everyone looks out for their neighbors. My water is really good, we got lucky though. I think there is still snow behind the barn it's cold up here in the hills. The downside is I drive 100 miles a day running errands as things are spaced apart pretty good. It's warmer in the car though.