I've lived in So Cal (Escondido, San Diego), a few different places in Nebraska(Valentine, North Platte, Papillion), all around the Seattle area (Federal Way, Puyallup), and several places here in Oregon (Portland, Hillsboro, Oregon City). It all depends on what your priorities are. I couldn't afford a house in So Cal, and I got really tired 24 hour traffic jam, the crime, drought, and the poor job market....but the weather was great! Guy I work with just moved his family here from Marin County (San Francisco area) , and he says he's never going back. I thought the small towns in Nebraska were great for raising a family away from all the crap in the cities, but there were only so many double digit below zero days I could take. All my cars had heaters installed in the lower radiator hoses, and it's great if you don't like hills, large bodies of water, or trees. Seattle is beautiful, but very expensive. It also rains a lot, but that is most of the Pacific Northwest. It's also turned into one big city from Olympia to Everett, along with the traffic jams, and sky rocketing housing prices. I decided to stay in Oregon. I did live in Portland, but like Blackie says, there are some things that I couldn't live with that the Portland government officials do. I live about ten miles south of Portland, In another county. I'm an hour from Mt Hood, about two hours from the coast, three from Seattle, and six from the California border. You can basically drive 20-30 miles in almost any direction from Portland, and you'll be in the woods. There's also plenty of fishing and hunting here. There's a meth problem all over the west coast, Portland has been dealing with it for years. Compared to So Cal, the problem here is non-exsistent. There's no sales tax in Oregon, but there are property taxes. The taxes differ greatly from county to county. If you stay away from Multnomah county, you'll avoid a whole bunch of bullshit. There is DEQ testing on vehicles here, that also includes decibel testing. However, if your car was born before 1975, you're exempt from DEQ. Costs, on average, $75 to register your car here. More is you want different style plates. I have year of manufacture plates on my Ford, I paid a one time fee of $80. Technically I can only drive it to car shows and such, but there's always a show somewhere! Housing is getting expensive here. A lot of that is due to Portland putting growth boundry restrictions everywhere, and that drives up the housing costs as they try to cram as many people into as small a space as possible. As an example, when I moved from Portland, I sold a 950 sf house built in 1957, and bought a 2000 sf house built in 1997....my taxes only increased $500 once I got out of Multnomah county. Yes, it rains a lot. On average there's only a few days a year that go over 100, but there's also only a few days a year that go below freezing. Good schools where I live, most of the problem schools are in Portland. If you don't like any of them, lot of private schools, and charter schools around here. Most of the gang problems seems to be centered in Portland, but it's pretty minor compared to other parts of the country.
We moved from Sebring, FL to southern Illinois 3 years ago. I loved it there, but the wife wanted to be near her family. I still want to go back, but that ain't gona happen. Think about nothern CA. Lived in Santa Rosa area for 18 years and still think about it every day. It's beautiful up there.
i've lived a few places during my car life but for the most time (20+yrs) i've lived in NW Arkansas. in the city limits of fayetteville. i love it... 4 healthy seasons, tons of salvage yards, 15 minutes to beautiful wilderness and class 4 rivers, a tight and organized car association, a newly forming hotrod club to join the several other car and motorcycle clubs, a great biker event in the fall (bikes blues & bbq) 150,000 riders, 2 hrs from the hamb drags at mokan, centrally located in the u.s., surrounded by swapmeets and shows... now the down side... in the city all cars must be tagged and movable (on wheels) and in the country all cars not driveable must be screened from highway view. but the one over-riding cause for a problem is a unaccepting neighbor. if you keep your neighbors happy you will never have a problem from local governments... and keeping your neighbors happy by showing some respect is not a bad thing to do anyway. good to bad... to me the good is huge and i can deal with that little bit of bad.
The most exciting part of living in Podunk Nebraska is watching the corn grow. Shortly, I think I'll live in a motor home and just follow the sun. Don't like the neighbors or the view? (from the Wally World parking lot), then just fire it up and move on to where the next car show is.
I LOVE TEXAS! I will die in TEXAS. right now i'm in Houston, don't mind it, grown up here...but my goal is to move somewhere outside or around the Austin area! i love Autsin! great city.
