Southern California to Billings Montana? Should we do it?
Corona, CA · Member since 2017 · 11 posts · 3 votes
My husband and I have lived in Southern California all of our lives. Our families live here and we love the weather but it stops there. My husband commutes about an hour and a half to work That was the only way we were able to purchase a home and our mortgage is still $2600 We possibly have an opportunity to move to Billings Montana because my husband could transfer his job out there. Is there anyone that has lived there or lives there that could give me some input? This is such a big decision and I am very nervous. I do like the fact that we would be very well off if we moved out there and I could be a stay home mom to our children but if we stay in California I have to work. Any input would be amazing Bless you for taking the time to help us out
I wish i could figure out how to drag the @names to reference people's writings! A little help here. Been doing this for 2 years and haven't figured it out!
You have to move to Montana!! I'm sure you've counted up those hours stuck in traffic and done the math on how many years of your life you're sitting in the car... scary.
the saying goes, "there's no bad weather, only bad gear." It doesnt' matter if your nose hair freezes, as long as you have good warm clothes and so do the kids! Remember how much fun it is to be active outside, skiing, skating, sledding, splitting wood, so that you have to take your jacket off when it's 10 degrees. You'll soon find yourself having bbq's on New years' day! Embrace the cold weather, and you come to love it! Red Lodge is spectacularly beautiful. You don't have the ocean, but I find the Yellowstone River to be as good or better! Especially if it only takes you five minutes to be there on a hot summer day!
I lived in LA for years, used to love to go to Corona or Huntingdon, but couldn't wait to get back to montana, when I had been lucky enough to live there (Missoula). I'm now on the East Coast for family reasons, but count the days until I can get back to MT. You're so lucky. I think it's impossible for us to convey to you the deep feeling you come to know in Montana. I also lived in the high mountains of Colorado for years, and that was stunningly beautiful, but still not the same as the Big Sky.
No matter where I go in the country, whenever I mention MT, people look at me like I just fairy-dusted them, and I"m in NY now--they ask me why in the world I'm here! And I have to think about it. I'm looking forward to the time I can get my little family back west; I think there's a great advantage to kids raised there. Its very safe; there will be plenty of time for dangerous adventures later. It's an amazing place to be from,, to build a great confidence.
I do like the idea of you keeping your Corona house. Find a great property manager (is that an oxymoron?) and you won't have to worry about it... Nice to think you could go visit if you wanted.
I've lived in Billings for all my life but two years (when we lived in NorCal ;) ). It's one of the best places to raise a family in my humble opinion. It's super cold right now (15 degrees!), so just know going in you have to deal with around 3 months of cold weather. The people are wonderful, friendly, and personal. The school system is amazing (average class ratio is 1-18ish). Westend is a bit safer, Heights area more affordable. Not much for nightlife, though a ton of breweries (secretly it's on par with Portland for quality and quantity). I did a little side project last year for fun to give families like yours and ours some inspiration for the types of adventures you can take as a family in our state (lostinmt.com/quadrant/southeast/). Best wishes in your search!
@Jennifer LeMaster Welcome here! Give it a whirl! I have lived in Michigan and California. I always enjoy the change. The move this last time made me appreciate the West all the more. My kids are out of high school so your priorities change. I would take the chance to see a different area of our country and most important BEING HOME FOR THE KIDS! Just remember to embrace the different area and beliefs. On day 1 STOP saying "In California its....." Never goes over well. You only go around this lifetime once. You can always move back. Dress warm!!!!!!!!
In case your wondering on costs, having lived in CA, I'd say it's a 15% cost of living drop here vs. CA (no sales tax, home prices are lower, and everywhere in Billings takes 10-15 minutes to get to).
I live just outside of billings and we love it here! In fact we just bought our 1st rental inside billings last week.
The people here are wonderful, and as @Account Closed said the school systems are great as well.
Also there is a investment group that meets on a monthly basis. feel free to ask if you have any questions.
If you have never lived somewhere that has winter. Billings will be a huge shock to you.
This is more of a personal/lifestyle choice than a financial one. There are some definite advantages to lower cost of living and potentially better quality of life in Montana, and yet there are many wonderful things that you may or may not fully appreciate living in SoCal ... just a matter of which pros and cons outweigh the other for you personally and your family. I'd draw a vertical line down the center of a piece of paper ... on one side write pros and on the other side cons. Then I'd draw a horizontal line to divide the top and bottom half and on one half write Montana and on the other half SoCal ... then you and your family collectively fill in all the quadrants with everything that is important to you. Then you should have all the important factors for your consideration on one piece of paper and the exercise will help you think it through.
