Have you ever considered moving to another state?

Leano

New member
Last night during UCI?s batch 2016 welcome dinner, I sat next to a lady that works at Toyota whose headquarters is moving to Plano, Texas.  She said she is considering moving to Texas where cost of living is much better than California.  I was curious why Plano?  So when I came home, I researched online and found out that the city of Plano is one of the best and affluent places to live in the US, where property values are four times cheaper per sqft than California, and property sizes are more than twice as big.  Most importantly, state income tax is ZERO.  Salary is not that much different for professionals.  So, if living there means I get a house twice as big, a mortgage four times less, in a city that is equally safe, and a net paycheck 10% more (no income tax), I ask myself why am I living in California when I have no real ties to this state? 

Is the weather really worth it? I am curious if anyone here has ever considered moving to another state.
 
RCV said:
Last night during UCI?s batch 2016 welcome dinner, I sat next to a lady that works at Toyota whose headquarters is moving to Plano, Texas.  She said she is considering moving to Texas where cost of living is much better than California.  I was curious why Plano?  So when I came home, I researched online and found out that the city of Plano is one of the best and affluent places to live in the US, where property values are four times cheaper per sqft than California, and property sizes are more than twice as big.  Most importantly, state income tax is ZERO.  Salary is not that much different for professionals.  So, if living there means I get a house twice as big, a mortgage four times less, in a city that is equally safe, and a net paycheck 10% more (no income tax), I ask myself why am I living in California when I have no real ties to this state? 

Is the weather really worth it? I am curious if anyone here has ever considered moving to another state.

obviously it's up to you.. but other than weather.  Family.. friends.. LA life.. food.. culture.  There is a reason why Texas is cheaper.  For me, an Asian, I would probably only move to Austin.  I've been to Plano many times.. just too boring.. flat.. and hot. 
 
I've worked in the DFW area for a number of years in the past, and personally it's not a place I can live in.  It's always a personal decision, but from a real estate standpoint, there is a lot of truth there.  You'll definitely get a lot more for your money (lots are sized by acre vs. sf), plus there are a TON of custom homebuilders out there, with the land to do it.  I don't expect the pricing lull to last, however.  When Nissan moved their HQ to Nashville, the real estate pricing shot through the roof within months.  Plano may experience a similar boost in pricing, as well as some of the adjacent areas (Lewisville, Richardson, etc.), but it's hard to tell if Nashville will repeat.

As far as Texas goes specifically, the weather is a huge adjustment for us CA folks...110+ summer, below freezing winter.  Asphalt roads melt in summer, and concrete roads freeze in winter.  Lots of pickup trucks...do the math. =)  The food is good, but it's mostly the chain variety.  Steaks are awesome.  No state income tax is nice.  93 octane fuel, and about 10-20% lower gas prices.

But overall, it's a big adjustment to make.  Personally, if I'm going to make a state change, it'd probably be Seattle WA or Boston MA.  Maybe Portland OR.  But I'm staying right in in OC...how can I walk away from all you cool TI people? :)
 
gasman said:
I've worked in the DFW area for a number of years in the past, and personally it's not a place I can live in.  It's always a personal decision, but from a real estate standpoint, there is a lot of truth there.  You'll definitely get a lot more for your money (lots are sized by acre vs. sf), plus there are a TON of custom homebuilders out there, with the land to do it.  I don't expect the pricing lull to last, however.  When Nissan moved their HQ to Nashville, the real estate pricing shot through the roof within months.  Plano may experience a similar boost in pricing, as well as some of the adjacent areas (Lewisville, Richardson, etc.), but it's hard to tell if Nashville will repeat.

As far as Texas goes specifically, the weather is a huge adjustment for us CA folks...110+ summer, below freezing winter.  Asphalt roads melt in summer, and concrete roads freeze in winter.  Lots of pickup trucks...do the math. =)  The food is good, but it's mostly the chain variety.  Steaks are awesome.  No state income tax is nice.  93 octane fuel, and about 10-20% lower gas prices.

