Relocation Priorities (How does one decide what's important?)

[Georgialivin]

Didn't read the other comments so I may miss a fact- anyway. I live in a small town outside of Savannah and love it. Mild winters, one Main Street so bikeable and tons of stuff to do in Savannah which is 30 minutes easy drive

 

[Georgialivin]

Should add houses are cheap and they airport is 15min

 

[Walt34]

This year we are likely to attend 12-15 recitals/concerts of various kinds in DC and make 2 trips to NYC for the opera. I also will make 8-10 trips to various places in the metro area for rehearsals and to perform. Would we do these things if I lived in Harpers Ferry? Charlottesville? Manassas? What say you Walt34? How accessible is DC from Harpers Ferry?

Outside of rush hours the drive from Harper's Ferry to DC would be a bit over an hour, on the order of 1:15 or so. And until you get to Frederick, MD it's actually a pretty drive, lots of farmland and hills. During rush hours (0430-0700 and 1500-1830) it would take about half again that time or more. If it snows you're better off getting a hotel room because there WILL be crashes and you'll get home sometime between midnight and dawn. I am amazed at the number of people around here who commute to jobs in or near DC. It's a brutal commute.

In the city of Martinsburg, WV there is a MARC train station that runs to Union Station in DC, I think that takes about an hour and a half but it would be a lot less stressful. Lots of people go that way if they can make it work for them. Edit to add: There is also a station in Harper's Ferry.

Manassas, VA I think would be a bit farther, maybe two hours. Google maps is pretty accurate on times so that might be your best guesstimator.

 

[zinger1457]

Las Cruces NM hits a lot of those buttons. Smaller city with a population of ~100K, golf year round, university town (NMSU), nice homes in the $250K range. It does get hot in the summer but not Phoenix hot, El Paso airport is about 50 miles away.

 

[aboatguy]

Yep, they would. That's Cajun country and I think you would stand out like a sore thumb if you have a strong NY accent. The main problem with that area for us is that they really get pounded by hurricanes, and it is a little more "country" than New Orleans.


P.S. - - "HOME-uh"; "buy you CANE"; "TIB-uh-dough".

The Louisiana North Shore is pretty nice and a short drive to Nawlins.

If you chose the right area (nieghborhood) you won't flood during hurricanes or storms either.

I like the northshore so much thats where we settled after I "retired" from the navy.. I like it so much we left my last duty station (Hawaii) to go back to the swamp. My town is easy for a yankee to pronounce SLIDELL. My neighborhood is within walking distance of a major supermarket, fast food McDonalds, Taco bell etc, and best of all a huge sporting goods store. There is a walking path that leads to a large public park (park is about 1.5 miles away). Hunting and fishing within a couple of miles and less than an hour to New Orleans, takes about the same time to hit Biloxi.
Towns like DIAMONDHEAD in Mississippi are good places too. Price of living is affordable, and the wildlife diversity is outstanding. The only problem is it is not as bicycle friendly as Hawaii IE its pretty flat here.

Mike

 

[braumeister]

My town is easy for a yankee to pronounce SLIDELL.

Some of the names in that region are indeed difficult for us damnyankees.

I had a friend who stopped off in Natchitoches, LA for lunch on a trip once, and was befuddled by the name. When the waitress came, he said "Please pronounce the name of this place slowly and distinctly, so I can get it."

She cheerfully leaned over and replied "DAY-REE KWEEN."

 

[DrRoy]

I think you will have to pick out some candidate areas based on your criteria, and then visit them to really evaluate how you feel about the inevitable compromises that there will be. I do not believe that you can absolutely rank the factors in advance, because the degree to which different locations meet those criteria will vary in ways you have to experience in order to evaluate.

 

[bclover]

Didn't read the other comments so I may miss a fact- anyway. I live in a small town outside of Savannah and love it. Mild winters, one Main Street so bikeable and tons of stuff to do in Savannah which is 30 minutes easy drive

Savannah is on my list. I plan on visiting during 2017 (various times). I'm probably going to do the snow bird thing for a while. I'm a city gal and I love the Northeast, lol in the spring, summer and fall.

 

[meierlde]

There is a nice triangle of lower cost areas in the Midwest, bordered by Columbus, OH, Louisville, KY, and Indianapolis, IN (Cincinnati included in the triangle). All three are large enough cities for your cultural needs, with many smaller towns nearby (Lexington, KY, Bloomington, IN, Dayton, OH. Lots of good sized airports to choose from. Winters in mid-Indiana/Ohio may be a little stiffer, but not as bad as Michigan, Chicago and WI.

The Ohio/IN area has not fully recovered from the housing crisis and offers some of the lowest cost housing in the country-some of these areas constantly appear on "lowest cost retirement cities" in USA. Colts, Pacers and Indianapolis Indians (AAA baseball) in Indy, while Cincinatti is home to the Reds, and Bengals. Many NCAA schools in the area include Ohio State and Indiana U.

Most of these areas have suburbs that are walking friendly (Ohio is crisscrossed with great paved bike paths) and feel like small towns used to feel.

