In reply to spitfirebill :
???
In reply to spitfirebill :
???
Yes, that is something we have considered. We aren't really fans of the overall politics of Oklahoma and I'll leave it at that for the thread.
I live in a small hip town. 10/10 would approve.
However, about 20% of our population is seasonal due to an overly huge college. This puts undue stress on the housing market, making getting a house your happy with an expensive proposition? Big garage? Some privacy? Pay up.
Santa Fe and Flagstaff are like sister cities but Santa Fe lacks the huge college. It is far more affordable and "stable", which many of the same attributes. If I could take my job to any small town in the Southwest, it'd be Santa Fe, Durango, Reno, maybe Palm Springs.
I think Chattanooga would be a sweet place to live. Great internet, great location, no huge college, mountains and rivers.
If I didn't have family connections to the east coast, I'd be looking at Northern California or the Inland Empire, Southern Oregon, Coastal Oregon or Puerto Rico.
pheller said:I live in a small hip town. 10/10 would approve.
However, about 20% of our population is seasonal due to an overly huge college. This puts undue stress on the housing market, making getting a house your happy with an expensive proposition? Big garage? Some privacy? Pay up.
Santa Fe and Flagstaff are like sister cities but Santa Fe lacks the huge college. It is far more affordable and "stable", which many of the same attributes. If I could take my job to any small town in the Southwest, it'd be Santa Fe, Durango, Reno, maybe Palm Springs.
I think Chattanooga would be a sweet place to live. Great internet, great location, no huge college, mountains and rivers.
If I didn't have family connections to the east coast, I'd be looking at Northern California or the Inland Empire, Southern Oregon, Coastal Oregon or Puerto Rico.
Are you saying Flagstaff is more expensive than Santa Fe?
That seems shocking considering like a 1 acre plot that isn't in the middle of nowhere goes for $300k. Or an old dilapted home that needs to be completed restored, etc.
Yes.
Considerably. EDIT ok actually they are similar but I still think Santa Fe is a better value for housing (and only 50 minutes from Albuquerque meaning it doesn't feel quite as isolated).
Average home price for Flagstaff was $372,000 last year. 1-bedroom apartments routinely sell for over $100k. An acre of undeveloped land within city limits, unless on the east side of town, will likely cost you between $100k-$200k.
The biggest difference is that $300k will buy you a house in downtown Santa Fe. In a "good part" of town. We also feel that the housing stock of Santa Fe is by-and-large superior to that of Flagstaff. That $300k in Santa Fe is a nicer neighborhood, with a nice little backyard and a decent sized home.
In Flagstaff proper, $300k likely has some crappy neighbors, a smaller plot, or is outside of town.
yupididit said:frenchyd said:yupididit said:In reply to z31maniac :
Yeah property tax is a decent expense here but like I said I don't think it's out of hand given no state income tax. The last two states I've lived in were California and Virginia, so Texas feels under taxed compared to them lol
Everybody seems to get taxes wrong. Income is much more important than taxes. In fact the states with the lowest taxes tend to also have the lowest income. While states with the highest taxes also have the highest income.
I’ll take $120,000 a year income in Connecticut and gladly pay their higher tax’s compared to the $38,000 in Mississippi with no taxes and that’s the sort of difference in incomes.
When it comes to property taxes it really depends on the location more than the state. Property taxes where I live is really low compared to Minneapolis or St Paul. A house with my value there would probably cost $25-30,000. A year while I pay less than 1/5 th of that.
When you have multi-million dollar homes right next to each other the city can do a lot at a very low rate compared to $100,000 homes next to each other.
It's fun using examples on two different ends of the spectrum. What about making 75k in LA vs 75k in Austin?
The lowest cost of living also has the least attractive Benefits. Also the lowest pay. There is no free lunch.
I'll 2nd Chattanooga, TN. Really great small City.
frenchyd said:yupididit said:frenchyd said:yupididit said:In reply to z31maniac :
Yeah property tax is a decent expense here but like I said I don't think it's out of hand given no state income tax. The last two states I've lived in were California and Virginia, so Texas feels under taxed compared to them lol
Everybody seems to get taxes wrong. Income is much more important than taxes. In fact the states with the lowest taxes tend to also have the lowest income. While states with the highest taxes also have the highest income.
