Please help us decide where to live

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SDF
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Please help us decide where to live

Post by SDF »

My wife and I are trying to decide where to live in the United States. We have almost no constraints, which is proving to be more of a curse than a blessing.

Background
We are both natural-born U.S. citizens, but for the past 15 years we have worked overseas. One year ago, we quit our jobs and returned to the U.S. My wife’s parents have a small farm, and they asked us to look after it for a year so that they could move to another state to spend time with their new grand-daughter. My wife’s parents will be returning home soon, and we’re anxious to move into our own space regardless.

The Problem
We have no sense of where “home” is. If our friends and family were clustered somewhere, we’d definitely choose to move there. But our friends and family are scattered. We have no more than two friends or family members in any one state. Work gives us no basis for making a decision. My primary job is a small consulting service that requires no travel. I can work from home anywhere in the world, as long as I have a reliable internet connection. Wherever we end up, my wife and I will start a small bricks-and-mortar service business, but that business will work anywhere.

Preferences
We’ve lived in lots of different places in the U.S. (New York City, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, Austin, Houston, Portland, Minneapolis, Charlottesville, and various small cities in the South and Midwest.) They all had pros and cons, and we adapted well and enjoyed our time in each them. But at this point in our lives, we’d like to live in a quiet neighborhood in a small city or in a small town outside a city. We’d like a reasonable climate, with lots of sunshine. We want to be able to buy a nice 2bd/2ba house for $250k. We may not actually buy a home -- because we might decide in a year or so that we want to go back overseas -- but we want the option. In the meantime, we want to be able to rent a nice 2bd/2ba house or apartment with garage for around $1,200 per month. It would be great if we could walk or bike for errands, especially grocery shopping. We enjoy trail running and hiking, and would like easy access to some mountains (though these could be small). We could live in a red state, as long as where we live is generally blue. If money were no object, we might spend winters in Santa Barbara and summers in Boulder, Lake Tahoe, or Bend.

Places We’ve Considered
We’ve looked at all the “Top 10” lists, spent hours on Trulia and Zillow, and visited several candidate locations. The only place east of the Mississippi that interests us is the Asheville, NC area. It’s more humid than we’d like and the housing market seems a bit overpriced. West of the Mississippi, we really like the Reno / Carson City area for its weather and proximity to Tahoe, but the houses there seem dreadful. Both Longmont and Ft. Collins seem like good prospects, as do Provo and other areas in Utah, but we’ve never been to any of those places, even for a visit. We also think that Albuquerque or Santa Fe might work, but again, we’ve never been there. Same with Boise, Idaho.

We’re Stuck
At this point, we’re both pretty tired of thinking about where to move, and yet we feel no closer to making a decision. Because it might be a place where we end up buying a house and starting a business, the decision seems high-stakes. On the other hand, all the places we’re considering seem pretty great and we can easily imagine living really rewarding, enjoyable lives in each of them. It seem like every other day, some new “great place to live” pops up on our radar (Boone, NC! Roanoke, VA! Boulder City, NV! Lompoc, CA!) and we spend time investigating.

Our Question
How do we get unstuck and make this decision?
texasdiver
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by texasdiver »

Get an airstream and become tech nomads for a year of touring the US and you'll eventually find your place.

I'm more familiar with the west. In addition to Bend and Fort Collins I'd also look at Las Cruces, Medford, Wenatchee, Bellingham, Olympia, and Coeur D'Alene. Kind of depends on whether you want the high desert, mountains, or coastal environment.

For a wildcard location that will be much cheaper I will throw out Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Kind of a smaller version of Asheville.
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FelixTheCat
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by FelixTheCat »

US Virgin Islands and get a spare bedroom so we can visit.

