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Currently in occupied territory with the rest of you, waiting to be made an automatic criminal by the stroke of a pen. The number one thing that is driving my desire to move is the gun laws/liberal laws that have continued to engulf WA.

I have visited and considered Fairbanks, Las Vegas, Tampa and Amarillo. Nevada has largely been ruled out due to just desert being around and slowly turning into California.
Alaska was mostly ruled out due to having very low employment options and it being difficult to ship almost anything there, often times ordering stuff I notice they don't ship to AK for some reason.

So here are my criteria. I'm still looking at FL (Tampa) and TX (parts of it), but maybe there is a place I'm overlooking...

-Tech jobs. I'm in IT Management, so my job usually requires me to be in an office and not remote like a programmer.

-Natural disasters not as risky. Inland Florida better than Seattle due to advance warning of hurricanes vs sudden earthquake. So hurricanes are not a deal killer for me. I love the weather there.

-Gun laws are good. AR's, concealed carry, private transfer, etc. Most importantly not likely to change soon.

-Landlord friendly. I'm a landlord and hate states that basically prevent you from collecting rent or evicting someone. WA is one of those places....

-Low property taxes. WA is pretty high....kills me with rental properties....push comes to shove I can buy apartment complexes out of whatever state I live in and call it good.

-No state income tax. Being a high income earner this is a big one for me. I'm already paying 35%...and most states that have income tax have a graduated tax based on income...

-Decent weather. Nothing too cold. Alaska was not too cold, it is a dry cold, the lack of white collar work there turned me off. I thought there would be more than just the military base...
 
Neither of these.

22A74CB5-303B-4681-BF51-6AF64EAAACFB.jpeg
 
Currently in occupied territory with the rest of you, waiting to be made an automatic criminal by the stroke of a pen. The number one thing that is driving my desire to move is the gun laws/liberal laws that have continued to engulf WA.

I have visited and considered Fairbanks, Las Vegas, Tampa and Amarillo. Nevada has largely been ruled out due to just desert being around and slowly turning into California.
Alaska was mostly ruled out due to having very low employment options and it being difficult to ship almost anything there, often times ordering stuff I notice they don't ship to AK for some reason.

So here are my criteria. I'm still looking at FL (Tampa) and TX (parts of it), but maybe there is a place I'm overlooking...

-Tech jobs. I'm in IT Management, so my job usually requires me to be in an office and not remote like a programmer.

-Natural disasters not as risky. Inland Florida better than Seattle due to advance warning of hurricanes vs sudden earthquake. So hurricanes are not a deal killer for me. I love the weather there.

-Gun laws are good. AR's, concealed carry, private transfer, etc. Most importantly not likely to change soon.

-Landlord friendly. I'm a landlord and hate states that basically prevent you from collecting rent or evicting someone. WA is one of those places....

-Low property taxes. WA is pretty high....kills me with rental properties....push comes to shove I can buy apartment complexes out of whatever state I live in and call it good.

-No state income tax. Being a high income earner this is a big one for me. I'm already paying 35%...and most states that have income tax have a graduated tax based on income...

-Decent weather. Nothing too cold. Alaska was not too cold, it is a dry cold, the lack of white collar work there turned me off. I thought there would be more than just the military base...
I would say just leave.
 
It may make a difference if it's short, mid, or long term outlook for your family. If you are looking to put down long term roots with land purchase and such, the south, FL and TX, will suck long term:


While King County will keep going down, I expect the ideology differences between urban and rural areas of the state to only deepen. This means that more restrictive laws on firearms, while they may come to be on paper, will just get ignored by LEOs in rural areas, thus having little or no actual impact on individual gun owners in those areas. Taxation is a different thing, but there are other ways to hide assets than moving out of state.
 
Currently in occupied territory with the rest of you, waiting to be made an automatic criminal by the stroke of a pen. The number one thing that is driving my desire to move is the gun laws/liberal laws that have continued to engulf WA.

