Moving to the South?

[WildWill]

Why would it be cheaper down there? I was always told the most valuable real estate in the world was the Oklahoma panhandle. It was the only thing that kept Texas from touching Colorado. (Que the drum rimshot) Ba dum tsh....

Texans concur!

 

[Deleted member 56631]

Any change of heart with the change in the White House? Rates could be slowly working down, lots of new builds going up around the valley.

I was thinking- Is your work consistent all year? I had a hell of a time getting a loan until I had stable employment. Dual income?

Other consideration. If you move is your new employment wage gonna help get a loan in OK or will you be in a similar situation there?

 

[Brad]

I lived in OK for 20 of the longest months of my life. There is literally nothing that could ever induce me to live there again. I get living in the Gallatin can be financially challenging, but if you want to be in the South (though I can't fathom why), there are certainly better choices.

 

[Rack Daniels]

Any change of heart with the change in the White House? Rates could be slowly working down, lots of new builds going up around the valley.

I was thinking- Is your work consistent all year? I had a hell of a time getting a loan until I had stable employment. Dual income?

Other consideration. If you move is your new employment wage gonna help get a loan in OK or will you be in a similar situation there?

I’ve lived here 20 years, since I was a young teen, and I’ve never once seen rent go DOWN. Unfortunately.

I do think that when they round up the illegal immigrants and all the housing is vacant again, it MIGHT help. If I had a family member just give me an acre I could easily get a construction loan and build something- get a roof on it and turn it into a mortgage and stay right here. But alas, I’m doing just as good as anyone else in my family it seems. Maybe even better than most

The work thing has been up and down and pretty unstable since 2020 and it’s a long story that’s led me to today. I know if I found a good company that values employee longevity and free-thinking problem solvers, I could at least continue at the status quo but I would like to do better than that. reducing our means of living is the only way, without increasing the pay rate. To answer your question, we will have the financial help and local contacts from the other family that intends to move there. They’re talking about buying a BIG chunk of land and we’d go in on a small portion to build on, or live on if something’s already there. It sounds like I’d get a pretty competitive wage to start and with a sub 1k/month payment for rent/mortgage I don’t see how I COULDNT get ahead. No dual income, and was self employed for many years and that’s led to some real hoops for an auto loan. As of today, though, I am currently working as a company employee.

 

[Rack Daniels]

Thought I’d report back to this thread with a little update. Some of the Oklahoma guys have already seen these photos. Pretty much the day we got here I helped install a couple of toilets, replace a cut fence and clean up around the farm.. We have had lots of time to relax and enjoy not having nearly as many of the struggles of typical adult life… We have gotten to go fishing at the ponds and I got my NR hunting license pretty early to hunt turkey (no luck) and be able to shoot turtles and whatnot. Squirrel has their own season here and are not varmints so that’s pretty strange haha makes me more ambitious to want to cook them knowing they’re a “game species”

The folks we are with live in a 4th generation 100 year old farm house that has had multiple small additions. The attic was part of the original build and there originally wasn’t any kind of footing under the house. Needless to say, it has settled a ton! Before we got here they jacked what they could up and tried to block it in to prevent it further. The truss rafters were all bowed and crowned different directions, the bottom angle different from each other on many of them. It took a ton of work but I tore the crappy old (tall) stairs out and replaced them, tore up the flooring they had and cleaned out all the mice/rat accumulation, framed it all to plane at one height, sheeted the floor and reframed the short walls and sisters boards to the rafters to take some of the bow/crown out and make them plane. Then I did some boxcar siding and laminate “click” flooring. Still need a little trim but I’ve been doing so many projects that the progress is intermittent. It’s time to start really thinking about the future here and putting a plan into action. We live in the country and finding real W2 work in the same field has been tricky.. I got a job in the city helping remodel but at 100 miles of driving a day, I’m wondering if it’s worth doing or trying to find something closer to the farm… anyhow, thanks for following along and here are some photos!

