Toyota will be moving U.S. Headquarters from California to Texas

[NEexpat]

I would never presume to speak for a Texan or Texas for that matter. 40 million dollars in a State that, depending on who you ask, is projecting a 6, 7, 8, plus billion dollar budget surplus this year, is nothing.

Hell, the optics alone are worth that and more.

Nook, nothing wrong with "homerism", at all. I spent a good deal of time in Texas. Mostly golf. Boy I loved it. If I can ever get out from under some family/home obligations here it is on my short list.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by NEexpat

I would never presume to speak for a Texan or Texas for that matter. 40 million dollars in a State that, depending on who you ask, is projecting a 6, 7, 8, plus billion dollar budget surplus this year, is nothing.

Hell, the optics alone are worth that and more.

Nook, nothing wrong with "homerism", at all. I spent a good deal of time in Texas. Mostly golf. Boy I loved it. If I can ever get out from under some family/home obligations here it is on my short list.

Thanks. Besides liking the way things are set up here, I really like the attitude of many of the people here...glass half full, friendly, and more aware re things that are important/can bring satisfaction. When I first moved here, I looked at a detailed map and decided to count how many golf holes there were within Montgomery, Conroe, and all of the 8 zip codes assigned to Spring mailing addresses (including The Woodlands) and I think the count was just under 630. Accordingly, one of the 4 (at the time) Golfsmith stores in the country (out of 70 stores at the time) with the 'Extreme' designation (other 3 in California) was (and is) located just outside The Woodlands. The are almost 100 stores now.....I don't know how many of the new ones are extreme stores. I've been acquainted with two brothers who are from and live in Minnesota. Outside family and business commitments, they live to do two things...play golf and ice fish. I've thought that, if weather permitted, they'd play more golf and ice fish less. My best friend growing up was a 4-5 handicap. His dad is a golf nut, and not too long after they moved to New jersey, they became members at Baltusrol. When his dad retired, I always thought they would move back to California so he could play golf year round. However, my friend's little sister married a local guy and started a family....wife wanting to be near grandkids wins....so I can see why you might want to relocate once less encumbered....definitely lots of places in Texas, Arizona, California (and in some other states) where one can play golf year round. My aunt and uncle live on a golf course in the SF Bay Area. They've played golf all over the world, but never in Texas ...they don't like the flatness. Part of it might also be that my aunt doesn't have very good memories re Texas (she was walking in a crosswalk in El Paso when she was in her early 20's ...a car didn't stop properly at the red light...hit her...and almost killed her). My house = a great location re amenities but I miss being close to a large body of water....I'm not close enough to Lake Conroe (Lake Woodlands doesn't cut it). In 2-3 years (once I'm completely here and then complete the 2 out of last 5 re capital gains) I'll evaluate again and possibly make a move. I've previously always lived in the SF Bay Area, near the beach in Southern California, or near Lake Tahoe or Mammoth Lakes.

If I could design my perfect area in the U.S.....I'd take Pinellas County, Florida (one of the barrier island cities between Clearwater Beach and St. Pete Beach, or parts of Palm Harbor, Dunedin, or Safety Harbor) and institute many of the laws/policies/procedures present here in Montgomery County, TX there....transfer the attitude of the people here to there....move in the weather and weather patterns from either Santa Barbara or San Diego....throw in some forest density like that around some of the outskirts of Seattle....plop Lake Tahoe and the surrounding mountains down somewhere between I-10 and the Georgia border... plop Las Vegas down somewhere else in Florida....and plop the Chattanooga area down in yet another area of Florida .

[tooter]

Originally Posted by nookandcrannycar

In 2-3 years (once I'm completely here and then complete the 2 out of last 5 re capital gains) I'll evaluate again and possibly make a move. I've previously always lived in the SF Bay Area, near the beach in Southern California, or near Lake Tahoe or Mammoth Lakes.

Hey nook,

A friend of mine relocated from California to Texas about 20 years ago. The difference in real estate prices was huge. He sold a tiny house here for over $500K and bought a bigger home with a pool in Texas for just $200K. We live a few miles from Malibu in a secluded rural coastal canyon and love it. There was no way we could ever buy into a place where there's nothing under $800K, so we built a cheap small simple "Home Depot" cottage instead at a tiny fraction of the cost.