But overall, it's a big adjustment to make.  Personally, if I'm going to make a state change, it'd probably be Seattle WA or Boston MA.  Maybe Portland OR.  But I'm staying right in in OC...how can I walk away from all you cool TI people? :)

I feel like the steak is the same.  There are more steak houses.. but in terms of quality.. same.  Probably get more variations out here.
 
RCV said:
Last night during UCI?s batch 2016 welcome dinner, I sat next to a lady that works at Toyota whose headquarters is moving to Plano, Texas.  She said she is considering moving to Texas where cost of living is much better than California.  I was curious why Plano?  So when I came home, I researched online and found out that the city of Plano is one of the best and affluent places to live in the US, where property values are four times cheaper per sqft than California, and property sizes are more than twice as big.  Most importantly, state income tax is ZERO.  Salary is not that much different for professionals.  So, if living there means I get a house twice as big, a mortgage four times less, in a city that is equally safe, and a net paycheck 10% more (no income tax), I ask myself why am I living in California when I have no real ties to this state? 

Is the weather really worth it? I am curious if anyone here has ever considered moving to another state.

Oh, yeah. Yup, yup!! I agree with you. I was all for it. It's too attractive not to consider, at least it was in the years before a lot of  Californians got the same idea and created a run-up in home prices there. Mr. SoCal got a job offer in the north Dallas area just prior to the bubble there. We researched Plano, Frisco, Flower Mound... worked with Ebby Halliday realtors. The homes are so fantastic and beautiful, I could cry!... unlike O.C.,  however they are conservative areas similar to most of O.C. which is exactly what I was looking for. The only thing that kind of concerned me is the soil issues some areas have with homes being built on clay. It may or may not be an issue depending on where you go. Google it. Can have big implications for your foundation. Anyway, he was really mopey, didn't want to go but said he will do it if I want to. I couldn't do that to him. I let him wear the pants. Here I am still in O.C. In retrospect, it was probably a good thing as that job is no longer there. I don't think the company is either. Many of the transplants ended up returning. But now? I don't know. Tell me what you find. I think home values have returned to some normalcy. 
 
gasman said:
I've worked in the DFW area for a number of years in the past, and personally it's not a place I can live in.  It's always a personal decision, but from a real estate standpoint, there is a lot of truth there.  You'll definitely get a lot more for your money (lots are sized by acre vs. sf), plus there are a TON of custom homebuilders out there, with the land to do it.  I don't expect the pricing lull to last, however.  When Nissan moved their HQ to Nashville, the real estate pricing shot through the roof within months.  Plano may experience a similar boost in pricing, as well as some of the adjacent areas (Lewisville, Richardson, etc.), but it's hard to tell if Nashville will repeat.

As far as Texas goes specifically, the weather is a huge adjustment for us CA folks...110+ summer, below freezing winter.  Asphalt roads melt in summer, and concrete roads freeze in winter.  Lots of pickup trucks...do the math. =)  The food is good, but it's mostly the chain variety.  Steaks are awesome.  No state income tax is nice.  93 octane fuel, and about 10-20% lower gas prices.

But overall, it's a big adjustment to make.  Personally, if I'm going to make a state change, it'd probably be Seattle WA or Boston MA.  Maybe Portland OR.  But I'm staying right in in OC...how can I walk away from all you cool TI people? :)

I guess it could be any state.. I just happen to think Texas because of Toyota moving to Plano.  The weather is a pretty big issue for my husband.. but then we were born and raised in a tropical country where summer is really hot and rainy season means typhoon, so to me it shouldn't be a big deal.  Although I can imagine it would still be a big adjustment now that we know what a nice weather is like.  If we have family here, I probably could better rationalize to stay here. 
 
jmoney74 said:
gasman said:
I've worked in the DFW area for a number of years in the past, and personally it's not a place I can live in.  It's always a personal decision, but from a real estate standpoint, there is a lot of truth there.  You'll definitely get a lot more for your money (lots are sized by acre vs. sf), plus there are a TON of custom homebuilders out there, with the land to do it.  I don't expect the pricing lull to last, however.  When Nissan moved their HQ to Nashville, the real estate pricing shot through the roof within months.  Plano may experience a similar boost in pricing, as well as some of the adjacent areas (Lewisville, Richardson, etc.), but it's hard to tell if Nashville will repeat.

