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Originally Posted by Wyody  Well, the land-lock thing is nothing new. ...Some of that disappeared when the American traditional farmer was brought down - but out here, largely due to and near the Mormon area of influence, the process continues and has since the mid-1800's as they are totally family-oriented - and large families too - just like the old days. It's not so much that they don't like outsiders ... they just don't want any and so, ... Powell and Lovell might be similar as there's a large retirement-age trend that's been around there for years - with large properties. There's a boom/bust cycle out here too associated with fossil-fuels so, a boom comes, there's a big shortage, a lot of shoddily built but good-looking homes go up, sell for big $$, the boom stops-the bust hits, the house stands foreclosed and empty for a long time and sells at a loss. There's not much viable farm-land around and what there is doesn't get sectioned and sold off. Same with ranches - lots of cows - not much water or grazing growth so, need a lot of land for just a few cows - it doesn't get sectioned and sold either so, a lot of older homes keep changing hands. Didn't mean to ramble so - but there's a lot to everything here that isn't normal anywhere else. |
pretty good snapshot of WYO...I did the 'double house payment thing' when moving from Nor Colo > WA in early 80's. Couldn't give my home away (well I'm sure I could have done that!!!) but lost plenty, and hadn't really over bought. (got from estate sale). It recently sold for 7x what I sold for in '85, so while up a bunch, would have only been ~ 8-9% annualized gain.
I'm keeping an eye on relocating to WY, basically due to being taxed out of WA (Property taxes) and now 'retired' (downsized at age 50). Powell, and Sheridan are my top pics, tho I really like Afton area, a tad too close to Mormon land. Nice folks but tough to do business if you are not LDS. (they watch after their own!)
dufferz - you might want to leave some $$$ invested in WA real estate to protect equity. hint... buy a commercial prop with home equity, and finance to defer income, and use cash to buy replacement residence. You can also finace your new home and use that cash to buy WA prop, and still deduct the interest from WA prop income, if ...you can show that the loan proceeds are being used on the investment prop.
keep in touch... I'm also looking at Eastern WA (lower tax areas) and ID and MT. even OR is better if you have no income, but they have a very low thresh-hold and will tax your SS if you get any.