If you're moving out of the DMV area because of the HCOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Moving to upstate NY. Keeping my remote job, spouse will have to look for something new. House price much lower than here but high property taxes,

Enjoy six months of winter. I'm from there and absolutely refuse to live there year-round.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are moving in the next few months to the Chapel Hill/Durham area.

HHI $230,000, we're taking our jobs with us (i.e. they will be remote). We own a condo here, but even with an almost $200,000 down payment we feel priced out of real estate around here and don't want to end up in a far out suburb. We are definitely conservative in terms of not wanting to be house-poor, so don't want to take on a huge mortgage that something good around here would require (and by good, I mean an old house that probably needs tons of updates).

I'll miss living in DC for sure, but, we need a bit more space.

We moved to Chapel Hill several years ago. Housing is definitely cheaper, although going up like everywhere else. Chapel Hill real estate taxes are high, so keep an eye on that.

Pros: are no waiting lists for swimming pools, Driving is a breeze! You do not have to plan your life around traffic. Winters are milder. Great healthcare and short waits in doctors' offices. Shopping center parking lots aren't full. It is much more relaxed and easy living. People do not ask you what you do for a living, and rarely brag about what they do. Other than housing, most costs are about the same.

Cons: Durham and Raleigh are not the most exciting cities. You have to drive everywhere, so no traffic but you spend a lot of time in your car. Once you get outside the Triangle, it gets rural quickly, which is pretty but much more conservative there, politically.

Overall, it's an easy place to live but you might want a big city fix every once in awhile.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People aren't going to tell you *exactly* where they are moving. Why? Because plenty of people on this forum are snobs and will try to rip any place listed to shred. I *love* my home (i.e. the LCOL I left the DMV for) and I don't want to see it criticized by the angry, bitter people who think the DMV, New York and San Francisco are the only place to live. I will NEVER mention it by name on this forum. And, yes, my home has
1. Great school district (highly rated by all objective measures).
2. LCOL
3. Better traffic.
4. Better weather.
5. I make significantly more here than I did in the DMV.
6. Laid back attitude

These places are out there. You just have to look. Some people will never "see" them because they only want to live in places considered desirable by their social circle.

Don’t lie that is the reason you don’t want to share, it may help someone but then your secret is out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People aren't going to tell you *exactly* where they are moving. Why? Because plenty of people on this forum are snobs and will try to rip any place listed to shred. I *love* my home (i.e. the LCOL I left the DMV for) and I don't want to see it criticized by the angry, bitter people who think the DMV, New York and San Francisco are the only place to live. I will NEVER mention it by name on this forum. And, yes, my home has
1. Great school district (highly rated by all objective measures).
2. LCOL
3. Better traffic.
4. Better weather.
5. I make significantly more here than I did in the DMV.
6. Laid back attitude

These places are out there. You just have to look. Some people will never "see" them because they only want to live in places considered desirable by their social circle.

Don’t lie that is the reason you don’t want to share, it may help someone but then your secret is out.

My guess is it’s Charleston, SC. Let’s all guess!

[Anonymous]

Delaware, Maryland and Virginia are listed as the three most affordable places in United States for working people to buy a home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a person of color, I always get envious of this thread, I don't feel like I can just take my kids and move to a random non diverse city. It is privilege no having to think about how your kids or family will fit in. Enjoy

Very few cities (especially on the coasts) are non-diverse. Suburbs and rural areas? Yes.

PP here. That is exactly my point, the cities are probably going to have HCOL. Most people on this thread are not moving to big city. I am in IT and considered moving to Austin because I was told it is diverse but I visited and didn't see lot of people like me.

I never understand the hype about Austin. I lived there for years and it has always been white dudes who think really highly of themselves with the same skill set. Not a lot of diversity at all whether it be ethnic makeup, industry, rec activities or thought. I tell people all the time that if you're moving to Texas, you should go to Houston. Every minority group is well represented there and the economy is more diverse. Arts are better and people considerably less pretentious.

