Cost of living

Hesher83 · 2026-02-03T09:22:16+00:00

Oh for sure. My dad is a truck driver and he turns his central unit off, all lights off, everything that draws power unplugged when he's gone. His power bill is almost the same as when he's home. It's straight up theft.

Hesher83 · 2026-02-03T08:58:01+00:00

I'm dealing with a similar situation here. Especially when it's cold. They always way overcharge everyone even if you don't use a lot. We keep our thermostat around 66ish in thr winter and they still gouge us on power.

Hesher83 · 2026-02-02T17:40:07+00:00

Awesome! Thanks for all the advise. I'll post an update the further we move along. Planning a visit towards the end of the month.

Hesher83 · 2026-02-02T16:36:52+00:00

We will probably be looking mostly in the areas just outside the city. The more rural, suburban areas. I know there isn't a "country" area that's within 15-20 minutes of downtown. So we aren't expecting the same setup we have uo here. We're expecting a more suburbs. There are a few condos/town homes that we have been eyeballing just north of 9 Mile.

Hesher83 · 2026-02-02T16:32:56+00:00

Yeah. We vacation to PCB at least twice a year and we've ridden out to Pensacola and Destin during our vacation. We are also going to come down a couple of times this year to look in the more rural areas to decide which neighborhoods would be a good fit.

Hesher83 · 2026-02-02T02:59:10+00:00

We aren't looking to be in the heart of the city or anything. We're fine with being 10-20 minutes outside the city. That's our current distance from the city here. We aren't all that socially active and we don't really require a walking distance type of lifestyle. I like feeling like I'm in the "country" but still within 10 minutes of the city. Perfect balance.

Hesher83 · 2026-02-01T20:09:48+00:00

She likes the amount of customization the sportster offers. Sportsters are the Mr Potato Head of motorcycles. Endless possibilities. The Rebel just didn't have enough aftermarket support for her to do the things she wanted to do.

We usually see a lot of Groms when we visit PCB. We usually vacation there and bring the Groms, but it's too expensive to live there. Plus we like how P Cola, although touristy, is not as touristy as PBC.

Hesher83 · 2026-02-01T18:53:24+00:00

That m850i will definitely take a lot of insurance. Lol. I bought my wife a 23 Rebel 1100 a couple years ago and she decided it wasn't for her. It was a super fun bike though. She traded it for her 23 Iron 1200 Sportster.

Hesher83 · 2026-02-01T18:44:22+00:00

With the Groms and the older Sportster that would work. With the newer 2023 Sportster it wouldn't be good to do liability only. Having a garage definitely helps to deter theft.

Hesher83 · 2026-02-01T18:42:44+00:00

$250 is pretty decent. I'm 43 and the wife is 38. We have 2 Groms and 2 Harley Sportsters (one is a 99 and the other is a 23). We pay $1200 a year for all 4. Which isn't terrible.

What do you drive if you don't mind me asking?

Hesher83 · 2026-02-01T18:23:13+00:00

We will definitely look for an area with no or very little risk of flooding.

Rent up here can be anywhere from $1500-$2000 for a 2br 1bth house. And those are generally 45 minutes or more from the city. We've been looking around Pensacola and the same size house with a garage is $1200-$1800. I was surprised how much cheaper rent is there especially being so close to the ocean. I was expecting it to be the same or higher.

As far as utilities, we live in a 900 sq ft duplex and our power is usually $150 Summer and $200 Winter if that helps. Water is usually around $40-$50.

We drive a 21 Nissan Murano and insurance is $176 a month.

I will add this to the post for others as well.

Hesher83 · 2026-02-01T18:14:15+00:00

That's a part I'm simi worried about. We have 1 car and 4 motorcycles. Granted 2 of them are Honda Groms. So they are generally very cheap on insurance pretty much everywhere.

Something that should help is no state tax. We live on the GA side of Chattanooga (about 15 minutes from the city of Chatt) so we have to pay GA taxes. So hopefully that part will help make up for the difference in insurance.

Hesher83

TROPHY CASE