I have visited and considered Fairbanks, Las Vegas, Tampa and Amarillo. Nevada has largely been ruled out due to just desert being around and slowly turning into California.
Alaska was mostly ruled out due to having very low employment options and it being difficult to ship almost anything there, often times ordering stuff I notice they don't ship to AK for some reason.

So here are my criteria. I'm still looking at FL (Tampa) and TX (parts of it), but maybe there is a place I'm overlooking...

-Tech jobs. I'm in IT Management, so my job usually requires me to be in an office and not remote like a programmer.

-Natural disasters not as risky. Inland Florida better than Seattle due to advance warning of hurricanes vs sudden earthquake. So hurricanes are not a deal killer for me. I love the weather there.

-Gun laws are good. AR's, concealed carry, private transfer, etc. Most importantly not likely to change soon.

-Landlord friendly. I'm a landlord and hate states that basically prevent you from collecting rent or evicting someone. WA is one of those places....

-Low property taxes. WA is pretty high....kills me with rental properties....push comes to shove I can buy apartment complexes out of whatever state I live in and call it good.

-No state income tax. Being a high income earner this is a big one for me. I'm already paying 35%...and most states that have income tax have a graduated tax based on income...

-Decent weather. Nothing too cold. Alaska was not too cold, it is a dry cold, the lack of white collar work there turned me off. I thought there would be more than just the military base...

I feel your pain. We moved to the east side of Washington 11 years ago, from Florida. Florida is changing for the worst. High humidity and high crime. Property taxes and homeowners insurance in South Florida accounted for $6,500.00 a year in addition to our mortgage. Other areas are cheaper but it is expensive to live there. Unfortunately it has changed even over here. Not to the extent of Seattle but it's just a matter of time. The taxes that that imbecile Inslee enacts to take care of homeless and build tunnels under Seattle are crap. We originally didn't move to Idaho because of their tax on pensions. But with all this crap in Wa we have done the numbers and it will now be cheaper now in Idaho. Idaho is still a free state but the Californians and other liberals moving into the Boise area will also eventually ruin the state. We checked Montana also, and it's being ruined by Californians driving up prices and changing things like they were in Californistan that made them leave there in the first place. They have ruined Bozeman, Kalispell, and Whitefish. It's only a matter of time. Wyoming is nice but doesn't have what you are looking for tech wise. Good luck with your search.
 
It may make a difference if it's short, mid, or long term outlook for your family. If you are looking to put down long term roots with land purchase and such, the south, FL and TX, will suck long term:


While King County will keep going down, I expect the ideology differences between urban and rural areas of the state to only deepen. This means that more restrictive laws on firearms, while they may come to be on paper, will just get ignored by LEOs in rural areas, thus having little or no actual impact on individual gun owners in those areas. Taxation is a different thing, but there are other ways to hide assets than moving out of state.


I wouldn't bet the possibility of prison time on the idea that LEO's won't enforce the gun laws...
 
I feel your pain. We moved to the east side of Washington 11 years ago, from Florida. Florida is changing for the worst. High humidity and high crime. Property taxes and homeowners insurance in South Florida accounted for $6,500.00 a year in addition to our mortgage. Other areas are cheaper but it is expensive to live there. Unfortunately it has changed even over here. Not to the extent of Seattle but it's just a matter of time. The taxes that that imbecile Inslee enacts to take care of homeless and build tunnels under Seattle are crap. We originally didn't move to Idaho because of their tax on pensions. But with all this crap in Wa we have done the numbers and it will now be cheaper now in Idaho. Idaho is still a free state but the Californians and other liberals moving into the Boise area will also eventually ruin the state. We checked Montana also, and it's being ruined by Californians driving up prices and changing things like they were in Californistan that made them leave there in the first place. They have ruined Bozeman, Kalispell, and Whitefish. It's only a matter of time. Wyoming is nice but doesn't have what you are looking for tech wise. Good luck with your search.


Seems like no place is safe long term. But I suspect places like Idaho will be the last to enact crazy gun laws.
 