I’ll take $120,000 a year income in Connecticut and gladly pay their higher tax’s compared to the $38,000 in Mississippi with no taxes and that’s the sort of difference in incomes.
When it comes to property taxes it really depends on the location more than the state. Property taxes where I live is really low compared to Minneapolis or St Paul. A house with my value there would probably cost $25-30,000. A year while I pay less than 1/5 th of that.
When you have multi-million dollar homes right next to each other the city can do a lot at a very low rate compared to $100,000 homes next to each other.
It's fun using examples on two different ends of the spectrum. What about making 75k in LA vs 75k in Austin?
The lowest cost of living also has the least attractive Benefits. Also the lowest pay. There is no free lunch.
That isn't always the case. Also, places with low cost of living doesn't require such high pay, obviously.
In this case pay doesn't matter. His company is paying him the same no matter where he lives unless it's SF.
yupididit said:frenchyd said:yupididit said:frenchyd said:yupididit said:In reply to z31maniac :
Yeah property tax is a decent expense here but like I said I don't think it's out of hand given no state income tax. The last two states I've lived in were California and Virginia, so Texas feels under taxed compared to them lol
Everybody seems to get taxes wrong. Income is much more important than taxes. In fact the states with the lowest taxes tend to also have the lowest income. While states with the highest taxes also have the highest income.
I’ll take $120,000 a year income in Connecticut and gladly pay their higher tax’s compared to the $38,000 in Mississippi with no taxes and that’s the sort of difference in incomes.
When it comes to property taxes it really depends on the location more than the state. Property taxes where I live is really low compared to Minneapolis or St Paul. A house with my value there would probably cost $25-30,000. A year while I pay less than 1/5 th of that.
When you have multi-million dollar homes right next to each other the city can do a lot at a very low rate compared to $100,000 homes next to each other.
It's fun using examples on two different ends of the spectrum. What about making 75k in LA vs 75k in Austin?
The lowest cost of living also has the least attractive Benefits. Also the lowest pay. There is no free lunch.
That isn't always the case. Also, places with low cost of living doesn't require such high pay, obviously.
In this case pay doesn't matter. His company is paying him the same no matter where he lives unless it's SF.
It’s pretty easy to research . Take the states with zero or low income taxes and look up the average income.
Then compare it to the high tax states.
In reply to frenchyd :
Um, I'm not saying that isn't the case at all. I already know. I think you're missing my point.
Anyway, how about Waco? OP.
In reply to yupididit :
Have you been to Waco?
It's like that huh? Lol
In reply to yupididit :
Not at all. I just don't think I've actually ever heard anyone recommend Waco.
I have never been to Waco, nor have I been suggested that.
Ideas why? I'm open
Thought I saw a thread about Waco here a few months ago.
I don't get the political affiliation concern. I'm certainly not part of my citys 95+% and I've been here for almost two decades even with the occasional threats of violence/more than occasional haranguing towards me. Just turn off your tv take newspapers with a pinch of salt and go about your bidness. What I like about D.C. is the ton of cheap project cars. If I only had the space/money/time continuum to go about it all. So why not D.C.? Sure we're taxed heavily but not on property whilst yes it's expensive to buy but we bring in such a high rate of income the taxes/expenses are almost laughable except for unskilled workers like myself. 
Pop. currently around 600k I think but could be wrong however believe me many parts of this city are very small town.
D.C. is something I've never considered, maybe the city itself is OKC sized but that whole megalopolis area........no thanks. Nor would I ever be able to afford to buy something there.
The political thing doesn't really impact me, as I have no children. If I did, it would be much more important, for example if you saw what the OK legislature does to teachers here.
My in-laws live in DC area. I couldn't afford it and if I could, I would not do it. If I'm gonna pay that much and deal with that traffic I'll rather do it in Southern California.
I'm in the Cherokee lands, northeastern Ok. It's too rural here for you, but I'm close enough to NWA and SW Mo that I drive through and fly over them a lot. I think that you could find a good fit in Fayetteville/Springdale/Bentonville (+Rogers). The only reservation I'd have about it from reading your standards is that it is starting to sprawl and blend into one wide city, but it will never be OKC. When my wife and I travel, we often fly out of XNA which is a small airport by most standards, but has good connections and easy access.
