Illinois is done for. I have a buddy that lives in Indiana trying to get me to move there. I can buy a house today for 130-140k with a payment of $816 and the entire inside has been redone. It's on a half acre property. It's outside of South Bend, IN though so of course it's not the best area.

In IL that same style ranch and land combo is about 280k and an $1800+ monthly payment....but it's a fixer upper. All because of property taxes and being only an hour outside of chicago.

So my parents are looking to move when my mom retires in 5 years. They don't want to live in IL. I am at the point where I don't either. So, I'm thinking of moving soon to a different state when my apartment lease is up in december.

Where to move though? Was thinking somewhere close-ish to IL still because of the rest of friends and family so places like IN, WI, MI, MO or something.

Where would you guys move to though if you had a choice. It genuinely looks like I'm the one that needs to move and start a new area to where the rest of my family can move to.

Michigan but phuck off we're full

Definitely not Idaho

Nobody move here, it sucks

north/south dakota

barely any astronots there

Why would you want 4 seasons?

I'm amazed how cheap the Midwest is. I watched a youtube video yesterday by a guy who bought a midwest hoarder home, about 2000 sq ft, who redid a lot of the inside over a few months and was talking about how he could sell it for $170-180K, while it would sell for triple that by me in Raleigh. Even if housing hadn't doubled in the last 5-7 yrs I'd say fuk off we're full.

Florida

Tampa Bay Area

Wisconsin, there's lots of nice state parks and things to do outdoor. Just got back from a long weekend up there.

I went to college in Indiana, the only reason I got there now is football games. Nothing but cornfields otherwise.

If I worked on the southside of Chicago I might consider Chesterton IN, the dunes are nice, but that's about it.

I don't know if it's like this all over Wisconsin, but my grandpa lived there for awhile and he said "It's just so damn humid all the time" it was pretty unbearable for him. They have a running joke that the mosquito is the state bird.

but again he lived there for a several years so he could have been old man exaggerating

It's something I'm thinking about. Growing up a friend had a family condo in South Haven and we'd go there all the time. It was some of the best times in my life and loved that area.One of my top places. Too bad it got expensive af from all the libs from Cali moving there. Pisses me off.That might be too rough though. I used to want to live in areas like that, but the winters might be too long and extreme.

Huge plus though that it's mainly white.Grew up with 4 seasons. Lived in Cali for a while. I can't do it. My favorite seasons are fall and winter.Yea it is quite cheap outside of major cities. IL though chits on you with property taxes so you get fukked on your monthly payments.

other midwest areas though are super cheap. You just don't have much of anything by you though.Can't. I would be miserable in an area without 4 seasons. Literally sounds like hell. I'm already getting semi-depressed from the heat and humidity here in IL.Yea that's a big reason why I have been looking at WI. Just not sure what area. I've been all over IN and have an uncle in Hobart, IN because he works downtown, but man there really is nothing in IN when you move away from the lake.It's the same here in IL. WI is actually cooler in the summer than here but same high humidity levels. It's brutal. I ruck in 80 degree weather in forest preserves here and it almost suffocates you. You sweat so much you can't even wear sunglasses because they slide off. 80 degrees feels like 95.

It doesn't even touch some of the southern states though like Louisiana or Mississippi.

Mass dude

I've never been to that far north east. My bosses family (that I grew up with) have their oldest daughter and their family living in NH. It literally looks amazing.

I seriously might take a 4 day trip to somewhere up in the northeast and check it out to get a vibe of the area.

Never been to Colorado either. Figured it was just gone from politics at this point and overpriced from lib expats moving there.

uhhh well.. yeah... thats how you have to lose the dindu's

I drove through Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and a bit of Kansas recently

It was literally corn fields and wind mills

I wanted to blow my brains out

And every town I stopped into for gas was like stepping into a 1990s American redneck movie or some chit ... just desolate, and like 20 years behind .... it was kind of charming

It got really depressing though when I was somehwere in Missouri and realized the closest "big" city was fuking St. Louis

So I would avoid the Midwest just based on that and do the Northeast ... at least you have a bunch of happening places within driving distance

I’d agree, Wisconsin or Michigan. I use to spend summers in South Haven Michigan when I lived in Illinois as a kid, went back as an adult & still love that town. We use to drive up to the Wisconsin Dells, & man was it beautiful up there.


South Haven..

(Move to Boise and we can be roommates, srs)

Whichever has the mildest winters.

I don't mind the cold TBH except:

-Have to warm up car and scrape windows.

-Can't really get sunlight on skin

I know, but I can find certain areas in states not quite as brutal as ND and SD. I mean there's basically nothing there.Yea that's because the midwest is basically open flat land and farms/wind farms/small towns entirely outside the major cities and surrounding suburbs.

It's like that everywhere tbh. Oklahoma and Texas were WAY worse. That's what I always lol when people say things like "Omg we are overpopulated and running out of resources!" Those people have never driven in the midwest then. It's empty.

I'm telling you though the suburbs around Chicago are amazing area and have tons of forest preserves. Wisconsin has tons of beautiful scenery, MI is amazing too and has dunes, and beautiful lake areas like South Haven. There is a lot of charm.