I live in London, United Kingdom, its cool but not what I want. I want to move to SoCal, enjoying the weather and HotRoding. This is not easy to do but nothing is impossible
I have to agree with Scotty here. I live in South Texas,*corpus Christi* we love it, the beach the scenery is nice a small car culture etc. But job market sucks, I own a small construction company, and my wife is a Mortgage Loan officer. We make ok money and enjoy our life. We have a 1828 sq ft. house we bought for 65k 7 yrs ago and now in our neighborhood at going for 88k-93k. Still nice and quiet not many theft issues just rice burners who want to go 100mph down my street. We are getting ready tomove up to central Texas though, my wife had an Interview in San Antonio last week, and it looks good. She can tripple her income out there. We will not be living inside San Antonio though we have agreed to find some land outside there and commute if needed. Most of her work with the new job is done outside of the office, so she only needs to go there a few times or less a week. Its centrally located you have everything you can dream of here, and very few nazi's inthe outlaying areas.
I really like where I live, unfortunately, cars can only be done in the garage. We have acreage about 45 minutes away that I want to build on with my shop, but the wife would have about 65 minute commute to work instead of 35 now. I would quit and open my biz. That will happen in 2 years anyway after the daughter graduates unless we find some other property in this area where I can build my shop. My wife adores this area and doesn't want to cross the city. I always do and continue to recommend the Houston area. Everything you want and it's not New York or LA.
I LOVE where I live. The town, the street, the house....everything about it. My house is SMALL...I love it...it's perfect for me. its a cape cod that the attic has been converted to 2 bedrooms so i have 3 bedrooms total, 1 bath and a non-finished "cellar" its small like 1000 square feet i think. really really small. my garage is small too...but not "too small". but after I built it I love it. My street....is great....small, dead end street..all the houses are close together about a driveway apart....my driveway can fit a good 4 cars....2 cars cant pass on the street with cars parked..... my neighbors...are great...everyone on my street is great....not that they are white trash people who just dont give a shit about anything...no, they aren't ...just working class, most in suits too believe it or not....everyone keeps thier house clean, nice, etc. I respect my neighbors, they respect me....I can grind all day, ill stop at night or if the neighbors have company over....not that anyone everysaid anything, but just as well, they dont park in front of my house because they know i might need to unload a trailer or something...everyone is friendly....but not FAKE friendly....genuinly friendly... I mow my neighbors front lawn whenever i mow mine..hes older, wife died about 10 years ago...he wavs everytime he leaves and always asks how im doing....and MEANS it....he grows vegitables and I eat half of them.....my other neighbors, a mexican family, never hear a peep out of them unless its Hi or bye, OR its the world cup....they had a HUGE bbq and came over and invited me....my driveway is about 4 feet from thier BBQ...ya know what? I dont work on stuff when they have company over....they dont mind me listening to music grinding all day when they dont....(thier BBQ was kickass) my neighbor 2 houses down....hes always on his nice big deck....i can see him when I stand on my deck...he always wavs......he is always BBQing, smoking a "doobie" (yeah im sure thats what he calls it) or woodworking.....and can do so ALL day....without anyone bitching....but we also respect when people are having a BBQ or what have you.... my neighbor accross the street....shes a little crazy and seems to change guys like her underwear....but this new guy...since christmas I see him with at least 3 deer hanging in his back yard...and even though im not a hunter, and probably couldnt shoot anything that lived unless i way dying.....I love it....i love how he can do that, and invite everyone over for food.....he doesnt even know my name. everyone has kids...lots of them...my edge of my driveway is second base and is marked so with sidewalk chalk.....I love it....sometimes they even hit my house with the ball....i love that too...really....when I clean my gutters its like christmas to them....they play outside every chance they get....like KIDS.....i will park down the street not because im a prick about them playing in front of my house and dont want them to hit my car....nope...but because id rather them play baseball in front of my house! on forth of july...it was like a block party on my street...everyone was like family and we really dont even know each others name...the fireworks display rivaled the towns...I almost cried it was like a normal rockwell painting only better (because we had some minorities at least!) my town...is great....its infested with non-english speaking eastern european people who have been here since way before my parents were born....I love that.... we have lots of mexican and portugese.... our main street LOOKS like a main street..its great...everything you can ever want, even i think an appliance store with tv's in the window, barber shop, bank, police dept. (right on main street) drug store, hardware store, cigar/magazine shop, and EVERY ETHNIC RESTURANT YOU CAN ASK FOR! the cops...well they suck, but i can somewhat deal with it..its a small town and expected. I am approx. 40 minutes from NYC and Philly and even closer to the beach. 5 minutes to new brunswick which believe it or not...is great. my taxes are LOW ....as in 2,600 which for living where I do....is LOW....and my school system even though im 24, and dont have kids....is an EXCELLENT school system and if they raised my taxes even 1000 and said it was for the schools id gladly pay for it..... sure, we are the red headed step child to some surrounding towns with 12-20k a year taxes...and im fine with that. my town is safe, as in i would never have to lock my car doors. I am genuinly VERY happy with the house I bought, in the exact location where im at......there is NOTHING i would chance at all except the weather.
