Thinking of moving to Missouri

Just happened to Google something totally NOT related to this topic, and it took me to this post from a long time ago! Funny huh! My advice, get here and get here quick. Buy up all the real estate and land you possible can! "Land Ownership is the Basis of all Wealth" Their boom will come...one day. For now, jump on these insanely low prices and buy everything you possibly can. I am VERY happy with my house. BUT, am now wishing we'd bought four 30k houses and fixed them up for rentals and then sell them one day when the market gets better out here. Right now it's all about renters. Not about flipping houses. But it will change. We could have started out with four rentals AND bought this house as well. Oh well, live and learn. SO now we are going to start with one rental instead of four. But we are going to work our butts off to make more and more money to buy as much property as possible! Acreage out here is a steal, even the prime locations are a fraction of the price of Ca. We went to Ca last week for a visit and I couldn't WAIT to get back! I mean it was nice to see family, but there's no place like home, even if it is our "new home". Have you guys still been thinking about moving or is it one of those fleeting feelings that come and go, like we went through, until we just bit the bullet and LEFT! Keep in touch and let me know if you want any newspapers or whatever from your desired areas. ~~Take care, Kristen

Kristen, I have lived in Kansas City, MO for 30 years while I also worked around the US on 6 month-2 year contracts. In 2002 , I was in Bakersfield for over a year working for the County. I think what you are doing is over very smart. The overall niceness of the Midwest folks is so real compared to the California Have-A-Nice-Day grunt from a store. You will notice a real diference with the Nurses! I have had freinds move back from CA to here as they became ready to raise a family. And they all LOVED the money they got from converting real estate prices. A couple of things... of course, THE WEATHER.. I hate the weather in MO as during winter you might as well live in Minnesiota and summer you might as well live in Washington , DC due to the humidity. But the months in between are so beautifull and you really appreciate the change of seasons. In CA, time just seems to roll by....... I would consider Springfield as somewhat red neck/Very Conservative. And then I lived in Bakersfield... WOW. RepublicansVille! It is nice and growing without growing too fast. You can make plans 5,10 years ahead w/o as much change. You can be in KC in less than 2 hours or to St Louis and you are near the Ozarks which are just wonderfull for Summer and Fall Foliage. Any other questions just post! Ken

Kristen, I had not read the other posts before I replied to you, so some duplicate info. Here is some info I posted elsewhere and maybe it skewed my opion of Bakersfield. The below hospital was right up by the airport. ..Ken I was working in Bakersfield CA and went to a "BAD" General Practioner. I had a case of Cellulitis for first time in life. He put me one of the worst hospitals in Southern California and I got staph infection & Hepatitis-C. I had GREAT insurance and don't know why I ended up there. This Dr was in the middle of a number of lawsuits, he was doing psuedo-plastic surgery and having problems ( I learned later). After leaving 7 days of IV therapy I had emergency surgery due to Staph infection in my back. A visiting nurse later told me she wouldn't put her ex-husbands Dog in that hospital... and she HATES that man and his dog .. She had worked there years before and quit because she would lose her license if she stayed. Something about being a Nurse Supervsior and them faking info. I didn't know any better as I had been in town for 3 weeks. Closest person I knew was in Texas. Then I ended up in 3 different hospitals for 3 months and back to my hotel room which I had to keep renting the whole time. I had to pay taxi drivers to go and buy me big-mans underwear every week.

LOL!! What the heck happened to you here? Of course you should HATE Bakersfield!! So was it Good Samaritan Hospital??? YIKES! That place IS scary. It's in the part of town we call Oildale. Well, actually they call themselves Oildale (City). They claim they are NOT part of Bakersfield. Whatever. Good Sam is a tiny place, primarily a psych hospital for that areas drug addicts. I haven't been in there except to fill out an app. (was called for an interview but declined). That area is notorious for 'tweakers' (methamphetamine users) and heroin addicts. Just think of who you were sharing the nurses/CNA's with!! eww! No wonder you got WORSE! Well, thanks for the info on Mo. We looked at houses online last night and just flipped out (again) at the prices. Only thing is, if we move there, we would never (financially) be able to move back! But I do think it'd be a better place to have a family. Different world from where I'm from! Take care, Kristen

