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Need to escape from Massachusetts and looking for advice.

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  • Ranger60

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    Mar 28, 2008
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    Taylor
    It really is and has developed into a fun place in the last couple years. Halloween car show coming up with all day rockabilly. Last year count was 400 cars, including a row of about 10 Model T's.
     

    easy rider

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    It really is and has developed into a fun place in the last couple years. Halloween car show coming up with all day rockabilly. Last year count was 400 cars, including a row of about 10 Model T's.
    If it wasn't for the humidity, it would be almost livable ..... LOL!
     

    easy rider

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    I'm curious about the vehicle inspection. This document is the inspection standard linked on the MA state site. http://www.mass.gov/courts/docs/lawlib/500-599cmr/540cmr4.pdf
    It basically says the suspension has to be in good working order, as determined by a few objective metrics, and can't be lowered more than two inches. That's all I see. Can you point me to what's going on beyond that?
    First of all, in Texas most vehicles aren't subject to emissions tests. Second, inspections are done by state licensed businesses not the state, mainly checking your brakes, tires and lights and not much more. You then take your title or registration, insurance and inspection paper to Texas DMV to get your plates and registration.
     

    OlongJohnson

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    Mar 8, 2015
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    You misunderstood. I'm a TX resident with multiple vehicles. I looked for the published requirements for a VI in MA and didn't find where it says "no changes" or "no aftermarket control arms." So I'm curious about the degree of overreach, or if there are additional documents I didn't find, or if there's just an inspection station misrepresenting the actual standard. I spent a lot of years in CA before I was here...
     

    easy rider

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    You misunderstood. I'm a TX resident with multiple vehicles. I looked for the published requirements for a VI in MA and didn't find where it says "no changes" or "no aftermarket control arms." So I'm curious about the degree of overreach, or if there are additional documents I didn't find, or if there's just an inspection station misrepresenting the actual standard. I spent a lot of years in CA before I was here...
    Ahhh, I guess that would be for the OP then, since most here can care less MA does.
     

    OlongJohnson

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    That's shortsighted thinking. Regulatory overreach is like a virus, or a fungus. It just keeps growing unless you fight it. It's important to understand it, so you can recognize the early signs of it.
     

    cswpsi

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    Aug 28, 2013
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    South of Houston
    We moved to the Houston area from Ohio nearly 30 years ago and I'm still not used to the humidity. Since I'm now close to retirement, I'm considering where I want to settle, since I'd like to get away from the city traffic and heat/humidity of SE Texas.

    Here are my top choices:

    1. Hill Country (from San Antonio, west & north). It's dryer and more temperate than the SE/Houston area.
    2. North of Austin/south of DFW. Staying away from the larger metro areas and off of I-35, you can find many very nice areas. The nicest part of this choice is you're within easy access to most of the best cultural areas of Texas and some of the best gun ranges (short of opening your own back door).
    3. Much of North Texas (outside of DFW) and the upper Panhandle are also places to consider.

    My $.02, FWIW. Charles
     

    easy rider

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    We moved to the Houston area from Ohio nearly 30 years ago and I'm still not used to the humidity. Since I'm now close to retirement, I'm considering where I want to settle, since I'd like to get away from the city traffic and heat/humidity of SE Texas.

    Here are my top choices:

    1. Hill Country (from San Antonio, west & north). It's dryer and more temperate than the SE/Houston area.
    2. North of Austin/south of DFW. Staying away from the larger metro areas and off of I-35, you can find many very nice areas. The nicest part of this choice is you're within easy access to most of the best cultural areas of Texas and some of the best gun ranges (short of opening your own back door).
    3. Much of North Texas (outside of DFW) and the upper Panhandle are also places to consider.

    My $.02, FWIW. Charles
    If those were my choices, I think I would go with #1. Upper panhandle is often called the north pole of Texas in the winter and anywhere along the I-35 corridor has way too many snowflakes for my comfort.
     