One other thing I'd recommend ... if you do choose Montana, then I would seriously consider renting in Montana and holding your SoCal property as a rental at first (for a year at least). After a year if you are convinced the move was the right one, then you can sell in SoCal (and still qualify for the primary residence capital gains tax exclusion) and buy in Montana and be sure of the move and familiar with the RE lay of the land in Montana. If not, you'd still have your property in SoCal and can more easily reverse the move if you choose to. I have several friends and family that have moved out of SoCal, later changed their mind and wanted to move back, only to find that they were priced out of the RE market here and can't move back ...
Good luck to you whichever path you choose.
@Dylan Vargas @Account Closed
This is very insightful and helpful. Jon I look forward to reading your blog very soon. Dylan the thing is with my husband's job there's really no moving back. So once were there that's it. It's such a big move and it scares me a little bit. California is all I know. But I am definitely over the traffic and the taxes just to name a few. I'll just keep praying about it and see what happens. But thank you so much for your input
Thank you for your comments David. We have definitely thought about keeping our house in Corona and renting it out. But that does concern us a little bit. I know it can be stressful trying to rent out the property and we have never done it before. I guess it is something to consider. But moving back to California if we decide to move to Montana may be more difficult with my husband's job. But anything is possible. I actually lived in New York for four years so I am familiar with the snow. I actually miss having seasons. It is a huge life moment for us and I thank you for your input and I will definitely consider renting this property out. Thank you once again
Hi Jennifer. I am from SoCal myself, born and raised in Pasadena. I lived in the Pasadena, Burbank, Studio City, and Laguna Beach areas for a total of 32 years. My wife and I moved to Billings Montana just over 8 years ago. She was originally from Billings and her parents are here so that is a huge help, being that the birth of our first kid prompted the move. We just didn't want to raise our kids in LA.....its not the same place that I grew up in. We were tired of the traffic all the time, cost of housing, and lack of decent public schools . I'm not here to bash SoCal though, because there is a lot that I still miss and I know a lot of great people down there. We have been very happy that we made the jump. I've got two 7 and 9 year old kiddos and they love it. The schools are good here with a couple of them being great. Winter: We just received 7 inches of snow, the residential roads have been crappy with ice ruts since December, and its 19 degrees right now. Honestly though we love it. You have to embrace the winter or you will go a little stir crazy. My family skis at Red Lodge Mountain (1 hour drive from Billings) every Saturday Dec-March. The other great thing is actually having 4 seasons here. I was used to the 1.5 seasons of SoCal. If you would like to get some more honest details of the positives and negatives (there are a few), reply back. Full disclosure: I am a Realtor here in town.
Great read. Thank you. We are definitely tired of the commute. We can't go anywhere without being in traffic. It has gotten so bad that no matter what time of day it is you are going to be in some kind of traffic. We say that we would miss the beach but I can't remember the last time we went to the beach because a 40 minute drive is really an hour and a half to 2 Hour drive. There are so many more positive's moving out to Montana. My husband wouldn't have to commute to work anymore. When we have children I could actually stay at home with them and not have to work. I could put them in public schools in Montana. I could go on and on of how it makes sense to move out there. But it is still scary. I think especially the winter months. It's a nice 70° here today and I just finished taking my dog for a walk. That wouldn't happen in Montana. But there's a give and take for every situation. It's nice to see that you have experienced and lived in California and then moved to Billings and love it. Reassuring for sure!!!! Thank you
We still walk dogs here in the winter ;)
The way I look at it: there's a give and take. Like the post above, you've got to decide what's right for your family and graphing out the positives vs. negatives is a great visual exercise. To me my commute in LA was about 18 miles, but I had to plan for it to take 1.5 hours (101 and 405 fwys). There is so much more to life than 3 hours of traffic a day. I'll bundle up to walk the dog any day over that. Good luck in your decision, if you decide to make the jump please reach out to me as a resource. I'd be happy to share my thoughts. Cheers!
