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Goodbye, New York, California and Illinois – Hello where?

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Re: Goodbye, New York, California and Illinois – Hello where?

#101

Post by CamperBob2 »

jamisteven wrote: post #67

Californians arent all moving just due to housing costs, overall cost of living there is pretty nuts and unless you work in big tech, your salary is not that great. State plus federal income tax alone was a deal breaker for me when I was there.

State plus federal income tax alone was a deal breaker for me when I was there.

Especially now that state income tax is no longer Federally deductible. I've found it very surprising that people on both the pro-tax and anti-tax sides don't make a bigger stink about that.

Re: Goodbye, New York, California and Illinois – Hello where?

#102

Post by whalesalad »

My wife and I moved here to California (my home state) mid-2018 from Michigan (her home state). We moved out here for a startup, but shortly after relocating the founder ran out of money and could no longer pay me. This was a huge shock because on the surface everything was fine and dandy. Got totally bamboozled.

I still remember walking into our co-working spot to pick up some mail and was told that I should leave the premisis becuase our bills were way past due and I could not have access to our mail. I was like uhh wow holy shit, he isn't paying you either. That was a surreal moment.

After the move and the shit show of the startup, our savings had basically evaporated. I had to get to work ASAP. I am very fortunate to have a support group of friends and family and was able to land a gig working on a Rails-based ecommerce site for a furniture company.

Fast forward to now and I am still a freelance consultant with usually 3-4 clients or projects happening simultaneously. I have done pretty well for myself, but the last year was one of the most stressful and chaotic years of my life. I am seriously struggling with my mental health.

Throughout the entire time we've been able to save a little more money, but all-in-all we are pissing away a tremendous amount of cash every month on our rent and other expenses that are a little higher here in CA. Moving here to Orange County was predicated on the killer salary from the new gig.

The current plan is to head back to Michigan. My wife's family is all there, so as far as a state to flee to it makes the most sense. Our rent will cut in half for what will be a far bigger property with a lot more breathing room. An idea we are tossing around is buying land and building our own home from scratch, which is something we could never even imagine doing here in California.

I think that I have a tougher time appreciating all the wonderful things our state has to offer. Having grown up here I just see all the traffic and density and lack of breathing room and want to head for the hills. It makes the higher living cost tougher to swallow. Plus, knowing we'll really never be able to afford the kind of property and home that we know we can have over in Michigan, it makes sense to get out of here without planting deep roots again.

Re: Goodbye, New York, California and Illinois – Hello where?

#103

Post by driverdan »

ore0s wrote: post #36
volkk wrote: post #29

What's the story behind the more affluent going to Wyoming? Would love to understand this

Tax haven! https://www.npr.org/2016/04/08/473477551/why-wyomings-laws-m...

That's some weak reporting. It says it's easy to setup shell corps with a registered agent. That's true for most states and is perfectly legal.

They should have discussed how WY makes it easier than most states to avoid being directly connected in any documentation of the shell corp. This makes it harder to track down the real owners in cases when they're being used illegally or sought for litigation.

Re: Goodbye, New York, California and Illinois – Hello where?

#104

Post by codingdave »

volkk wrote: post #29

What's the story behind the more affluent going to Wyoming? Would love to understand this

At least one factor is one of the lowest property tax rates in the country. When you have no mortgage, housing prices don't drive your monthly burn rate as much as property taxes. It changes the picture completely on what you look at when choosing where to go.

Re: Goodbye, New York, California and Illinois – Hello where?

#105

Post by AJ007 »

harimau777 wrote: post #63
jedberg wrote: post #55

Every person I know who's left California did it because of housing costs (except for one, who did it to get away from "the damn liberal government that wants to take my guns"). We have a major housing cost crisis in this state, as well as a big NIMBY problem. There have been good solutions run up through the state house, that either fail to pass or get so watered down they are no longer effective, in large part beca…

Did the laws have protections for the current home owners? It seems perfectly reasonable to me that people would want to protect themselves if they don't have any assurances that developers won't just build ugly tower blocks. On the other hand, if people are opposing development that involves real architects developing aesthetically pleasing designs that respect the existing community, then it seems reasonable to me…

The irony of complaining about aesthetics as mentally ill people run around shouting at pedestrians and pooping on the sidewalk in mid day...

Re: Goodbye, New York, California and Illinois – Hello where?

#106

Post by enad »

jedberg wrote: post #83

[flagged]

Re: "The conservatives"

If by conservative you mean something akin to capitalistic, and unabashedly out to make money, from the housewife to the CEO, then yes.

If you mean something else, then it really isn't that cut and dry.

Everyone (a very large majority) is from somewhere else, and most came to Houston not because it was some kind of Shangri-La, but because of the opportunities.

Plus, for what it's worth, Houston is one of, if not the, most ethnically diverse city in the US. (Google it so I don't have to provide biased sources.)

Re: Goodbye, New York, California and Illinois – Hello where?

#107

Post by MeltySmelty »

dfsegoat wrote: post #4

Sonoma County, CA here. We've lost more people from our county than any other in the state between 2017-2018 [1], and it is only continuing. From the few of these people I have spoken with - anecdotally: - None left because of the fire risk, specifically. [though some obviously did - 2] - Most left because of the cost of living: $600k avg home price. - Some also left because of political and human environment: We hav…

even the leftists are waking up, good stuff!

Re: Goodbye, New York, California and Illinois – Hello where?

#108

Post by newnewpdro »

enad wrote: post #85
jedberg wrote: post #83

[flagged]

Houston. It is very humid. Most of the time. But we have air conditioning. Every place has air conditioning. And it run's constantly. But still my power bill is just a fraction of what it was in California. From late fall through early spring the weather is very California-like: cool and crisp in the morning and warm and dry in the afternoon.

If you accept a life spent indoors in air-conditioned spaces you weren't taking advantage of what you were paying for in California.

Re: Goodbye, New York, California and Illinois – Hello where?

#109

Post by corporate_shi11 »

krapp wrote: post #87
vondur wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many people aren’t bothering to report crimes now. The police won’t do anything about it. You can pretty much get away will minor property crimes/theft now without any repercussions.

>You can pretty much get away will minor property crimes/theft now without any repercussions. Only if you're white.

Except it's mainly non whites committing those crimes.

Re: Goodbye, New York, California and Illinois – Hello where?

#110

Post by grandmczeb »

harimau777 wrote: post #63
jedberg wrote: post #55

Every person I know who's left California did it because of housing costs (except for one, who did it to get away from "the damn liberal government that wants to take my guns"). We have a major housing cost crisis in this state, as well as a big NIMBY problem. There have been good solutions run up through the state house, that either fail to pass or get so watered down they are no longer effective, in large part beca…

Did the laws have protections for the current home owners? It seems perfectly reasonable to me that people would want to protect themselves if they don't have any assurances that developers won't just build ugly tower blocks. On the other hand, if people are opposing development that involves real architects developing aesthetically pleasing designs that respect the existing community, then it seems reasonable to me…

The aesthetic preferences of crotchety neighbors should be close to the bottom of our housing priorities.
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