Knoxville, TN - low cost of living, nice weather, no rust, no front plate, and decent half day travel to a lot of great race tracks. Coupled with a lot of really great driving roads available year round, not just the tail of the dragon but a ton of less traveled ones that are just as good but less likely to cost you a poorly ridden sport bike crammed up your gullet.
Wichita or Philly but the second option ignores your frankly ludicrous requirement of no front license plate.
szeis4cookie said:Glassdoor says my local area (Richmond, VA) would put the two of you in the ballpark of 100k a year, but not quite there. That said they don't have all that many salaries reported, and I'm not in your industry so you may be able to better tell what salaries are like in this area. We do pretty well on your other requirements - direct flights to Detroit from here, good public schools, decent size C&C group and a race track an hour north of us. Real estate costs are probably higher than you have where you are right now, but not by any means out of control. 2 hours to the mountains and good driving roads, 2 hours to the beach, 2 hours to DC.
Is this Sze with the Prelude Sze? :wave:
-Billy that used to have the gray Turbo Volvo wagon from Nasa AutoX in ~2007-2008 or so. I'm still here it town, but don't get out to autox as much as I used to
It is, in fact! I had a kid and dropped out of the AX scene for a while. I have a Prelude again, but now I've got a '89 instead of the '00 I used to have. Hoping to come out and AX again soon! Also, that Volvo was/is super awesome.
In reply to dculberson :
Same idea as I was saying with Chattanooga. A lot of the same advantages with better trails for hiking, running, and biking if you are into that.
I think quite a few cities in NC could get you what you are looking for. 'Local' rallyx takes a break Nov-Jan, but I'm not sure if that is a weather thing or not. Tracks here (CMP, VIR) are still running events during those months.
Snow is very uncommon here, and when it does happen everything shuts down. Rust is not a concern.
Of course, locating here, atlanta, or anywhere else in the southeast also gets you some of the not so great things the southeast is known for.
z31maniac said:Ranger50 said:z31maniac said: Is that $100k+ per person or both of you combined?Combined. Realisitically, it needs to be at least another 25k/yr plus, unless COL is significantly less than here. 5 people in this house to look and pay on, since the MIL can't live on her own....
Spouse would say it needs to be one person.....
Would also love a good pick-n-pull yard(s) nearby.... It's a needed therapy for me..
Depends, I know typically out in the middle of nowhere homes can be cheap, but don't know about the rest.
I know where I'm at in OKC, the COL is very cheap compared to the rest of the country, and "educated" industries typically pay pretty well. I just purchased a home last year 3/2/2, 1800+ sq ft, in a nice quiet neighborhood, COMPLETELY renovated inside and out, for $155k.
Lots of things going on here, July/August are HOT. But you also don't have to do deal with a real winter storm but about once every 4-5 years. I've seen snow on the ground 3 times in Oklahoma in the last 4-5 years, and it was gone later that day or the next.
Ha! I have a 3 bed 2 bath 2 car garage house (1674 sqft) house going on the market next Saturday. Completely renovated by me over the last 5 years. (Big items include brand new kitchen with cabinets and granite and windows and doors and all new appliances and a full blown aluminum roof). Quiet neighborhood in great school district as well.
I'll be happy to get $155. It's in Chicago.
Bet your property taxes are less though!
I was going to suggest the RTP area of NC. Between UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke, Rex and the regional hospitals and such, demand is always high in the medical fields.
There is a steady diet of autocross, cars and coffee, make/model clubs and other car related stuff to do for much of the year.
The real estate might give you a bit of sticker shock, but that may be the case in Atlanta, too.
In reply to Ranger50 :
My favorite race track is the 4 miles of Kettle Moraine country near Elkhart Lake Wisconsin. That track attracts all the great racing. From Can Am to Indy car and even NASCAR not to mention bikes and vintage and well you name it they’ve raced it there.
The food is the best in the country and served by nice down home people who make a little income for their church. Nice clean warm showers and bathrooms. And some of the fastest speeds on American road race tracks. Plus they have Blackhawk if you prefer shorter more technical tracks. Not Far away is Brainerd only 3 miles long but still a nice long straight that is also used for Drag racing much of the year.