The Joplin area might be a nice fit. Urban enough, but not a big city feel. No good airline flights out of JLN, so you'd probably have to drive an hour or so to get to SGF or XNA for travel.
I work in EMS, and spending a little time in the hospitals can give a unique perspective on the surrounding area. I have a good feeling about Fayetteville and Joplin that I don't have about the Fort Smith area.
If you have any interest in the Tulsa area, I'd recommend checking out Jenks. Just Southwest of Tulsa across the river. Good community, access, and schools. My son lives there and loves it.
nutherjrfan said:I don't get the political affiliation concern. I'm certainly not part of my citys 95+% and I've been here for almost two decades even with the occasional threats of violence/more than occasional haranguing towards me. Just turn off your tv take newspapers with a pinch of salt and go about your bidness. What I like about D.C. is the ton of cheap project cars. If I only had the space/money/time continuum to go about it all. So why not D.C.? Sure we're taxed heavily but not on property whilst yes it's expensive to buy but we bring in such a high rate of income the taxes/expenses are almost laughable except for unskilled workers like myself.
Sure, D.C. itself is 600k, but its dead center in a metropolis that is 6 million people. It is not small town in any way. Plus, its significantly higher cost of living.
AAZCD said:I'm in the Cherokee lands, northeastern Ok. It's too rural here for you, but I'm close enough to NWA and SW Mo that I drive through and fly over them a lot. I think that you could find a good fit in Fayetteville/Springdale/Bentonville (+Rogers). The only reservation I'd have about it from reading your standards is that it is starting to sprawl and blend into one wide city, but it will never be OKC. When my wife and I travel, we often fly out of XNA which is a small airport by most standards, but has good connections and easy access.
The Joplin area might be a nice fit. Urban enough, but not a big city feel. No good airline flights out of JLN, so you'd probably have to drive an hour or so to get to SGF or XNA for travel.
I work in EMS, and spending a little time in the hospitals can give a unique perspective on the surrounding area. I have a good feeling about Fayetteville and Joplin that I don't have about the Fort Smith area.
If you have any interest in the Tulsa area, I'd recommend checking out Jenks. Just Southwest of Tulsa across the river. Good community, access, and schools. My son lives there and loves it.
I'm from Tulsa (Sand Springs) and graduated from OSU in Stillwater. Moving back to Tulsa is an option, as that's where a lot of friends and family are. But I think we both would like to try something different.
If we can't find something that fits the small town-ness, we will likely end up back in Tulsa. I love Tulsa, but would like to try somewhere else out, at least for a bit.
Another possible option, long shot, would be to see if I can get transferred to one of our International offices. For my area, Commerce, the two offices that would be in contention would be Brno or Barcelona. But that's a much larger change. Selling the house, cars, most of the possessions, or putting a ton in storage, etc.
I vote the international option. Americans really need to get out and see how the rest of the world is.
Adrian_Thompson said:
....Lansing doesn't appeal to me at all.....
I grew up there and left 20+ years ago. It always felt like I was in the city with the smallest imagination/vision in the state. I have not seen evidences that has changed much.
Weatherford Oklahoma?
z31maniac said:Neither the girlfriend or I are big fans of OKC, but when a company famous for sponsoring the America's Cup with big red signage calls, you answer.
Assuming I continue to build my skillset and kick arse here, I should be able to go full-time remote (vs just 2-3 days per week) in 2-3 years. Which should coincide nicely with my girlfriend finishing up her degree and being able to sell the house I purchased last year and break even (let's save that discussion for another thread please).
If you are talking about the one where the founder bought an island in Hawaii a few years ago, I caution you not to plan your life around long term employment with them. Silicon Valley based employers shed people the minute it looks like might not make there numbers for more than one quarter. There is little, if any, remorse about it. I spent 15+ years in Silicon Valley HR dept.'s watching this play out over and over.
The reality is you must plan for for be laid off in the next downturn. I would suggest that you look for an area where there are several employers that will use your skills. You need to be close enough for easy interviews and working at a the office if needed. If you are building career with tech companies, don't put all your career eggs (i.e. skill development, career progression) in one basket EVER.
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