SamanthaCarter Posted July 25, 2018 Share Posted July 25, 2018 Yes, I’m surprised too. I would never ask a newcomer that unless they brought a church hunt up in previous conversation. I’m a Christian and pretty heavily involved in ministry! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donna Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 22 minutes ago, Pawz4me said: I'm always surprised when people say that. Not doubting their experience at all, just surprised. I've lived in NC my entire life (55 years) and I'd estimate that I've been asked that question maybe ten times total. And only one of those times has been in the last ten years. In the three months we have been here, we have been asked that question at least every other day. Maybe it is because we just moved here and people are trying to be helpful? I have no idea. My dh is from NC, spent the first 14 years of his life here, and his family is all not far from us. We have visited nearly every year since we were dating and no one ever asked when we visited so maybe it has to do with just moving in? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 I have heard before on this board that folks moving to certain parts of the south get the question, “Where do you go to church?” It is an assumed fact that you must. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs. A Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 On 7/23/2018 at 11:24 PM, Slache said: We live in Oregon and the cost of living is too high so we have to move. We keep bouncing back and forth on locations so I thought I'd ask a bunch of strangers on the internet where we should go. Things that are important to us include: Good homeschool laws Forgiving immunization laws Low cost of living Income tax, sales tax, personal property tax, property tax, etc. Conservative politics My husband wants to live close to Cincinnati, I want to live far from Cincinnati so we need a good middle. I like the west coast, he likes the midwest and we both like the south. Nothing brings me more joy than the beach. Thank you for deciding my entire life for me. Having just spent a gorgeous day at the beach on Lake Erie, I'm putting in a plug for the Cleveland area. Four hours or so from Cincinnati, easy to homeschool here, snow in the winters, but not too severe (unless you live east of Cleveland - then you get lake effect snow. The southwest suburbs get less). Then there's the Metroparks - an AMAZING park system that spans around 77 miles in the Greater Cleveland area, full of hiking trails, freshwater beaches, nature centers (that even offer homeschool programs on occasion). It's a great area. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slache Posted July 26, 2018 Author Share Posted July 26, 2018 I have made a chart! Several states have been excluded for several reasons but I did look at every suggestion. Please tell me all the reasons I'm wrong and everything I've forgotten. Thank you. Almost everything is just from statistics on websites and it was put together quickly so no tomato throwing! State Comparison.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 1 hour ago, Pawz4me said: I'm always surprised when people say that. Not doubting their experience at all, just surprised. I've lived in NC my entire life (55 years) and I'd estimate that I've been asked that question maybe ten times total. And only one of those times has been in the last ten years. I do get asked if I go to church or what church I go to. The frustration for me is that we are currently still at the church we want to leave (ok, well, I haven't attended in a while) but people don't fully "get" what we are looking for in a church and will "sell" us on their church. I don't want to be sold on your church, esp. when you start with "great music" or "preach from the word".......doesn't ever church claim that? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 7 minutes ago, Danae said: Some of us just look at the pictures. Well, that might be a welcomed reprieve at the moment! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 On 7/25/2018 at 6:27 AM, DawnM said: They like it overall, but their 1800 sq. ft house in TX was $325K (30 min. from Dallas) , their 1800 sq. ft. house in NC was $180K (about 30 min from Charlotte) and their 1800 sq. ft. house in SC was $150K (30 min. from Columbia.) I don't know what their AR house was. They're just living in a VERY expensive area. That price isn't normal for this area. Anything right around Dallas is out of the question for us. I paid $165,000 for a 2-story, 2400 square foot house with 6 bedrooms. The further out you go, the cheaper it is. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.... Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 If you're still thinking about Texas, I would focus on jobs. I would move where your family can find good-paying jobs (not sure what your family's work situation is). When we first moved to Texas, we were basically homeless. We lived in a campground. ? The company dh worked for in MO had completely shut down and thousands of people lost their jobs. So, we were not in a good situation. The no income tax really helped once he did start working here. We were used to paying IL and MO income tax, so not paying any at all helped us get back on our feet. Also, there are jobs *everywhere*. I've never seen anything like it. There is constant construction/companies moving here/etc. DH changed jobs about a year ago and he found another job within like a week or something ridiculous. And the benefits at the new place are awesome (the best health insurance and 401K I've ever seen). There is a lot of manufacturing