Hmmm. I live in Austin. My family is multi-racial. If I look around at the houses I can see from my house, there are 3 same gendered couples, two immigrant families, 2 Black families, and my kids' neighborhood school, which is 3 blocks away, is 40% White. So, I think it depends, like in every city, where you go within a city itself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We moved from the DC area to Austin. Kept the same salaries, and kept our DC-based jobs. Daycare is half the cost. We have a great 2400 sq foot house for 380k (bought before the current boom) with 1/3 acre and great schools within walking distance. No waitlist for daycare, no waitlist for aftercare, no waitlist for summer camp. I can avoid the traffic bc everything I need is nearby. Awesome hiking. There are disadvantages to living in TX for sure, but we don't regret moving for a second (other than leaving friends behind).

Where in ATX did you buy a house for $380K? And are the schools actually walkable? I find that my TX friends/family living within walking distance to school but don't actually walk because no sidewalks or walking culture.

Austin person here. We bought the house 3 years ago, so now it is valued at about 580 because of the crazy increase. But, I assure you, all 3 schools are walkable, and there are no buses for these schools for us because we are under a mile from each of them. Kids are walking/biking every morning to get to whichever school they are trying to get to. This is NW Austin, so about 20 min from the city center.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People aren't going to tell you *exactly* where they are moving. Why? Because plenty of people on this forum are snobs and will try to rip any place listed to shred. I *love* my home (i.e. the LCOL I left the DMV for) and I don't want to see it criticized by the angry, bitter people who think the DMV, New York and San Francisco are the only place to live. I will NEVER mention it by name on this forum. And, yes, my home has
1. Great school district (highly rated by all objective measures).
2. LCOL
3. Better traffic.
4. Better weather.
5. I make significantly more here than I did in the DMV.
6. Laid back attitude

These places are out there. You just have to look. Some people will never "see" them because they only want to live in places considered desirable by their social circle.

Don’t lie that is the reason you don’t want to share, it may help someone but then your secret is out.

There is no secret. The place I live is on multiple well-known "best places to live" and "most affordable places to live" lists. The info is out there for people who are looking for it.

[Anonymous]

I’m from the Midwest and would love to go back — the city is fairly liberal, but the state is getting redder and redder. It gives me pause to live in a very red state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We moved from the DC area to Austin. Kept the same salaries, and kept our DC-based jobs. Daycare is half the cost. We have a great 2400 sq foot house for 380k (bought before the current boom) with 1/3 acre and great schools within walking distance. No waitlist for daycare, no waitlist for aftercare, no waitlist for summer camp. I can avoid the traffic bc everything I need is nearby. Awesome hiking. There are disadvantages to living in TX for sure, but we don't regret moving for a second (other than leaving friends behind).

Where in Austin did you move for 2400 feet and 380k? That sounds like a way out suburb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People aren't going to tell you *exactly* where they are moving. Why? Because plenty of people on this forum are snobs and will try to rip any place listed to shred. I *love* my home (i.e. the LCOL I left the DMV for) and I don't want to see it criticized by the angry, bitter people who think the DMV, New York and San Francisco are the only place to live. I will NEVER mention it by name on this forum. And, yes, my home has
1. Great school district (highly rated by all objective measures).
2. LCOL
3. Better traffic.
4. Better weather.
5. I make significantly more here than I did in the DMV.
6. Laid back attitude

These places are out there. You just have to look. Some people will never "see" them because they only want to live in places considered desirable by their social circle.

**quietly agreeing**

The herd mentality is strong. The only places that aren’t trashed (and even then, they are by some) are the places that have already been deemed “acceptable,” like Austin, and those places have already been ruined by an influx of people from the coasts.

I won’t post where we moved because one of two things would happen (1) people on here would trash it and explain the myriad ways I really don’t love living here or (2) I would actually convince people that it’s awesome, and we would be overrun, even more so than we are already.

FWiW, our house wasn’t cheaper than our house in DC, it it is bigger, has a water view, and nicer in every way. Everything here is so much less stressful. Everything — from kids stuff (schools, car pool, summer camp, etc) to little things like going to the grocery store.

