What do you like about where you live?

[wildcat]

What do you like about where you live?

 

[bssc]

About Phoenix
Not too crowded (I am in Metro Washington as I write this)
Not too humid (81% humidity here)
Sunny
House is close to the mountains
Housing is still relatively cheap

 

[frayne]

Chattanooga, Tn. area here, weather, people, golf courses, great roads for motorcycle riding, decent prices for real estate.

 

[GatorBuzz]

Gainesville, Fl.
Can watch any number of performing arts and great college athletics any time of the year at much cheaper price than in major cities.
Great rivers and crystal-clear springs for canoing.
Cost of living is cheap.
People are friendly.

And the best think ever is that I can leave the house at 5:00am and be in Crescent Beach in an hour and a half, drink a bloody mary and watch the sun rise out over the Atlantic. That same day I can come back to my house, take a nap on the hammock, then leave about 5:00pm to drive to Cedar Key (small fishing village), drink a beer and eat hot boiled shrimp while watching that same day's sun set out in the Gulf. <<<<-----credit to Harry Crews for coming up with the idea.

 

[F-One]

There's a very nice park with a walking entrance about 200 yards from my house.

My house is surrounded by trees, so I feel like there is space around me, even though lot is < 1/2 acre.

Neighbors are nice, working class (like me)

Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Durham within 20-30 minutes (decent amount of activities, airport, etc)

Low crime rate

 

[Outtahere]

I'm in New England. Right now I'm 20 minutes from the beach, 30 minutes from Boston with all it has to offer and 90 minutes from the mountians. I live on the outskirts of my city which to most is considered country but I'm only a 5 min drive away from stores, banks, the PO and the hospital. My family all live within 10 miles of me with my parents next door. Life is good here

 

[PBAT]

Moved to Raleigh suburb last year from DC.
I agree with everything F-One said, except several of my neighbors are dual income professionals that LBYM.

Low crime rate means I don't worry about my teen's safety when he goes out with his friends. Good schools. Plenty of free activities to enjoy with my toddler.

Lots of parks/trails/lakes, a few within walking distance. Mild winters mean more time to enjoy the outdoors.

Two hours to the ocean - day trips with DH and kids.

Three distinct towns to explore.

Small mortgage, so I can w*rk PT, we save more, and soon DH can go PT as well. Instead of dreaming about semiRE we are actually planning for it!!

 

[Sheryl]

About Western Washington: 5 minutes to Salt water kayaking. <1 hour to North Cascades National Park (hiking, skiing, backpacking, canoeing). Beautiful scenery, many other parks and rec. opportunities. Good University and also Community College in town with many activities and events, as well as ability to take courses of interest. 1 hour to Vancouver and it's cultural opportunities, 90 mins. to Seattle, ditto. Nice weather once in a while.

About my house in particular: Nice big yard and garden, walk to supermarket (if I'm not lazy) great neighbors, nice old houses.

 

[FinallyRetired]

I know the DC area is not popular but wife and I have found it great. We live in the outer suburbs and since I don't have to fight the rush hour commute (a huge problem in DC) I can pick and choose when I go into the city. Once there we have our choice of the finest of everything, restaurants, free museums, free outdoor concerts, ethnic festivals, or just walking around historic places in DC and Old Town Alexandria.

But what we enjoy the most is being able to walk out our back door down to our dock and get into our kayak or small sailboat. And if we want more action we go to our larger sailboat on the Potomac where we can sail locally or down to the Chesapeake and beyond.

It's a four season climate and summers can be hot and muggy but only for a couple of months. And even then there are usually t-storms to cool the evenings off. Winters don't have a lot of snow but then we usually leave in the winter.

Plus we are close to some of the best health care in the country and reasonably close to beaches in Virginia and Maryland, to mountains in West Virginia or the Smokies in Tennessee.

Housing is a bit pricey, though, and we could not afford to move here if we didn't already live here. In fact, I have a ten year plan and will have to move to a cheaper area within ten years to make our ER money last.