If you do consider moving to the Bay area (yes, it's beautiful) get ready for "sticker shock" as the real estate there is sky high because of all the big high tech companies located there.


Greg

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by tooter

Hey nook,

A friend of mine relocated from California to Texas about 20 years ago. The difference in real estate prices was huge. He sold a tiny house here for over $500K and bought a bigger home with a pool in Texas for just $200K. We live a few miles from Malibu in a secluded rural coastal canyon and love it. There was no way we could ever buy into a place where there's nothing under $800K, so we built a cheap small simple "Home Depot" cottage instead at a tiny fraction of the cost.

If you do consider moving to the Bay area (yes, it's beautiful) get ready for "sticker shock" as the real estate there is sky high because of all the big high tech companies located there.


Greg

Thanks for the info. I won't move back because.....If I could pull it off.....I would never want a penny of tax revenue (even sales tax...I know that's not possible...I'd never be able to visit and pull that off ) to go to the state government or any local government in California. Much of what I see is, IMO, intolerable. I was somewhat p***ed off re waste, political correctness, and public sector entities wielding too much power, etc. during the last 5 years that I officially lived in and owned properties in California, but when I moved to a very different state (Texas) and saw an overall structure that is, for the most part set up properly (the City of Houston and some other parts of Harris County are partial exceptions....somewhat like a mini California ), I was slightly p***ed off at myself for not uncovering this sooner. In California, many policy positions held by, and the lack of moral fiber exhibited by many polititians and government officials really made my blood boil. I still feel that way. Some of what I see here isn't to my liking, but generally light years better than California. Perhaps I am too much the idealist (for my end of the spectrum) .

There are some hard core conservatives in my family, but there are also some devout leftists. To me it isn't worth the aggravation to (in person) put up with the general 'climate' in California (not family climate). Knowing from a distance that California is the way it is still upsets me a bit. My 'band aid' is that I know my cousin's earning power re her job and the business she owns (relative to other places), etc., make the Bay Area the best place for my little cousin to grow up (very important to me....I worry what the world will be like when all of us are gone....she'll have half of my aunt's assets, all of mine, all of her mother's, and what she has earned herself....I want her (and any progeny she may have) to be protected from any storm....If she wants to spend every penny in California, that is fine with me. Her overall happiness over the course of her life is more important to me than having that much less money funneled to government within California). Many people in my family take a 'one can afford it, so who cares' attitude. I can afford it as well, but I refuse to ignore what I find untenable. Once I'm aware of the root, the essence....and that there is a starkly different alternative, that is too important to me to ignore. I'm too much like my uncle. When my uncle found out that UC Berkeley (his alma mater - freshman undergrad through graduate and then professional degree) hired a particular 'activist' as a professor (Social Science, IIRC), he was so p***ed off that he actually changed his will and disinherited the university.

You're right, some of the real estate differences between California and Texas can be stark. Re my personal residence, I secured pretty much the same extremely low crime rate here in Texas that I had in California, and got a new house (vs an older one)....at 1/8th the cost (both cash transactions). My house here (at the time I built it) cost under 7 times the yearly rent (if I had rented it out after completion). Owning and renting out SFRs here = can be great. Not too long before that, my cousin paid 27.6 times the yearly rent for her place in Marin County. When my little cousin came into her life, she still had her place in Pacific Heights. She fretted about what might happen re a little one and the MANY stairs, etc., so she rented it out. A friend of hers was taking some time out to travel and rented her house (in Marin County) to them. My cousin loved the house right from the start and tried to convince her friend to sell it to her. That took about 2 years (she sold her place in Pacific Heights when the tenants left). However, it was worth it. My little cousin and I were playing Crazy 8s one weekend when she was little. She was sitting 'indian style' on the floor. She put her cards down. She looked over one shoulder at the ceiling, and then looked over her other shoulder at the ceiling. I thought 'What is she doing?' She then looked directly at me, broke out into the widest grin imaginable, and said "I love my house".