I wouldn't bet the possibility of prison time on the idea that LEO's won't enforce the gun laws...

I just had this conversation with my dad; a retired Idaho Chief of Police. We were talking about the implications of Biden being elected President and agreed that Biden would in fact outlaw the purchase and possession of AR-15s and eventually, all semi-auto weapons.

He also agreed that the local Idaho Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police would not participate in any gun grabs, but that the WA police chief across the border would. But the sheriff in the Washington county wouldn't, and most every other single Eastern Washington Sheriff would decline to become the armed thugs for the leftists.

As for the move, I live on the Idaho/Washington border and make $50k a year and have a $200k home with little investments and not much assets. Much easier to move across borders when you are poor. If I moved across the border into Idaho, the Idaho state income tax is still a negative impact compared to the property taxes and licensing fees that are in Washington.
 
You should consider doing what me and my team does. Our entire team works from home so we can choose where we wish to live in, and most of us own 2 or more homes. So what we do, is to pick a "main base", usually one with no State income tax, and basically move around with the seasons like a bunch of high tech nomads. :)

If you can do this, Washington is actually quite a nice balance between taxes, weather and convenience due to the presence of SEATAC airport. We do travel quite a bit for work before the pandemic hit, sometimes flying 2 to 3 times a week, so being somewhere with a large airport easily accessible is nice.
 
Well, I am a tad biased as a new Texan but I will say that we are enjoying Texas. Property prices are a lot lower here, property taxes are higher thsn Oregon, but Texas made it a constitutional amendment in this state to prohibit state income taxes.

Rental properties can be had cheap

Areas like Tomball, Spring, Cypress, and the town we live near, Magnolia are seeing property values going up thanks to highway expansions and businesses moving in. San Antonio and Austin have big tech sector stuff along with Dallas and Houston. Finding a job shld not be hard.

Natural disasters aside from hurricanes are rare, but hurricanes are survivable pretty easily.

Gas is $1 a gallon cheaper here than it was in Oregon.

Heat & humidity suck but God gave us AC for that.

Guns are well loved, CHLs are shall issue, you can carry brass knuckles, daggers and nunchucks if you want without a permit.

if/when COVID madness goes away you may npt have to wait 4 months to get a license... my appointment to get a Texas DL is December 11th, thats the soonest I could get within 60 miles of Houston.

We need more pro gun, pro business people here.
 
Currently in occupied territory with the rest of you, waiting to be made an automatic criminal by the stroke of a pen. The number one thing that is driving my desire to move is the gun laws/liberal laws that have continued to engulf WA.

I have visited and considered Fairbanks, Las Vegas, Tampa and Amarillo. Nevada has largely been ruled out due to just desert being around and slowly turning into California.
Alaska was mostly ruled out due to having very low employment options and it being difficult to ship almost anything there, often times ordering stuff I notice they don't ship to AK for some reason.

So here are my criteria. I'm still looking at FL (Tampa) and TX (parts of it), but maybe there is a place I'm overlooking...

-Tech jobs. I'm in IT Management, so my job usually requires me to be in an office and not remote like a programmer.

-Natural disasters not as risky. Inland Florida better than Seattle due to advance warning of hurricanes vs sudden earthquake. So hurricanes are not a deal killer for me. I love the weather there.

-Gun laws are good. AR's, concealed carry, private transfer, etc. Most importantly not likely to change soon.

-Landlord friendly. I'm a landlord and hate states that basically prevent you from collecting rent or evicting someone. WA is one of those places....

-Low property taxes. WA is pretty high....kills me with rental properties....push comes to shove I can buy apartment complexes out of whatever state I live in and call it good.

-No state income tax. Being a high income earner this is a big one for me. I'm already paying 35%...and most states that have income tax have a graduated tax based on income...

