City or country???????

[Shredder]

I suspect I'm in the minority here, but you could not drag me to live in the city. we live in a township that has only 5000 residents and it's a large area. A lot of those residents are snowbirds. We also have a lot of weekenders, you know the bust your ass to get away for two whole days type people. Our little town has a K-mart, lots of gas stations and restaurants, and old air force base, with few jobs, but we have lots of recreation, no pollution, good fishing, crime is rare. I think it's a great place to live but not to work. Ideal for us. Whats your place like?? shredder

[Adventuregirl]

Hi Shredder! Although no where near ER right now, I've always harbored the thought that when we retire we may be able to live in a place that is a little farther out. Right now any place more rural means a longer commute to work (in my mind that means a longer work day) and it's already too long for my taste! But something wooded, with lots of hiking, a place for the horses, maybe on a lake, sure sounds like a great place to retire to!

Adventuregirl

Hi Shredder. Our deal is about the same, except
no air base and no K-Mart (closest K-Mart/Walmart/Target is 30 miles). Four (4)
beautiful state parks/forests surround our home.
Excellent fishing and hunting. It's not heaven , but for Northern Illinois it is hard to beat. BTW, Chicago
is 90 miles and I would not set foot there if someone
paid me and provided spending money. Have not been
in the City in 20 years and do not plan to go there
ever again.

JG

[Bob_Smith]

We live in a small town in Iowa - about 7000 population. It's very much like a small town in the 50s and 60s. Crime is a non-issue. Kids ride their bikes all over town without fear. People are friendly and everybody knows who you are - not a big plus in my view, but my wife and kids like that. Costs are relatively low. Traffic is a non-issue. When I was working, I left home at 7:25 to get to work at 7:30 - and I parked for free in front of my office door. All in all we like it. There are downsides, but the pros outweigh the cons in my opinion.

[elb]

City all the way.

Being able to walk down the street to the movies, bookstore, slice of pizza...

The boonies (what us city slickers call the country) would drive me batty.

[wabmester]

I've done both. When I was working, I really loved living in the city -- walking to work, lots of good restaurants, plenty of public transportation, and cool things to do.

Then I moved to the boonies, but I'm still 30 minutes from the Big City. I can just hop on a ferry, and then walk into downtown. It's the best of both worlds, but my trips to the city are increasingly rare. Once you've sampled most of the city's offerings, it's easier to leave it behind.

I once thought the 2 homes deal was out of the question for us ("stressing the old SWR" as Rock put it).
Finally managed to put all the pieces together,
although it's still a work in progress. Anyway, both of our homes are pretty far outside the "big city". To show my aversion to cities in general, while I really am quite fond of Dallas, and our condo is only 60 miles away, I almost
never go into the metroplex. Every time down I think I
will visit all of my old friends from the time I worked there (1994-199. Six (6) years since I left the
friendly confines. I have not visited even once.
Not proud of it, but such is my tendency to avoid the
big cities (any big cities). And BTW, for you folks north of the border, Toronto was once my favorite big city
in the whole world. Now, it is not even in my top 10.

JG

[unclemick]

Suburbs - 30 minutes to the French Quarter or Superdome parking and with fast boat thirty minutes to the Gulf.

Pretty much a creature of my generation ?Happy Days? - most comfortable half way between city/country - IN DA SUBURBS. A fish camp over water isn't everyones idea of the burbs but it works for me.

I have lived in both Cities, Burbs, and Small towns that are long ways from Cities.

It really boils down to what you get used to. When I was raised in a small town, I could not imagine why people lived in a City. After moving to a city, I really hated it for 5 years. Then I became used to its advantages and could not fathom living in a small town again.

Today I live 12 miles from downtown, but live a block from a lake, next to 150 acres of woods. I have deer, pheasants, fox, raccoons, owls, hawks, eagles, hummingbirds in my backyard. But, I am only 15 minutes from world cusine. Trout fishing is only 45 minutes. Smallmouth Bass is only 20 minutes. I can walk to my lake and catch Largemouth Bass, Crappie and Sunfish. The only downside for me is Dec, Jan and Feb in Minnesota. - It does make you appreciate good weather though

[Zipper]

City, 400 000. London ON.

Major malls, 5 minutes.

City centre, 6 minutes.

Home Depot, 3 minutes.

Groceries, 2 minutes.

Major World Class Hospital, 3 minutes.

Major Highway to anywhere (401-402-ON), 4 minutes.

Toronto, Buffalo-Niagara, or Detroit, 2 hour drive.

Lake Erie recreation, 30 minutes.

Lake Huron, Pinery Provincial Park, 1 hr.

Florida, 24 hrs.

[LovesLife]

I live outside of a small town in Iowa. About 12 miles north of a larger town with pop. of about 60,000 (?). My home is nestled into a wooded area with a few neighbors close by. I have some wonderful wildlife right outside my door. My property includes a 1/2 pond stocked with bluegills, bass, and crappies. I really like where I live and appreciate living in IA. I think IA is a wonderful place to raise a family.