I was born and raised in the SF Bay Area. People say too expensive to live here. I am used to it so I don't notice it. I live in San Jose. Two weekends ago, in the middle of winter, I took my Caddy to Longs Drug Store, the Dry Cleaner and to the Bank. I saw a 40s custom, 69 Camaro and lowrider. What could be better. Pleasanton - 45min away PASO - 2.5 hours away Billetproof - 1.5 hours away Local shops - Willies Place, Gambino Kustoms Too much to list but this is the best area to live if you are into cars Brian
He nailed that one on the head! Whenever I look at other real estate markets, it strikes me that I could live in mansion in most areas for the same amount of money (and TAXES!!!) that I spend on my 1400 sq-ft bungalow. On top of that, Jersey has to have the showiest and shallowest people out there. North Jersey is a lot worse for that than South, but I happen to live in Camden County, which is probably the worst part of South Jersey in terms of decked out hoochies driving thier financed SUV's to the mall. In short, if you like paying property taxes, high mortgages, middle class white trash living on credit, malls, SUVs, and pollution, consider New Jersey. On the flipside, we do have a hot job market if you're into peddling drugs (the prescription kind). Did I mention the population density? It's dense.
Kansas or Missouri. BTW, Kansas doesn't even have auto inspections. They just check the VIN and title and if you got insurance, you got a tag.
It was -30 degrees celcius when I left for work this morning.....Although I hate the cold I wouldn,t have it any other way.My neighbours don,t say a word about the cars in my yard,my closest neighbour lets my parties spill into his backyard, I plow the driveways and they are gratefull,they don,t mind the stereo full throttle. Although I wish I had more room for my cars I don,t plan on moving.Actually I plan on dying here in this town.......
i agree skip, im still waiting to move in! i'm from pennsylvania and i hated it there. close minded people for the most part just set in thier ways. i'm here in california for now and i dont mind it too much. my neighbors dont speak english, and i dont speak spanish so theres no bad blood between us! i have met alot of good guys out here, and had experiences i wouldnt trade for the world. oh, and cars dont rust!!!!.... (that alone is enough for me!)
I live in a small town south of indy. Nice town, good people, lots of car stuff going on. Great place for the kids. I love it here.
word. agreed w/the original post about growth wherever it is you live. im from austin and its grown tremendously. i love being close enough to town but have grown tired of the increasing traffic, development, gentrification of the traditionally etnic neighborhoods and skyrocketting home prices (did i mention the exodus of transplants?). moved just outside austin to lockhart, tx and love it. 'lil farther drive into work (still work in austin) but well worth it. true...smalltown tx people still mind their business and generally respect their neighbors. no progressive, hippy agenda's or panhandlers on every corner, either. ...did i mention the Lonestar Roundup is here, too?
wow, guess Im the complete opposite of the rest of the jersey guys.....sure things are a little expensive...but the Job market is great too. My mortgage is reasonible, and my taxes are low..and I GET what I pay for and more in my town.....I see where my taxes are going and dont mind paying....id pay more if they asked. weird...... different strokes I guess...
