Hi, I’m Donna Taylor with living in Central MS. In this video today, I am going to try to help you decide whether or not moving to Mississippi is a good idea for you???
Specifically, I’ve got the top 5 things you need to know before you move to MS, that you might not have thought of before today! We’ve helped many people just like you call the Magnolia State home, and we even asked a few of them this week as I was culminating this video idea if they had some things to share! So, I’ll take a few of their ideas, as well as a few of my own. As a native Mississippian that’s lived here for most of my life, there are definitely lots of things I took for granted when my husband and I were first married and looking for a new place to call home…when in 2011 we moved to Denver, Colorado.
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And that brings me to the first thing on my list….Church on Sunday. So, as you probably know, Mississippi is in the bible belt. And on Sunday, most people go to church, as a matter of fact, A lot of restaurants and stores are closed here on Sunday. It’s not completely shut down, I mean, you can go grocery shopping and the major retailers are open, but lots of smaller boutiques and restaurants are closed. And people just respect your time for church….I’ll never forget my first summer in Denver, and the schedule for the tennis team that I had just joined schedule for the season was posted and I realized that every single match was schedule for Sunday morning, I was appalled. But, I was the only person on the team appalled by this…it never occurred to anyone else that Sunday morning is for church….I think that’s the moment I knew that when and if we ever had children, we were moving back to the south…which we did of course 3 years later…but that’s another story for another day.
#2 on my list that you need to know is about our weather. Yes, it’s hot and yes, it’s humid. We do get a lot of rain here…it’s not gloomy like you’d think of the Pacific Northwest, but we do get a good bit of rain, according to google, our average rain fall in Central MS is 54 inches per year….where the US average is only 38 inches. But, that rain is another thing I took for granted when I moved away. I never realized how much cleaner everything is when it has the chance to get rinsed off regularly….like take the sidewalks for example. I noticed when walking to work while living in Denver, the sidewalks always seemed dusty…it’s because it almost never rains there. It also is the reason for all of our greenery here, that stays green most of the year with ease because our plants and trees thrive with all the rain. We almost never get snow here…so, if you’re moving here from a cold climate, you can get rid of those heavy coats….you won’t need them. Get rid of all your snow removal equipment while you’re at it. We only get about 2 inches every few years and the city will shut down for the day so everyone can enjoy the snow! It will melt away the next day and it’s back to work and school! We do have all 4 seasons here, but winter is definitely the shortest…typically only for a few weeks in January to February. So, if you hate the cold weather, you will love that aspect of Mississippi.
#3 on my list is our culture. It’s true that people in south are friendly, but especially here in Mississippi, in fact, did you know we are known as the Hospitality State? The people here are known to be the friendliest in our country, so don’t be freaked out when you see a total stranger say hello or wave at you, like they don’t want anything from you, it’s just what we do here. And we say y’all a lot, it might sound strange at first, but it’s the first word people that are new here pick up, it’s fun to say! But Mississippians love some football, especially college football. Be careful when speaking casually about football, you’re likely to see the non-hospitable side of a native Mississippian flare up! Most Mississippian are VERY VERY loyal to one of our universities here, so just a heads up on that! But, like anywhere I’m sure you can find mean people here too…If you are looking for a conservative state to move to where you can make some friends, you can definitely find some here!
4th thing you might want to know about living here, is the cost!! Mississippi housing is much less expensive than just about anywhere else in the nation and a lot of buyers we work with are surprised to see the quality of construction here….not just the price. The average home in Madison, MS which is the more affluent suburb of Jackson is currently $420,000 which will get you around 2,500 sq feet newer brick home with 4 bed, 3 baths on a half-acre lot…in a nice neighborhood with A+ rated public schools. Once again, another thing you need to know is that it’s hard to find rentals in Madison and that’s because 95% of our residents in our town of 28,000 people own their home. There are no apartment complexes and will likely never be. Or, you can take a look at Brandon, MS which is another city in Central MS where you can get even more bang for your buck where the average home price is currently $320,000 and still A rated public schools and lots of shopping and dining options, in case you missed it, check out our video all about Brandon where we take a deep dive into living there.
So, the #1 thing and I think probably the most important thing you should know before moving here is that we have a slower pace of life compared to probably almost every other state! So, if you’re looking for a place that has lots of traffic and hustle/bustle, Mississippi is probably not a good fit for you. Our entire state only has 2.5 million people spread out of a fairly large mass of land, makes us a rural state. In fact, if you wanted to find a place to live on 20 or more acres outside and away from the city where you can live cheaply, we can make that happen too. We don’t have any professional sports teams, we don’t have the population for that. We don’t have a lot of night life, don’t have the population for that either. So, if you’re looking for a place to slow down and enjoy the outdoors, our many lakes like, golf courses and trails, then you will love living here.
Whether you’re thinking of moving here next week or in a year from now, please reach out and let’s connect! You can find our contact info below. Or, if you just want to browse active listings in our MLS, check out our website at taylorgroupms.com that has all the local MLS listings and it’s updated every 10 minutes.
Taylor Realty Group
601-613-9100