    Darkpriest667

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    Jarrell TX, United States
    I'm from the panhandle.. DO NOT move there unless you like BITTER BITTER dry WINDY cold during the winters... the last year I was there the windchill got down to -35 one time. Screw that. It's also WINDY.. ALL THE TIME... The first time I stayed in DFW I was just a little taken back by "CALM" days... if there is 0 wind I get freaked out to this day because I am so used to the wind ALWAYS blowing.
     

    Steve_In_29

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    Jun 18, 2015
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    St John's, AZ
    OP, I to just went through a 2+ year search for a place to move out of CA and finally settled on a small town in AZ (pop:3,400). But we are retired so job prospects weren't a concern. Getting away from the rat race and avoiding areas potentially affected by natural and other kinds of disasters was a priority for us. We looked in MT, ID, UT, AZ as well as TX.

    I lived in Del Rio as a kid and my son currently lives in Chico (works in DFW). He had been living in Graham and we looked at properties in that general vicinity during our search.

    TX like CA is a huge state and there are varying types of terrain/weather depending on where you chose. The costs of houses and/or property also vary greatly depending on area as well. For example land in West Texas could be had for as little as $130 an acre, though that was for a 100 acre plot. While in North Texas the lowest I saw for larger plots was $1600 an acre with smaller plots going for around $5k an acre. Property taxes were also a big issue with TX as you can be paying more in property tax alone there then some other states want for income and property combined. Though I found out later that since I am Disabled Vet that I would have been basically exempt from property tax.

    While TX is definitely more conservative and freer then MA, living in a big city in TX brings most all the liberal and urban problems that ones in MA exhibit. In 2016 all the big cities in TX were solidly blue and went for Hillary. Dallas just pulled down a Civil War statue even.

    Something I found interesting during our research, was that as anti-2A as CA is, it is easier to find places to go shooting (4wheeling/camping/etc) here on public lands then in many other states. Absent a local gun range you are going to have to know someone with property to even just target shoot.

    Our AZ place cost us $160K and property taxes are $500 a year. For a 2bed/2bath 1452sqft log cabin on 36 vegitated, fenced acres with a well and co-op electricity on a County maintained road. In TX we would have at a minimum, been looking at 2 if not 3 or more times that purchase price and 10x the property taxes from what I saw.

    Here is the view from my front porch.
    Nvmrc3Ml.jpg
     
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    cswpsi

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    Aug 28, 2013
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    South of Houston
    @Darkpriest667 I don't doubt that for a minute, but we've noticed some really nice areas passin'thru. We've traveled thru the panhandle several times, never in the winter, but have seen the weather reports and traveled on North I-35 up thru OKC in two separate ice storms.
    If those were my choices, I think I would go with #1. Upper panhandle is often called the north pole of Texas in the winter and anywhere along the I-35 corridor has way too many snowflakes for my comfort.
    Yeah, Hill country is the top choice, but I've seen some great countryside south of Waco that I'd seriously consider for the right price.
     

    Steve_In_29

    Semper Fi
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    Jun 18, 2015
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    St John's, AZ
    OP, I would suggest you look into smaller towns as forklifts aren't confined to large cities. Plus I would imagine your skills cross over into other mechanical jobs as well right?

    I would also suggest buying as far out of town as you can if you want to avoid the crowds. A longer commute that allows you to live in a more rural area will give you and your family a nicer lifestyle then living piled on top of one another in a crowded city or even the suburbs. As I mentioned my son lives in Chico (pop:1K) and works at Amazon in DFW (90 miles/1.5Hrs away). The town he used to live in Graham (pop:9K) was the County Seat and had Walmart/etc and jobs. While being surrounded by open country. It was 60 miles straight south of Wichita Falls (pop:105K) that has Sheppard Air Force Base with lots of jobs. Olney (near Graham) has an aluminum extrusion factory (Tower Extrusions) that is always in need of workers from what my son had told me. He said they went as far as busing their workers in from Wichita Falls every day.

    My point being that there are LOTS of places to live/work in TX outside of the well known big cities.

    Of course if big city life is what you desire and simply want to live it in a freer State then the above suggestions aren't applicable.
     
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