This may help with your decisionhttp://time.com/money/2791406/sharon-ma ... s-to-live/
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lightheir
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by lightheir »

All I can say is that it's quite a privilege to be able to work from literally anywhere in the US/world!
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Watty
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by Watty »

My wife’s parents have a small farm, and they asked us to look after it for a year so that they could move to another state to spend time with their new grand-daughter. My wife’s parents will be returning home soon, and we’re anxious to move into our own space regardless.
As her and your parent age being within easy driving distance of them will have make things a lot easier. It would be good to take a hard look within a couple of hours drive to see if there might be a college town that would be worth considering.
livesoft
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by livesoft »

Ask your friends and family where they would like you to live so that they will come visit you.
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chaz
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by chaz »

9 states have no income tax if that is a factor.
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steve_14
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by steve_14 »

I'd say it's like buying a digital camera. You can agonize over their slightly different specs forever, or just make a decision and spend your time enjoying it. I'd pick a spot on your short list, rent a place in that city, and spend your effort building a life there.
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JupiterJones
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by JupiterJones »

SDF wrote: We also think that Albuquerque or Santa Fe might work, but again, we’ve never been there
You should visit that area. I think you'll really like it. Certainly more interesting that Reno/Carson City, IMO.
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sscritic
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by sscritic »

Since you are going to be renting no matter what, the way to get unstuck is to flip a coin. I was going to say throw a dart at a map, but then I don't know if you lived in England and are a master of pub darts.

Just remember that you can't contradict yourself:
it might be a place where we end up buying a house and starting a business
we might decide in a year or so that we want to go back overseas
Deciding where to live in the states isn't the problem, it is deciding what country you want to live in. If you are not ready to set down roots, you aren't ready to set down roots.
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AustenNut
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by AustenNut »

Good luck making your decision. I can understand how it's both exciting and frustrating. If walkability of a town (or neighborhood within a town) is a factor, you should investigate walkscore.com, if you haven't already.
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retiredjg
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by retiredjg »

Wow. I hear your pain. No, I'm not being sarcastic - this is the kind of decision that is the absolute toughest to make.

I lived near Provo, Utah for 11 years and just moved a year ago (been a full time RVer for that time). 2BR 2BA for $250 would not be difficult to find there, but I'd suggest you might buy bigger (still in that price range) to keep your house sellable. Quite possibly, look for a 3 BR with an unfinished basement (where the other 2 or 3 BR will go after you leave). There probably are some 2 BR homes, but families are large in Utah and a 5 or 6 BR home is very common.

The weather is absolutely wonderful - yes, it is hot in the summer, but you can get cool by just getting in the shade. Yes, it is cold in winter, but not cold enough to wear a heavy coat. I wore light jackets all winter myself. The snow must be shoveled but it is usually lightweight and easy to shovel most of the time (I'm probably old enough to be your mother). Recreation, of all sorts, abounds year round. Low humidity, almost no bugs - a paradise in many ways.

Utah is a red state and the closest thing to a blue dot in the red state would be Salt Lake City. Lots of liberal thinkers there. I know nothing of home prices there but I believe you could get what you want. There are also areas that you can walk/cycle to stuff you need. SLC has lots of choices for good food and good stores (including Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, etc.). The downside is that the crime rate is higher there. That does not mean high, just higher than in the small towns.

Many small towns within an hour of SLC (that's what I did - loved my little town). Small towns are more conservative, but I found everyone to be very tolerant of my thinking and my lifestyle. All my neighbors went to church on Sunday and I cut the grass. We'd wave. :happy

Fast forward to now - I'm trying to buy a home in the Asheville NC area. I am not willing to live in Asheville (too big, too congested), but there are many small towns nearby. Good food, good music, lots of farmer's markets, local music, lots of festivals, friendly people. I'm getting accustomed to humidity again and it can be hot, but not nearly as hot as other hot humid places I have lived.

2BR 2BA (or 3BR) for $250k would be findable in the smaller towns. I'm not sure about Asheville proper.

NC is a red state, but the Asheville area is a blue spot. In reality, I think a lot of western NC is pretty liberal in many ways. Again, recreation opportunities abound.

I've heard a lot of good stuff about Boone, NC and Montreat, but have not yet been to either.


Regarding the suggestion to get an RV and work on the road, check out Technomadia. That is exactly what they are doing. I realize this would not mesh with your bricks and mortar, but maybe you could be a technomad first, visit all your family and friends, and find your place to settle.

