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Originally Posted by Frugal Father (tm)
I am considering relocating considering cost of living and the ability to include frugality and to simplify things more. NYC is expensive , although we do well , I'd like a more positive financial change...anyone out there moved for the sake of frugality, cost of living or what ever...
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Yes - and I say GO FOR IT!!!!
We pretty much moved because we could not afford to raise kids the way we wanted to (be home with them) AND afford a house. Maybe if we waited 20 years, but I Wanted to have kids when I Was 30, not 50 - LOL.
Anyway, we moved from San Francisco area to 2 hours out, and it was the best thing we ever did. At the time I was VERY bitter we had to move, that we could not afford to stay in the city where we had grown up. But it quickly passed once we traded in our tiny condo for a 5-bedroom home and a smaller mortgage. All the comparisons said to expect a 10% pay cut, and I even remember my boss in my interview complaining about us Bay area folk asking for unrealstic pay. In the end my pay stayed the same and I got better benefits too boot. IF I had known that I Would have moved sooner - LOL. Anyway, we put our condo up right before 9/11 and lost 100k in equity so we moved here having a $200k mortgage instead of a $100k mortgage like we planned. BUT in the end we felt liek we were financially ready for kids 3-4 years earlier than we had originally planned and we just love the simpler lifestyle out here. At the same time we are still close enough to all of our family and friends, and close enough to enjoy the big city.
For that reason I would recommend NJ or NY, just not to get too far from your roots. Test it out and see if it works well for you. Depends how attache dyou are to NYC. ?? I think the further out you move the more culture shock you may find - like in Arizona. Definitely do as much research as you can. Everyone says Oregon is great because of no sales or income tax, BUT the property taxes are insane. You need to find out as much as you can about places you would liek to move...
We have talked about cashing out our house and going to oregon. There was a time we could have walked away with 400k cash easily, but we are hesitant to leave our family, I absolutely love my job, etc. The time is not right now, but something we are considering before we get too settled here. Part of me hesitiates because I don't want to spend my whole life moving somewhere cheaper - LOL. Oregon is hot right now with all of the Californians moving up and I Wouldn't be surprised if we made that move, we would want to move again down the road, somewhere even cheaper.
We settled here because I knew many friends who made the move, and the same about ORegon, and plus I knew the cities well, visited a lot in the past, etc. I know many friends who made the move and told us about what they learned in the process - they didn't know such and such would be so expensive here or there. So I say talk to as many people as you can. Being in NYC I am sure you know plenty of people who have fled. When we moved here we knew quite a few people that had already fled and if we decide to move to ORegon we have a ready made community of friends up there. Makes the decision easier.
Good Luck!!!