Hi Kristen. My Aunt and Uncle moved to Mo. from Santa Barbara in 1979 and say they don't regret a day of it. I've lived in Mo. all my life and couldn't believe they were leaving such a beautiful place. LOL. Mo. has been a great place to live and raise kids. I live about 10 minutes due west of Springfield so if you need any info on anything don't hesitate to e-mail me. Sheila

Santa Barbara is awesome!! There are yucky areas/neighborhoods, but for the most part, it's at the beach and there are some nice places to live and shop out there. THat's where we went on vacation when I was a kid. It's only about 2 hours from here. We'd get a hotel room and hang out there for a weekend or a week. My Grandparents were about to buy an apartment there, for vacations (they went A LOT!) but he passed away before they could. We looked at houses online last night and found a NICE new tract/development in Springfield called Ashley Park. Have you heard of it? I'm hoping to get my step sister in law--whew, that (step AND in law) sounds bad, but she's the sweetest person ever!) to go check it out for us. We are just amazed at the prices we found. And luckily for us, we can move anywhere with our jobs (nurse and truckdriver). I'm going to contact some nurse travel co's today! I'm really excited! Thanks for your reply, Kristen

Hey Sheila, I need your help. Can you tell me anything about the town Willard? Also, do you know the neighborhoods in Springfield? We've found a few homes in 65804 and 65810, do you know where they are and if they are OK areas? We're planning a trip out there around the 22nd of this month! Can't wait to see these houses in person! Can you tell I'm super excited? I might start packing tonight, cause I KNOW I won't sleep well! Thanks a bunch! Kristen

I have lived in the suburbs of St. Louis my entire life. I couldn't imagine living anywhere else! I don't know much about Springfield except that it is huge, has a Lambert's (what a fun place to eat), and a Bass Pro shop that rivals all sporting goods stores. The only bad thing about Missouri is the weather. But if you don't like it, just give it a minute...it's bound to change. Pamela 1 year post-op today

Well I live in Springfield and I have to say I love it. There are certain parts of town you would not want to live in. I live on the South side of town near St. Johns hospital. This is in my opinion the best hospital in Springfield. There are several here, St. Johns, Cox, and Doctors Hospital. Springfield has several colleges, Southwest Missouri State, Drury, Evangle, Central Bible College, Baptist Bible College, Ozark Technical Community College. The weather is bad as far as being hot in the summer. The last two years though the winters have been pretty mild with not alot of snow or ice. And they clean the roads off really quick so driving conditions aren't really that bad. I moved here from Tampa Florida 4 years ago and I do not regret it at all. Although I am from Missouri, I was born and raised in the Joplin area that is about 75 miles southwest of Springfield. They also have a great support group hear for post op patients at St. Johns Surgery Center every 2nd Monday of the month, they have lost of guest speakers and interact with alot of patients and the doctors that perform the surgery. If you would like any more information feel free to email me at [email protected] Thanks, Carla 385 -135 250

OK, great, you are a good resource for me! My father in law is at St. John's ICU right now. That's why we were out there last week. There are some gorgeous old homes near the hospital, but I know in my town, there isn't a hospital I'd want to live by! That's USUALLY the yucky side of town, or the old side of town actually. That hospital was great and HUGE and a MAZE! But we found our way to the ICU no problem. The cafeteria was a different story! So, have you heard of the development called Ashley Park? We found some nice homes in that area, online. We just went to caroljones.com to look and she had TONS of listings with pics. It was wonderful. I know we aren't about to buy a house NOW, but we will live out there a while as renters until we figure out the town. It sure helps to have someone to tell us where to stay away from though! YIKES! We did see some bad stuff going on in Springfield, but still, life there is nothing like out here. I can't wait to get back! Thanks for your reply, Kristen