Where to move to? Getting real? Rockets matter.

[NateB]

Here in NE Indiana, the cost of living is pretty low. Within 3 hour drives you can launch with 2 clubs in Michigan and 3 in Indiana. Bong is about 4-5 hours away. There is a Dark sky viewing park in Northern Michigan near the Mackinaw Bridge, about 5 hours away too. If you need to visit a larger city, Detroit, Chicago, Columbus and Indianapolis and Cincinnati are all easy drives.

However, Summers are humid. Winters are a mix of all weather. Other than a week of windchill hitting -20 F, this winter has been mild in the upper 30s to mid 40 many days. We haven't seen the Sun in a week. Other winters can be snowier.

 

[Azamiryou]

Yeah crime in New Mexico is a consideration.

 

[BEC]

Interesting thread, and being an exiled New Mexican (hired out of college to work for Boeing and after retiring a few years ago we are still in the Puget Sound area) who grew up splitting time between Shiprock (30 miles west of Farmington) and Santa Fe, but having spent 4 1/2 years in Las Cruces while attending NMSU, I am gratified to see all the New Mexico recommendations.

Snow in the four-corners area is a rare thing and usually doesn't last long. I don't recall we ever saw snow in Las Cruces (at least for more than a few minutes) while I was in college there (Fall of 1974 through Fall of 1978).

Santa Fe is a city whose two main industries are state government and tourism and it's at least as crazy as that makes it sound (though my Dad and youngest brother are still there). Albuquerque is the big city. One of my sisters lives there up in the north end. If my wife and I (who grew up in Carlsbad NM) were to move back to NM, we wouldn't go to Albuquerque.

I hadn't thought about Farmington/Bloomfield/Aztec. Interesting idea that. 4CRA of course didn't exist when I last lived in the area — heck, I'm going to my 50-year high school class reunion in Shiprock in June. But these days having a place to fly is a consideration should we decide south King County in western WA is a place we must leave. It has been actively discussed now for some time, and seeing as we're going to be back in NM three times this year (the aforementioned 50-year reunion for me, a family visit trip after NARAM-65 and my wife's 50-year high school reunion in October) I'm sure we'll be thinking about it/talking about going back.

 

[teepot]

We have a Walmart, Home Depot and a Hospital here. I've been to the emergency room before. If they can't handle it they send you to Vegas. Had a couple of ambulance rides. Vegas has a lot of good hospitals. At our age that's a good thing. We seldom go to Vegas except when I take my wife to the VA hospital. Which is a great facility. Or I have a doctors appointment there. Anything we can't get here we use Amazon. Swamp coolers do work. Bill at BMS uses one for his shop/warehouse. There are parts of Pahrump that is run down. Mostly in the North part of the valley. The South part of the valley is a lot nicer. There are several good restaurants here. If you feel like exploring the mountain range to the east is a good place. Lots of trees and a good road into them. There is an old charcoal kiln up there. Mt Charleston is 12K'. Vegas has A1 entertainers at the casinos. The Vegas air port is an international air port and is easy to get around in. I'll post some pictures. Here is Red Rocks. And what our flying field looks like. And Mt Charleston.

 

[prfesser]

I saw same ad. But it was several states and up to $15,000.

Yes, the MSN article referenced MakeMyMove; the latter has over a hundred listed incentives nationwide. One would have to compare the incentive to housing prices and other necessities/amenities.

We have our original house purchase (renting it out) as well as our current home. The original, 3BR 1BA 1300 sqft brick in the city limits, is now assessed at about $90k but I suspect we could get a bit more than that if we did sell it ("For Sale" signs are rather skimpy these days). The current, 4BR 2.5 BA 2 story brick, 2400 sf, with bonus room over the 2 car garage, is assessed at $190k but I'm sure it would go for somewhat more, at least $250k. Murray is growing but it's not exactly booming, despite being a college town.

If anyone is interested I'll post separately as to how we bought a house for 75% of the asking price. It was 1996 so of course housing wasn't the mess it is today. Still, you might get some good bargaining points. Anyway:

• getting filthy and muddy crawling under four or five real prospects
• two hours going through every room and filling out a 15-page checklist for each
• writing a three-page inspection report of the final prospect (no, I'm not a professional inspector, just a guy who found the right book in the library. Aren't books wonderful?)
• and having a real alternative if our offer was turned down

all those helped a lot. Realtors were furious (literally) as it was the lowest actual/asking ratio in the county MLS for that entire quarter. Yes, I'm tooting my own horn as no one else will.