You two win least helpful comments in response to the OP. "I moved but won't tell you where because DCUM isn't nice, even though I still read and post here on my own volition in spite of not residing in the area anymore. The end."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We moved from the DC area to Austin. Kept the same salaries, and kept our DC-based jobs. Daycare is half the cost. We have a great 2400 sq foot house for 380k (bought before the current boom) with 1/3 acre and great schools within walking distance. No waitlist for daycare, no waitlist for aftercare, no waitlist for summer camp. I can avoid the traffic bc everything I need is nearby. Awesome hiking. There are disadvantages to living in TX for sure, but we don't regret moving for a second (other than leaving friends behind).

Where in ATX did you buy a house for $380K? And are the schools actually walkable? I find that my TX friends/family living within walking distance to school but don't actually walk because no sidewalks or walking culture.

Austin person here. We bought the house 3 years ago, so now it is valued at about 580 because of the crazy increase. But, I assure you, all 3 schools are walkable, and there are no buses for these schools for us because we are under a mile from each of them. Kids are walking/biking every morning to get to whichever school they are trying to get to. This is NW Austin, so about 20 min from the city center.

When you say "NW Austin" you definitely mean Cedar Park, which is not 20 minutes from downtown in any normal amount of traffic. 580K in NW Hills now gets you a 1900 square foot townhouse: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8114-Middle-Ct-Austin-TX-78759/29430642_zpid/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're moving to Montana, but it's not cheaper because the land is crazy expensive. So it is cheaper, but you can't find much for where we are looking for under 1M. We are headed out there doe a better quality of life. The things to do there are more like line with out lifestyle than what's available in the DC metro area.

No change in income.

It just snowed in Bozeman this morning.

So many are flooding to Montana right now escaping California, NYC and other coastal cities and causing a horrible affordable housing crunch for locals who are completely priced out of the market. It is terrible. This winter was a milder Montana winter than usual. I wonder if folks will be able to handle it next year if there is a typical winter with 30 day periods with temps of -20. It gets entirely too cold to do any of the outdoors activities and everyone is just stuck inside.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People aren't going to tell you *exactly* where they are moving. Why? Because plenty of people on this forum are snobs and will try to rip any place listed to shred. I *love* my home (i.e. the LCOL I left the DMV for) and I don't want to see it criticized by the angry, bitter people who think the DMV, New York and San Francisco are the only place to live. I will NEVER mention it by name on this forum. And, yes, my home has
1. Great school district (highly rated by all objective measures).
2. LCOL
3. Better traffic.
4. Better weather.
5. I make significantly more here than I did in the DMV.
6. Laid back attitude

These places are out there. You just have to look. Some people will never "see" them because they only want to live in places considered desirable by their social circle.

Don’t lie that is the reason you don’t want to share, it may help someone but then your secret is out.

There is no secret. The place I live is on multiple well-known "best places to live" and "most affordable places to live" lists. The info is out there for people who are looking for it.

THat sounds like Hampton Roads.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We moved from the DC area to Austin. Kept the same salaries, and kept our DC-based jobs. Daycare is half the cost. We have a great 2400 sq foot house for 380k (bought before the current boom) with 1/3 acre and great schools within walking distance. No waitlist for daycare, no waitlist for aftercare, no waitlist for summer camp. I can avoid the traffic bc everything I need is nearby. Awesome hiking. There are disadvantages to living in TX for sure, but we don't regret moving for a second (other than leaving friends behind).

Where in ATX did you buy a house for $380K? And are the schools actually walkable? I find that my TX friends/family living within walking distance to school but don't actually walk because no sidewalks or walking culture.

Austin person here. We bought the house 3 years ago, so now it is valued at about 580 because of the crazy increase. But, I assure you, all 3 schools are walkable, and there are no buses for these schools for us because we are under a mile from each of them. Kids are walking/biking every morning to get to whichever school they are trying to get to. This is NW Austin, so about 20 min from the city center.

When you say "NW Austin" you definitely mean Cedar Park, which is not 20 minutes from downtown in any normal amount of traffic. 580K in NW Hills now gets you a 1900 square foot townhouse: https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/8114-Middle-Ct-Austin-TX-78759/29430642_zpid/


Sure. Let me just provide you my address here to prove that I'm not making things up. ?