Not sure everyone disagrees with JES (though I do agree some here have strong biases).
For me I’ve been there and done it. Lived in New England (CT to be exact) and we bought a 2800 sq ft home on 1.5 acres back in 2002 for $350K (high taxes $10K per year for house and about $1200 per year for 2 cars). In the end, as JES stated, it was a quality of life issue and we just didn’t find that having the land, cheaper house was worth it for our family, particularly since most of our immediate family lived here in CA.
I do agree though that people should expand their horizons and try living somewhere else — if only to understand where you really want to be. I had neighbors and friends in CT who would never ever leave NE because it was all they knew.
