Folks Of Interest Old car friendly places to move to?

Funny you should mention that area this house is one of the things that inspired my thoughts on a move.... It's long gone now ... I suspect it was a good buy for there also but, it was built in 2003 and was on almost 6 acres ... For less than I will walk away in equity from my place here! On craigslist machisnist jobs in the area paid 15-25 an hour... I could have a place paid for and make close to same money as here!...Not to shabby I thought

I lived in NorCal for awhile too.. Cost of living is waaay high there...BUT it does seem wages are a little more cost of living based.... I appreciate your advice and will strongly consider that also

 

The Upstate of South Carolina is a good area,a lot of automotive industry jobs,Michelin Tire,BMW,Bosch and many parts manufacturers.

Cost of living isn't bad and the upstate is 2 hours from Atlanta,Ga,2 hours from Charlotte.N.C. and 3 hours to the coast.

If you enjoy fishing or boating the are several huge lakes in the area,Hartwell Lake,Lake Russel and Lake Keowee.

BTW,there is a lot of hot rod oriented activities,cruise in's and shows in and around South Carolina.

Brad's monthly Swap Meet in Georgia and of course the All Deuce Run. HRP

 

I don't know, it's a tough decision. From experience, I can say this, I lived in the San Diego area for one short year. I worked at a hot rod shop, and the wages were good. I did most of the So. Cal car things I could, not all. Circumstances beyond my control brought me back to Idaho. Idaho is a great place, but my 37 has been parked in the garage for four months now....I miss California every day.

 

Missouri is far enough south that we get all four seasons but having grown up hundreds of miles north of here I don't think it's even worth complaining. Though I'm sure Facebook would tell you that I still do

Car events run about 1-3 a day for the better part of 6 months of the year, traffic only sucks during rush hours and it can be easily avoided. Just paid 1.56 for premium gas. Lots of small business's and people working with there hands. Lots of good food, and it takes about the same amount of cash and time to get from here to about anywhere lol.

 

You know what really resonated with me ? .... Quain 's moonlighter thread and how all of you came together on that deal... that was really a special thing , I shed a tear or two on that thread... That's the type of people I want to know , its mostly dog eat dog in calif , few exceptions ....but not many

 

Quote " Lots of small business's and people working with there hands. Lots of good food, and it takes about the same amount of cashand time to get from here to aboutanywhere lol." Quote

I like this

 

You shouldn't have too much trouble with that. There are places here you could make make that and if you're willing to scale your debt back a bit, you'd be fine. I'd bet you could probably buy a comparable house here for less than 250. Check Zillow, you can shop anywhere in the country to find an area's market.

 

And don't forget Steel in Motion!!

 

Wherever you look at there are trade offs- I moved from Puyallup WA to St Paul MN in 83 to finish electronics school- ended up staying- there was more opportunity, I was trading rain for snow. But That was Me. Maybe find the job then that will direct you to the place.

 

Take a look at Huntsville, Alabama. It's in north Alabama close to TN border (in fact you could live in TN and commute to work). Plenty of employment opportunities and hotrod activities. Cost of living is low, better then average wages, real estate cheap, etc.

 

X2... I moved here from San Diego County in 1998. The smog tests back there were a giant PITA but there are none here. Antique car plates are really cheap and never expire. Sales tax is 6% here. Corvettes are built here as are Ford Escapes, Super Duty (F250 and bigger) trucks and also the Toyota Camry. UPS is based in Louisville and employs over 15,000 people. You can buy a nice home in a good neighborhood on an acre of land for $150k or less. We get a little snow here in the winter but so does Mount Laguna. There is no big push here to make everything bi-lingual. Abe Lincoln was born here. So was George Clooney. Think about it....

 

You might want to look into NW Arkansas. Centrally located, reasonable cost of living, mild winters, and lots of car stuff of all kinds going on . I'm in Fayetteville, and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. Plus, the University is here, so there are thousands of eligible co-eds looking for something to do. (You, maybe? ) Plenty of money in the area, Wal-Mart, Tyson, JB Hunt, and it all trickles down.

 

[QUOTE="there are thousands of eligible co-eds looking for something to do. ([/QUOTE]

 

I'm right on the NC and SC line. It a pretty good place to live but not much work around my area. But like some have said 45 minutes from me in the Greenville SC area there is a lot going on. About an hour and 1/2 from me is Moorsville NC that's where all of the hot rod shops are. Don't forget right here with in an hour drive, the Steel in Motion and the Southeast Gassers.

 

You live 7 miles inland from the So. Cal. coast with a big garage and you're still not happy?

Joking aside, I get it. Lived in So. Cal. most my life and unless you don't have to work 6 days a week and deal with the rat race almost everyday you rarely have time to enjoy it. The road rage there was getting really bad to along with many other things that I won't get into. The weather there though, (even though unusual all along the west coast for the last couple of years) still is tough to beat.