-Decent weather. Nothing too cold. Alaska was not too cold, it is a dry cold, the lack of white collar work there turned me off. I thought there would be more than just the military base...
When\if Biden\harris are elected, no state, as far as firearms ownership. Dem puppy
beto will have free reign. I predict that by the end of Harris's second term as president we might be able to possess bolt guns, but there will be stringent requirements. Everyone who owns a firearm must vote Republican. If not, all these firearm forums will be a joke.
 
You should consider doing what me and my team does. Our entire team works from home so we can choose where we wish to live in, and most of us own 2 or more homes. So what we do, is to pick a "main base", usually one with no State income tax, and basically move around with the seasons like a bunch of high tech nomads. :)

If you can do this, Washington is actually quite a nice balance between taxes, weather and convenience due to the presence of SEATAC airport. We do travel quite a bit for work before the pandemic hit, sometimes flying 2 to 3 times a week, so being somewhere with a large airport easily accessible is nice.
The risk of burglary when you are not living there for months on end is high. Not just opinion, I see this A LOT. Also I have two very skittish cats that are fam to me. They do fine on my lap, but even opening the door to the outside they freak out.

Also as an IT exec most of my work will require me to be in the office except at very small companies.
 
Well, I am a tad biased as a new Texan but I will say that we are enjoying Texas. Property prices are a lot lower here, property taxes are higher thsn Oregon, but Texas made it a constitutional amendment in this state to prohibit state income taxes.

Rental properties can be had cheap

Areas like Tomball, Spring, Cypress, and the town we live near, Magnolia are seeing property values going up thanks to highway expansions and businesses moving in. San Antonio and Austin have big tech sector stuff along with Dallas and Houston. Finding a job shld not be hard.

Natural disasters aside from hurricanes are rare, but hurricanes are survivable pretty easily.

Gas is $1 a gallon cheaper here than it was in Oregon.

Heat & humidity suck but God gave us AC for that.

Guns are well loved, CHLs are shall issue, you can carry brass knuckles, daggers and nunchucks if you want without a permit.

if/when COVID madness goes away you may npt have to wait 4 months to get a license... my appointment to get a Texas DL is December 11th, thats the soonest I could get within 60 miles of Houston.

We need more pro gun, pro business people here.

You have rentals there? Amarillo is crazy cheap. Property taxes are high for the price points of the properties but still less than I'm paying here dollar wise.

You have to have an appointment for a permit there?
 
You have rentals there? Amarillo is crazy cheap. Property taxes are high for the price points of the properties but still less than I'm paying here dollar wise.

You have to have an appointment for a permit there?

no rentals yet - we just bought a primary residence and closed on it 15 July, we've been here for 22 days. We looked all over the NW Houston suburbs - Spring, Cypress, Tomball, Conroe, The Woodlands (technically not a city unto itself, but is a district that falls within three of those cities) as well as greater Montgomery County within 30 minute drive of Tomball (because that's where my pop lives, and we now work together out of his place) - places like Willis, Montgomery, Magnolia, Pinehurst (an unincorporated area between Magnolia and Tomball), Hempstead, Waller, New Caney, etc. Properties are much cheaper overall than they were anywhere in the PNW's metro areas, you get way more house for the money, or more land / house. We got just under 3 acres with a 2100 sq foot manufactured home for 212k located about 3 miles SW of Magnolia. We couldn't touch a property like this in the Portland area for less than 400+

We picked Montgomery County for a few reasons - lower taxes - Harris County leads Texas in property taxes at something like 2.1%, while Montgomery County slashed property tax rates for 2020-21 to 0.44% - also, Montgomery County's sheriff refuses to enforce the stupid mask order, and I had no desire to live under the thumb of "Dora the Explorer" aka 27 year old Lina Hildago, the "County Judge" (highest ranking elected official in the county) who is akin to AOC in that she had zero experience and was a Soros backed puppet. Property prices were more reasonable, and the only benefit I've seen to Harris County is that gas is a tad cheaper in Tomball - I paid $1.62 / gallon today after leaving my pop's place. The gas station at the entrance to our subdivision was $1.85, but they're one of the higher cost stations around.

