Where is your utopia

[Tomtint]

We began looking at property the last couple months. Looked in Northern Fla and a little bit in S Carolina as well as northern GA. We are looking for somewhere that has relatively "warm" winters ...no snow..and I can deal with the summer heat with no problems. We are looking for a area that the local govt is not hammering home owners on taxes, has a low crime rate and low traffic. ...any good areas come to mind ?

 

[coobie]

West Virginia ...

 

[Hay Dude]

Florida
No state tax
Plenty of cheap land, especially if you want a farm
Warm winters
Drive to the Keys for vacations. Im there now. Beautiful :thumbsup:
Hope to be there more

 

[Steppenwolfe]

I'm in Florida now as well. You couldn't pay me to live here. Too flat, too many people, too much traffic, too bloody hot. So, to make you Florida lovers happy, I promise to stay in the Blue Ridge Mountains. No problem....

 

[Steppenwolfe]

Seriously though. We looked in 8 states before we went to SW Viginia. Low taxes, low cost of living, reasonable cost of housing and land; not to mention, drop dead gorgeous country.

 

[oosik]

My Utopia - right here where I have - 80 acres, 5 acre lake, wonderful house, four seasons. Oh, and BTW - NO NEIGHBORS.

 

[TractorGuy]

N. FL is nice in the country. Crime rate in the cities is not so great but get a few acres in the country and put a gate on it you are safe enough. When my property was more accessible and I was working all day I had one break in of my shed in the mid 80s. Never had a problem since then and now I'm home most of the time and have the property gated I don't for see any.

Government issues vary from county to county. I hear people complain all the time about building permitting in Leon County. Their comprehensive plan is pretty restrictive. Once you get past that and settle in it's not so bad. Neighboring counties like Jefferson may be better in those respects.

We are right near the GA FL line so we do a fair amount of business in GA.

 

[newbury]

Like oosik, but in NE MS.
70 acres at the house, another 400 in the county. Temps get up to mid to high 90's for a few weeks, but RARELY have had the occasion to use a snow shovel in 10 years. And the topography is low rolling hills.
As far as crime rate mostly limited to towns/cities. And traffic! The worst is getting stuck behind a rare tractor on the road.

You should also ask about the downsides to a place - MS has had a pretty poor education system and it's evident at the local stores. I had a clerk ask me where I'm from and when I said "Vermont" she asked what state is Vermont in. Not a place to raise children and rely on the local education system.

And they are talking about legalizing beer.

A new law allowing the possession of alcohol in every county in Mississippi was signed into law by Gov. Tate Reeves on Tuesday. It will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2021.

 

[Tomtint]

N. FL is nice in the country. Crime rate in the cities is not so great but get a few acres in the country and put a gate on it you are safe enough. When my property was more accessible and I was working all day I had one break in of my shed in the mid 80s. Never had a problem since then and now I'm home most of the time and have the property gated I don't for see any.

Government issues vary from county to county. I hear people complain all the time about building permitting in Leon County. Their comprehensive plan is pretty restrictive. Once you get past that and settle in it's not so bad. Neighboring counties like Jefferson may be better in those respects.

We are right near the GA FL line so we do a fair amount of business in GA.

We were just a little south of Flagler last week. Its still fairly rural there and traffic is not terrible. I looked at a few properties that were 10 acres +/- but felt they were over priced. They were about 3 miles or so from from the coast.It probably comes with the territory but snakes, gators and other large spider looking things appear to be the norm in the "woods' of Florida and GA

 

[riptides]

Anywhere in VAs Shenandoah Valley.

 

[ArlyA]

Where ever it snows good.... :thumbsup:

 

[Complete Turf Care]

My utopia is right here where I live now and have lived all my life. Mainly because my family and friends live here.

My two daughters and 5 grandchildren live nearby and my mom and my brothers and sisters live nearby.

My wife would never, ever consider moving away from our grandchildren.

 

[Fuddy1952]

Born/lived in Virginia all our life (68me,66 wife). We love it. Like Steppy said, the scenery & mountains.
Parts of West Virginia very nice also. Lots of beautiful areas. Living with a few million people around would drive us looney! I do like living within 20 minutes or so of nice restaurants, hospital, grocery, home improvement stores.

 

[Hay Dude]

Love it where I live, too. The original habitants were hard working, honest people. Weve been overrun by some real jerks and arrogant punks from the cities in the last 20 years. Big city ideas and taxes came with them, too. Its degraded our local culture and changed our area for the worse. Seems like wherever you go, theyve muscled their way into positions of authority, too. Now we have McMansions on 1 acre lots and German sports cars in the local HS student parking lots and running down the middle of all our once quaint back roads.
But it’s a 4-season area....we got cold and snow and all the other junk you get up north.....the good and the bad.
I feel like life would be so much easier waaaay down south. No winter, cheaper everything, lower taxes and at least in my opinion, nicer people.

 

[bunyip]

We have the same debate, I like it were we are in the SE corner, cool winters, warm summers with a few hot days, relatively low humidity, the further north you go the hotter and more humid it gets and the nastier the wildlife, inland is just too hot and not near anything, real estate prices vary accordingly but we just sold our 5 acres with a small 3 BR brick house for just shy of AU$1m, moving down the coast to 38 acres and a 4 BR home about 17km from a regional city for AU$700k, no services except electricity but that's not a problem.
OK we have some nasties like snakes, spiders, mother in laws cooking etc but we don't have bears or skunks and the nasties don't go looking for you but you generally find them when you are not expecting it and I'll wager that is universal.
The good things are offset by the bad things and somewhere in that mix is your compromise/utopia.

 

[EddieWalker]

We began looking at property the last couple months. Looked in Northern Fla and a little bit in S Carolina as well as northern GA. We are looking for somewhere that has relatively "warm" winters ...no snow..and I can deal with the summer heat with no problems. We are looking for a area that the local govt is not hammering home owners on taxes, has a low crime rate and low traffic. ...any good areas come to mind ?

I just read an article that said FL has the most to offer for people retiring and not paying a lot to live there. I forget the other states except South Dakota. I didn't realize it was so affordable to live there, and that kind of interests me.

My Utopia place to live will have mountains, aspen trees and elk in the area, preferably in my back pasture. But that's now a place where I feel I can make a living. I looked at quite a few places to move to and be able to make a decent living without being in a big city, and Tyler TX met all my requirements. It was a good choice, I just wish we has more elevation changes in the land here and taxes where lower.

 

[Whidbey]

Anywhere in VAs Shenandoah Valley.

I agree with this. If I was looking for a new home I would looking in the Valley

 

[MossRoad]

 

[MossRoad]

But seriously, we'd like a small house on a small no-wake lake in southern Michigan.

 

[Tomtint]

I just read an article that said FL has the most to offer for people retiring and not paying a lot to live there. I forget the other states except South Dakota. I didn't realize it was so affordable to live there, and that kind of interests me.

My Utopia place to live will have mountains, aspen trees and elk in the area, preferably in my back pasture. But that's now a place where I feel I can make a living. I looked at quite a few places to move to and be able to make a decent living without being in a big city, and Tyler TX met all my requirements. It was a good choice, I just wish we has more elevation changes in the land here and taxes where lower.

We were in South Dakota a couple years ago. Beautiful areas for sure....winter not so much.