HELP us find a new place to live! (Warning: even more long-winded than usual!)

[Shawna in Texas]

Austin, TX

[kitten18]

The coast, SF suburbs and LA would seem like impossible areas to meet her criteria on financial grounds only IMO.

 

It also wouldn't work as far as natural disasters. Earthquakes were one of the driving forces which made me leave CA.

I don't know about SF but the financial criteria could definitely be met in SoCA and some coastal areas. But yeah, the earthquakes could be a problem.

[indigomama]

The coast, SF suburbs and LA would seem like impossible areas to meet her criteria on financial grounds only IMO.

 

It also wouldn't work as far as natural disasters. Earthquakes were one of the driving forces which made me leave CA.

 

I agree:iagree:. CA is crazy expensive, especially LA and the Bay Area. I rarely see houses that large, let alone for under $1M.

 

And no to Monterey, a teen would be bored there and I don't know of any large homeschool groups.

[CLBMom]

Virginia Beach VA meets all your requirements but one. We get a mild hurricane every 5-10 years. It is in several national top ten lists for one of the best places for families. I also second Asheville NC. I have family there and it's beautiful.

[littlebug42]

I live in Dayton, Ohio and it pretty much meets all of your requirements. You could purchase a mega house here for $600,000 in one of the suburbs. There are tons of things for homeschoolers and I belong to a great all-inclusive homeschool group. There is excellent health care and there are several major universities. We are also only an hour or so from both Cincinnati and Columbus. For snow, we get some but it doesn't usually hang around very long.

 

Also, used to live in Austin, Texas and loved it there too. However, I hated the summer heat and the fire ants. Couldn't get past those.

[Wheres Toto]

 

Here's what we need in terms of the area (well, OK, here's what we want:)

 

1. Lots of homeschoolers in the area Tons of homeschoolers since it's so easy here.

2. Low crime depends on the town

3. Good air and water quality most of the time, some air quality warnings with high humidity days.

4. Low property taxes - $10,000/yr or less (the lower the better! We pay a lot more than that now, but really want to reduce our costs.) depends on the town and what county you are in.

5. Excellent medical care/hospital nearby (within 15 minutes or so) in most places

6. Good colleges within 1-2 hours drive (closer if possible) definitely

7. Shopping nearby (5-10 minutes max away from things like a grocery store) yep

8. Decent cultural opportunities within 45 minutes or so yep

9. Good private high school within 15 minutes, in case ds ever decides he wants to go to "real" school. (This is sort of optional.) depends on the town but there are quite a few.

10. Not a super-religious community -- where we live now, no one ever asks you where you go to church or tries to get us to go to their church, and we like it that way! FWIW, dh and I were both raised Catholic, but we are non-practicing right now, so we don't need to be near any specific church. mostly Catholic, Jewish or atheist

11. Not too much snow. Some snow is OK, as long as it melts away pretty quickly, but I would hate to be in a place where there's snow on the ground for months at a time. not bad. even less in south Jersey

12. No frequent weather disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, or earthquakes. (I know storms can happen anywhere; I just mean we'd like to find a place where really bad stuff is rare, not a regular occurrence.) occasional hurricane, no flooding if you pick the right place

 

As far as homes go, any style would be OK, but our main requirements are:

All of these are available right now in many areas of the state.

1. At least 3,000 square feet (preferably more, but that's the bare minimum)

2. Private yard (If it's in a city neighborhood, just a bit of private outdoor space, but in a more suburban/rural setting, we would want 2 or more acres.)

3. Somewhat upscale neighborhood but not super-snobby if we can help it

4. Priced at around $600,000 -- less is better, a lot less is even better than that, but we can also go higher if necessary. I'm trying to keep the budget pretty low, because I know it will make it more enticing to my dh, and I'm not one of those people who likes to brag about what I spent for stuff, so the less we spend, the happier I'll be!

 

 

 

For right now with the market messed up, New Jersey actually meets a lot of your criteria.

