Realtor's Facebook group helps Californians move to Texas
Group has nearly 17,000 members
Real estate agent Marie Bailey discusses her Facebook group that helps people relocate from California to Texas due to the high tax rates.
The Lone Star State gained more than 86,000 Californians in 2018, according to the Texas Realtors' Association, and real estate agent Marie Bailey is one of them.
"I'm a Realtor in Texas, and I moved here from California," Bailey told FOX Business' Neil Cavuto on Tuesday. "And when I decided to become a Realtor, I created a Facebook group called 'Move to Texas from California' ... It's something that so many people are doing, and we all kind of want to get to know each other."
While this may seem like a niche group, her Facebook group has nearly 17,000 members, and it talks about many of the difficult aspects of relocating.
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"We talk about just the daily minutia of moving cross-country because these are people that are moving their entire families from California to Texas," Bailey said on "Cavuto: Coast to Coast." "I'll do tours of a nail salon, you know, just because that's real life, you know. We always see perfect pictures of somewhere, and what I like to do is talk about what it's really like."
Bailey, who specializes in the Dallas-Fort Worth real estate market, has a few rules in her Facebook group, though, such as no advertising, no overly political conversations and for people to be respectful of each other. Within those guidelines, she hopes people will be honest with what it's really like to move to Texas from California, especially when it comes to the weather.
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"It's hotter, I mean, you can't get around that," Bailey said with a laugh. "Some people ask, 'Where can I move to that's not as hot?' and I'm like, that's part of what you're giving up in California."
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Many experts are pointing to the 2018 federal tax law change that limits the deduction of state and local taxes paid. California isn't the only state experiencing an exodus. As previously reported by FOX Business, New Jersey had the highest number of outbound migrations of all 50 states last year – at a rate of 68.5 percent. And the highest percentage of residents that left the state were wealthy, with nearly half of all outbound migrations occurring at income levels of $150,000 or more.
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Texas ranked high on the list for the most residents gained in 2019. According to recent data from the IRS, Florida — a popular haven for people looking to lower onerous tax burdens of states like New York, New Jersey and Connecticut — benefitted greatly from the trend.
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The state raked in a net adjusted gross income of $16 billion in 2018. That's way more than any other state. Arizona, for example, raked in the second-highest total from migration at $3.5 billion.
Texas, another no-income-tax state, generated $3.4 billion. North Carolina and South Carolina followed the Lone Star State on the list. As previously reported by FOX Business, Arizona and South Carolina were two of the most popular destinations for movers last year because of the warmer climates and retirement opportunities.