[Roadsterz4]

You guys are hitting the nail on the head. We live in Rocky Mount, NC and have the house on the market. We went to school in the mountains, love the twisty roads(drive sports car), have friends there and like the 3 hr drive better than 9. But from what I am hearing and seen TV is the answer. We had thought of the summer retreat.

We are still trying to figure real living expenses. I am not comfortable with some of the estimates we have seen. Anyway we are coming down on Friday after thanksgiving for a few days and would love to meet and talk.

[Roadsterz4]

We are in rocky mount. What's your time line

[Roadsterz4]

We have the house on the market and are ready to go when it sells. ( we think)

[SCULLY]

Originally Posted by RETIREDSFW

I left wilson, nc to buy in the villages. It has taken forever to unpack boxes. Now i am ready to enjoy tv.

Hi, I am from Wilson and we plan to move to there in next 2 yrs
, How do you like it so far?

[wendyquat]

Originally Posted by Roadsterz4

You guys are hitting the nail on the head. We live in Rocky Mount, NC and have the house on the market. We went to school in the mountains, love the twisty roads(drive sports car), have friends there and like the 3 hr drive better than 9. But from what I am hearing and seen TV is the answer. We had thought of the summer retreat.

We are still trying to figure real living expenses. I am not comfortable with some of the estimates we have seen. Anyway we are coming down on Friday after thanksgiving for a few days and would love to meet and talk.

We moved from Ahoskie last year and I can certainly understand your concern. When I look at the living expenses here I am only concerned with the differences here and what it would have been had we stayed in NC. Right off the bat you do not have a state income tax in Florida and no tax on food in grocery stores. Perhaps due to energy efficient construction our AC bill is not as high in the summer months as it was in NC. We heat, hot water, dryer and cook with natural gas and that is very reasonable here with the mild winters so overall our utility bills are cheaper. Tags for car and truck are a little higher here but then we do not have the personal property taxes we had in NC. Our home and car and truck insurance is less here than we were paying in N C. Water bill which includes trash pickup is a bit higher here due to irrigation but not much higher than we paid in NC. The amenities fee is a constant but it gives you a whole lot of entertainment that you would have to pay for in NC.

We bought a courtyard villa with a tiny yard so my hubby does the yard work, spraying, etc himself. He has even cut the yard with the weedeater a couple of times. Now, that being said you can spend a lot on eating out and booze if you drink. Even though we enjoy some wonderful restaurants eating out gets old after awhile so we dine in much of the time now.

Your taxes and related fees will be tied to the value of the home you buy. We kept that in mind and decided to stay in a certain price range and square footage with future maintenance and assessments in mind. The higher price tag, the higher your taxes will be. The more square footage and yard, the more maintenance will cost you. Its obvious here that many are fortunate and apparently don't have to worry about expenses but I think many of us do. Keep in mind that no matter where you live you are going to have the same basic expenses. We figure the amount we save by not paying NC income taxes goes a long way in paying for the "extras" here.

Good luck on your house selling. Ours had been on the market about 8 months with little prospect when a young couple came by one day and loved it. Turned out their loan was approved and ready to close a month earlier than we anticipated so we had to get out quick and were homeless for about 10 days. It was a good homeless!

I need to warn you that you won't find NC BBQ here like Parker's or Gardners but there are so many good BBQ places around I'm sure you will find one that you like!