 

[justin]

Another Raleigh-ite here (lifelong resident). 4 seasons, but nice not-too-hot weather about 3/4 of the year. Good parks, good schools, low property taxes given the great services we get. Traffic isn't bad 22 hours of the day. I'm able to live in an affordable working class neighborhood that is walkable and feels safe (with professionals LBYMing interspersed). Three great universities in town offering lifelong education for me, and great low-cost options for our daughters in about 16 years. A very well-educated citizenry is also nice to have.

All my family and DW's family lives here, so it works out really well since we have 2 very young kids.

I just took a 4 day weekend and we filled up one morning with walking to the library, getting some books, planning on playing tennis at the park adjacent to the library, then finding out the courts were completely in the sun. So we went back to the other park closer to home in our neighborhood and played on a shade-covered tennis court while our daughter crawled around. Then we went to try a local authentic thai/vietnamese buffet restaurant. Without ever leaving our neighborhood! One day when I no longer have to work, I look forward to many mornings like this.

 

[Martha]

Northern Minnesota on the edge of Lake Superior:

Pluses: Many beautiful parks with walking trails and cross country skiing trails right in town. Beautiful big lake. Lots of small lakes and rivers nearby for kayaking and canoing. Not at all crowded. Cool here close to the lake. (Today will be 65 to 70 near the lake, 85 away from the lake). Our flower gardens. Walking out the door and to the lake walk, which will take me all the way downtown. Family nearby. Our next door neighbors are nice. Housing in inexpensive. Farmer's market 5 blocks away. Grocery store is 3 blocks. Co-op less than a mile away.

Minuses: Winters are harsh, long and days are short. Snow removal. Summer is short--tulips are still blooming here and peonies are still just little hard round buds. I can't grow tomatoes. City is in financial trouble due to retiree medical benefits. Local economy struggles and wages are depressed. Housing prices have increased but are much lower than the coasts or large Midwest cities. Mosquitoes and black flies in summer. Too much fog. Clay soil. Our city is built on the side of a hill and bike riding is difficult. This weekend is marathon weekend and we will have trouble leaving our home and getting around. Tenants want the thermostat turned up too high even if I am having hot flashes. My best friends are 150 miles away in Mpls/St. Paul.

 

[bosco]

Golden BC

Incredibly scenic, in the Columbia River valley between the Rockies and the Purcells. 20 minutes to Kicking Horse ski hill (4,000 ft vertical drop). Incredible hiking, mountain biking, fishing, and paragliding opportunities (I don't paraglide). Small town, friendly people. Lots of wildflife. 4 seasons.

The only minus is that it is nearly 3 hours from a major airport. Maybe that's why it's still a small, friendly town and why the ski area isn't overdeveloped yet.

 

[cantlogin]

Four season climate. 90 minutes from Manhattan and Philadelphia. The birds, squirrels, deer, groundhogs, chipmunks, turkeys, bear and raccoons are my neighbors. Great roads for motorcycles.

Fantastic views of earth and sky.

 

[calmloki]

Gee, can't think of anything to recommend western Oregon. Rainy autumns lead into soggy winters which are eventually supplanted by the soft rains of spring. Luckily we've started summer now, so it mostly only rains hard on the weekends, which does knock down most of the mosquitos if you stay out from under cover. The people here are solid stock, born of the common clay, which encrusts their lower torsos. The dining is fine, primarily consisting of whatever raw foods the young farmers can strain from the fields, and served by our young folk in all their hirsute beauty, leg hair brushed and gleaming. Our school system bows to no one, producing some 17% of all of the McDonald's waitstaff, as well as 12% of the coffee boilers that make the coffee found in 7-11s. Our bottle bill, which keeps the roads free of return-deposit bottles, provides another source of income for the work force. We do have lovely mountains and seascapes, which are identified by compass position, as the overcast and the fog obscure actual views of them. Still, I'm sure they are lovely, as there are artist's renderings on the web of what they might look like. Only reason I'm here is the dull thought seeping to the surface of my brain that urges that in a few decades the rest of the US will turn into desert.

 

[bow-tie]

Cons - Plenty hot and humid in the summer. Cold and snowy in the winter. The area east of us is turning into urban hell. Can only drive my Chevelle for about 6-7 months a year.

Pros - It's home, with family, and friends. Wouldn't trade it.

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

fort lauderdale. i'm ready for a change but if i was just arriving, really, what's not to like.

