Has anbody else from the Boston Area considered moving south?

[Rondo2287]

Every time I watch house hunters on HGTV and see the housing prices down south and what you can get for your money it gets me thinking I want to move down there.  My Brother and his Wife just decided to move from Mass down to Austin Texas and are in the process of looking for jobs and a house and packing up up here.

Has anybody else considered this or done this?  I know that salaries and stuff are lower down there which is why the houses are cheaper but is there something that i am missing as to why more people havent done this already?

The tipping point for me is that we go to the outer banks every summer on vacation and I found a condo down there on the water for $130K.  You can't get a condo in the middle of nowhere massachusetts for that let alone on the cape.  Its just crazyness to me!

[35Lewis]

I moved to Texas for a little while.  My brother and his wife live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area so the housing prices are even better than Austin.

The main difference between Austin and a lot of other parts of Texas is its a little more trendy and it feels more like what you might be used to.  I've been to Austin on several occasions and absolutely love it. 

In Texas you will feel somewhat like an outsider in places like Dallas/Fort Worth but the people are friendly.  I didn't see a drastic drop off in pay but I'm an accountant and those jobs are fairly consistent everywhere. 

The overall cost of living isn't significantly cheaper but the housing cost is usually your greatest expense anyway.  My wife and I have discussed moving back to Texas recently because we now have 4 kids but ironically the 4 kids is what makes the move more difficult.

[Moranis]

I live in Ohio and I can assure you the cost of living is significantly less then Boston.  Weather isn't much better, but what can you do.

The reality is the N.E. (through D.C.), Florida, and California are just obscenely expensive to live, but pretty much anywhere else, not so much.

[Donoghus]

I moved to the midwest (Chicago) almost two years ago and I've certainly noticed a cost of living difference.  What I'm paying in rent right now wouldn't get me too far in downtown Boston but gets me a heckuva place out here.  

Although, they just raised the income tax in IL so that has put a bit of a damper on things but, all in all, I find everything to be quite reasonable out here (exception being gas).

[Rondo2287]

I guess my big question here is that I always thought that the reason costs were higher is because of the abundance of jobs and their pay rates.  Is this not the case?  have i had the wool over my eyes on this one?

[pearljammer10]

I would love to move West...Far far west, south doesnt interest me too much.

[indeedproceed]

I would love to move West...Far far west, south doesnt interest me too much.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVmq9dq6Nsg

[Silent Storm]

I live in North Carolina and the cost of living is far less than it is in the northeast. You can get the same house here for about one-third of the price. There's also a lot of economic growth and jobs becoming available due to large companies opening facilities here.

[35Lewis]

I guess my big question here is that I always thought that the reason costs were higher is because of the abundance of jobs and their pay rates.  Is this not the case?  have i had the wool over my eyes on this one?

i think Silent Storm answers this somewhat here.

I live in North Carolina and the cost of living is far less than it is in the northeast. You can get the same house here for about one-third of the price. There's also a lot of economic growth and jobs becoming available due to large companies opening facilities here.

The jobs are moving where it is cheaper.  My main corporation was based out of California but they are now moving to Dallas.  Some jobs might pay less but overall there isn't anything significant.  Unless you do something like construction and you move to Texas where day labor is cheap.  Most major cities pay close to the same.  You also have to consider that a lot of states don't have a state income tax and this means more money to you.  I know that Texas and Florida have no state income tax as well as several others.  4 states don't have sales tax if that is important to you but none are in the south.

[More Banners]

I've been in Texas for two years.  It sucks.  105 degrees in the summer.  No "seasons."  

The state seems to be ranked 47th in everything, yet Texans, for no apparent reason, are proud to be Texans.  

The culture is much different than New England, professing to value rugged individualism, but state gov't micromanages everything re: education, my profession, which seems to make problems worse.

Austin is cool/trendy/vibrant, but the influx of people moving to the area in recent years is driving up housing prices.  Still, there is plenty of area to build around the city, which is exactly what is happening.  Those new places aren't cheap, though, by local standards.

I'm moving back to NH next month and can't wait.

If someone were able to make Boston money and find a way to live cheaply for a couple of years, they could really set themselves up by spending that money in a more reasonable local economy.

[FLCeltsFan]

I love it here in the FL Panhandle.  The weather is great - we still have seasons and it does get a little cold in the winter and hot in the summer but no extremes and no snow.  We get hurricanes through here but Not so bad.  The cost of living and housing isn't too bad. All in all, not a bad place to live.  Oh, and no state tax. 

[Jon Niednagel]

Cost of living is going to be cheaper elsewhere than in Boston, but cost of living doesn't necessarily equate to quality of life. I love New England, so I'm going to wax prophetic for a minute about the area in general and not necessarily Boston. I grew up in Maine, but moved away after college. I have lived all over the country due to graduate school , various residencies, and jobs. I loved many of the places I lived (Vegas, Miami, etc.), but the longer I was away from Maine, the more apparent it became to me that Maine (and New England in general) is a special place culturally, historically, and geographically. I now have two young boys and it is important enough to me that they are raised in Maine that I requested a transfer from my job at the Memphis VA to Togus (VA outside of Augusta). We move next month and I couldn't be more excited even though the cost of living will increase.

[JSD]

Actually, I think about this just about everyday of my life. Unfortunately, the wife wants no part of it.

[Rondo9dunx]

my brother moves from MA to North Carolina and he hated it. Mainly because of the people.

[Rondo2287]

my brother moves from MA to North Carolina and he hated it. Mainly because of the people.

Thats funny, I havent spent a great deal of time down in the carolinas, but I found that as soon as you got into delaware from New Jersey and the rest of the way down people were much friendlier and more relaxed.