Where would you live?

blalor · #1 03-19-2006, 06:03 AM

Well, I can see my time in Indianapolis drawing to a close. In the next couple of months, I'm going to start looking for a new region of the country to move to. I've got a fairly long list of places that appeal to me: New England, California, the Pacific Northwest, upstate NY, North Carolina, Virginia, Germany. Those are the ones that pop into my head the most often. My criteria's not terribly well defined at this point, but boils down to this: good-paying job in the tech industry (I'm a Java software developer by trade); reasonable cost-of-living; interesting geography to make for good MINI-friendly roads; more sunny days than gray days. Germany's on the list because I think it'd be cool to be able to commute on the Nürburgring. :-)

I grew up near Ithaca, in upstate NY, and still have some friends and my mom living there. My dad's in Raleigh. I've got good friends in Nashua, NH. Virginia's got some undefined appeal for me. California's California: sunshine, great roads, hippies, insanely expensive.

So, where would you live, if you could move anywhere you wanted to? This is partly open discussion, and partly me trying to get some ideas and prioritize my requirements. :-)

Petite Panda · #2 03-19-2006, 06:54 AM

I guess it sounds like you have an idea where you want to go at least. Have you looked for jobs in your field in these places? My fiancees brother is in computer networking, and here in NY its been difficult to find a decent full-time job that one can support himself on. So he's actually trying to move down to Alabama for these things...BUT he also hates the city life, and prefers it in quieter places. I know for myself, I would be miserable living anywhere not near or in a large metropolitan area. So even though I'm 30 miles from NYC now, my goal is to actually move into Brooklyn in the next couple of years. I love the variety of people, places, things to do, food, etc...about this area of the country. And the only other areas I would consider would be Chicago or possibly San Fransisco. So if you these same things that I do, I would seriously consider CA, but remember, that its SOOOOOOO expensive that you might have to give up some of your leisure activities to pay rent.

Keep us informed what you decide! Good luck!

NMgokart · #3 03-19-2006, 07:04 AM

Try checking a job board (like Monster),type in your field without specifying location and see where the jobs pop up. You might be surprised!

Oh, yeah, Pacific Northwest and "more sunny days than gray" do not go together.

Good luck!!

Todd05HBS · #4 03-19-2006, 07:15 AM

Austin, TX

sspikey · #5 03-19-2006, 08:11 AM

depends how much income you make. There are lavish cities i have visited which are perfect and just blow you away but the prices come with them too

Overall i love montreal except for the problems that plague us (think what we cant talk about on this board

) And the now, how i hate the snow

Women are beautiful though and when spring rolls around its amazing

DustinDallas · #6 03-19-2006, 08:16 AM

Scratch Nashua, NH off that list. If you want sunny days, look elsewhere.

inioway · #7 03-19-2006, 08:58 AM

Blalor, this sounds like a nice situation that you are able to choose.

Man, though, in my dream I could never settle on just one and would go seasonal. Sorry this doesn't help your single city search much, but here would be mine.

Winter: Austin Tx. for good music, friends, and easy trips to the hill country

Spring: Iowa City both for friends and my place here. The only problem is that spring only lasts a few days so next stop...

Summer: the southern coastal area of Maine. It is so beautiful and fun so long as you remember a) not to drink blueberry beer, and b) they prefer being called Mainers and not Mainiacs.

Fall: a place I am looking to buy in Wisconsin above the Mississippi just south of LaCrosse. LaCrosse is home to a nice Octoberfest but the real draw is Fall colors. Speaking of which, Fall is too short there so there would be a trip back to Maine prior to Austin.

I've talked with people in some of these places about timesharing with each other. The problem is everyone wants to be at the same location the same season.

gokartride · #8 03-19-2006, 09:01 AM

I've done a good bit of traveling in my day...I'd have to honestly say there is no where I'd rather be than where I am.

Shocking, I know...even for me!!!

There's lots of places I'd love to visit for a month or more, but I know where I live so well and have so many friends around...that's what makes a spot feel like home.

polizei · #9 03-19-2006, 09:29 AM

I would live in Germany. They have the Autobahn and Nurburgring! And beautiful country sides! Or Flordia.

-Cody

Edit* You could come live in Ohio. There's NOTHING to do, but modding is still legal up here!

You could also live in Texas, where you can legally shoot people with AK's....lol

rhawth99 · #10 03-19-2006, 09:42 AM

I grew up in upstate NY (Endicott) and it is winter half the year. I would never go back because of the weather. I, too, am a software developer (web development, any programming language that will pay the bills

). I've heard that central and eastern Tennessee is nice and I know from checking around that the cost of living is relatively low. Good Luck.

BoCRon · #11 03-19-2006, 09:57 AM

I love where I am. For work, UPS, and Home Depot among other Fortune 500's are based here. Great place for computer industry careers. Depending on what part of Alpharetta, it's about 20 minutes to Buckhead and Downtown Atlanta for those in need of upscale shopping and restaurants. We have our fair share here, as well, but with a small town feel.
Right now,the Bradford Pears and Forsythia are in bloom, in a few weeks the Dogwoods and Azaleas will start. The worst part is the spring pollen for those with allergies (of which I'm one), but with a daily dose of Flonase, I'm now not bothered at all.
http://www.alpharettacvb.com/ACVB/Pages/Home.aspx

DH and I plan to retire in New Zealand. Somewhere on the North Island at this point. Great weather, people and lifestyle!
Annette

OmToast · #12 03-19-2006, 10:09 AM

I'd personally stick with Arizona or the Dominican Republic...