Sounds stupid, but once when I simply could not decide on where to go, during this last year on the road, I just put the names in a hat and drew out my next destination. Worked as well as any other way to make plans.

Good luck!
bcjb
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by bcjb »

Since your families and friends are scattered around the country (and perhaps the world), wouldn't you want to be relatively close to a good airport? That might really narrow down your list of choices. (Yes, you want to be in a small town, but not all small towns are equally isolated.)
livesoft
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by livesoft »

Yep, near an international airport with very good connections to many places would probably be a necessity. One wants a direct flight to Beijing, Hawaii, London, Paris, …, all US cities, et al.
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sscritic
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by sscritic »

livesoft wrote:Yep, near an international airport with very good connections to many places would probably be a necessity. One wants a direct flight to Beijing, Hawaii, London, Paris, …, all US cities, et al.
I suggest Huntington Beach, except for the $250k house part.

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letsgobobby
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by letsgobobby »

Bend oregon, or Wenatchee washington both meet your criteria, with bend being far more cosmopolitan and Wenatchee having no income tax. Both are within 3 hours of a big city (Portland and Seattle respectively) and in the middle of hiking,running, and skiing (especially Bend). Wenatchee is also cheaper to live.
harikaried
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by harikaried »

SDF wrote:we really like the Reno / Carson City area for its weather and proximity to Tahoe
We moved from SF Bay Area to Reno for the outdoors -- plenty of skiing and biking for us, and friends here enjoy running, hiking, camping. There's plenty of sunshine here even in the wintertime where we rarely need to shovel snow (yet still get to enjoy snow activities 30 minutes away). What's keeping us around is the small town feel where people seem to be quite involved in many aspects, so you keep running into people in different contexts.

We recently purchased a 3bd/2ba 2000sqft house just southwest of downtown near the river for a little over $250k. It's less than 30 minutes walking to the riverwalk area in downtown where there's been a recent rebirth with local food and art. "Old southwest" has older brick homes that have more charm, or if you prefer more modern developments, there's plenty West towards California or South towards the lake.
Topic Author
SDF
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by SDF »

texasdiver wrote:Get an airstream and become tech nomads for a year of touring the US and you'll eventually find your place.
Appreciate the suggestion, but touring around is not for us. We don't enjoy driving, and our primary goal is to get settled. It's actually more important that we get settled than that we get settled in the perfect place.
texasdiver wrote:In addition to Bend and Fort Collins I'd also look at Las Cruces, Medford, Wenatchee, Bellingham, Olympia, and Coeur D'Alene. For a wildcard location that will be much cheaper I will throw out Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Kind of a smaller version of Asheville.
Thanks for the additional suggestions. Some of those places in the NW will have more rain and less sun that we'd like. Will do some research on Las Cruces, Coeur D'Alene, and Eureka Springs.

But mostly we were looking for advice on how to stop looking at more and more places and finally make a decision!
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by Jack FFR1846 »

Blacksburg, Virginia

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Topic Author
SDF
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by SDF »

Watty wrote:As her and your parent age being within easy driving distance of them will have make things a lot easier. It would be good to take a hard look within a couple of hours drive to see if there might be a college town that would be worth considering.
That's a good suggestion, but unfortunately we just don't want to live in the region where they happen to reside. Maybe they'll end up moving near us when they get tired of running their farm. :-)
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SDF
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by SDF »

steve_14 wrote:I'd say it's like buying a digital camera. You can agonize over their slightly different specs forever, or just make a decision and spend your time enjoying it. I'd pick a spot on your short list, rent a place in that city, and spend your effort building a life there.
Good advice, which we'd like to follow, but so far haven't been able to!
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Christine_NM
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by Christine_NM »

Las Cruces is hot, very hot. I spent one day there on a job interview in August. Did I say it was hot? I don't remember anything else remarkable about it.
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Topic Author
SDF
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by SDF »