As far as Texas goes specifically, the weather is a huge adjustment for us CA folks...110+ summer, below freezing winter.  Asphalt roads melt in summer, and concrete roads freeze in winter.  Lots of pickup trucks...do the math. =)  The food is good, but it's mostly the chain variety.  Steaks are awesome.  No state income tax is nice.  93 octane fuel, and about 10-20% lower gas prices.

But overall, it's a big adjustment to make.  Personally, if I'm going to make a state change, it'd probably be Seattle WA or Boston MA.  Maybe Portland OR.  But I'm staying right in in OC...how can I walk away from all you cool TI people? :)

I feel like the steak is the same.  There are more steak houses.. but in terms of quality.. same.  Probably get more variations out here.

I'm no Iron Chef, but I've cooked plenty of steaks and bbqs here in OC.  When it comes to steaks, as long as you get a decent quality of meat, it's mostly up to preparing meat, heat control, and cooking time.  I've been told by my family and friends that my steaks were actually better than all other chain restaurants and all I've been doing is following the recipes...
 
You might be surprised but you can easily spend $500K on a house there that then has $10k/yr in property taxes and you'll drive more and want to spend more on vacations, etc. since you'll miss good weather and the ocean.

One thing I noticed on House Hunters is that shoppers in Texas, Minnesota, etc. often had a $600K budget whiles shoppers in LA, OC, San Diego often had $400K budgets.

Will you be happier in a $600K 6,000 sq ft house where you stay home all the time because the weather sucks or will you be happier in a 1,500 sq ft $400K home and spend most of your time at the park/beach/outdoor mall/etc?

I often think about moving since I'm from the East Coast but the reality is that I wouldn't feel as rich as it would seem on paper.
 
Agreed on all points re: Steaks.  Don't move to Texas for Steaks.  That wasn't my point. lol  They just have a greater NUMBER of unique steak restaurants out there considering it's a big market.  The chains can be found everywhere.  Mastros, Ruth's Chris, Morton's, whatever.  But go to Pappas Bros, or Bob's, and it's worth a visit. :)

Anyway, forget the steak comment...damn, it's so easy to hijack a thread here...  >:D
 
Property tax is much higher in TX than CA.

I had relatives that moved there... and moved back after a few years.

Yes... they got a house for cheap, but they were always indoors because they hated the weather (and if you think ZeroLot's electric bill is high... just like everything else in TX, it's much bigger).

Also, no beach, no Disneyland, no snow... yada yada yada.

I don't even like to visit TX (which my relatives remind me about since I never went to see their ginormous home).
 
SoCal said:
RCV said:
Last night during UCI?s batch 2016 welcome dinner, I sat next to a lady that works at Toyota whose headquarters is moving to Plano, Texas.  She said she is considering moving to Texas where cost of living is much better than California.  I was curious why Plano?  So when I came home, I researched online and found out that the city of Plano is one of the best and affluent places to live in the US, where property values are four times cheaper per sqft than California, and property sizes are more than twice as big.  Most importantly, state income tax is ZERO.  Salary is not that much different for professionals.  So, if living there means I get a house twice as big, a mortgage four times less, in a city that is equally safe, and a net paycheck 10% more (no income tax), I ask myself why am I living in California when I have no real ties to this state? 

Is the weather really worth it? I am curious if anyone here has ever considered moving to another state.

Oh, yeah. Yup, yup!! I agree with you. I was all for it. It's too attractive not to consider, at least it was in the years before a lot of  Californians got the same idea and created a run-up in home prices there. Mr. SoCal got a job offer in the north Dallas area just prior to the bubble there. We researched Plano, Frisco, Flower Mound... worked with Ebby Halliday realtors. The homes are so fantastic and beautiful, I could cry!... unlike O.C.,  however they are conservative areas similar to most of O.C. which is exactly what I was looking for. The only thing that kind of concerned me is the soil issues some areas have with homes being built on clay. It may or may not be an issue depending on where you go. Google it. Can have big implications for your foundation. Anyway, he was really mopey, didn't want to go but said he will do it if I want to. I couldn't do that to him. I let him wear the pants. Here I am still in O.C. In retrospect, it was probably a good thing as that job is no longer there. I don't think the company is either. Many of the transplants ended up returning. But now? I don't know. Tell me what you find. I think home values have returned to some normalcy.