Low crime, low taxes. Lots to like if you can handle some cold weather and a little snow.

One could run the area west to Springfield IL (+- the states financial troubles) meaning essentially the down state areas of Oh, In, and Il.

I do think the question really is how close do you need to be to airports etc, In IN you could do Columbus or Seymore and be in between Indianapolis and Louisville.

 

[JoeWras]

Some of the names in that region are indeed difficult for us damnyankees.

I had a friend who stopped off in Natchitoches, LA for lunch on a trip once, and was befuddled by the name. When the waitress came, he said "Please pronounce the name of this place slowly and distinctly, so I can get it."

She cheerfully leaned over and replied "DAY-REE KWEEN."

Well, now, this country has always had special names to smoke out the outsiders. Consider a southerner visiting Worcester, MA.

Oh heck, consider a North Carolinian visiting Beaufort, SC, or a South Carolinian visiting Beaufort, NC. Same name, two completely different pronunciations. A quick way to say, "You ain't from around here, are ya?"

 

[Koolau]

As some others have suggested, we have been vacationing and house sitting in areas we think will meet our goals. It has been very helpful to spend 2+ weeks and speaking to as many people as possible while trying to experience a lot. Staying at an Air BNB with a host has been informative as well.

I agree. We spent 5 weeks in Paradise and it almost changed DW's mind about moving. It turns out she was unable to "live" someplace without specific stuff to do (hobbies, clubs, church, etc.) Of course we were stuck in a 600 SF condo in Waikiki at the time with none of her "stuff" to play with. I was okay with just bumming around or walking the beach, but she had to DO something. Recognizing the problem helped to reassure her that a move was doable. We've been here 9 years now and love it. DW has one BR full of her "stuff" and has several venues for social interaction. We are both happy and glad we spent extra time here to convince ourselves it was the right move.

Oh, and I have one chest full of MY toys (CDs, DVDs, electronic "toys", etc.) YMMV

 

[jjquantz]

Thanks, everyone, for your responses. We've had a busy weekend, but I've been monitoring and then discussing your ideas with DW in our spare minutes. A few things have become clear. 1) Mild weather is a very high priority for DW. I think that she said something like, "No way in h*ll are we moving anywhere that is colder than where we are now." 2) The specific classical music interest that I have is probably the most important thing for me.

So, for all of you who suggested the Columbus, Louisville, Indianapolis triangle (and other Midwestern places) I think that those are out of the running. That's unfortunate, because the University of Indiana in Bloomington has an incredibly strong music program in just my area of interest. We had already dismissed the major metropolitan areas with strong 18th century music audiences (Boston, NYC, Chicago, San Francisco) due to cost and climate.

The university town idea is a clear winner, conceptually. Indeed, I think the next step is for me to pretend that I'm going to apply for college as a music performance major and see if I can uncover some colleges that have programs that are currently unknown to me. I know the leading programs pretty well (including the ones in Denton and Tallahassee), but there may very well be other programs out there that I don't know about. We can then think about some visits and go from there. Fortunately, as I said, we aren't in a big rush.

Thanks again.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

The university town idea is a clear winner, conceptually. Indeed, I think the next step is for me to pretend that I'm going to apply for college as a music performance major and see if I can uncover some colleges that have programs that are currently unknown to me. I know the leading programs pretty well (including the ones in Denton and Tallahassee), but there may very well be other programs out there that I don't know about. We can then think about some visits and go from there. Fortunately, as I said, we aren't in a big rush.

Thanks again.

I have a set of event lists I check regularly and classical music events pop up in the Bay Area frequently. The home prices would not meet your requirements but if you lived in Sacramento the median home price is $279K and driving time would be 1.5 hours to San Francisco and 1.5 hours to Lake Tahoe.

 

[audreyh1]

Well, now, this country has always had special names to smoke out the outsiders. Consider a southerner visiting Worcester, MA.

Oh heck, consider a North Carolinian visiting Beaufort, SC, or a South Carolinian visiting Beaufort, NC. Same name, two completely different pronunciations. A quick way to say, "You ain't from around here, are ya?"

And if you're from France, do you pronounce it yet a third way?

 

[nobodyspecial]

Sounds like the OP is looking for something like my neighborhood in San Antonio. Quiet pocket neighborhood right off the north reach of the Riverwalk.

 

[meierlde]

Since cold is an issue try South of Nashville where the cold is shorter or perhaps Fayetteville Ar (Home to the Univ of Ar) Note that the average low in Jan is 26 and the average hi 46 with average total snowfall of 8.6 inches.

 

[Big_Hitter]

don't relo to Boise, it has none of those things [/sarcasm]

 

[haha]

There is a nice triangle of lower cost areas in the Midwest, bordered by Columbus, OH, Louisville, KY, and Indianapolis, IN (Cincinnati included in the triangle). All three are large enough cities for your cultural needs, with many smaller towns nearby (Lexington, KY, Bloomington, IN, Dayton, OH. Lots of good sized airports to choose from. Winters in mid-Indiana/Ohio may be a little stiffer, but not as bad as Michigan, Chicago and WI.