JupiterJones wrote:You should visit that area. I think you'll really like it. Certainly more interesting that Reno/Carson City, IMO.
Well, we're currently in the Southeast, so assuming we don't end up in the Asheville area, we could drive to Albuquerque on the way to wherever else we've decided to move out west. Spend a few days there, and if we like it, stay! Thanks for the suggestion.
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SDF
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by SDF »

livesoft wrote:Ask your friends and family where they would like you to live so that they will come visit you.
They'll visit us anywhere. :-) We did ask them to choose from our list of a half-dozen places where they think we'd like the best. Asheville was probably the winner. But I think they were really just going with the place *they* themselves like the best. Which is actually what you were suggesting!
sscritic
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by sscritic »

You say you don't really need suggestions on where to live, but on how to make up your mind. So I am wondering, how long does it take you to order in a restaurant? Pick a flavor of ice cream at Baskin-Robbins? Do you have trouble making decisions in all aspects of your life or just this one?

If this a pattern you have, how do you reach decisions in all those other situations?

If this is not a pattern, what makes this decision so much harder? Was it hard to decide to move back to the States?

Edit: I see you answered the penultimate question in your next post. It's that this is to be measured against the benchmark of going back to where you were (or similar).
Last edited by sscritic on Thu Jun 26, 2014 7:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Topic Author
SDF
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by SDF »

sscritic wrote:Since you are going to be renting no matter what, the way to get unstuck is to flip a coin.
Someone once told me to decide a major decision by a) flipping a coin, and then b) seeing how I felt about the result. Maybe we'll take your advice, but allow a reconsideration after a day or two post-outcome.
sscritic wrote:Just remember that you can't contradict yourself:
it might be a place where we end up buying a house and starting a business
we might decide in a year or so that we want to go back overseas
Deciding where to live in the states isn't the problem, it is deciding what country you want to live in. If you are not ready to set down roots, you aren't ready to set down roots.
I don't think I'm contradicting myself. We know that we'll be in the states for at least the next year. We want to move somewhere that we could in principal settle down. E.g., NOT Santa Barbara, which is not affordable. During this next year, we'll consider overseas prospects and decide whether we'd like to continue to build our life here or go back overseas. We need to choose the U.S. city carefully because we'll be weighing our lives there against overseas prospects.
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SDF
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by SDF »

retiredjg wrote:Wow. I hear your pain. No, I'm not being sarcastic - this is the kind of decision that is the absolute toughest to make.

I lived near Provo, Utah for 11 years...

Fast forward to now - I'm trying to buy a home in the Asheville NC area.
Thanks for sharing all of your impressions of Utah. I'm curious: why are you moving to Asheville?

We liked Asheville a lot when we visited a couple of months ago. I have some nitpicks, though. In addition to the humidity, I felt closed-in most of the time because of all the hills. I much preferred the feel of Reno, which was wide-open with big mountains visible in the distance. In Asheville, you're IN the mountains. We also thought the town seemed overly touristy and full of young hipsters. I mean, good restaurants and pubs are great when I'm on vacation, but our vision is that 99% of the time, we'll be cooking at home, and drinking $2 beers in our backyard, not eating out and drinking $8 pints at the local craft brewpub. Given the housing prices, I wonder if we'd be paying for things that probably don't matter that much to us. So yes, if we move to the Asheville area it will probably be a smaller town outside of Asheville, like Weaverville. But maybe even as far out as Brevard.
livesoft
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by livesoft »

We are in a somewhat similar circumstance now. We are looking for a different place to live in retirement. My spouse seems to have a zillow window open on her latop all the time. Our family and friends are spread out all over the world, but …

It seems that there is always a favorite sibling's home that the family goes to for Christmas vacations. The reasons could be convenience or location or maybe that's where the last surviving elderly parent is at. So one doesn't have to live where the highest concentration of friends and family are, but maybe there is a spot that sometimes temporarily serves that purpose. Maybe it was your home when you lived overseas? If so, maybe that location should be higher up on the list?
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freebeer
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by freebeer »

