Thinking about moving, help me pick a city
 

What are prettiest/nicest places that you thought would be a great place to live? Keep in mind I'm in my thirties with a four year old.

Cost of living is a factor. I want to get a lot of bang for the buck, and preferably not get raped on taxes.

Florida is not your friend

What type of work do you do for a living?

move to nova: the cost of living is ridiculous, the traffic sucks, and you pay tons of taxes depending on what city you live in.

Yeah, what do you do for a living?

I'd highly suggest Oregon, anywhere in the northwest corner. Weather is great beyond a lot of rain end of fall-end of spring, but cost of living is cheap.

Also consider southern Washington, like Vancouver. My GF rented a 2 bedroom, 1 bath, 1 story, 2 car garage with a fenced yard for $700/month, including utilities except electrical.

Nearby is Portland International Raceway, Oregon Raceway Park, The Ridge, and Pacific Raceway.

Ultimately, I think your career options will play a big part in things. That, and whether you prefer super-metropolitan (NYC, Boston), some urban (any large MSA) or country living.

If you throw out the "cost of living" element, I would say Vancouver (British Columbia) was one of the nicest places I ever visited on the continent.

Florida has very low cost of living - especially with home affordability post-bubble, no state income taxes and modest sales tax. Florida has several excellent universities if you plan to live here long enough for the kid to go to school and almost anywhere in the state is no more than 1-2 hours from a nice beach.

You also have the Orlando attractions (Disney, Epcot, Universal, etc) for the little one.

Spring and Fall (and the two weeks of winter we get) are beautiful. Clear skies, lots of sunshine and great for roadster driving.

We have no state emissions testing and no vehicle inspections. You can pretty much register anything that started life as a factory car. :D


On the downside, if you don't like beach and tropical atmosphere or lake and river watersports (from boating to paddleboarding), the outdoors mostly suck. A lot of super dense underbrush or swamp. A big elevation change is measured in hundreds of feet.

It's hot - REAL HOT - for a significant portion of the year. Think "feels like 102 - 105F" hot when you factor in the humidity. We have a long thunderstorm season. Contrasted with the PacNW where it might drizzle all day for a week, here it thunderstorms for an hour or two 3-5 days per week.

For months on end, your weather forecast will be: "high in the mid-90s with a 60% chance of afternoon storms."

We also have the potential for hurricanes and we are home to the sharkbite capital of the world (New Smyrna Beach).

The state is much longer than people give it credit for. Inside our borders, we have some amazing beaches, historic locations and other great destinations but they can easily be 6+ hours apart.

plus if you're a redistribution type guy, Washington takes all yous guys's money and give it all to our state in the form of Gov't contracts to all the local companies here. It's pretty nice.

Houston has one of the most, if not the most, stable local economies. We have jobs out the ass right now. That is all the positive stuff I can say. It doesn't snow here....

You can get a six-figure job with a high school education in North Dakota and it does snow there. :party:

He's not joking.

Out Of Work? Go to North Dakota! There's a Hiring BOOM! Even McDonald's pays $15 an hour! | Peace . Gold . Liberty | Revolution

Some parts of ND pay up to $20/hour to ------- fast food workers.

I"m in radiation oncology

Coastal Virginia is on my list.

Huh, I'm a CNA in oncology, small world. Providence is huge here with 4 local hospitals, as well as a couple Legacy hospitals, and OHSU if you'd like to look them up. All in Portland.

Any location with a cancer center treating with radiation, and there is at least one of me not far away.

I will be looking in Charleston, myrtle beach, etc

The good news is that there are not many of me in my field. The bad news is that a job change usually requires a move.

I'll have to look into it. I'm a medical physicist.

Medical work and cancer? I would think you could work anywhere you want. Are there any trends on a state level that are negative for your specific field? Being full of senior citizens, Florida has a pretty significant health care industry.

Florida also has some of the best public high schools in the country, if you know where to look.

Louisville Ky. There are several nice hospitals there where someone with your expertise could find work, UofL comes to mind. I think if you where to work there your kid(s) would get into their school for cheap. The cost of living is low too I believe, it was where I lived which was in a town about 20 minutes outside L'ville.

Florida is too flat and humid, not to mention the hurricanes and skeeters.

I can pick where I want, but it's a matter of a job opening up in that area. There are never a bunch of us in one area unless it is a very large city with multiple large hospitals. Nashville, st louis, boston, charlotte, atlanta, etc.

I'd like to have a nice view...... mountains, desert, ocean, lake.....something like that. Oh yeah, south of 500k ;p

I'm with Curly on the Northwest. Boise, Idaho was one of the nicest places I ever lived. Great, great family town.