[kroe1]

south Florida meets all of your requirements except hurricane risk. But you have days and days to get prepared for that.

[Catwoman]

I'm only online for a minute, but I wanted to thank everyone for all of the suggestions (more are always welcome, especially recommendations of specific towns/neighborhoods!) I'm making a list of all of your ideas and it looks like I'll be on the computer a lot this weekend, checking out all of the options.

 

You guys ROCK!!!!!!!!:001_wub:

[justLisa]

I LOOOOOOOVE Washington. Love, love. We have sacrificed oodles to live here. Even at a low time when DH's company closed shop. He is an architect, and living at the level we are used to with me staying home wasn't possible on a much lower income. Now, everything worked out fantastic, and he works remotely.

 

We live just north of Seattle, in Mill Creek. Search bothell, mill creek, woodinville, and redmond (the latter two being slightly higher). Very upscale but friendly neighborhoods. Non-religious, earth friendly, TONS of homeschoolers. The list goes on. We have some of the cleanest air and water anywhere!

[oraetstudia]

I think Franklin (Williamson county), TN just south of Nashville would suit all the requirements you listed. There are a lot of Christians, because it is the Bible belt, but I wouldn't say that ever seems to be a huge factor for anyone and there is plenty of diversity.

[Shamzanne]

Eugene or Portland, OR!

 

Eta: I live in Eugene - it meets or exceeds every item on your list. PLUS we are an hour from the coast, and an hour from mountains with great skiing. The only person I would not recommend moving here is someone with severe allergies... the valley is not good for those. I've always heard that Eugene is the "least churched" city in the US. Anything goes. Lots of high end neighborhoods but Oregon is known for its laid back nature - not a lot of snooty folks here. Air and water quality would be hard to beat!

 

The great thing about Eugene is that 10 minutes from the center of the city you can be in completely pastoral country - my parents live on 11 acres with an amazing view of the mountains and river, but can be downtown in 15 min. AND we have a great farmers market, saturday market, our own ballet, opera, and symphony, and a wonderful performing arts community. Oh yeah, and lots of hippies.

 

$600,000 would buy just about whatever you want here... city or country. I truly would not want to live anywhere else.

Edited March 24, 2012 by Shanzanne
Add more when I had time

[Jennifer in MI]

Except for the SNOW (which we didn't actually get too much of this year and so WHO KNOWS what that means for next year), you are describing Ann Arbor, Michigan with it's lovely college town, cultural feel from University of Michigan. U of M ranks in the top 40 in the nation and in the world as well. M.S.U. is only an hour away (especially when you learn the back roads in which saves time) and again, world class, top notch school.

 

You are a comfortable distance from an international airport, The Detroit Institute of Arts, Henry Ford and Green Field Village, Cranbrook institute, some excellent private high schools and at least one boarding school if that is of interest, and a cheap Amtrak ride from Chicago. Since the housing market tanked in Michigan, you will find many, many houses that meet your specifications in good neighborhoods for well under $600,000.00

Lots of homeschoolers and Michigan is a MEGA friendly homeschool state. I think you'd be within 30 minutes to an hour of Jennifer in MI (Grosse Pointe) so you might be able to get to know one another.

 

Beaumont Hospital in Troy (north Detroit area) just made the top 200 hospitals in the US. I can't say enough good things about this hospital. University Hospital at U Of M is very good too, and then there's children's at Wayne State University. Children's is excellent, though I have to admit to not being all that fond of Wayne State itself.

 

If want rural and still very close to Ann Arbor, try Brighton...you'll probably love it!!!

 

Faith

 

Hey Faith! I can't believe I was mentioned! Thanks for the shout out!

 

And, I agree with Ann Arbor. Or, Grosse Pointe! We are even closer to most of the things that Faith mentioned in her post. And, our housing prices have been decreasing so fast that our houses are very affordable. (Our house sold to the previous owners for over $600,000. We got it for $300,000 - and we're in the more desirable neighborhood in GPP! Yes, really!) So, you could use your extra money to join a club (I'd be happy to show you the DAC!)! Pay for people to take care of the snow. Pay for people to take care of your lawn. We do that ourselves, but most around us have people who do that. . . .