One consideration if you plan travel is access to airport with international flights. Washington state scores well in this regard and has other plusses... and if you look beyond Seattle itself and the inner ring suburbs things get pretty affordable. If you want sunnier you can either go east (for example Ellensburg area) or Sequim... not Santa Fe or Boulder sun to be sure but sunny-ish. Other interesting affordable places (IMO): Port Townsend, Port Angeles, Olympia, Hansville, Kingston, Bellingham.
livesoft
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by livesoft »

freebeer wrote:…. Washington state scores well in this regard and has other plusses...
Not if you live in Pullman.
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Topic Author
SDF
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by SDF »

sscritic wrote:You say you don't really need suggestions on where to live, but on how to make up your mind. So I am wondering, how long does it take you to order in a restaurant? Pick a flavor of ice cream at Baskin-Robbins? Do you have trouble making decisions in all aspects of your life or just this one?

If this a pattern you have, how do you reach decisions in all those other situations?

If this is not a pattern, what makes this decision so much harder? Was it hard to decide to move back to the States?

Edit: I see you answered the penultimate question in your next post. It's that this is to be measured against the benchmark of going back to where you were (or similar).
We don't usually have any trouble making decisions. What makes this harder is that the options are (i) nearly limitless and (ii) the stakes are high. When we go to a restaurant, there are generally only a half-dozen or so things on the menu that interest me, and the consequences of picking the "wrong" dish are insignificant. We have no trouble deciding between job offers (limited choices) or choosing among the dozens of trail running shoes on the market (less limited choices, but no serious consequences of a bad decision) or selecting a book to read next (essentially unlimited choices, but again, no serious consequences).
Last edited by SDF on Thu Jun 26, 2014 8:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Topic Author
SDF
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by SDF »

AustenNut wrote:Good luck making your decision. I can understand how it's both exciting and frustrating. If walkability of a town (or neighborhood within a town) is a factor, you should investigate walkscore.com, if you haven't already.
Thanks for the suggestion.
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SDF
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by SDF »

livesoft wrote:Yep, near an international airport with very good connections to many places would probably be a necessity. One wants a direct flight to Beijing, Hawaii, London, Paris, …, all US cities, et al.
Surprisingly, we've found that we MUCH prefer to start and end our international travel at SMALL regional airports. Lots of small cities have nice airports that are never crowded. I'd much rather hop on a plane in Santa Barbara that takes me to LAX in less than an hour, than live within an hour's drive of LAX, but maybe that's an extreme example.

What we definitely do NOT want is to have to drive for more than hour to get to an airport. We have friends in Asheville who drive the 2+ hours to Charlotte to catch a flight to Europe. I rather fly right out of Asheville, connecting in Charlotte (or Atlanta or Dulles or wherever).
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SDF
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by SDF »

letsgobobby wrote:Bend oregon, or Wenatchee washington both meet your criteria, with bend being far more cosmopolitan and Wenatchee having no income tax. Both are within 3 hours of a big city (Portland and Seattle respectively) and in the middle of hiking,running, and skiing (especially Bend). Wenatchee is also cheaper to live.
We scratched Bend because of home costs. We will definitely investigate Wenatchee. Thanks for the suggestion.
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by sunnyday »

My ideal would be very similar to your ideal -- Santa Barbara plus Tahoe, Boulder, Bend

I've been to a lot of the places you mentioned. One place I rule out is Albuquerque. It seemed like a lot of traffic and suburban sprawl to me. Also, I don't think the outdoor activities compare to their to the other places that you've mentioned. I only spent one day there, and I wouldn't mind going back and exploring more, but I thought I'd like it more than I did.
SDF wrote: But maybe even as far out as Brevard.
Have you been there? It's a very cool small town. It would be too small for my ideal place to live, but do you mountain bike? It has some awesome mountain biking trails.
What we definitely do NOT want is to have to drive for more than hour to get to an airport. We have friends in Asheville who drive the 2+ hours to Charlotte to catch a flight to Europe. I rather fly right out of Asheville, connecting in Charlotte (or Atlanta or Dulles or wherever).
Have you looked into the cost of flights out of Asheville? If you're concerned about the cost of beer there, the cost of flights out of Asheville will be very tough to swallow.
livesoft
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by livesoft »