I'd love to pick up a few cheaper rentals at some point and have that income stream. We actually looked at a couple properties that had two buildings on them - a primary residence and a mother-in-law type apartment/home that we could rent out, but this place won out.

As for appointments - everything governmental wise seems to be shut down or running by appointment only - the DMV (which is run by DPS / state police) and the county tax office (where you register your vehicles, pay property taxes, etc) and the building departments, etc. I really wish this COVID nonsense would go away already. I found out today that before I go get my DL swapped over, I have to register my vehicle in Texas first, because if you own a car you *must* show valid Texas registration and proof of insurance to get a Texas driver license :confused: Kind of crazy.

I'm a bit disgruntled because it looks like I cannot exercise my 2A "rights" very well until I get a TDL - we can have a loaded pistol in a vehicle, and carry on your own property without a license, but Texas doesn't recognize Oregon's permit because Oregon won't recognize theirs, and since I don't actually live in Oregon anymore I can't get a non-resident permit, but I can't get a resident LTC (they call it a license to carry vs a CHL or CWP) because I don't have a Texas driver license. :mad:
 
no rentals yet - we just bought a primary residence and closed on it 15 July, we've been here for 22 days. We looked all over the NW Houston suburbs - Spring, Cypress, Tomball, Conroe, The Woodlands (technically not a city unto itself, but is a district that falls within three of those cities) as well as greater Montgomery County within 30 minute drive of Tomball (because that's where my pop lives, and we now work together out of his place) - places like Willis, Montgomery, Magnolia, Pinehurst (an unincorporated area between Magnolia and Tomball), Hempstead, Waller, New Caney, etc. Properties are much cheaper overall than they were anywhere in the PNW's metro areas, you get way more house for the money, or more land / house. We got just under 3 acres with a 2100 sq foot manufactured home for 212k located about 3 miles SW of Magnolia. We couldn't touch a property like this in the Portland area for less than 400+

We picked Montgomery County for a few reasons - lower taxes - Harris County leads Texas in property taxes at something like 2.1%, while Montgomery County slashed property tax rates for 2020-21 to 0.44% - also, Montgomery County's sheriff refuses to enforce the stupid mask order, and I had no desire to live under the thumb of "Dora the Explorer" aka 27 year old Lina Hildago, the "County Judge" (highest ranking elected official in the county) who is akin to AOC in that she had zero experience and was a Soros backed puppet. Property prices were more reasonable, and the only benefit I've seen to Harris County is that gas is a tad cheaper in Tomball - I paid $1.62 / gallon today after leaving my pop's place. The gas station at the entrance to our subdivision was $1.85, but they're one of the higher cost stations around.

I'd love to pick up a few cheaper rentals at some point and have that income stream. We actually looked at a couple properties that had two buildings on them - a primary residence and a mother-in-law type apartment/home that we could rent out, but this place won out.

As for appointments - everything governmental wise seems to be shut down or running by appointment only - the DMV (which is run by DPS / state police) and the county tax office (where you register your vehicles, pay property taxes, etc) and the building departments, etc. I really wish this COVID nonsense would go away already. I found out today that before I go get my DL swapped over, I have to register my vehicle in Texas first, because if you own a car you *must* show valid Texas registration and proof of insurance to get a Texas driver license :confused: Kind of crazy.

I'm a bit disgruntled because it looks like I cannot exercise my 2A "rights" very well until I get a TDL - we can have a loaded pistol in a vehicle, and carry on your own property without a license, but Texas doesn't recognize Oregon's permit because Oregon won't recognize theirs, and since I don't actually live in Oregon anymore I can't get a non-resident permit, but I can't get a resident LTC (they call it a license to carry vs a CHL or CWP) because I don't have a Texas driver license. :mad:


That sucks. I noticed Florida doesn't seem to honor anyone's either. I liked that Texas recognized WA as did Kansas and Oklahoma (constitutional carry for some states) as I did a road trip through those areas when I finished grad school down there.
 

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