New England can be fine for sunny days -- so long as you don't mind them being cold and bright. And, I think I've mentioned this before: the people suck (MINIacs, again, notwithstanding).

I also have a particular fondness for Pittsburgh, but it's meteorologically challenged, shall we say.

kgdblu · #13 03-19-2006, 10:12 AM

I like it here in MD, but housing prices are astronomical. Case in point: our house(1600sq.ft. on a large lot) which we bought almost 8 years ago for $230,000. Last year, it was reappraised for refi at $$668,000. Then we put a 1200 sq.ft. 2 storey addition on it and could sell today for nearly a mil, with no problem.
But,...we're close to the Bay and the ocean. We're also close to mountains if you like winter sports. Winters are relatively mild, tho' summers are very humid and hot, hence everything has AC. We're close to DC, and NYC is only 3 hours by train or car.
I grew up in Pittsburgh, where winters were long and very dreary and summers were short. By comparison, I love the weather here in central MD...spring is already here.
As far as the job market goes, well..you're close to the nation's capital and that's always a source of jobs. Like someone suggested, check online job sites...and go from there.
We also have a very strong MINI community here, spread out over MD and VA.

snooter · #14 03-19-2006, 10:21 AM

I grew on Long Island NY, got my Degree in Phoenix Arizona, and now live outside of Tampa Florida. We hope to have a early retirement and have narrowed it down to the North Georgia, NC, TN mountain areas. We like the fact that it still has all four seasons, (Florida does not), but yet the winters are mild (by NY standards). the fall is beautiful and the summers gotta be better than Florida and Arizona were. And I love nature, give me a couple of acres with deer as my neighbors and I'm a happy man. I can still drive to Atlanta or Chatanooga for a show and hop on a plane to NYC for my "city" fix!!

The MINITOR · #15 03-19-2006, 12:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blalor

I've got a fairly long list of places that appeal to me: New England, California, the Pacific Northwest, upstate NY, North Carolina, Virginia, Germany. Those are the ones that pop into my head the most often. My criteria's not terribly well defined at this point, but boils down to this: good-paying job in the tech industry (I'm a Java software developer by trade); reasonable cost-of-living; interesting geography to make for good MINI-friendly roads; more sunny days than gray days.

I have lived in the Pacific Northwest for all my life. It is beautifual, laid back, and the people are nice, but I am not sure if it fits your other requests. There are definately more gray days than sunny days, which is why I am finally moving to sunny Austin, Texas. Real estate is really overpriced in my region as well. For what I paid for my 40 year old 2 bedroom condo I will be getting a 4-5 bedroom new house in Austin.

bamatt · #16 03-19-2006, 12:15 PM

I would move anywhere in the Panhandle of Florida (preferably Destin). Would love a house a few miles off the beach (on higher ground

) so I can drive to the beach whenever I please

Aqualung · #17 03-19-2006, 01:31 PM

So the current issue of Men's Journal has their list of 50 best places to live. One that I'm intrigued by is Taos, NM. Seems like a nice climate (esp in the winter).

Personally, the best year-round weather on the mainland is supposed to be the San Diego area; friends live there and it's great. (vs. Hawaii).

I also like the Pacific Northwest, i.e. Portland. A friend hails from the Bend, OR area and swears by it.

cushin14 · #18 03-19-2006, 02:40 PM

Somewhere in the South!

inioway · #19 03-19-2006, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sspikey

depends how much income you make. There are lavish cities i have visited which are perfect and just blow you away but the prices come with them too

Overall i love montreal except for the problems that plague us (think what we cant talk about on this board

) And the now, how i hate the snow

Women are beautiful though and when spring rolls around its amazing

I'd limited myself to places in the US before. but Montreal is a very cool

place. Yes, sspikey, I did suffer a transit slowdown when there, but the people seemed as nice as the things to do.

As far as New Mexico, I love Santa Fe but for the price of housing. However, there's a once deserted mining town an easy commute in on the Torquise Highway where people are buying and rehabing old houses cheap. They also have a place as close in feel to The Brick in Northern Exposure that I can imagine.

Pendergast · #20 03-19-2006, 03:17 PM

My favorite place is fall right here in Wisconsin. I actually like the winter here also, but would probably spend March and April in Arizona or New Mexico and the summer anywhere in the Canadian Rockies.

I could also spend some of the fall time in the British Isles.

Aqualung · #21 03-19-2006, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ran48

My favorite place is fall right here in Wisconsin. I actually like the winter here also, but would probably spend March and April in Arizona or New Mexico and the summer anywhere in the Canadian Rockies.

I could also spend some of the fall time in the British Isles.