Home prices in the area are modest. With good job opportunities. They have pro sports teams so it’s not like you’re living in the wilderness. But the weather is great in the summer. Not the hide inside to stay out of the heat the south suffers from. But there are 4 seasons. Winter is perfect for working on getting ready for the next summers racing season but there is also Ice racing in the region. Which honestly is a lot more fun than it sounds like.
Nature abounds, you can spend too much time looking at scenery going through all 4 seasons. Bears and wolves exist, deer are so abundant as well as most other wildlife. History going back to the French fur traders and plenty of turn of the century farm houses that are now going on 200 years old.
Plus plenty of intelligent hard working people who are very friendly. A nice college atmosphere exists in some surprising locations. With country farms right next to modern factories. All surround by plenty of trees.
Here in NC my house is 1400sf, 3 bed, 2 bath, and a very oversized 2 car (4 car if you drive miatas or similar) that I paid $155 for. I could probably get $170 (best school district here) for it now, but there are plenty of similar homes available.
The two largest employers in this city are hospitals. I'm sure you could pull down $100k combined. If you are willing to yield a bit on the 2 car garage, you could buy something in walking distance to one or both of them.
pres589 said:Wichita or Philly but the second option ignores your frankly ludicrous requirement of no front license plate.
Huh? No front plates in PA. And being a PA resident, I don't consider that a ludicrous requirement at all. One of (the many) reasons why I didn't want to move to NJ despite work and my (now ex-) g/f beng there.
Thanks y’all for your input...
Related:
https://wallethub.com/edu/best-worst-cities-to-drive-in/13964/
4 of the top 10 cities are in NC.
Ranger50 said:z31maniac said: Is that $100k+ per person or both of you combined?Combined. Realisitically, it needs to be at least another 25k/yr plus, unless COL is significantly less than here. 5 people in this house to look and pay on, since the MIL can't live on her own....
Spouse would say it needs to be one person.....
Would also love a good pick-n-pull yard(s) nearby.... It's a needed therapy for me..
A surgical Nurse with some seniority will earn 3/4 of that $100,000 by herself. At places like the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. Or a decent hospital like Methodist in The Twin Cities.
So if you could stand Minnesota winters it’s likely your income would be improved by 50% which will get you a lot more house than you’re talking about.
Austin/San Antonio area of Texas.
Flamesuit ready. I fully recommend Riverside county in Southern California. Cities of Riverside, Menifee, Temecula, Murrieta are nice and doesn't cost as much as LA, San Diego, or Orange county, good schools, within 1-2 hours drive to everything SoCal and racetracks everywhere, car things everywhere, Winter only in the mountains where you can go ski on the weekend and return to your 75 degree Christmas in a few hours, beach a hour west, desert east, 4hrs from Vegas, and plenty of airports.
I spent 3.5 years there and wasn't making a whole lot of money (60k-ish) and still had funds to do whatever I wanted. My 1st Sgt wife is an ER nurse there and she made enough for the both of them to live off of comfortably, his 70,000ish thousand a year was just icing on the cake. The traffic can suck but you can literally do whatever you're into no matter what it is. I for sure miss it. I'll gladly give up my guns and pay extra fuel to have that again.
dculberson said:Columbus, Ohio is booming, healthcare is big here as it is anywhere. Jobs pay well and the cost of living is reasonable though housing is up up up as it is in most desirable areas right now. You can get a nice house for cheap if you don't care about schools. Good schools puts you in the $250k+ range, great schools puts you in the $350k+ range. I assume you'd want good to great schools and a bigger house since you have 3 adults and 2 kids living there?
I was going to say this area sounds perfect for you, but the "year round" car stuff .. not so much. Given our winters, you don't get race track action in the winter. Mid-Ohio is closed Nov-Mar usually. I don't know about National Trails, the drag course, as I've never gotten into drag racing. Autocrossing also takes the winter off.
Everything else about this area is pretty solid, though.
I agree with this statement.
Trails is closed about the same time. Im like 10 min away from trail and commute to Columbus. We have cheap land out here.
I really like most everything about Lexington but from what I can see Knoxville or Nashville would be even better. Nothing north of the mason-dixon line has ANY appeal to me.