 

[ziggy29]

We moved to the Hill Country about an hour northwest of Austin last summer.

What do I like? The hills, the wide-open spaces, the abundance of deer, the amazing displays of spring wildflowers, small-town hospitality with friendly people, slower-paced living, mild winters, low crime rate, relatively low cost of living, no state income tax, being far enough away from the big city to not worry about it encroaching on us.

What I dislike? Brutally hot summers, the bugs, distance from airports and colleges, high property taxes and a crappy grocery store.

All in all we like it here very much. Even though I'm still working full-time I already feel partially FIRE'd just by finding the place off the beaten path where I think we want to spend the rest of our days.

 

[kaudrey]

I'm in the metro DC area also, so I'll start by repeating, with modifications:

Great variety of restaurants, free museums, free outdoor concerts, all kinds of festivals, hanging out in Old Town Alexandria, the many different neigborhoods of Arlington etc.

Let's see, to add to that: there are groups and events for any hobby you might have, great biking/running trails, I live 10 minutes from a major airport (and can get there by metro), it's a few hours to Shenandoah or the West Virginia mountains, it's a fun day trip to Annapolis or Baltimore, I can always find the indie/foreign films I like in theatres...

It's too far from the ocean for me (I'm used to living about 10-15 minutes away), and there's too much traffic (but I had that in CT/NY anyway), so overall, I love it here.

 

[FinanceDude]

Pros: 4 Seasons, Summerfest, on a Great Lake, we have 17,000 lakes, and LOTS of bike trails.

Cons: High taxes, bad roads, mosquitoes!!

 

[bbbamI]

North Texas....I like my abode because it's paid for and the neighborhood is quiet. Our area has become one of "the" best places to live ...we have a home in the older part of town where the lots are larger and there are actually mature trees.

No state tax, new hosptial, new library, new businesses and million dollar homes on the other part of town. They get the traffic, we don't.

I do like the mild winters, but I do miss the snow from time to time. Miss my family and friends...most have never left home.

 

[FinallyRetired]

Let's see, to add to that: there are groups and events for any hobby you might have, great biking/running trails, I live 10 minutes from a major airport (and can get there by metro), it's a few hours to Shenandoah or the West Virginia mountains, it's a fun day trip to Annapolis or Baltimore, I can always find the indie/foreign films I like in theatres...

Yes, and how about no need for a car in much of the city because of the excellent Metro system. And major sports in football (well, sort of major), baseball, hockey, and bball. Come to think of it, not really major in any of them, but you can watch the other teams come in and win

I've decided DC is a lot better to live in for a retiree than for a working person, if you can afford it.

 

[donheff]

I am on Capitol Hill in DC. KAudrey and SoontoRetire covered it pretty well for me. DW and I have the added luxury of a weekend house on the tidal Potomac with 240 degree water views. But, if things get tough and we have to downsize to one place it will be the Hill. It is great to be able to walk to restaurants and attractions.

 

[kbst]

Chapel Hill

I live in Chapel Hill.
Since it is close between the triangle and DC I thought I'd chime in.

All the amenities of a big city in a small town.
Great weather 9-10 months out of the year.
Great people. Diversity. etc.
2.5 hrs to beach and 3 hrs to mts.
Lots of greenspace and places to walk
15 minute walk to Whole Foods, 10 resterents, Staples, Blockbuster and soon a Trader Joes.

kbst

 

[Nords]

Pros:
Surfing without a wetsuit
Year-round sunshine
Easy to lead an active outdoor beach-bum lifestyle
Tropical vegetation
Asian cuisine (especially Thai)
Fresh fish anytime
No heating or A/C necessary
No snow or freezing rain
Lax dress codes
No winter clothing

Whines:
Urban sprawl
High land costs
Fireworks anarchy pollution on New Year's Eve
Some of the world's [-]worst[/-] least-experienced drivers

I'm waiting to see how REWahoo! & Ol' Rancher handle this subject!

 

[Sam]

Pros:
Asian cuisine (especially Thai)
Fresh fish anytime
No heating or A/C necessary

Nice!

Whines:
Some of the world's [-]worst[/-] least-experienced drivers

Why? What makes it different from any other city?