here (that's what my dh does - he works in manufacturing production) and those jobs usually pay a lot. Housing is pretty cheap compared to other parts of the country, but you have to live further away from the city to find cheap housing. Also...trying to find a way to put this into words without offending someone....people here were generally very understanding with us having money issues when we first moved here. I can't quite put it into words, but there was a different attitude about it than there was up north. Like it was more socially acceptable and no one was going to look down on you. For example, when we were living in the campground, it was Christmas time and the campground owners came over to us with a little Christmas tree for my kids. People were constantly offering to help us, give us stuff, etc. Our current neighbors are Syrian refugees...and people are always going over there to see if they need help...some guy down the street has been mowing their lawn...people were giving them furniture.... I think what I'm trying to say is that people are really giving/helpful here?? Even if the government isn't. I mean, at least where we live. And I'm not saying you have money problems - Lol! That was just a big difference I noticed when we first moved here. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 26 minutes ago, Evanthe said: They're just living in a VERY expensive area. That price isn't normal for this area. Anything right around Dallas is out of the question for us. I paid $165,000 for a 2-story, 2400 square foot house with 6 bedrooms. The further out you go, the cheaper it is. Did you pay that within the last couple of years? They live in Garland. Is that more expensive? Their house needs quite a bit of work too. But they said it isn't just the house, it is the taxes, cost of living (groceries, etc...) is higher. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shawthorne44 Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 2 hours ago, DawnM said: Did you pay that within the last couple of years? They live in Garland. Is that more expensive? Their house needs quite a bit of work too. But they said it isn't just the house, it is the taxes, cost of living (groceries, etc...) is higher. Garland is basically Dallas, and it can get more expensive depending on where within Garland. https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/328-Timbercreek-Ct_Princeton_TX_75407_M79223-94539?view=qv I did a quick google search and found that attractive 1801 sq.ft. house, built in 2010 for 225K in Princeton, TX a suburb farther out in the NE. The area North of Dallas is really booming of big companies moving in. https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1613-Lackland-St_Arlington_TX_76010_M88846-20800?view=qv Here is an older (1955), smaller (1007 sq.ft.) house for 110K in Arlington (middle of DFW area) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AngieW in Texas Posted July 26, 2018 Share Posted July 26, 2018 15 minutes ago, shawthorne44 said: Garland is basically Dallas, and it can get more expensive depending on where within Garland. https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/328-Timbercreek-Ct_Princeton_TX_75407_M79223-94539?view=qv I did a quick google search and found that attractive 1801 sq.ft. house, built in 2010 for 225K in Princeton, TX a suburb farther out in the NE. The area North of Dallas is really booming of big companies moving in. https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/1613-Lackland-St_Arlington_TX_76010_M88846-20800?view=qv Here is an older (1955), smaller (1007 sq.ft.) house for 110K in Arlington (middle of DFW area) Princeton is much cheaper to live in than Garland, but it's also way farther out. Garland is right next to Dallas. To get there from Princeton, you have have to drive through McKinney and Allen and Plano and Richardson before you arrive at Garland. Garland and Richardson both border Dallas. The closer you are to Dallas, the higher the price is likely to be. The same is true for Austin, Houston, and San Antonio. If you move farther out into the suburbs, you are much more likely to get something affordable. That distance also puts you farther from jobs (longer commute) and means no public transportation. The schools that you are zoned for matter too, even though you are hsing, because it matters for resale. If you do end up moving to Texas, make sure you know about the community colleges and whether or not you are in the taxing district. We have a fantastic cc system in the Austin area. I used to teach in the Collin County system (before kids, actually my first job after college). Back then it was a good system, but I have no idea what it's like now. At one point back when we were in the Dallas area, we looked at moving closer in - Plano or Garland or Richardson. It was way out of our price range. We ended up moving even further out, from McKinney to Princeton. The Austin metroplex is a lot more compact than the Dallas metroplex, so we don't have to be as far out to have something affordable. Where we live now is a suburb of Austin. The prices have increased a lot. We paid $200,000 for our house 15 years ago and it's valued at $400,000. Without doing any work on it at all, we could probably sell it for $325,000. I just did a search on my suburb and found only 4 houses for sale $200,00 and below. The lowest price was $175,000. If you go out one more level to the next suburb out, there are more homes in the $175,000-$200,000 range, but still nothing below $175,000. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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