OK weird, very weird question............

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Hi David -

I used this site to find our little piece of heaven in Tennessee when we were fleeing the high-taxation and overall cost of living in Illinois.

https://smartasset.com/mortgage/cost-of-living-calculator

TN has no state income tax and is 10 cents on the dollar in comparison to Illinois property taxes. I was paying a little over $500 a month on just property taxes on a 2200 square foot house on a 120x140 property. In TN I have a 2000 square foot house on 1.44 acres and am paying $110 a month for taxes.

We settled in Winchester TN, about 25 miles from the Alabama border. It is very sportsman friendly, with plenty of lakes for fishing and boating, mountains and forests for hunting, camping and hiking, and the weather is moderate with little to no snow and mostly just a rainy season.

Good luck with your search -

best

mqqn
 
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Oh, David . . . .

As a nearly life-long AZ desert rat who plays in the slots of S Utah near you and was just fortunate to purchase my retirement home NE of Durango, CO on 3 forested acres, I have to say do not leave the Four Corners. Really. It is paradise.

Born in SE Ohio and summered a lot in the afore-recommended E Central FLA (grandparents bought cheap on Manasota Key in about '70. Very nice, but millions now - and Humid!), and grad school in the South (GA), I have to say there is no place like home.
 
This may be a little helpful to you.
I am in Roane county TN. I got a deal on my house so my mortgage is not typical. Most people’s here for a normal home run about 800-900 a month.
My utilities run from 280-400 month depending on how hot or cold it is. I have a fairly large house. That is trash pick up, gas, sewer, electric and water all.
County taxes are 440. City 219.
Jobs here are not that great. Most people here with higher paying jobs work in Knox county. Very short drive considering the lower cost of living in this county.
Gun and knife laws here are very good. If you need a building for a business there are lots here cheap. Codes are very loose as well.
IMO the best thing about rural ETN is that I am a 2.5 hour drive from Nashville. An hour from Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg. I can pull in Smokey Mt knife works from my house in 50 min. 3.5 hours to Atlanta. 6.5 hours to Charleston SC.
Weather, well if you don’t like it wait a couple hours. Last week we went from heavy rain to sun to snow in less than 24 hours.
Great fishing and hunting. Watts bar lake splits my county with the Emory river, Clinch river and the TN river all coming together here. Lots of good trout fishing about an hour away.
We have I-40 running through the county with it joining I-75 just pass the county line. Three major highways run through here as well.
 
You guys are awesome.
Thank you for all the very insightful info.

Best family there is, is the Busse family.
Keep the info coming please.
 
Check out Texas David. Gun and knife laws great. Business is booming. Land and house prices are great as long as you stay out of major metropolitan areas.
 
mqqn said:
Hi David -

I used this site to find our little piece of heaven in Tennessee when we were fleeing the high-taxation and overall cost of living in Illinois.

https://smartasset.com/mortgage/cost-of-living-calculator

TN has no state income tax and is 10 cents on the dollar in comparison to Illinois property taxes. I was paying a little over $500 a month on just property taxes on a 2200 square foot house on a 120x140 property. In TN I have a 2000 square foot house on 1.44 acres and am paying $110 a month for taxes.

We settled in Winchester TN, about 25 miles from the Alabama border. It is very sportsman friendly, with plenty of lakes for fishing and boating, mountains and forests for hunting, camping and hiking, and the weather is moderate with little to no snow and mostly just a rainy season.

Good luck with your search -

best

mqqn
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Thanks for the Smart Asset Calculator
 
One thing I failed to mention about Mississippi...

In most places in the state, PETA types have zero footprint. You won't see any anti-hunting protesters within hundreds of miles of places people hunt. I was told that this is because they are scared to death of Mississippi due to its reputation. Many Mississippians are more than happy to keep up the charade, if it means keeping those types out, LOL.

There is a book you should read about the Mississippi Delta written by a Brit called Dispatches from Pluto. Hilarious and very insightful about the culture. The Mississippi Delta culture is not at all what people think it is.
 
UNRL Ghandi said:
I lived in Central MD for years because that's where the jobs are. My 2 br 1 bath rancher on .67 acres cost as much as the farm I bought out in Western MD with 68 acres, 2 1/2 car garage, 40x50 barn, and a renovated old farm house. The problem is I will have a very hard time selling it if I ever need to since it was on the market a long time when I bought it because the people here don't make a lot of money to afford to buy a simple house let alone one with land. In comparison my rancher in Central MD sold in 2 weeks for my asking price. You could get stuck in the same situation so pick your house and location wisely.

Now that MD is going nuts with VA like gun bills I'm in a pickle. Thankfully I'm not too far from MD's largest lake so I can turn my place into a rental if I need to. I've already begun to look across the lines in WV and PA.
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Ahhhh.... a fellow Marylander. I like to think of myself as being behind enemy lines lately. If I can just make it a few more years to retirement without losing everything....
 
DamascusBowie said:
Yeah the summers can be unbearable, the closer one can afford to live to the beach, the better.
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After so many decades down here, my blood has thinned out. These days, I’d rather deal with the heat than be cold. It’s the population surge that has me considering a move.


Hey, Dave! Since so many are mentioning Tennessee, I will, too! One of my best friends left EC FLA a couple of years ago. He moved up to Johnson City, Tennessee. Says it’s much more affordable. He absolutely loves it up there, and he keeps trying to get me to move up every time we speak. Spends a lot more time out in nature than he did down here. Camping, hiking, off roaring, etc. He said the main career sector nearest his area is the medical field, I believe schooling and data. From what I’ve heard, it might be a comfortable, affordable spot for you.
 
