Where should I move???? (leaving liberal-fornia)

[Adrenaline_6]

Kootenai County is changing like crazy, and is growing at an insane rate as well. I always joke with new customers from California that it's fine they move here, just don't vote! The only real positive is they are bringing tons of jobs into the region right now, and the area is booming with new construction and a swelling job pool.

..and that's how they get ya. "Hey handsome/cutie, you want some candy?"...then.....ass-raped.

[duece71]

Move to a state that has NO income tax. That would be a big priority for me. Next up would be friendly politics and few (if any) gun laws.

[PatrioticDisorder]

Florida is calling

[flenna]

Move to a state that has NO income tax. That would be a big priority for me. Next up would be friendly politics and few (if any) gun laws.

Tennessee has no income tax, low real estate prices and is very 2nd Amendment friendly. But shhh, don't tell anyone north of the Mason-Dixon line or west of the Mississippi.

[austinN4]

Move to a state that has NO income tax.

Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington and Wyoming

[turnburglar]

Another idea I have lightly been kicking around; does anyone have experience buying bare land and developing it?

I can reasonably afford and acre or two in some of the mountain towns around AZ, I just dont know how much work it really is to turn a bare lot into a proper residence. Did you pay for everything with cash or is there some financing availble for new builds?

[NWPilgrim]

Construction loans are generally short term like 6 months or little more and then refi conventional. The unknowns of developing bare land include access to water (city or well and if well how friggin deep), distance from city services ( power, phone, sewer, water), if no sewer then how suitable is the ground for septic and drain field, flood plain (creeks, rivers, ponds), and length of driveway needed and type of ground it will pass over. The other thing to be considered are zoning laws which in rural areas are mostly county but if near a large city can also include “metro area” regulations such as urban growth boundary, green zones and watersheds, mandatory density or minimum acreage, and tax discounts if nominally used for agriculture (tree farm or raise a couple of goats and chickens). Many areas in the Midwest and west access to water is a critical factor to resolve ASAP. Some will need very deep wells or for farming you have to get on a farming watershed irrigation supply with access rights controlled by date of joining for shut offs during droughts.

[turnburglar]

Hey thanks for the reply!


It sounds like all of those factors (power, water, access, services) can be verified before making an offer on the land, or written into the offer as a contingency.

If I can get a construction loan and then just refi into a convetional that sounds like a decent way of going about paying for the whole property. The acreage is between 20k-40k an acre, but depending on the seller I could get by with putting 50% down. It seems like the hardest part would be balancing a life with renting in the city while I build up in the mountains? Has anyone actually done this before? How well did you stick to your planned schedule?

Edit: to add there are some pre-built houses on land in the areas that I am looking it's just that these houses are all at the top of my budget (250k) and they still need some serious work. Just speculating that if I got the land at 50K, I could build a hell of a new house for 200 and still not be over valued for the market.