 

Seriously - we have amazing hospitals. GREAT schools - both public and private. There are wonderful opportunities for kids here - sports as well as the arts.

 

In GPP, we also have two private parks - for residents only. Both are lake-front. One has a gym, movie theater, an olympic sized pool, marina, concession stand, park etc. The other has a park, boardwalk, splash pad, sledding, ice skating (with a warming lodge - complete with a hot chocolate bar for mom and dad), etc.

 

We just love it here!!! Winters and all! Oh - and most people travel for a part of the winter! It's a really nice break.

[gingersmom]

For right now with the market messed up, New Jersey actually meets a lot of your criteria.

 

You live in New Jersey and have low property taxes?

 

I'm in Essex County in 1800 square feet and my taxes are ridiculous. We are planning on putting our house up for sale within a year and heading out West.

[dirty ethel rackham]

I think you'd like Naperville IL. My neighborhood meets most of your criteria except that the houses are a little more modest. There are neighborhoods here that do meet your criteria (except, perhaps, the 2 acres in suburbia.) What I like about our neighborhood is the walkability. I can walk to Trader Joe's, a full service butcher, an ice cream shop, a bread store, a car repair place, an independent drug store, a wine and beer shop, etc. I can ride my bike to a hardware store, a pizza carryout that has great food, a FANTASTIC independent book store, the library, a downtown that has good shopping (including an Apple store.) We have lots of shopping nearby. We are about 45 minutes from Chicago, but we also have a college in our town that has lots of cultural opportunities. Our town has lots of people who are from someplace else (it had made some magazine's "best places to live" list so many people transferred to the Chicago area settled here.) Most of the town seems to be upper-middle class, but we are much more solidly middle-class.

 

The only thing on your list that we might not meet is snow. But, as of the last several years, we have been getting snow storms (the news people call anything over an inch a "storm") but it seems to melt too soon - we rarely get to go sledding any more. We did have it last for several weeks this winter before it melted, though.

 

Even though we have "good schools", there are lots of homeschoolers. here. Many conservative Christian, but many who homeschool for lots of other reasons. Definitely not a "what church do you go to?" kind of town as most people are "too polite to talk about religion."

[Wheres Toto]

You live in New Jersey and have low property taxes?

 

I'm in Essex County in 1800 square feet and my taxes are ridiculous. We are planning on putting our house up for sale within a year and heading out West.

 

A lot of towns have been doing reassessments and taxes have come down. Her criteria was $10,000 or less for at least 3,000 square feet. I know places where you can get that. I'm in Morris County, I'm also familiar with Sussex County and south Jersey. It can vary a lot from town to town.

[cin]

I live in Dayton, Ohio and it pretty much meets all of your requirements. You could purchase a mega house here for $600,000 in one of the suburbs. There are tons of things for homeschoolers and I belong to a great all-inclusive homeschool group. There is excellent health care and there are several major universities. We are also only an hour or so from both Cincinnati and Columbus. For snow, we get some but it doesn't usually hang around very long.

 

Also, used to live in Austin, Texas and loved it there too. However, I hated the summer heat and the fire ants. Couldn't get past those.

 

I'm in Cincinnati and was thinking the same thing. LOTS of homeschoolers, great private high schools (Moeller and St. X for boys, Cincinnati Country Day is co-ed.) Lots of good shopping. Cincinnati Ballet, Cincinnati Symphony, Art Museum, History Museum, Cincinnati Zoo, Kings Island...International Airport. And low crime. And 600k would buy you an AWESOME house.

 

We live in an eastern suburb of Cincy in a 1900 sq ft house on 3/4 acres. Market value is about $140k and the taxes, I think run about 3k/yr.