UNRL Ghandi said:
I lived in Central MD for years because that's where the jobs are. My 2 br 1 bath rancher on .67 acres cost as much as the farm I bought out in Western MD with 68 acres, 2 1/2 car garage, 40x50 barn, and a renovated old farm house. The problem is I will have a very hard time selling it if I ever need to since it was on the market a long time when I bought it because the people here don't make a lot of money to afford to buy a simple house let alone one with land. In comparison my rancher in Central MD sold in 2 weeks for my asking price. You could get stuck in the same situation so pick your house and location wisely.

Now that MD is going nuts with VA like gun bills I'm in a pickle. Thankfully I'm not too far from MD's largest lake so I can turn my place into a rental if I need to. I've already begun to look across the lines in WV and PA.
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dogboye said:
Ahhhh.... a fellow Marylander. I like to think of myself as being behind enemy lines lately. If I can just make it a few more years to retirement without losing everything....
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Maryland represent! Houses are crazy expensive right now in the Rockville/Bethesda area, might be moving up Frederick way.

David, I wouldn't trade Utah for Mississippi, but that's my opinion. You should really do some research on the areas then visit for a few days to get a feel for it. Now that I have a kid, I have to think about school districts as well when looking to move.
 
ScoMa said:
After so many decades down here, my blood has thinned out. These days, I’d rather deal with the heat than be cold. It’s the population surge that has me considering a move.
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Oh, without a doubt, heat is far easier to deal with. Pro tip for anyone thinking of moving to Florida - prioritize air conditioning in the home and car and you'll avoid most of the nastiness. A good ac system combined with dehumidifiers can make a home efficiently comfortable, and if your car has automatic transmission, a remote starter is a must for when your car is parked outside, or even in a garage with no ac.
 
DamascusBowie said:
Oh, without a doubt, heat is far easier to deal with. Pro tip for anyone thinking of moving to Florida - prioritize air conditioning in the home and car and you'll avoid most of the nastiness. A good ac system combined with dehumidifiers can make a home efficiently comfortable, and if your car has automatic transmission, a remote starter is a must for when your car is parked outside, or even in a garage with no ac.
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I've lived on the Texas Gulf Coast (Houston and Beaumont) for on and off since the 70s, and I still can't stand the super muggy heat. Absolutely miserable in the summer (which runs from May through mid-September). And because the humidity's so high, sweat doesn't evaporate and it doesn't cool down all that much at night. Sure everything's air conditioned, but it would be nice to be able to go outside without getting drenched in sweat. And the mosquitos! Don't even get me started about the mosquitos.

And when a hurricane knocks out the power for a couple weeks? Fuggeddaboutit.

Everything else being equal, I'd take the snowy northern winters of my youth over the oppressive Gulf Coast summers any day. But, of course, everything else isn't equal. It never is.
 
JohnTheTexican said:

I've lived on the Texas Gulf Coast (Houston and Beaumont) for on and off since the 70s, and I still can't stand the super muggy heat. Absolutely miserable in the summer (which runs from May through mid-September). And because the humidity's so high, sweat doesn't evaporate and it doesn't cool down all that much at night. Sure everything's air conditioned, but it would be nice to be able to go outside without getting drenched in sweat. And the mosquitos! Don't even get me started about the mosquitos.

And when a hurricane knocks out the power for a couple weeks? Fuggeddaboutit.

Everything else being equal, I'd take the snowy northern winters of my youth over the oppressive Gulf Coast summers any day. But, of course, everything else isn't equal. It never is.
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Yeah, all else being equal, Id rather live in multiple places during their respective best seasons. Florida during fall, winter and spring, and maybe Colorado or something similar, something mountainous and colder during the summer.
 
If you're looking for suggestions to check out I had a great time in Nashville TN a while back.
 
I will comment on TN as a resident who lives near and works in Nashville it is a great place but the closer you are to Nashville the worse those home prices will be. I still recommend the general area but would suggest looking at the edge of Davidson County or in a Neighboring County also if you have kids and want to know about schools I believe Wilson and Williamson County are the top scoring.
 
Thank you everybody.
 
SW Ohio (Cincinnati area) is not bad, depending on what you want I suppose.
- OH sales tax = 7%
- OH income tax = 0–5%, depending on income level (many incorporated cities have an additional 1–2%)
- property tax varies widely
- weather can be bad in winter & summer, but often not too bad
- lots of museums, performing arts, a nice zoo, amusement park, plenty of shopping & restaurants
- pro baseball & football (some might argue about the Bengals being pros :D)
- get away from Cincinnati a little, and the countryside is rural, with decent small game hunting (rabbits, squirrels, birds including turkey, waterfowl (ducks & geese), varmints (groundhogs, crows & coyotes) and lots of deer
- there is also some fishing (I don't fish much)
- gun laws are not too bad (yet), but too many liberals could screw that up
- lots of medical care (hospitals)
- two universities

Get outside of Cincinnati, and housing is cheaper, and taxes and the crime rate are lower.

South central Ohio is very hilly and rural, with lots of good hunting & hiking. South central & SW Ohio is very green, with lots of trees just about everywhere.

I'm guessing Kentucky is cheaper (like on taxes), and probably better gun laws (they do have Knob Creek :)).

Please let me know if you have any questions!
 
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