There seems to be a number of huge companies that are headquartered in the Dallas area (Bank of America, Capital one, JCP, American airlines, Toyota (soon)).  Unemployment is much lower at 4.3% and average home prices are at $250K..  Home prices seem to appreciate at a slower pace though.  Homes that are priced at over $700K are mansions.  I was drooling over beautiful large homes on redfin that costs so much less than here.  But yes, property tax is higher.
 
jmoney74 said:
RCV said:
Last night during UCI?s batch 2016 welcome dinner, I sat next to a lady that works at Toyota whose headquarters is moving to Plano, Texas.  She said she is considering moving to Texas where cost of living is much better than California.  I was curious why Plano?  So when I came home, I researched online and found out that the city of Plano is one of the best and affluent places to live in the US, where property values are four times cheaper per sqft than California, and property sizes are more than twice as big.  Most importantly, state income tax is ZERO.  Salary is not that much different for professionals.  So, if living there means I get a house twice as big, a mortgage four times less, in a city that is equally safe, and a net paycheck 10% more (no income tax), I ask myself why am I living in California when I have no real ties to this state? 

Is the weather really worth it? I am curious if anyone here has ever considered moving to another state.

obviously it's up to you.. but other than weather.  Family.. friends.. LA life.. food.. culture.  There is a reason why Texas is cheaper.  For me, an Asian, I would probably only move to Austin.  I've been to Plano many times.. just too boring.. flat.. and hot.

When push comes to shove and my only option to get a job is out state, I would have to get out of CA.  However, even then, I wouldn't move my family.  I'll probably commute weekends or every other week depends the distance and availability of flights.  I immigrated 30 yrs ago and I don't want to do it again.  Maybe for Caucasians, they can fit right in to any other states, but I stick out like a sore thumb and I wouldn't want my kids to go through that stuff if they don't have to.  Kids and teens are very rude and cruel, even more so now these days. 

Also houses we live in are important but do they make our lives that much better if we get to buy bigger houses for cheaper?  With extra money you save, maybe you get to do something, go somewhere, or buy more things, but these are all material things.  Also as some mentioned, extra energy cost, clothes, higher property tax, maintenance cost, vehicle replacement cost, and lower wages can eat up your saving versus living in So Cal...
 
irvinehomeowner said:
I don't even like to visit TX (which my relatives remind me about since I never went to see their ginormous home).

I think no one does (?)  I've never even been to Texas except their airport! But just a thought.
 
OC is at the low 4% as well. 

Yes Toyota is moving to Texas.. but there are companies that start up here and stay as well.  Texas is a good alternative if you are tired of the high taxed state of CA.. but.  it's like that for a reason.  Just sayin.
 
paperboyNC said:
You might be surprised but you can easily spend $500K on a house there that then has $10k/yr in property taxes and you'll drive more and want to spend more on vacations, etc. since you'll miss good weather and the ocean.

One thing I noticed on House Hunters is that shoppers in Texas, Minnesota, etc. often had a $600K budget whiles shoppers in LA, OC, San Diego often had $400K budgets.

Will you be happier in a $600K 6,000 sq ft house where you stay home all the time because the weather sucks or will you be happier in a 1,500 sq ft $400K home and spend most of your time at the park/beach/outdoor mall/etc?

I often think about moving since I'm from the East Coast but the reality is that I wouldn't feel as rich as it would seem on paper.

I agree.  Also if I'm not mistaken, I think there may be more rich folks living in CA, especially along the coast (OC included) then any mid west or southern states.  One may have better chance to become really rich in so cal and live in a mansion than people living in a mansion size house in TX "feeling" rich but not really rich...  Not sure whether I made sense on this post but it's really deep stuff, folks.
 
If companies are always moving to the midwest.. why do the red states always say , "DEY TOOK OUR JOBS!!!"  or is that just one south park?
 
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