I keep reading in local papers about how Portland, Maine is rated as a great place to live by folks like Forbes and Money. I personally think coastal Maine is a great place to live, IF you have a decent job. Sounds like you have a job that would move easily.

Scenic views are everywhere - mountains and forests are easy. Ocean is doable, but owning oceanfront for under 500k probably means a commute approaching an hour. I'm just about an hour from the big hospitals in Portland, and I got oceanfront for way under 500.

However, we have real winters up here. South of Route 1 is like New Jersey because of ocean effects. North of Route 1 is like Siberia.

I can vouch for the fact that Florida, especially the gulf coast, has both a large number of hospitals and a large number of private group practices which provide both radiation oncology and diagnostic imaging.

Also, it's hot, humid and has giant flying insects. But there's no state income tax and property values are traditionally quite low.

Move to Gulf Breeze.

Thank me later.

why Gulf Breeze?

meh

Go all out, move out here to Oahu.
God knows we need more oncologists.

Because we beat Navarre at every sport due to their incompetence, lack of skill and general understanding of cousin fingering. It's the backwoods trailer park of the pan handle. You should be ashamed.

Gulf Breeze is probably the only place in the pan handle that I would willingly raise my kids. Excellent schools, clean area, low crime and very easy on the eyes.

Nashville isn't bad. I've been here just over a year. I will admit I HATE humidity being from So Cal originally. I've lived worse places. If you don't live in town smog isn't an issue and no state taxes. Cost of living is cheap, keep in mind I'm from So Cal and came back from Europe. I've been to East Tn once and it was gorgeous.

That's because nobody wants to ------- live there. Florida is a huge, sweaty, smelly shithole populated almost exclusively with things that are actively trying to kill you (heat, alligators, flying insects, the elderly) and you could not pay me enough money to live there.

I'd look at Portland if you can stand the winters, or San Luis Obispo if you can't. I grew up in the Bay Area and I can't think of many other places I'd want to live, but cost of living is definitely higher than Portland/SLO.

edit: obligatory Florida gif
http://mlkshk.com/r/1P1L

Nashville is a nice town. But, it's very Southern and snooty. A Vanderbilt University Law graduate born in Ohio need not apply.

California would be the perfect place . . . if only it were 1963 and it was still interested in business and jobs. Can't imagine a nicer place climate-wise or a place with more natural advantages for business. When I think of the aerospace industry that used to reside in S. California . . . it makes me sad.

I would think cities with large healthcare-oriented universities might actually be a negative as you would have a higher local supply of competing workers.

:cry:


You can find water front property in FL for sub-$500k, but it will either be a condo or you will be inland a bit on a canal system. The latter is nice if you have a boat, so you can keep it docked in your own backyard and just motor out to the main waterway of your choice.


How do you feel about snow and cold winters?

States with no income tax
New Hampshire gives you the New England atmosphere and is within driving distance of Boston and NYC.

If you want to live in the desert, Nevada's property values have been brought down to ~1990s pricing.

Texas is Texas.

South Dakota is sharing a slower version of North Dakota's oil and natural gas fueled economic boom. I don't know anything about Wyoming, but I would think both should have ample scenery combined with a "pioneer/Old West" vibe.

Tennessee is a nice mix of all the good and bad things about the Southeast.

Washington state seems like it should have a lot of potential, depending on your preferences.

If you really want to live a frontier life for a few years while you are young and expose your child to some amazing things, you could try a major city in Alaska.

It's not THAT bad, just takes some getting used to. Most of it's not nearly as oppressive as places like Birmingham or Atlanta.




... and if you could still buy an average house for less than $500,000.




And the great thing is that if you don't actually need to live on the water, perfectly decent homes can be found in the $100-$150k range all day long in most towns. Hell, if I were moving to FL, I'd just pay cash and forget about the whole mortgage thing.

Actually, I'm adding this to my bucket list right now. "Pay for a purchase greater than $100,000 in cash, pulled from a briefcase containing more than the purchase amount."

There is always a shortage of employees in healthcare.


Pick a health system in an area you would like to live and check their career board. Several on the east coast.

Redding CA. Once established as an ICU nurse with a few years of experience, I'm looking at heading in that direction.

I just breezed through 18 states, and it kind of put things into perspective.

I don't know what Portland is like outside of summer, but it was BEAUTIFUL this time of year. I could not point the camera in any direction that was not worthy of taking a picture. No idea on local economy or anything, just that it looked like people really knew how to live.

Texas has a great economy, great job market, a ---- ton of hospitals, and LOW cost of living. It gets hot, and winter means wearing a jacket at the local XMas parade and maybe every other day through mid Feb. People can't drive for ----, road rage is bad, Houston is dirty as ---- and constantly under construction, and there are a lot of people that seemingly don't need employment to continue their chosen lifestyle. The rest of us work and pay our way, and enjoy the finer side of the Lone Star State, including lots of great outdoors, beaches, hill country, and some decent metro scenes.