 

[Rack Daniels]

 

[Bonasababy]

Holy bandwith Rack! Nice though.

Late to the discussion but climate change has altered our thoughts of a southern spot quite a bit. I'd still like a spot somewhere but we are thinking it better be close to mountains so we can escape the weeks of 90-100+ temps if we want.

Canada looks more inviting all the time...

 

[EastTNHunter]

Good snake, bad spider.

The old houses have character, but often need a lot of work, lack standard building practices, and require a lot of maintenance (which can also be difficult). Not something that I want to do again.

And 100 miles of driving is sometimes needed to enjoy where you want to live but also make a decent living. I just roll with it

 

[elkduds]

 

[Pagosa]

I grew up in this area (Jay/Spavinaw) and he really knew a lot about these people and the area. Its sad what it has become, some places are really dangerous but a lot of good people too.

 

[Forkyfinder]

View attachment 373123

View attachment 373123View attachment 373125View attachment 373126View attachment 373127View attachment 373128View attachment 373129View attachment 373130View attachment 373131View attachment 373132View attachment 373133View attachment 373134View attachment 373135View attachment 373136View attachment 373137View attachment 373138View attachment 373139View attachment 373140View attachment 373141View attachment 373142View attachment 373143View attachment 373144View attachment 373145View attachment 373146View attachment 373148View attachment 373149View attachment 373150View attachment 373151View attachment 373152View attachment 373154View attachment 373155View attachment 373156View attachment 373157View attachment 373159

Good to see youre doing well!

 

[Richard22]

You'll be changing the time of the year when you find yourself becoming a hermit from the winter to the summer.

 

[It’s Bucky]

View attachment 373123

View attachment 373123View attachment 373125View attachment 373126View attachment 373127View attachment 373128View attachment 373129View attachment 373130View attachment 373131View attachment 373132View attachment 373133View attachment 373134View attachment 373135View attachment 373136View attachment 373137View attachment 373138View attachment 373139View attachment 373140View attachment 373141View attachment 373142View attachment 373143View attachment 373144View attachment 373145View attachment 373146View attachment 373148View attachment 373149View attachment 373150View attachment 373151View attachment 373152View attachment 373154View attachment 373155View attachment 373156View attachment 373157View attachment 373159

Those are some smoker bass! Looks like fun!

 

[Rack Daniels]

My oldest son has shown interest in making his own lures. The first one was a mouse with a rubber band tail. The treble is held on by a piece of like 14 gauge wire pushed into wood and glued in, curled through the eye of the hook. I couldn’t believe when he pulled this guy out of the water.

View attachment IMG_7471.jpeg

Since then he has come up with some absolutely brilliant lures. Some work as intended, some don’t- learning new techniques daily. We went out and bought some acrylic paints in basic colors. I think a white, black, orange, yellow, light and dark green and light and dark blue and a little polycrylic for top clearcoat. We got some tiny screw-eyes, hooks and found some split rings in the fishing section at Walmart.
Impressed by this young man’s imagination.

Happy Father’s Day and cheers all!

 

[Wild Bill]

That’s awesome. Good work!

 

[Letthemgrow]

and be able to shoot turtles

. . . ? ? ? . . .

 

[EastTNHunter]

Heck yeah

 

[Rack Daniels]

. . . ? ? ? . . .

What’s up? Lol

Many species that do not have season dates may still require a hunting license and may or may not still have bag limits. I don’t need a hunting license to shoot hogs, but I do need one to shoot turtles, frogs, squirrel and even coyotes; as well as many others.

 

[WildWill]

. . . ? ? ? . . .

Shooting turtles in the head with a 22. is common practice around here. They're generally considered bait stealing, fish eating, good for nothing pest with prolific populations. As a young man me and my crew spent many a summer day fishing, swimming, and Shooting turtles at a local creek or pond.

 

[Letthemgrow]

Thanks for the explanation. I had no idea that was a thing.