 

[David Schwantz]

I'll tell you about mine. Many years ago, Mike Parish was a builder. He was pulling a scam where he had loan officers, appraisers, accounts all in his pocket. He would inflate the price of the homes, get a loan to build them and then sell them for contract for deed. He never recorded the contracts with the county. All these people thought they were buying their home when actually they were paying Parish for nothing. Long story short, he went to prison, and all his partners. We looked for a home, the bank had taken it back in the Sherriff sale and told us that they did not want to be "landlords". So we made a tiny, tiny offer, and they took it

 

[boatgeek]

It's worth thinking about the health care issue as you get older. My wife's aunt and uncle moved to a beautiful waterfront house to retire several years ago. They ended up having to move back to the city because they (a) couldn't see specialists out in the boonies) and (b) it was a 2-4 hour trip to get back to town for an appointment, depending on the ferry schedule. It wasn't a matter of money, just practicality as they needed more and more medical care.

 

[Steven]

Yeah crime in New Mexico is a consideration.

I don't know what it is about the state, but pretty much everywhere (including Cruces and Farmington) crime rates seem higher than one might expect. Mostly "petty" crime, and a high rate of houses being broken into. Not necessarily major mob scenes, gang violence, drug wars, etc., although those factors are certainly present (especially in high population places like Albuquerque). It's weird, and does seem a bit out of proportion compared to say Utah or Colorado, and to some degree Arizona.

Like Michael, I myself have never been victim to any robberies, theft, violence, etc., and I have spent a fair bit of time working, playing, and/or living around the state. But I do ALWAYS lock my doors, be careful where I'm at after dark, and take "necessary and prudent caution", etc.

s6

I agree. When looking at crime statistics NM doesn't fare very well being either near or at the very bottom for safest states. Do your research! Crime concerns are an important aspect in relocating. Don't sell yourself short on this. We thrive when we feel safe AND have stats to back it up. What do you have to lose?

 

[speed]

California City...near MDARS, FAR, RRS, ROC.
Im looking at a 3bd 2bth with 2 garages 4 surrounding lots and a pool for 300k.
I didn't see your pm until now..sorry.
Im looking to move also. We should split it!!

 

[techrat]

I am looking at Alamogordo, New Mexico. House are CHEAP there compared to where I live now (northern NJ), you can buy a brand-new house for $150k. You're out in the desert. There's already a rocket club in that town. You're near a space museum, an Air Force Base and the White Sands Missile Range. You're also not that far from the VLA, and plenty of other space-related nerd-dom. Take a drive and you might even get to see a Virgin Galactic launch in-person. And if you're willing to drive a bit more, there's still plenty within reach.

I'm going to check it out in-person as soon as I can get some vacation-time (which is overdue, but I have a co-worker out on disability right now, so I'm basically running the whole show by myself here right now). I'm looking to retire someplace I can ride a scooter year-round, and get out and launch rockets without my feet becoming numb. New Mexico is also very ham-radio friendly, as there are linked repeaters on most mountaintops, allowing you to talk to the entire state from a hand-held VHF/UHF radio.

Basically it's looking like my place to go, as it checks all my boxes. If there's a downside, I haven't seen it yet.

 

[Rob Campbell]

Sumter, SC may be a good option. Cost of living is reasonable. Winters are fairly mild and the ROSCO club hosts monthly launches.

 

[Huxter]

Southern Utah has "Official" dark sky parks. (not the "amateur" ones mentioned here ) I would suggest living just outside Utah - Ie Mesquite Nevada, four corners (in CO) ...

https://stateparks.utah.gov/activities/dark-sky/

 

[gdjsky01]

Come to Pahrump Nevada. The town is small. Just about 40K people spread out over 125 square miles. Land and houses are inexpensive. No State income tax. Most people by far here are retired. 2 tenths of a mile from me is thousands of acres of empty desert to fly on. The skies are dark. Very little light pollution. About 30 minutes from here is where UNLV holds their dark sky events. Tripoly Las Vegas is who I fly with. We fly off the Jean dry lake. Very very hard to lose a rocket out there. We hold two 3 day regional events a year. We have an away site with a 50K ceiling. At the lake bed it's 14, 400'. Weather wise the summers get hot. July and August temps can get to 110*. Sometimes higher. Our humidity is single digits. May and September is between the high 80's and high 90's. March, April, September and October we don't need much heat or AC. This winter we have had a few lows in the upper 20's. Next week it's going to be between 65 and 70. We get very little rain. About 4" a year. The airport in Vegas is an hour and 15 minutes from here. The middle of Vegas is about an hour and a half. BMS is here. No more HAZMAT fees. Lots of building supplies too. If you still want to work and can't find what you want to do here. Vegas is booming. I worked in Vegas for 10 years. I worked a 4 day week. The road to Vegas is mostly highway. Most cars do 80 in a 70 zone. At 80 the cops won't even look at you. That is if you even see one. Crime rate is very low. There are thousands of people that work in Vegas and live here. My last job was 55 miles from home and I made it in 55 minutes. When we got here in '91 there weren't even a million people in the state. Since the mass exodus of people from California started Vegas went from 200 000 people to over 2 million. Gambling is legal. There is a lot of empty space here. We have had snow in the valley maybe a dozen times in the last 18 years. If you want to see snow you just have to look at the mountains in the winter. Fishing and hunting are almost non existent though. We never plan to leave here.