If I later designate a different residence as a homestead, it will probably be one closer to Lake Conroe. I could see eventually living in Florida (or perhaps part of the time in Nevada) but, until I have reason not to, I think I will always keep an 'official foot' in Texas .

[Kal-El]

It's hard to not look at this from a political standpoint. Toyota, like so many companies and individuals are fleeing liberal ran states. The California's and New York's of the world are losing billions in revenue because of their high tax, high regulation policies. When will they learn. High taxes = low revenue in the end because the producers have all left. While those states ran by Republicans are seeing booming job markets and surplus budgets. No income tax states are in the best fiscal conditions. Seems counter intuitive to the left but it's common sense. Businesses are in business to be successful. Big surprise.

Toyota will be able to run far more efficiently in Texas than the anti-business California. Good for them.

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by Kal-El

It's hard to not look at this from a political standpoint. Toyota, like so many companies and individuals are fleeing liberal ran states. The California's and New York's of the world are losing billions in revenue because of their high tax, high regulation policies. When will they learn. High taxes = low revenue in the end because the producers have all left. While those states ran by Republicans are seeing booming job markets and surplus budgets. No income tax states are in the best fiscal conditions. Seems counter intuitive to the left but it's common sense. Businesses are in business to be successful. Big surprise.

Toyota will be able to run far more efficiently in Texas than the anti-business California. Good for them.

Exactly. A large retailer (Target, IIRC) picks Houston locations that are as close to the city line as possible, but just OUTSIDE the line. This is because (publicly stated) being INSIDE the city line does two things -- 1. Increases fixed costs -- 2. Increases lead time (measured from site selection to the day the store opens.....which would result in lost revenue). This can be extrapolated to other industries and locations....and you know some companies do that when looking at California vs Texas. Intel officials have stated Intel will never build another plant in California. I remember driving from L.A. to Irvine, CA on I-5 in 2010.....looked like a ghost town re manufacturing compared to the way it used to look.

Governor Cuomo (New York) just came up with a plan to give businesses a 10 year holiday from having to pay any income tax if they relocate to New York State. The problem is that when you look at all the details, all the requirements...I don't think there's a snowball's chance in H E double toothpicks that any company will agree to this .

[nookandcrannycar]

Originally Posted by Kal-El

It's hard to not look at this from a political standpoint. Toyota, like so many companies and individuals are fleeing liberal ran states. The California's and New York's of the world are losing billions in revenue because of their high tax, high regulation policies. When will they learn. High taxes = low revenue in the end because the producers have all left. While those states ran by Republicans are seeing booming job markets and surplus budgets. No income tax states are in the best fiscal conditions. Seems counter intuitive to the left but it's common sense. Businesses are in business to be successful. Big surprise.

Toyota will be able to run far more efficiently in Texas than the anti-business California. Good for them.

A few hours ago I was looking at the bookmarks on another computer of mine (lid starting to split on that one ). I came across two bookmarked articles that apply to what I mean (at least partially) about the 'climate' (not weather related) in California:

http://city-journal.org/2010/20_2_ca...ia-unions.html

^^^^^ I've read other articles that expand different parts of this subject matter, but this article (The Beholden State : How public-sector unions broke California) gives a 1 page, almost 55 year summary of the major issues. A few changes have been made since this article was written, but from what I understand, the changes only represent 10% of what is needed.

The second article 'How The South Will Rise to Power Again' appeared in Forbes in January of 2013. I found two paragraphs particularly interesting:

"Yet even as the old Confederacy's political banner fades, its long-term economic prospects shine bright. This derives from factors largely outside the control of Washington: demograpgic trends, economic growth patterns, state business climates, flows of foreign investment and, finally and most surprisingly, a shift of educated workers and immigrants to an archipelago of fast growing urban centers.

Perhaps the most persuasive evidence is the strong and persistent inflow of Americans to the South. The South still attracts the most domestic migrants of any U.S. region. Last year (2012), it boasted 6 of the top 8 states in terms of net domestic migration -- Texas, Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina and Georgia. Texas and Florida alone gained 250,000 net migrants. The top four losers were deep blue New York, Illinois, New Jersey, and California".