I remember seeing a real estate listing for a farm in N. MN about 2 years ago. The property was in a really isolated location. They were selling a full square mile for $65K. Some days I kick myself for not seriously considering it. I think I would love to plop myself down in the middle of it and not have to deal with anybody unless I wanted to.

LovesLife

[Nords]

I'll take the best of both.

Honolulu is the nation's 11th or 12th biggest city. I read that Hawaii recognizes over 250 different languages, and in Honolulu you can probably find a restaurant for every one of them.

Five miles over the Ko'olau mountains is Waimanalo. It may take 45 minutes to get there on the roads, but it's so country that it feels like a different time zone.

I lived my whole life in a fairly large metropolitan area, actually in the burbs. Moved out to the country and love it. We have thousands of acres of the most beautiful forests in the world just out the back door and a small town for shopping less than 10 minutes away. If we need to do more serious shopping, a larger city is 45 minutes away.
I find there is more to do for free in the country, and having an acreage and animals always keeps you busy.
The local wildlife is pretty cool too. Buffalo, big horn sheep, prairie dogs, prong horn, deer elk, mountain lion. And if you feel patriotic, Mt. Rushmore is just down the road.

[Calgary_Girl]

City definitely!

Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, approx. 1 million people now. We're having a population spurt with people from other provinces moving here to take advantage of the economy. Low unemployment, high wages and the government just paid off the last of the debt so now we're trying to figure out how to spend all the future surpluses (quite a nice problem to have).

We are 45 minutes from the Rocky Mountains and our house is 5 minutes away from the Luge and Bobsled runs that were built for the '88 Winter Olympics so there's quite a bit to do for recreation.

About the closest I came to living in a small town was when I lived in Tulsa for a couple of years. I know that's not what most of you would define as "small" but it felt like a ghost town most nights with not even a coffee shop open (I tell people that and they never believe me) Thank goodness I was working otherwise I would have been bored to tears.

Tulsa would not make my "Top 10" either.

JG

First for Loveslife, that 1 sq. mile for 65K would have gotten my attention also, but I can tell you what it likely
consisted of. My guess would be swampland and maybe no access. Possibly usable for hunting but little else. I once owned 65 acres in Upper Mich with a real
nice lake. It was beautiful, but you really couldn't walk around on the property much. And, I had about a quarter mile of road frontage.

To bhb, yeah the Mount Rushmore area is pretty nice.
I have been all over that part of the country on a motorcycle. Some great memories.

When I was younger I liked to say that you could not get too far out (into the boonies) to suit me. I was
quite sincere. Now, my main thing is warm weather and
lots of water. My wife doubts we will ever make it on any sort of long term arrangement. I am holding on to
my dream and progress has been made, just a lot slower than I anticipated.

JG

[brewer12345]

I've lived in the city, small town, and am now in the burbs. We like where we live now, but I suspect that when the time comes for ER, property taxes and the high cost of living may force us to move. I also have less and less tolerance for cities, so I might eventually want to be further away from them.

[grumpy]

We have lived in a Maryland suburb of D.C.for 30 years. Now that we are ER we are moving (next month) to a farther suburb of D.C in Virginia. It is a bit more rural than our current location. We will have a smaller (1825 sq. ft.) single level house in a gated "55 or better" community with extensive community facilities. We will be just minutes from the entrance of Prince William National Forest for hiking. It will be about 25 miles to downtown D.C. for theaters, museums, etc. We will also be about 25 miles from Fredricksburg, Va. and Manassas, Va. (both charming historic towns).

Grumpy

My brother once described my place like having 5 acres in the middle of the city. I live at the bottom of three small hills (this is Austin) with a greenbelt in my backyard where there are deer, hawks and other small critters. From my backyard you can only see one other house on top the hill but I still have traffic noise.

I live 10 min from work traveling against traffic.

We live 5 min from the post office, library, city pool, 3 schools, 6 churchs, 3 groceries, many restaurants and lots of shopping.
We are only 10 min from Sams, costcos, 2 lakes, 2 malls (not that I ever go) with movies, ice skating, and other venues.

I like nature but I also like the city and want to be close enough to enjoy what it has to offer. What I am looking for is balance. I have not retired yet and when I do I suspect we will have to move because of taxes but for now where we live works great.

[yelnad]

I'm a country kid. We live on 22 acres in the woods and you cannot see our house from the road. My "town" has 697 people in it, but I work 23 miles away in a university town of 139,000. It's sort of a best of both worlds for my husband and I, although most would agree that we live in the boonies.

The university town is rated #9 in Forbes best small places to live.

Walmart & groceries are 20 mins from our house. Gas and pizza are 2 miles.