Help me find a new place to live.

[JulieM]

We live in St. George, Utah. Looked at Mesquite, NV but did not like the town, we love the winters here, summers can get hot, though. Lots of retirees like us living here, many from California. St. George has a shuttle 14 times a day to the Las Vegas airport which was important to us to have access to cheaper air travel. I would not consider Salt Lake due to air quality and crime.

 

[Bob DBF]

Part of the reason I don’t just move somewhere else in California that’s safer is because as soon as I sell this place I have to reinvest the money back into property equal to or more than what I sold this for or else I get nailed with capital gains taxes on the difference.

Talk to your CPA, up to 500,000 can be exempt from capital gains for a married couple if done right, helped me out, but not to that extent. Also, improvements on the house can be used to increase the basis of the house for calculating the gain, if you keep good records.

Although we all hate giving money to the government, sometimes paying the tax can be to your advantage. Look for the best CPA or tax Lawyer in town, it can be worth the price.

I’ve lived all over the country at one time or another, everywhere has their good points. Because of my wife’s roots in Sonoma County we decided to relocate to the Central Valley, a bit of a shock, but an easy ride for us or our friends.


Bob

 

[hroark2112]

I think you should check out Raleigh, NC. I love it here, easy drive to the beach or the mountains, not a bad drive to Florida, and you can get anywhere through RDU airport.

 

[WeRtheOcean]

Although we all hate giving money to the government...

Speak for yourself.

I don't mind the taxes per se. Mostly, I mind that so much of it goes to things like war and weaponry, rather than to making the country a better place to live.

 

[outofofficebrb]

If you stay stateside, think about state income taxes. It adds up! Florida...plus decent diving. Atlanta can be your nearest major hub for deals to get out and dive.

 

[Lorenzoid]

How about Charleston, SC area? Coastal. Weather is mild. Driving distance to interesting coastal areas, even FL. Artsy. Socio-politically not quite Californicated.

I understand your gripes, having left California some years ago. I miss it very much. But I miss it the way it was back then, not as it has become.

 

[jrltenn]

If you can live without a coastline and are looking for real culture shock it’s tough to beat northeast Tennessee. May not look like it on a map but it’s about as far from California as you will find. Low cost of living with a high quality of life. Just a few minutes from the Smokies, Appalachian trail, Asheville, or Bristol depending on which direction you wander. Plus we get all the seasons here (sometimes all in the same week).

 

[DeepSeaExplorer]

I don't think so. We get a large percentage of the Colorado River water via the CAP Canal and even when drought had substantially lowered Lake Mead and other lakes around the edges of the state we had no water restrictions like CA.

Some of the other local lakes are fed by 2 river systems from the high country, If you saw on the news this week about the several feet of snow in Flgstaff this week some of that will find it's way here - it's 2+ hrs. from my house. I don't follow it but the last time I saw the storage aquifers under Phoenix mentioned they were 80% full and filling.
Water Mgmt is a very big deal here, one of the two power companies manages all the dams and the canal systms in town,

IDK where Tucson gets it's water. It's ringed by mountain ranges so likely some is run-off.

Understand that this is a desert, If I drive 5mi north or west I'm in it. I have grass but desert land scapimg is popular here also.We have a lot of pools - probably 10 on my block alone, And a lot of golf courses - probably close to 100.

The SW is already fighting over water rights. The Colorado River no longer reaches the ocean, largely due to over pumping of ground water.

There simply isn’t enough to go around. In 10 years, people will have to begin migrating out.

 

[GreggS]

I think you should check out Raleigh, NC. I love it here, easy drive to the beach or the mountains, not a bad drive to Florida, and you can get anywhere through RDU airport.

Or the Triad area (Greensboro, High Point, Winston-Salem). Very nice area, but about an hour further from the coast. GSO airport is easy to get to and is usually as cheap or cheaper to fly out of than either RDU or CLT unless you want to fly Southwest since they are not at GSO.