Edited March 24, 2012 by cin

[gingersmom]

A lot of towns have been doing reassessments and taxes have come down. Her criteria was $10,000 or less for at least 3,000 square feet. I know places where you can get that. I'm in Morris County, I'm also familiar with Sussex County and south Jersey. It can vary a lot from town to town.

 

Taxes in my town have not gone down in the 10 years I have lived here. They have gone up every year though.

 

My town has a lot to offer-midtown direct to NYC, valet parking at the train station :001_smile:, but low taxes is not one of them.

 

I am also the only homeschooler in town.

[cathmom]

Central NC. Specifically Cary or Apex, NC area. I think it meets all of your requirements and has a large concentration of "relocated Yankees" (myself included).

 

I would also suggest Chapel Hill, NC or Asheville or Charlotte.

 

Chapel Hill was my suggestion. It fits all your criteria.

[lmrich]

The Atlanta suberbs. Housing is cheap! You can get a 3,000 square foot home for under 250,000 on my side of town - South Cobb. We have an active homeschool group, well actually several groups some secular, some religious. There are tons of classes for your kid to take at the local arts center (classes are super, crazy cheap like $6.00 an hour) or at a chuch for academic (not religious) classes. Taxes are low; ours under $2,000. We have a lot of Universities nearby AND they have programs for homeschool kids. There is a ton to do - lots of sports but not just team sports; there is tennis, fencing, track, cross country etc.. maybe something your guy has not explored yet. There is an amazing theater group nearby or rather several, there are homeschool bands, orchestra, and even a marching band. We get snow once, twice a year or not at all. It is hot in the summer, but hey you can buy a house in the nearby mtn. for the summers. Our airport is huge, and flights are cheaper here than other places. People may ask where you go to church, but I doubt it. I never ask anyone that, and am only asked that, when I say my kids have church choir etc.. PM if you want more info. We love living here - the schools stink, but who cares we get to homeschool and pay less for an amazing house because of it!

[ma23peas]

I've lived in 3 states in the Bible belt, and these areas would definitely not overwhelm you with pressure...

 

1. Chapel Hill or Charlotte, NOrth Carolina...BEAUTIFUL! Close to the beach and mountains and wonderful schools (Duke University UNC, you name it)

 

2. Franklin, TN...I am an hour from here...it is really nice...Nashville really has a lot to offer..you would be amazed at what 600k can buy you in Nashville v. Connecticut/NJ/NY and the taxes alone are worth the move!

 

3. Many areas outside of Seattle...we lived there for 2 years...we really loved it (the 8 weeks in summer when the view is unbeatable) but I really struggled with the dreary 10 months of the year that drizzled drizzled drizzled. I have to have BLUE skies!! But, as far as religion, it will rarely come up. Snow, negligible (although I do believe this year they had a freaky storm come through).

 

4. Florida has some great areas...Coral Gables comes to mind first..you may get less home, but amenities and weather is worth it!! :)

 

Talk your husband into making this move!! HE will love TN/NC/FL...you can get some land in TN not sure about NC. There are many homes on short sell/farms etc. that you could get at half the value right now...financially, it is the BEST time to move!! :)

[jenL]

 

Talk your husband into making this move!! HE will love TN/NC/FL...you can get some land in TN not sure about NC. There are many homes on short sell/farms etc. that you could get at half the value right now...financially, it is the BEST time to move!! :)

 

With what you are able to spend, you can definitely get land around Charlotte. Another gorgeous area would be the Lake Norman area (north of Charlotte) - Mooresville, Davidson or even Cabarrus County (Concord). Dh said that Denver (NW of Charlotte) may be suitable for what you need. I am partial to Union County though :).

[Aggie]

D/FW suburbs meet the financial considerations. :001_smile:

 

Look at this, for example.

 

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/227-Justin-Rd_Murphy_TX_75094_M81155-86321

 

However, if given the opportunity to choose any place, I'd choose Virginia in a heartbeat. Mountains, beaches, close enough to DC, lots of history, moderate weather, absolutely beautiful state.