Here is a funny rant I always dig....except I wish the NJDMV would blow up.....and take out great adventure with it........... I would try not to make a baseless blanket statement and designate myself as spokesman for this issue, but I need to for dire reasons. Pay attention: Every New Jersey native is sick and tired of getting ridiculed by the rest of Loyola because we are "from New Jersey? What exit?" Exit 8A off I-95 and damn proud of it, so shut your hole and go back to being bitter. Not one day of college has passed that has been free of New Jersey jokes methodically hurled toward me from every direction by ignorant, other-state naysayers, and it is about time I took a public stand. If you can still rag on us Jerseyites after reading this article, more power to you. But I just want to let you know one thing: You are wrong and we are not listening. Why not start with the blasphemous fluff that most of us just tune out? People who do not live in Jersey will approach me with a single 'bust,' if you will, to start things off. "New Jersey is dirty." Gee, that is deep. I guess these are the people who consider all of Jersey to be four smoke stacks in Newark, the Turnpike and the set of "The Sopranos". Hey geniuses, there is more of New Jersey than you think. I would be willing to bet these are the same people who glance wide-eyed out of plane windows on transatlantic flights when the pilot announces, "We are now passing over the equator." New Jersey does have a few "dirty" parts in its urban areas. But so does every other state, so show me the difference. Oh, I found it - people in N.J. figured out how to make the best use of a small area. Wonder why New York state looks cleaner? Well, there is simply more mileage between the "dirty" parts. I'm sure New York would be beautiful if you squeezed everything into say, a tenth of the land area. Believe me, I've seen enough of New York to be sure that this idea holds water. I chuckle whenever I hear someone attempt to support the myth of New Jersey's inferiority with reasons glorifying other states. One of my friends (after chanting "New Jersey is dirty") asked me, "What does New Jersey have besides crap?" I told him our beaches are awesome, and he laughed at me, stating that the N.J. shore is full of garbage. This certain friend is from Illinois. Yes, Illinois. Half the population of Illinois will never see a beach except for, as I was told, the gorgeous beaches of Lake Michigan. Let's get something straight: Lake Michigan is not an ocean. It is a pathetic baby pool for Cubs fans. People from Illinois defending Lake Michigan are like people from Manitoba defending the Hudson Bay. In New Jersey, we have oceanfront property that gives Pennsylvanians something to do over the summer besides visit the Amish. On the way to the shore, they can enjoy a stop at the highest-rated Great Adventure in the country - but I forgot, if it is 'good,' then it can't really be in Jersey. Other states are associated with nothing but their largest city, but there's something special about every corner of New Jersey. That is why we say we're from "Jersey," unlike those faceless souls who boast being from "the Boston area." Jerseyites, here is the rest of your ammo. Everyone else, try to compete. N.J. is the headquarters for the Sarnoff Company (they invented the color TV). It is the richest state in the nation, with an average income per household at $54,266 per year. We have the cheapest gas and it is always full service. The Jets and the Giants play home games in N.J. Bon Jovi, The Boss, Jack Nickolson, Danny Devito, Woodrow Wilson and Jay and Silent Bob are all from N.J. Princeton University is one of the best colleges in the country overall (I hear their lacrosse team is pretty good, too). N.J. residents are only an hour from NYC and 45 minutes from Philadelphia without the punishment of actually living in either place. Thomas Edison invented the light bulb in N.J. Jersey is the only state that allows you to tan at the beach, ski and go camping all in the same season. If you are from N.J., post this on your wall and refer to it every time someone tries to knock the place you call home. If you are not from N.J., you probably have trouble reading in the first place. So go back to unscrewing your own gas caps in the pouring rain and let us sit in our cars in peace.
Not to quote stupid Bumper Stickers...but my favorite local one is... "On Earth..as it is in Austin." I love it here. it's just a damn good time, all the time. Good people, stuff to do year round (I actually went to a movie premier last week. a bit "hoity toity" for me, but hey, better than Re-Runs.) the car scene is small, but centered, and a workin stiff (such as myself) can become gainfully employed at anything you want to do...I don't know anyone that took a job, just because it's a job. I know more people here with "careeres" rather than "jobs" than anywhere else. it's just a kick ass place to live.
and another 8 from San Diego....your point? I've lived in this area on and off for 20 years, I think I know where northern California is. http://www.aaccessmaps.com/show/map/californianorth
I love where I live. Round Rock, suburb of Austin, suits us just fine. Our house (tan one on the right) would sell for 800k back in Orange County given the size of the house and land. Born in Arcadia, CA, raised in San Marino/Pasadena and Orange County. Sure I miss it, but realize those places are not the same as I remember it and now I need to move on and make new memories with my kids right here. Austin is home now and will be for a long time.-
Quote: Originally Posted by cwatson1953 I LOVE TEXAS! I will die in TEXAS. Me too....I have a 107 acre farm and the population of the nearest "big" town is about 1200. About mid way between DFW and Austin so I am close as I want to be to a bigger city. Plus I have room for a few parts cars. No smog alerts, no traffic jams, and you can make all the noise you want without anyone complaining.
First off, I'm new to the board and I figure I'd start off slow. haha. I grew up in South Florida and I hate everything about it. But like everyone says, the grass is always greener. I moved to NJ where my hubby was raised but now, after living here for 5 years, we're more than likely moving to Texas. I want some land and you just can't get it in NJ. Bonus that my family moved to Texas last year
yeah but you can't get Pork Roll in Texas and for you guys who don't know what pork roll is....well.....
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