I'll be watching this thread closely. Moved to Oregon a couple of years ago and while it has some upsides, the weather, moss growing everywhere, undesirable transplants moving here is getting to me. I miss the warm, dry southwest air. Was thinking of Vegas, somewhere in AZ. or Austin, although Austin would put me even further from family and they still get rain and gloom there to, just not as much of the west side of the Cascades.

I get that there is no "paradise" it's what fits you best.

Good luck with whatever you do.

 

Prescott AZ. Great people and lots of hot rods, lots of 32 Fords. I would move there, But my wife won't leave the grandkids.

 

I love it here in Long Beach. Homes are still relatively affordable, and there is a lot of manufacturing jobs around with the close proximity to the ports and industrial areas. Tons of old cars. I understand the wanting to move, just my .02

 

Thanks Quain , SouthCarolina could get expensive for me , cause I'd have to build a gasser!

Don't get too excited its on the boarder of oceanside/vista area ... Neighborhood is decent ... But the ghetto bird flies overhead fairly frequent

For you if Las Vegas were on my radar as a possibility I would look into St. George ...couple hours up the 15 Very pretty area with mild seasons , I may consider it also

 

From what I remember Carlsbad was pretty nice, however everything you're mentioning is most likely only going to get worse and flow into surrounding areas.

Yes that area of Utah you mentioned definitely has better scenery than Vegas, however, I'm nowhere near retiring yet, so I would imagine Vegas has a little more work opportunity for me and car culture.

 

Yeah Carlsbad is very upscale houses there are 2-3x what they are here.. No ghetto bird and se habla English

Driving to California when I was a kid in the 80s St. George was a little burg... You wouldn't believe it now... It's huge .. There has to be quite a bit of employment there now I would think... I have heard that Utah is a little standoffish to outsiders though

 

Lol @ "se habla English".

As far as standoffish, I doubt it's worse than Oregonians against California transplants (even though a good majority of Oregon transplants are from California, hypocrites), but I haven't lived in Utah,so I wouldn't know for sure. It seems most natives from other states seem to blindly hate all Californians.


^ Talk about passive aggressive.



In recent years, more blunt,literally.

 

It gets a bit cold in the winter and hot in the summer but the Tri city area of Washington = Richland, Pasco, Kennewick sits on the Columbia River and is has a big old car vibe going on along with Machine work ranging from job shops that make pieces for or repair farm equipment up to exacting precision nuclear work for Hanford. Housing costs cover the spectrum depending on where you pick and how willing you are willing to drive a few miles to get to work.

 

STAY OUT OF JERSEY!!!!!!! We got Christy

 

I don't really know what to tell you as far as location to go to, but I can tell you that me and my family are in a similar boat. We make decent money, but with two kids and a third on the way, CA quickly loses its appeal. Yeah I love the sun and beaches, hot rod scene...blah blah blah. But, with the massive expenses, no hope of owning a home unless there's an economic crash (and who wants to be here when EBT cards run dry?), and increasing crime...how does that really play out in the long run? I will surely miss a lot of things here, but my kids growing up in the America I want them to be steeped in matters a hell of a lot more. We will be moving to TN and building in the area that my family has lived in for over 200 years!

 

Check out cnnmoneys "relocation calculator". It compares $ cost of living state to state. You don't want to come to jersey -everybody is leaving for s.c. and n.c. and it not because of Christy.

 

Mooresville NC does have a lot of automotive related industry. It is convenient to Charlotte. There is a local 1/8 mile dragstrip and Z-Max is close, although they only have test and tunes except for their big events. Rockingham is only 1-1/2 hours away too.

TN has no state income tax and neither does FL. That is something to consider too.

 

Wow .... you can buy three of my houses for 350k. I live in Allen, Texas just north of Dallas. 2.5 attached garage with a one unattached car garage in the back yard, 3/2 1650 sqft half brick 1981 era house ... good for a single guy ... down the street there is a 6 acre spot with a barrel shaped metal horse barn, older one story clap board 2/1 40's era house, and a 4/3 two car garage brick ranch 80's era house ... all on the same piece of property for 210,000.

Hot rod stuff all over the metroplex ..... chicks, I'll just say that is not an issue here ... may as well be California. A bunch of acre'd shop styled pieces of property here ... just like the rest of the midwest I guess. For 350k maybe you can buy one with oil wells, big tits, and cattle already on it.

 

Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina.......

 

Was just in Mooresville for Detroit speed open house during good guys charlotte-what a nice area.

 

We have beach house in the Florida Pan Handle which has some of the nicest beaches in the US, great fishing and sea food. Very Conservative, lots of military retirees, no state income tax but Car Scene almost non existent. Kentucky's the car scene place.