[kitten18]

I think you'd like Naperville IL. My neighborhood meets most of your criteria except that the houses are a little more modest. There are neighborhoods here that do meet your criteria (except, perhaps, the 2 acres in suburbia.) What I like about our neighborhood is the walkability. I can walk to Trader Joe's, a full service butcher, an ice cream shop, a bread store, a car repair place, an independent drug store, a wine and beer shop, etc. I can ride my bike to a hardware store, a pizza carryout that has great food, a FANTASTIC independent book store, the library, a downtown that has good shopping (including an Apple store.) We have lots of shopping nearby. We are about 45 minutes from Chicago, but we also have a college in our town that has lots of cultural opportunities. Our town has lots of people who are from someplace else (it had made some magazine's "best places to live" list so many people transferred to the Chicago area settled here.) Most of the town seems to be upper-middle class, but we are much more solidly middle-class.

 

The only thing on your list that we might not meet is snow. But, as of the last several years, we have been getting snow storms (the news people call anything over an inch a "storm") but it seems to melt too soon - we rarely get to go sledding any more. We did have it last for several weeks this winter before it melted, though.

 

Even though we have "good schools", there are lots of homeschoolers. here. Many conservative Christian, but many who homeschool for lots of other reasons. Definitely not a "what church do you go to?" kind of town as most people are "too polite to talk about religion."

My sister lived in Naperville. It is a wonderful town.

[susancollins]

I think Cary, NC , Raleigh, NC, or Chapel Hill, NC would fit you criteria.

[celticmom]

OK, here's the story: I want my dh to retire. He has been "going to" retire for years now, but he never actually gets beyond the "going to" stage. His biggest excuse is that if he stops working, we won't have as much money to live on, and things are expensive here in the NYC area, so he needs to keep working so we can maintain our lifestyle and continue to save more money.

 

The reality is that he can retire and we can still live just fine, but he's a worrier, so there's really no convincing him.

 

He did, however, suggest that he would retire if we moved to a place that had a lower cost of living than where we are now. So... please, please, please help me find the right place!

 

Here's what we need in terms of the area (well, OK, here's what we want:)

I would suggest the area close to or in Mobile, AL

1. Lots of homeschoolers in the area - I think there are a fair number in Mobile, I kinow there are are some across the state line in MS

2. Low crime - This would probably depend on the area of the city/county but areas that met your other criteria would probably be fine

3. Good air and water quality - Avoid Pascagoula area and this is fine.

4. Low property taxes - $10,000/yr or less (the lower the better! We pay a lot more than that now, but really want to reduce our costs.) Typical rates that I know of in this area are much, much less

5. Excellent medical care/hospital nearby (within 15 minutes or so) University of South Alabama has a medical school and a research hospital

6. Good colleges within 1-2 hours drive (closer if possible) University of South Alabama

7. Shopping nearby (5-10 minutes max away from things like a grocery store)

8. Decent cultural opportunities within 45 minutes or so

9. Good private high school within 15 minutes, in case ds ever decides he wants to go to "real" school. (This is sort of optional.) I can think of at least three.

10. Not a super-religious community -- where we live now, no one ever asks you where you go to church or tries to get us to go to their church, and we like it that way! FWIW, dh and I were both raised Catholic, but we are non-practicing right now, so we don't need to be near any specific church.

11. Not too much snow. Some snow is OK, as long as it melts away pretty quickly, but I would hate to be in a place where there's snow on the ground for months at a time. Snow is RARE years pass with no snow. The downside is that when it does snow everything shuts down.

12. No frequent weather disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, or earthquakes. (I know storms can happen anywhere; I just mean we'd like to find a place where really bad stuff is rare, not a regular occurrence.) We do have hurricanes but we definitely don't have major ones every year.

 

As far as homes go, any style would be OK, but our main requirements are:

 

1. At least 3,000 square feet (preferably more, but that's the bare minimum)

2. Private yard (If it's in a city neighborhood, just a bit of private outdoor space, but in a more suburban/rural setting, we would want 2 or more acres.)