Oh, if you're going international, then I'd move to Barcelona in a flash...

blalor · #22 03-19-2006, 05:32 PM

Wow, big response! Thanks, folks!

I guess I'm starting to research various geographies now, and will do so through April. I'm planning on scattering my résumé to the four winds in May, and that may have more of an impact as to where I end up than all this searching and dreaming. :-)

The short version of my backstory is that I grew up in Spencer, NY, went to college in Binghamton, and worked for a few years in Ithaca before deciding I had to bust out; 24 years in one place was enough (or so I thought). I moved to Phoenix and spent a couple of years there before moving to Indy, where I am now. I've given some thought to going back to PHX, but I've already been there and done that; in some ways it was nice and I've got some good friends there, but I would miss the seasons and I wasn't a huge fan of the oppressive heat in the summer.

Spencer is a small rural bedroom community, population 3,000; we used to call it "centrally isolated": it's a half hour to anywhere (Ithaca, Elmira, Binghamton). My mom still lives there and my dad still owns around 60 acres there (which he wants me to relieve him of, so he can stop paying taxes on them!). The town itself isn't anything much, and although it would be cool to build a house and install a small grass airstrip there for the J-3 Cub I want to buy someday, it would be exceedingly difficult to maintain any kind of social life there. I need something a little more metropolitan. Ithaca's a good size for me; a population of 30,000 with two large universities. The relatively poor economy in that part of the state and surplus of rainy days are deterrents.

I agree this is a pretty cool situation to be in, although the reasons for being in it are not (divorce). When I bailed out of NY in '00, I never really intended to settle down and embed myself in one place so quickly. I guess I'm still kind of sticking to my so-called plan, but with a detour to the Midwest and a failed marriage along the way. One of the things I'm struggling with is this: do I want to move to a place where I know no-one, or do I move to a place where I immediately have some kind of social tie-in? The latter significantly shortens the list, of course.

Another point of internal conflict is whether I want to keep bopping around the country every few years or actually put down roots somewhere. I'm feeling very transient (goes with the nomadic tendencies) and it would be nice to be part of a community long-term. Not sure what to do about that just yet, either. :-)

Living different places seasonally would be nice; finding a job that supports that (without mad travel) would be difficult. I actually wouldn't mind travelling for work (for a year or two, maybe), but I just can't do that with my dogs. The thing is, I do like winter. Or, rather, I like skiing, fresh snow, and snow days!

Topography is another parameter in my quest, but that may be a direct tie-in to how MINI-friendly an area is. I like to say that Indiana is so flat, you can watch your dog run away for three days. I really miss the glacier-sculptedness of Ithaca.

I started listening to a self-instructional German language course yesterday, one of these learn-in-your car deals. That's not gonna work, at least not that particular one. Any kind of job search in das fatherland is gonna be somewhat impeded by my inability to speak the language. I don't want to be one of those US-centric egotists who expects everyone to speak English.

OmToast, one of the things I *hadn't* considered was how the people are. Are New Englanders really that mean? :-) The midwesterners I live amongst seem to be a fairly amicable bunch. I remember thinking that people in Arizona weren't all that friendly; everyone there's so transient. You're considered a native if you've been there for 5 years! ;-)

kgdblu, I've got a friend in Lexington Park, MD, about 2 hours (?) from DC that I visited in December. It's a Navy town, but it was pretty, and fairly mild, but being on the ocean helps. I'm shocked at what your house appraised for! Even with a 30 year mortgage, I don't see how I could afford to buy a house with prices like that!

Aqualung, I'm going to check out that issue. Might be some good ideas in there!

*phew* lots to think about folks. keep it comin'! ;-)

kgdblu · #23 03-19-2006, 05:52 PM

here's more fodder....I bet they pay at least 5 bucks a gallon for gas in Germany. Also, if you work for an American company overseas, you get paid in dollars. The dollar is extremely weak against the Euro(0.82E to the US dollar), so your living costs could be crippling...the German economy isn't what it used to be, their inflation rate is near or in the double digits. If you try to get a job with a German company,you could be passed over because you're American. Getting your papers to live and work in a foreign country is very tough...It took my sister 5 years of relentless digging and checking, to get her Italian Legal Resident papers. Gad, this all sounds so negative, but I'm just trying to give you info.

If you want to stay transient...rent. I don't know what rents are like around here (I'm 40 minutes to DC).

blalor · #24 03-19-2006, 05:59 PM

See, this is what happens when you start injecting reality into my daydreams. Five bucks a gallon for gas, exchange rates, working papers. Hoo boy! My step-sister's in the Army and stationed in Germany currently. I've got an excuse to go visit ... the Nürburgring. ;-)

kgdblu · #25 03-19-2006, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blalor

See, this is what happens when you start injecting reality into my daydreams. Five bucks a gallon for gas, exchange rates, working papers. Hoo boy! My step-sister's in the Army and stationed in Germany currently. I've got an excuse to go visit ... the Nürburgring. ;-)

Ah, well...go visit, and find out what Germany's like to live in.....
Besides, life is what happens while you're making plans

bouncing reality checks, eh? Well, then I better just keep my mouth shut