In reply to szeis4cookie :
haha, awesome man, good deal! congrats on the kid, we are expecting #2 next month. i also stopped going when we bought a house and got married and had our first. sold off all my volvo stuff to partially fund the downpayment (can't recommend doing that). but we have a 350z now for fun. i do miss the volvo though.
yupididit said:Austin/San Antonio area of Texas.
Flamesuit ready. I fully recommend Riverside county in Southern California. Cities of Riverside, Menifee, Temecula, Murrieta are nice and doesn't cost as much as LA, San Diego, or Orange county, good schools, within 1-2 hours drive to everything SoCal and racetracks everywhere, car things everywhere, Winter only in the mountains where you can go ski on the weekend and return to your 75 degree Christmas in a few hours, beach a hour west, desert east, 4hrs from Vegas, and plenty of airports.
I spent 3.5 years there and wasn't making a whole lot of money (60k-ish) and still had funds to do whatever I wanted. My 1st Sgt wife is an ER nurse there and she made enough for the both of them to live off of comfortably, his 70,000ish thousand a year was just icing on the cake. The traffic can suck but you can literally do whatever you're into no matter what it is. I for sure miss it. I'll gladly give up my guns and pay extra fuel to have that again.
My best friend used to live in Temecula. You’re right It’s a lot more affordable than LA or San Diego. Traffic is more civilized and decent. Plus motor sports is closer. I do miss the old Riverside racetrack.
Sometimes I'm surprised places like Asheville haven't developed into cities like Atlanta. Asheville is surrounded by beautiful forest, lakes, streams, etc, and it's at a high elevation that it doesn't get as hot as lower elevations of the Mid-Atlantic, but its also warm enough during the winter to not get much snow.
I just wish there were more job opportunities in the Asheville area.
My current list of places to check for jobs are:
1) Asheville
2) Chattanooga
3) Ocala, FL
4) Robinson Twp, Pittsburgh
Places I'd look to move to if my wife could handle cold weather:
1) Burlington, VT
2) Coeur d'Alene, ID
3) Anywhere in Scandanvia
4) Southern British Columbia
In reply to frenchyd :
Riverside racetrack is a mall now in Moreno Valley, my F250 was stolen out of that parking lot.
In reply to yupididit :
I’m sorry to hear that. One of my early races was when I first got my national license and raced the factory DP Datsuns, Jensen Healy and Lotus S7’s with my Jaguar . Hap Richardson and I had started on the pole. He had an XK 120 I had a XK 150. We both had more acceleration than the factory sponsored teams but were much slower in a corner. Except we were big and really long, we had brutal acceleration and excellent top speed however cornering compared to the lighter competition was lacking.
The way we dealt with superior cornering speed was we threw ourselves sideways effectively block the whole track ( and not accidentally) however I led into turn 6 but to do so I had to be brutal to the clutch, using that to supplement the braking. Going down to 2nd gear it paid me back for that brutality by exploding suddenly providing me with a box full of neutrals and no additional braking. If you were familiar with turn Six at Riverside the curve is defined by heavy plate steel which I slid along sparks flying until I came to a stop. The blockade was broken and the lighter cars flew by.
That was my last race at Riverside and with one exception my last race with SCCA
The taxes in Cali are pretty damned high, I wouldn’t suggest moving there. There’s a bit of an exodus out of Cali for those able to move due to the taxes and unfounded pensions that will eventually bankrupt the State.
You may want to consider the Jacksonville / St. Augustine area of Florida. Ponte Vedra is a wealthy area just South of Jax, and predictably enough, there's a ton of quality health care / hosptials in the area. (including a Mayo clinic) . Cost of living is reasonable, racing is year-round and of course there is the beach / fishing / boating.
Jax has a few rough areas, but it's mostly nice. St. Aug is very charming and nice, but with less job opportunity. The Tampa area might be worth a look too. Lots of older folks who need health care down here.
Stefan said:The taxes in Cali are pretty damned high, I wouldn’t suggest moving there. There’s a bit of an exodus out of Cali for those able to move due to the taxes and unfounded pensions that will eventually bankrupt the State.
Trueeeer
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