3. Somewhat upscale neighborhood but not super-snobby if we can help it

4. Priced at around $600,000 -- less is better, a lot less is even better than that, but we can also go higher if necessary. I'm trying to keep the budget pretty low, because I know it will make it more enticing to my dh, and I'm not one of those people who likes to brag about what I spent for stuff, so the less we spend, the happier I'll be! With that budget you could buy a huge house down here.

 

We wouldn't mind living in a city or a suburb. A rural area with lots of property would be great, too, if it's close to a city or large town.

 

The thing is, we're used to having all of the conveniences (including major malls) within a few miles of our home, so we are pretty spoiled. OTOH, our "town" isn't at all walkable, so you have to go to a mall or a large shopping center for pretty much everything. We would love to live in a place where we could walk to coffee shops or bookstores, or whatever. It could be a city or a really pretty town, or a short drive from a rural area. The walkability is more of a "nice to have" option, though; it's not an absolute necessity.

 

A big priority for me is finding friends for ds12, and it is very important to me that we live in an area where there are lots of homeschoolers, and that some of them will be homeschooling through high school. Ds isn't into sports, so it would be great if there were other activities available.

 

Finally, one of the main reasons I have for wanting to be close to a large town or a city is that as ds gets older, I don't want him to be bored to tears because there's nothing for him to do. He's a city boy at heart, so I think he would be unhappy without a town or city to visit.

 

Sorry I'm rambling, but I'm trying to be as specific as I can, in the hope that I'll get some ideas. A few friends have suggested Denver and Nashville to us, and both places look pretty cool, but other than that, we are relatively clueless. I assume we will probably end up moving out of our "comfort zone" of the NY/NJ/CT area in order to find a more reasonably-priced home and lower taxes. (Also, I think we're due for a big change.)

 

One last thing -- I know it may sound silly, but I also want to be sure we move to a place where people won't pre-judge us because they think NY/NJ people are all like the Sopranos or those complete morons from Jersey Shore. We just want to move to a place where we can settle in and adapt to the way things are. We're not the type to harp on how "we did things differently in NY," but I know the stereotype is that we're all pushy and rude and obnoxious, and so that's why I'm mentioning that we want to move to a place where we'll be accepted as long as we don't act like idiots. (We're not expecting anyone to roll out the red carpet for us, but making friends will be a big priority, especially for my ds.)

 

If you're still reading this... THANK YOU! :001_smile:

 

Please post any and all suggestions you may have -- and I would also like to hear about the places you don't recommend, as well. If you've read this post and thought, "Wow, she would totally hate it here," definitely let me know! (Sometimes it's as important to know where not to look, as it is to know where to look!)

 

Thanks again!!!

I just thought that I would suggest an area that you might not have thought of.

[Catwoman]

Wow!!! I wasn't online much at all over the weekend because I had a nasty allergy-related headache, and the glare from the computer screen is really bad for me when I feel lousy.

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH for all of the suggestions!!!

 

I started checking some of the places out the other day, and will look at more of them this afternoon and tonight. So far, it looks like Austin, TX is very nice, but the property taxes are pretty high, and Franklin, TN looks good all-around, and the Seattle/Bellingham and Portland OR areas look great, but I was hoping to get more house for the money.

 

I had to laugh when I saw Dorothy's suggestion that I look at NJ as an option, because although NJ and NY are exactly what I'm trying to get away from, I hadn't realized that most of my "requirements" pretty much exactly describe the way we already live. OOPS!!! :blush:

 

So basically, I want to live in New Jersey, except not actually in New Jersey. Or anywhere near there. :D

 

Clearly, I have to revise my list of requirements. :tongue_smilie:

 

If anyone has more suggestions, please keep posting! And any info about specific neighborhoods would be great, because I know that most areas have "good parts" and "bad parts," and I'm clueless about most of the places that have been suggested so far.

 

The thought of moving is stressful, but all of you are helping me so much -- I really can't thank you enough! :001_smile: