Has anbody else from the Boston Area considered moving south?

[KungPoweChicken]

I considered going south because I really love the Piggly Wiggly.

[GreenEnvy]

I was thinking of moving to Boston for awhile, but the cost/weather factor isn't any better than where I am, NYC.

I would love to try somewhere like Seattle, but I don't think I can handle the time zone difference.

New York City isn't so bad.

[Gomesfan]

I am in the same boat as JSAAD.

for years and now I mention it to my wife but she doesn't want to move south. May be NC, but we have three kids and one in bound in October and all the Grand parents are here.

I would love to move to St. Augustine, FL, the OBX or even to Mooresvile NC just north of Charlotte.

Ideally I would go to St Augistine, it's very historic, nice winters , summer are not too hot and most importantly year around fishing!!!

[wasi]

Depends on where you move within the state to me. My older sister moved to NC to the Raleigh area and there's lots of jobs and a similar lifestyle. In my opinion in my time there the people are much nicer than the people here. The houses are much cheaper and there's a better job market there right now. By better job market I mean in terms of available jobs not necessarily pay. Although the hit to your pay in most jobs is very minor. My girlfriend and I plan to move there soon for the warmer winters. They still have seasons but much less snow!

[kevbo]

As someone who grew up in NC (Durham), lived in Boston for years after college (went to school in CT), then San Francisco, and has ended up back in Durham & Chapel Hill for graduate school, I can offer a decently informed perspective. As a city planning & real estate master's student, I'll spare y'all the macroeconomic housing market stuff, but simply put: housing costs are lower because land and labor are generally cheaper. Obviously, I'm leaving out a lot, but that's the essential part.  NC is projected to add 1.2 million people by 2019, so if the OP decided to move here, he wouldn't be alone...

My quick take:

Pros:

• Good climate if you can deal with summer humidity
  Beaches and Mountains within a 3 hour drive if you are in the center of the state (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill)
  Near US median home values, with lot of different types from historic to new construction
  A generally friendlier culture than MA at first

Cons:

• Can't say for certain as I don't yet have kids, but public schools (K-12) in NC can be extremely variable in quality and teachers are paid far less here than in MA
  Increasing environmental/air quality/traffic congestion problems as NC is predominately auto-centric
  Lower salaries can be a bit of shock if you aren't transferring a job down here
  YOU HAVE TO BUY LEAGUE PASS to watch the Celtics.

The last one is clearly a big problem for me. Also, people tend to look at you askew when you care about the NBA, unless you care specifically about college alums (ahem UNC, Duke, Wake Forest) who play in the NBA. I'm a diehard Carolina fan, but I probably follow the Celtics even more seriously than the Heels. Which a lot people don't quite get. So yeah, that's an adjustment.

[Yvette]

I'm considering moving to Shanghai..... Will miss Boston...

[Kwhit10]

Funny you made this thread as the wife and I were discussing this yesterday.  The two destinations talked about were Austin Texas and Research triangle area NC.

We'd love milder winters, and cheaper housing.  But the drawbacks is both our entire families are pretty much in Connecticut, and when we start a family the school aren't as good down there (private school not included).

It's a lot to think about.

[Chris]

My wife brings this up every time it snows.  My answer is always "find me a job, and I'll start packing".

[incoherent]

Isn't everyone in florida just a retired new englander?

[kevbo]

Funny you made this thread as the wife and I were discussing this yesterday.  The two destinations talked about were Austin Texas and Research triangle area NC.

We'd love milder winters, and cheaper housing.  But the drawbacks is both our entire families are pretty much in Connecticut, and when we start a family the school aren't as good down there (private school not included).

It's a lot to think about.

Hey KWhit, to allay your concerns somewhat, not ALL the schools are bad. You just have to choose carefully. My public high school in Durham was excellent at the time, while some of the other schools in the system were not. But you can get an excellent public school education if you move down here. Also, not sure where your family in CT is but Southwest flies to Bradley direct daily from RDU. The drive is doable, been doing it almost my entire life (my extended family lives in Hartford). But it has gotten longer as Virginia traffic has increased.  

[Kwhit10]

Funny you made this thread as the wife and I were discussing this yesterday.  The two destinations talked about were Austin Texas and Research triangle area NC.

We'd love milder winters, and cheaper housing.  But the drawbacks is both our entire families are pretty much in Connecticut, and when we start a family the school aren't as good down there (private school not included).

It's a lot to think about.

Hey KWhit, to allay your concerns somewhat, not ALL the schools are bad. You just have to choose carefully. My public high school in Durham was excellent at the time, while some of the other schools in the system were not. But you can get an excellent public school education if you move down here. Also, not sure where your family in CT is but Southwest flies to Bradley direct daily from RDU. The drive is doable, been doing it almost my entire life (my extended family lives in Hartford). But it has gotten longer as Virginia traffic has increased.  

Thanks for the reply.  Yea my family is like 2-3 miles from Bradley, didn't know they did dailies down there.  But when I finish grad school I'll probably be looking for some jobs in that area.

[jambr380]

My partner and I moved to Orlando two years ago. We weren't sure exactly what we were going to do, but gave up pretty good jobs and made a pretty hefty profit on our Cambridge condo. Since then, we have bought eight foreclosed condos (in very nice areas) and are living in one and renting out the others. Real estate seems to be the future for both of us and we even have the option to spend a couple of months in the summer up in New England.

Obviously this situation wouldn't work for everybody, but things are so darn cheap and if you are willing to do some of the work yourself, you can save a ton of money. With new construction on a medical center and companies moving south - nevermind the tourism thing, it really seems to be a pretty good market to get into.

If you love Disney/Universal, I guess it's just a plus.

[jsilva982]

I moved to DC for graduate school in 06 and its just about run its course.  It was fun for a while, and nice to get a way, but Boston's my home and I am trying to find a job up there and get back there when my lease is up in DC.  Easier said than done been trying this since before my latest lease.  It is tough to leave when you have a job and can't find one back at home!

[BringToughnessBack]

This post is definitely timely for me as well. Lately, my wife and I have been tinkering with relocation. I run my own business so we are free to move anywhere at the moment. We currently reside in Northern California in Wine Country(1 hour north of SF). The cost of living here though is extreme and when I look at prices of homes in places like Austin, TX, Portland, OR or NC or even the far suburbs of Boston, the prices seem so much cheaper. We own our house and will take a huge loss if we sell but with the prices in other areas, it all balances itself out. 300K-400K appears to get you a nice home in many of those other areas and here it will get you a tent with a generator!

Things I love about where I live are

1. Time Zone- All of the Celtic/Sox games go on at 4pm so with tivo, you are good to go watching games early. Even football on Sunday is at 10am so breakfast and football and still the rest of the day ahead of you. No staying up until 1230am to watch monday night football either.
2. Very Scenic with 25 minutes to the ocean, 3 hours to the mountains, 1 hour to SF. Wineries and amazing food places everywhere. Where every you point your car, you are good to go
3. 3 Big airports within 1.5 hours is decent
4. Did I mention the food in this area is amazing!

Things I am not crazy about.
1. Cost of living for us is crazy..way to high.
2. Cost to hire people is crazy high as well. As a result, we have never expanded like we would in a cheaper area.
My business would make the same money anywhere we live so I am definitely missing out on that benefit
3. The people are a bit strange and it is hard to make really close friends and by that I mean people who actually care about you, not what you can do for them. We have lived in both S. California and N. California and we find this to be a hard state to meet the right kinds of people. This has been a very dissappointing finding. We have had incidents where an emergency happened, we called our “friends” for help, and they would say stuff like, we are getting ready to eat dinner..sorry! Can you imagine?


My wife and I have lived in the suburbs of NYC(Westchester), she lived in Texas for a time but she is from Europe(she hated the heat of the summer and the people did not seem to welcoming to “outsiders” but this was Dallas/Fort Worth Area and she said there was no culture like North East) and have lived in California for almost ten years. At the end of the day, I think the people are very important to where you call home. I am not sure she would ever move back to TX though although we do hear great things about Austin. How do you survive summers where your ass gets burned sitting on your car seat due to the extreme heat?

Does anyone have experience with Austin Texas? If so, what was it like? Would you think it was good for an Online Marketing Business? What about the other areas that have been mentioned? anyone have experience with Portland? What about the towns 30-1 hour south of Boston? Are there any nice places there- It seems the prices are more reasonable down that way then I would have imagined but I guess coming from the suburbs of NYC, Santa Monica and now Wine Country, almost everywhere in the US seems more affordable to me.

I wonder if it is a sign of the times that so many of us are thinking of making big moves. It makes me think that we still have a very long way to go before we all get out of this bad economy.

[birdwatcher]

I lived in Sarasota, FL for a couple years--the rents are similar to Boston burbs/Portland, ME, and jobs were scare. It was right before Katrina, so things got even worse after. Food was cheaper, owning a car was cheaper, but Florida is so big you have to have a car and they have TERRIBLE public transportation. Sarasta is a great city, but you need a good job/money to really enjoy it.

I also have many friends from both Austin & San Antonio that all moved to the Northeast and haven't moved back. They all love Texas and are proud of where they're from, but the all say they only want to go back to visit. Most of them live in Maine.

The grass is always greener, dude. Every place has something to offer, but you are usually trading one thing for another. For instance, it may not seem like a big deal to you now, and maybe it won't be later, but having grown up with four definitive seasons makes a huge difference to some. Florida is hot, pretty hot, and sometimes miserable hot. The only seasons they have are summer and hurricane seasons. And not having snow at xmas and not being able to ski on a whim can be a bummer.