The Ohio/IN area has not fully recovered from the housing crisis and offers some of the lowest cost housing in the country-some of these areas constantly appear on "lowest cost retirement cities" in USA. Colts, Pacers and Indianapolis Indians (AAA baseball) in Indy, while Cincinatti is home to the Reds, and Bengals. Many NCAA schools in the area include Ohio State and Indiana U.

Most of these areas have suburbs that are walking friendly (Ohio is crisscrossed with great paved bike paths) and feel like small towns used to feel.

Low crime, low taxes. Lots to like if you can handle some cold weather and a little snow.

I wonder what you are comparing to when you say low crime. Dayton, Louisville, Cincinnati while they are not Chicago, do not seem low crime to me. Still, if a person has tolerance for weather, these are pretty nice places for the money.

 

[meierlde]

I wonder what you are comparing to when you say low crime. Dayton, Louisville, Cincinnati while they are not Chicago, do not seem low crime to me. Still, if a person has tolerance for weather, these are pretty nice places for the money.

But I think the point is that one does not have to live in the big cities but could live 30-50 miles away, get the advantages of the big city without the disadvantages. For example Bloomington is near Indianapolis without the big city hassle. Or pick towns on say i65 between Indianapolis and Louisville, or if you add Ky between Louisville and Nashville.
One example in Ky is Bardstown with 11k population and 40 mi from Louisville.

In particular this applies if one has ERed so that commuting to a job is not an issue.

 

[COcheesehead]

Check out Greenville, SC

Been there many times. Very nice, small/medium size city with a good economy and lots to do.

 

[bloom2708]

Anthem, AZ. NW corner of Phoenix. Purchase a house inside the Anthem CC gates. Awesome weather, golf course close, great community, close proximity to greater Phoenix. All wins. Good luck.

 

[Clone]

Looks like the Northeast might be out of the running...

Musical history: The roof of the Piano Mill sits partially collapsed into the music store's showroom from the weight of snow on Tuesday. The store is home to a rhinestone-covered grand piano once owned by Liberace. Store owner Rob Norris said it is unclear if the Liberace piano was damaged

LINK:
Boston considers dumping excess snow in the ocean | Daily Mail Online
​

 

[braumeister]

But I think the point is that one does not have to live in the big cities but could live 30-50 miles away, get the advantages of the big city without the disadvantages. For example Bloomington is near Indianapolis without the big city hassle.

Beware of glittering generalities. From anywhere in Bloomington to practically anywhere in Indianapolis would be a good 60 miles and a 1½ hour drive, assuming no traffic. That doesn't fit my personal definition of "near.''

I had a good friend who enjoyed Cincinnati but loved the life of a "nearby" college town -- Oxford, Ohio is home to Miami University, a very large campus. It took him a minimum of an hour to get from Oxford to Cincinnati despite it being less than 40 miles away.

Where I live, I can see the skyline of a major city (Cincinnati), and I can be downtown in 10 minutes, although I live in another state (Kentucky). That is "near" and works very well.

 

[NW-Bound]

The last time I went downtown was when I served jury duty. Other than that, I have not gone downtown for any reason.

I am in the sprawling suburb of a metropolitan area, yet I can walk 1 mile to a 16,000-acre city park. HD, Lowes, Target, Costco, Ikea, Walmart, Total Wine, Trader Joe's, the public library, etc..., are all within a 5-mile radius.

If I want to watch my navel and contemplate the meaning of life, I head up to my other home at 7,000 ft elevation, surrounded by a national forest.

I used to think about relocating when I was still working, but it was really for a change in scenery. Now, by long-trek RV'ing, I get more changes than any relocation can get me.

 

[meierlde]

Beware of glittering generalities. From anywhere in Bloomington to practically anywhere in Indianapolis would be a good 60 miles and a 1½ hour drive, assuming no traffic. That doesn't fit my personal definition of "near.''

I had a good friend who enjoyed Cincinnati but loved the life of a "nearby" college town -- Oxford, Ohio is home to Miami University, a very large campus. It took him a minimum of an hour to get from Oxford to Cincinnati despite it being less than 40 miles away.

Where I live, I can see the skyline of a major city (Cincinnati), and I can be downtown in 10 minutes, although I live in another state (Kentucky). That is "near" and works very well.

I suppose it partly depends on what services a city provides that a smaller town does not, that are important.

The first reason that in the past you needed to go to the big city for shopping has somewhat evaporated with web ordering. And of course further is it downtown or suburban areas you want to go to?
But then I don't like crowds, and like having space around. (I live just east of where the population density goes to what in the 1870s would have been called frontier (2 per sq mile, It drops off fairly rapidly away from the local river)
So its how often you need to go to the big city and where in it that partly answers the question of how far from the big city to live. One idea is to be sure there is a reasonable sized medical establishment in the town. To take examples from the DFW area might include Denton, Sherman, Corisicana or Hillsboro. In the east it means typically 2 counties away from the big city, selecting living near the county seat of the county.