I definitely will Mike. Thank you
I'll add to the consensus. We moved to the Billings area 10 years ago from southern California. I'm originally from Calgary, so the move was to get closer to extended family. I miss the California winters and our friends, but that is it. If you love the outdoors and wide open spaces, then this is for you. You can get a great home for around $300K, an amazing home for $500k. Real estate is not crazy expensive, but not a bargain, either. Mobile homes on small lots run low 6 figures.
If you want some acreage that's doable too. We live close to town on 10 acres. Walmart is 15 miles away, takes us 20 minutes to get there. Schools are not huge, but good. Billings serves a large geographic area, so has more here than would be expected for a town of 100,000 people. Lots of commercial and retail, 2 hospitals, good highways, okay airport and LOTS of churches. I'm not a night life person, so can't comment on that. Don't get a lot of big name entertainers through, and no professional sports teams.
This was a long, cold winter, but usually they're not too bad. I'm a general contractor (log homes) and only missed 2 weeks of work to weather last year, this past winter was a different story. If you're looking to live out of town I could give you decent input on the areas to consider. I don't build in town, so probably other people can give you better insight. Last but not least, if you do move here, avoid telling people where you came from. Californians are not beloved here, but the worst you get is a grimace. Also, crime is very low. I don't think there were any murders in Billings last year.
I wish i could figure out how to drag the @names to reference people's writings! A little help here. Been doing this for 2 years and haven't figured it out!
You have to move to Montana!! I'm sure you've counted up those hours stuck in traffic and done the math on how many years of your life you're sitting in the car... scary.
the saying goes, "there's no bad weather, only bad gear." It doesnt' matter if your nose hair freezes, as long as you have good warm clothes and so do the kids! Remember how much fun it is to be active outside, skiing, skating, sledding, splitting wood, so that you have to take your jacket off when it's 10 degrees. You'll soon find yourself having bbq's on New years' day! Embrace the cold weather, and you come to love it! Red Lodge is spectacularly beautiful. You don't have the ocean, but I find the Yellowstone River to be as good or better! Especially if it only takes you five minutes to be there on a hot summer day!
I lived in LA for years, used to love to go to Corona or Huntingdon, but couldn't wait to get back to montana, when I had been lucky enough to live there (Missoula). I'm now on the East Coast for family reasons, but count the days until I can get back to MT. You're so lucky. I think it's impossible for us to convey to you the deep feeling you come to know in Montana. I also lived in the high mountains of Colorado for years, and that was stunningly beautiful, but still not the same as the Big Sky.
No matter where I go in the country, whenever I mention MT, people look at me like I just fairy-dusted them, and I"m in NY now--they ask me why in the world I'm here! And I have to think about it. I'm looking forward to the time I can get my little family back west; I think there's a great advantage to kids raised there. Its very safe; there will be plenty of time for dangerous adventures later. It's an amazing place to be from,, to build a great confidence.
I do like the idea of you keeping your Corona house. Find a great property manager (is that an oxymoron?) and you won't have to worry about it... Nice to think you could go visit if you wanted.
@Alan Brown to "mention" someone. You type the @ symbol followed by the first three letters of their name. Wait a second and a drop down window will appear with options that match your typing. Select the person you want to "mention". If everything went right, their name will appear highlighted in blue.
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Born and raised in San Diego. Been in Korea the past 4 years, and within 5 years planning to move to Idaho with the family to start a homestead (THE DREAM!!!)
One thing us SoCal folk don't realize is that life is seasonal.
Living through a couple winters in Korea (on par with Montana and that latitude) I embrace staying home in the winter, and allow that time to focus on indoor activities.
You'll grow seasonal too living in Montana. It's a nice change of pace.
Makes you appreciate the spring and summer when you can throw on shorts and sandals again.
Best of luck.
I love this. Thank you!!!!!!!
@Alan Brown @Account Closed
Your posts make me want to move right now to Montana. My has been is going to put in his application and we will see I will definitely let all of you know what happens
10 acres!! OMG yes please
montana is the way to go. I spend plenty of time in CA every year and while it is beautiful it is also way overcrowded.
It is beyond crowded. It doesn't matter what time of the day it is there is ALWAYS traffic and I'm so over it!!!!
@Kyle Nelson, hey, how is Polson doing? do you see much opportunity for flips there? Flathead is one of my favorite places on earth... what would you guess is the median price range in Polson?
@Jennifer LeMaster 10 acres seems like a lot to people from the land that actually grows things. In CA you can feed half the world with 10 acres and some water. In Montana it will feed one cow for about 3 months.