Greetings all! I have a bit of a quandary and would love the input of some like-minded people. I am facing an endless crossroads in life and wonder what I/we, should do.
Background:
Both me and SO are from SoCA and moved to Dallas in mid 2013. I took a job with my company that was over here, it was a step towards building a career of sorts. Then late last year we bought a house after renting a little over a year. In February of this year we both quit our jobs to travel, visit family, and get married. Then a month later she got an email from an old co-worker about a good job opportunity and took it. We were able to do some traveling, but not nearly as much as I had planned. I got a PT job, but then quit it since it was not really worth the trouble.
Finances:
....
Complaint:
The newness of Dallas and Texas has worn off. Now we're wondering if we really want to live here or not. To be blunt, there is nothing holding us here, no family, no friends, and we're not really fond of the landscape either. Then of course there is the religious element that is everywhere. Public transportation outside of downtown is utter rubbish. There is a huge obsession with smoked meat and all sorts of nasty fried food. Then of course the whole "Tex-Mex", this never really made me go yum. Property taxes are high, insurance is high, weather can be all sorts of extremes, and oh, the soil is this hard clay and when it gets really dry it cracks. Well when it cracks and moves, so do all the homes sitting on top, so there are always foundation issues. So we're thinking of moving to another state.
Quandary:
1. Should we stay here?
COL is cheap, plenty of jobs, fairly central for travel within the states.
2. Should we both FT until full FI and then decide?
3. If we were to move, which would you recommend?
Back to SoCA to rent, Portland to rent, or Florida to rent? Any other suggestions are welcome. We would love to be near both mountains and sea. We were also looking at NC, but not sure though since it's also in the south.
I also question having a house. It's nice to finally have a place with no shared walls, no stairs, a garage, a garden of our own, a quiet neighborhood and also close to everything. We can walk to a major supermarket, and lots of other shops for stuff. Also within a 5 mile radius or less we have any store we ever need. So that is what makes this hard.
Sorry this was so long, but I can never talk about this stuff with people I know. I need some other critical thinkers input.
Thanks!