It is at the top of my list. THANK YOU TEEPOT!

 

[gdjsky01]

Amazing responses!!!! Wonderful!! Thank you SO MUCH!!! Looking through them all!!!! Rocketry people are amazing!

 

[bjphoenix]

Interesting thread, and being an exiled New Mexican (hired out of college to work for Boeing and after retiring a few years ago we are still in the Puget Sound area) who grew up splitting time between Shiprock (30 miles west of Farmington) and Santa Fe, but having spent 4 1/2 years in Las Cruces while attending NMSU, I am gratified to see all the New Mexico recommendations.

These days I like to spend time in Utah in my Jeep, I've thought about moving to Cortez, CO. My daughter lives in the Denver area so there is a chance I could end up in that area. If we sell our 4BR 2400SF house here we could maybe afford a small 2BR in Colorado.

 

[stealth6]

View attachment 626842

Still my favourite launch site. It's as close to perfect as it gets in my book.
And it's got a great club/community that flies there.
If you don't end up moving there, at the very least make the trip for one of the "big" launch dates...Oktoberfest or Springfest. Well worth it.

s6

 

[terryg]

Great night launch at Octoberfest!

 

[jqavins]

Come to Pahrump Nevada. The town is small. Just about 40K people spread out over 125 square miles. Land and houses are inexpensive. No State income tax. Most people by far here are retired. 2 tenths of a mile from me is thousands of acres of empty desert to fly on. The skies are dark. Very little light pollution. About 30 minutes from here is where UNLV holds their dark sky events. Tripoly Las Vegas is who I fly with. We fly off the Jean dry lake. Very very hard to lose a rocket out there. We hold two 3 day regional events a year. We have an away site with a 50K ceiling. At the lake bed it's 14, 400'. Weather wise the summers get hot. July and August temps can get to 110*. Sometimes higher. Our humidity is single digits. May and September is between the high 80's and high 90's. March, April, September and October we don't need much heat or AC. This winter we have had a few lows in the upper 20's. Next week it's going to be between 65 and 70. We get very little rain. About 4" a year. The airport in Vegas is an hour and 15 minutes from here. The middle of Vegas is about an hour and a half. BMS is here. No more HAZMAT fees. Lots of building supplies too. If you still want to work and can't find what you want to do here. Vegas is booming. I worked in Vegas for 10 years. I worked a 4 day week. The road to Vegas is mostly highway. Most cars do 80 in a 70 zone. At 80 the cops won't even look at you. That is if you even see one. Crime rate is very low. There are thousands of people that work in Vegas and live here. My last job was 55 miles from home and I made it in 55 minutes. When we got here in '91 there weren't even a million people in the state. Since the mass exodus of people from California started Vegas went from 200 000 people to over 2 million. Gambling is legal. There is a lot of empty space here. We have had snow in the valley maybe a dozen times in the last 18 years. If you want to see snow you just have to look at the mountains in the winter. Fishing and hunting are almost non existent though. We never plan to leave here.

I was thinking that you might become @teepot's neighbor. Another advantage of going there is that you're old launch site, Lucerne, is a doable drive once in a while (about three hours) so you wouldn't be totally cut off from current friends.

 

[jqavins]

Livingston county NY. You know the area. COL is very reasonably and housing is very affordable. Weather Dec - Mar, well you know....

Geneseo (MARS) and Potter (URRG) are about 45 minutes apart. In the Finger Lakes region. Beautiful summers, low crime and low local (relative) taxes. Between the clubs, 2 launches a month from May through October.

I know how glad you were to be in So Cal rather than Rochester, so I wasn't going to suggest coming here. But if you do, let me know.

 

[jqavins]

Why does everyone who put their all into California, wanting to leave it??

For the price of a nice house in LA or Silicon Valley, you can buy a county in New Mezona.

 

[gdjsky01]

I know how glad you were to be in So Cal rather than Rochester, so I wasn't going to suggest coming here. But if you do, let me know.

I know the county well. And its wonderful. However New York is a pretty high tax state. And while I UNDERSTAND why, I am now in the John Craxxer financially. And yes... we're I move back to a colder climate, I'd probably just become an ex-pat and move to Vancouver.

 

[gdjsky01]

Let me be clear. PLEASE don't turn this into a "I hate xxxxx".
My situation is driven PURELY by finances. Nothing else.

 

[Tech 68]

"As you wish"...

https://www.bestplaces.net/cost_of_living/city/nevada/pahrump

 

[jqavins]

to keep the cost of living down, Parump looks good, but there are better places in eastern Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. south Dakota looks even better, but that's starting to get cold; the southwest would be better both for rocketry and astronomy.

There's lots on interesting data here, including the maps below.