Perhaps you should live west of RDU then? Although east into Raleigh is very nice as well.
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SDF
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by SDF »

harikaried wrote:
SDF wrote:We recently purchased a 3bd/2ba 2000sqft house just southwest of downtown near the river for a little over $250k.
We spent several days looking at home in Reno less than a month ago, and we had a very hard time finding anything nice for that price/size in that part of the city. Sounds like you got a great deal. Congratulations!
livesoft
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by livesoft »

sunnyday wrote:My ideal would be very similar to your ideal -- Santa Barbara plus Tahoe, Boulder, Bend

I've been to a lot of the places you mentioned. One place I rule out is Albuquerque.
I agree. Downtown Alb is dead. Many restaurants are closed on the weekends including places like Subway since nobody goes there unless they attend a wedding reception in a hotel.
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SDF
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by SDF »

Jack FFR1846 wrote:Blacksburg, Virginia
Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, Blacksburg and Roanoke are both places we've considered. We used to live in Charlottesville.
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SDF
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by SDF »

Christine_NM wrote:Las Cruces is hot, very hot. I spent one day there on a job interview in August. Did I say it was hot? I don't remember anything else remarkable about it.
I think it was on our list briefly and that yes, we scratched it because of the heat. Same reason we scratched Tuscon.
letsgobobby
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by letsgobobby »

SDF wrote:
letsgobobby wrote:Bend oregon, or Wenatchee washington both meet your criteria, with bend being far more cosmopolitan and Wenatchee having no income tax. Both are within 3 hours of a big city (Portland and Seattle respectively) and in the middle of hiking,running, and skiing (especially Bend). Wenatchee is also cheaper to live.
We scratched Bend because of home costs. We will definitely investigate Wenatchee. Thanks for the suggestion.
Other sunny Washington areas include Walla Walla (highly educated, great wine, not as close to skiing, but has some mountains nearby for summer hiking), and near Wenatchee is Chelan (even smaller than Wenatchee but more charming) and Leavenworth (converted Bavarian village, touristy yet also has good food and spectacular views of the Cascades everywhere and is generally only crowded during the holidays, Oktoberfest, etc). There are a host of similar small towns in that central part of Washington with varying mixtures of cost, cosmopolitanness, proximity to Seattle/other airports, proximity to skiing. Consider Ellensburg (University town), Cle Elum, Okanogan, etc. All of these are (like Bend, Reno, Ft Collins, etc) on the dry side of the mountains, so they are basically warm and sunny with some decent winter snow and little rain. I've spent time in all of them, during the summer, and they certainly are small towns. I would stay away from Yakima, despite proximity to Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, and wine country, as it is kind of charmless.
davebarnes
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Two thoughts

Post by davebarnes »

1. The Front Range of Colorado is over your budget. For the vast majority of houses.
2. If you consider Utah, you need to consider the Mormon factor. Not inside SLC, but outside.

I love Denver, but your desired house anywhere near me is $400K.
A nerd living in Denver
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SDF
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by SDF »

livesoft wrote:We are in a somewhat similar circumstance now. We are looking for a different place to live in retirement. My spouse seems to have a zillow window open on her latop all the time. Our family and friends are spread out all over the world, but …

It seems that there is always a favorite sibling's home that the family goes to for Christmas vacations. The reasons could be convenience or location or maybe that's where the last surviving elderly parent is at. So one doesn't have to live where the highest concentration of friends and family are, but maybe there is a spot that sometimes temporarily serves that purpose. Maybe it was your home when you lived overseas? If so, maybe that location should be higher up on the list?
Good suggestion, and there is such a place. It's my wife's parents' farm, which is where we are now. After being here a year, we definitely do not want to stay here. And by "here", I mean in the region. It's been great, but it's just not for us.
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cfs
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by cfs »

This is the place.

Is this a strange subject or what! Do your homework and take a good look at Salt Lake City, Provo, and St George, all in the awesome looking state of UTAH. And of course, this is YOUR decision to make, no one here can make this type of decision for you.

And now I will go back to watching World Cup Reviews, and congratulations to Team USA.