I will checkout the NE though. Just not NY because lol at the COL and taxes.

Honestly kind of excited to travel a bit the next year to pick a new place to live because I kind of have some family saying that they'll move to me when they retire so I'm not alone haha.Yea my friend had a condo in South Haven. I spent so much time there and like I said somewhere above, it was some of my best memories as a child. I literally walked down that path and to that lighthouse in that picture. I think they still have that condo. Going to text my buddy and see. Could be a possibility to live there or near there.

Wisconsin though is a huge likelihood. I would just have to find where I'd settle down there.Yea so my main areas if money wasn't an option are ID, WI, MI mainly and I would love to see certain areas in the NE Like NH, Vermont, MA.

ID would be the dream though. Where in ID are you? I really like the north areas closer to Coeur D'Alene/Sandpoint.I like a strong winter, but nothing too brutal. that's why I couldn't do Wyoming, ND or SD. I have extended family in MN that are Swedes, but even I don't know if I could deal with that type of cold.

Southern California > or Bust

Out of those states-

Fort Wayne, IN- affordable, just kind of boring...I considered this one

Madison, WI- looked at this in the past before we landed in MI; my ex's extended family are in/from WI. I believe we also considered Appleton and I've heard a lot of good stuff about Green Bay, but brr...

Grand Rapids or Traverse City or Ann Arbor: maybe the furthest left politics though; also bad roads and IME the winter was very gray and dark in the SE part of the state

Not sure if South Dakota is much worse than some of the other states you are looking at. New England is all supposed to be pretty nice- Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine - but definitely cold winters. I've seen a good bit of affordable real estate listings for Maine, though I think those were up closer to Canada.

I was looking myself over there, looks like you can still get in at a decent price..
Not sure what your budget is, but this doesn’t look too bad at all

$360,000


https://redf.in/LV5nTR






Did you ever go to Sherman’s ice cream when you went there, with the blue cow on top of the building?

not doxing myself

Wisconsin isn't cheap though? Maybe because I've only been near the lake area.

It does seem like the perfect state for miscers

Yeah buddy those historic towns ain't gonna be cheap. I mean I could but I've been near those lake towns and it's all nice houses.

That's the million dollar question really, OP.

I don't have a good answer. We keep thinking about planning a move to rural somewhere with four seasons.

Someone asked: why four seasons? And honestly - how can you live without them? Spring, Autum, Winter easily my favorites, and Summer well - if I'm not working in a suit basically. Done many a beach bum vacation.

OP I didn't quite understand how your family is spread out, and where you want to be in relation to them - is the priority your parents and their move, or are you flexible given that you have family spread around?

upstate NY. super cheap. vermont and NH are nice too

North carolina has 4 seasons too / same with VA (just not BRUTAL winters)


honestly really anywhere in the USA outside california, SW, and the deep south/Florida


Boise has 4 seasons, so does utah. too many options honestly if thats your metric

Posted a house above near the lake in South Haven, can still get in somewhat cheap if you are just a bit back from the lake.

I have a cabin up in Big Bear lake, thinking of selling it & purchasing something In Wisconsin or South Haven, then a few yrs down the road, sell my main house which is almost paid off, & I’d be sitting pretty good, just want to get out of CA in the next few yrs.

Mainly those reasons. You get taxed out the azz here too, but you know this. Crime is definitely creeping outwards, the school system is crumbling and nothing is affordable out here for a first time home buyer. If you want a chitbox then sure buy a 300k place you need to fix up and spend over $2100 a month for a starter home right now.

It's just not worth it. Property taxes are the single biggest drain on residents.Lived in Venice/Marina Del Ray area for a bit. Tons of stuff to do, the weather was perfect every day, but I hated it. The amount of people was insane. The COL was even worse, and the traffic was worse than Chicago...and that's saying a lot. If you're talking more like San Diego, I ain't dealing with that COL.I will check out all those areas. Srs. Making a little list to check out and look at vidoes/pictures of the area and surrounding area, look up crime statistics, and housing/land costs.

My one issue though is how "left" leaning certain areas are. Seeing how much Chicago can influence things through all surrounding areas makes me want to stay a bit further from an uber liberal city with horrible politics.

Where do you live now?That's above my budget. I'm looking at houses anywhere from 130k (depending on the area obviously) to 250k. If I opt on getting a mortgage I want to buy something smaller first and not drown from the payments.

We went there almost every day and got ice cream. We'd go to that old school movie theater in town too all the time. We used to go to the skate park right off the beach there, walk the pier and to the light house, etc. We'd paintball at a place called "hole in the wall" up there. his condo had a park and tennis courts we'd be at half the day and we'd paintball in the forest. We'd just walk to the beach from there. I have a deep love for that place srs.It's much cheaper than IL simply because of property taxes. When you look outside of IL for housing (not talking about major cities) you will be shocked out how much lower the housing payments are. It's shocking.

Two solariums

Good timing op, Dec real estate prices are always a bit lower.

There’s Casper, WY…a bit rustic but affordable and outdoorsy.