Thanks for reading.
~ Member of the Active Retired Force since 2014 ~
bobbun
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by bobbun »

texasdiver wrote:For a wildcard location that will be much cheaper I will throw out Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Kind of a smaller version of Asheville.
I live in nearby Fayetteville, Arkansas. I'm quite happy here and hope circumstances never require me to move. The cost of living is low (even with the rather high taxes--7% state, ~1.1% of value on property, including autos, and nearly 10% sales tax!). Depends on a lot of factors, though. The winter here isn't severe by northern standards, nor is the summer as blistering as East Texas, but it's definitely a continental climate. The opportunities for exciting things to do is limited compared to the country's coastal cities. :-)
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SDF
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by SDF »

freebeer wrote:One consideration if you plan travel is access to airport with international flights. Washington state scores well in this regard and has other plusses... and if you look beyond Seattle itself and the inner ring suburbs things get pretty affordable. If you want sunnier you can either go east (for example Ellensburg area) or Sequim... not Santa Fe or Boulder sun to be sure but sunny-ish. Other interesting affordable places (IMO): Port Townsend, Port Angeles, Olympia, Hansville, Kingston, Bellingham.
Thanks for all of the suggestions. We lived in Portland for a while, and have visited friends in Olympia and Bellingham. Both have too little sun and too much dampness. So while I'm generally skeptical of the Pacific Northwest, I'll investigate the other places you listed.
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retiredjg
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by retiredjg »

I just keep thinking your destination should be Medford. Never been there. It's just intuition.
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SDF
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by SDF »

sunnyday wrote:One place I rule out is Albuquerque.
Thanks for the feedback.
sunnyday wrote:Brevard is a very cool small town. It has some awesome mountain biking trails.
I haven't mountain biked in years, but would love to get back into it. I do a lot of trail running when possible, and I see that Brevard has this:
http://brevarddistancerunnerscamp.com/
I realize it's for kids, but I take it as an indication of the running scene in that town.
sunnyday wrote:Have you looked into the cost of flights out of Asheville? If you're concerned about the cost of beer there, the cost of flights out of Asheville will be very tough to swallow.
I hadn't looked at the price of flights from AVL until just now, in response to your post. A flight from AVL to Delhi, India is only $100 more than flying out of Charlotte. A flight from AVL to LAX is just $30 more than a flight from Charlotte. HOWEVER, a flight from AVL to Reno is about $150 more than a flight from Charlotte. Not sure where the cut-off would be for me, but I know I'd have to save more than $100 in order to drive 2+ hours EACH WAY to a larger airport. Probably $200 per ticket, so $400 total if my wife was going as well? Not sure, but thanks for the head's up.
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SDF
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Re: Please help us decide where to live

Post by SDF »

letsgobobby wrote:Other sunny Washington areas include Walla Walla (highly educated, great wine, not as close to skiing, but has some mountains nearby for summer hiking), and near Wenatchee is Chelan (even smaller than Wenatchee but more charming) and Leavenworth (converted Bavarian village, touristy yet also has good food and spectacular views of the Cascades everywhere and is generally only crowded during the holidays, Oktoberfest, etc). There are a host of similar small towns in that central part of Washington with varying mixtures of cost, cosmopolitanness, proximity to Seattle/other airports, proximity to skiing. Consider Ellensburg (University town), Cle Elum, Okanogan, etc. All of these are (like Bend, Reno, Ft Collins, etc) on the dry side of the mountains, so they are basically warm and sunny with some decent winter snow and little rain. I've spent time in all of them, during the summer, and they certainly are small towns. I would stay away from Yakima, despite proximity to Mt. Rainier, Mt. Adams, and wine country, as it is kind of charmless.
Thanks for the suggestions. Lots of places to investigate!
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SDF
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Re: Two thoughts

Post by SDF »

davebarnes wrote:1. The Front Range of Colorado is over your budget. For the vast majority of houses.
2. If you consider Utah, you need to consider the Mormon factor. Not inside SLC, but outside.

I love Denver, but your desired house anywhere near me is $400K.
Thanks for the feedback. We can't even afford Longmont??? I mean, MMM lives there! ;-)
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