Except Austin?

so you say you gotta know why the world goes 'round
and you can't find the truth in the things you've found
and you're scared shitless 'cuz evil abounds
come and join us

well I heard you were looking for a place to fit in
full of adherent people with the same objective
a family to cling to and call brethren
come and join us

all we want to do is change your mind
all you need to do is close your eyes

so come and join us
come and join us
come and join us

don't you see the trouble that most people are in
and that they just want you for their own advantage
but I swear to you we're different from all of them
come and join us

I can tell you are lookin' for a way to live
where truth is determined by consensus
full of codified arbitrary directives
come and join us

all we want to have is your small mind
turn it into one of our own kind
you can go through life adrift and alone
desperate, desolate, on your own
but we're lookin' for a few more stalwart clones
so come and join us

come and join us
come and join us

we've got spite and dedication as a vehement brew
the world hates us, well we hate them too
but you're exempted of course if you
come and join us

independent, self-contented, revolutionary
intellectual, brave, strong and scholarly
if you're not one of them, you're us already so
come and join us

There's a place where some of us choose to live
A gated community cops can't come in
A neighborhood for punks over the hill
We're spendin' our golden years in Mattersville
We can do whatever we want whenever we please
There's always a keg of beer and a block of cheese
We got charams, pinball, asteroids, space invaders and missile command

We will grow old together
We will play bridge and Texas hold 'em
Duane and Stevie Cab they still skateboard
But most of us lawn bowl and shuffleboard
We may be getting ripe but we ain't bored

We got a blackboard with some rules and laws
Hefe's got an 18 car garage
Most of the cars are smashed and so is Spike
Twice a week on karaoke night
Eric Melvin lives next door to me
Limo and the Locknecks head security
At the end of my cul de sac
Davey Havok's house is painted black

We will grow old and fatter
We got our ville so what else matters?
Trashy, Mod, and Kath are staying up
Nathan, Matt, and Dad are passing out
When California cracks we're all goin' down

Here in my van
I can beat my small ----
Fart on your face
Sleep on a loaf
Here in my can
I can piss in a cup
Scrounge for some change
Do what I want
I can lose

Here in my van
I can eat my small squid
Dance the can-can
With my feet in the air
Here in my van
I can play the Last tape
Play my small uke
Write stupid songs
Like this one

Haven't slept in days, but that's OK.
Gonna let 'er eat
Cat pizza road apples coffee shun Vivarin
Have a little snack
Put in a quarter and play road rally
Driving down the dark corridor
Fall asleep and wake up in another place

Here in my van
I can hate everyone
Wait for no girls to call me in the middle of the night
Here in my van
I can lose my small mind

Hangin' out with Lars down on 6th street
he knew I was in trouble
I was feeling much like the devil
there was something burnin' deep inside of me

ran into three Puerto Ricans
these girls took us to the funhouse
where we played a lonely pinball machine

hangin' on the corner of 52nd. and Broadway
cars passin' by but none of them seem to be goin' my way

New York City well I wish I was on a highway
back to Olympia...

I'm having a hard time understanding
it gets all too demanding
she's all gone and I'm stranded
something burning deep inside of me

all I know it's 4'o'clock and
she ain't never showed up
and I watched a thousand people go home from work

how many times will it take me
before I go crazy
before I lose everything
something burning deep inside of
me ran into three Puerto Ricans
those girls took us to the funhouse
I don't wanna be alone again.

Intro:
----, tired of getting shot at
Tired of getting chased by the police and arrested
Niggas need a spot where we can kick it
A spot where we belong, that's just for us
Niggas ain't gotta get all dressed up and be Hollywood
You na'mean?
Where do niggas go when we die?
Ain't no heaven for a thug nigga, that's why we go to Thug Mansion
That's the only place where thugs get in free and you gotta be a G

At Thug Mansion

Verse 1:
A place to spend my quiet nights, Time to unwind,
so much pressure in this life of mine, I cry at times,
I once contemplated suicide and woulda tried
But when I held that nine all I could see was my mama's eyes
No one knows my struggle, they only see the trouble
Not knowing it's hard to carry on when no one loves you
Picture me inside the misery and poverty
No man alive has ever witnessed struggles I survived
Praying hard for better days, Promised to hold on
Me and my dogs don't have a choice but to roll on
We finally found a spot to kick it
Where we could drink liquor and no one bickers over trick ----
A spot where we could smoke in peace
And even though we Gs,
We still visualize places that we could roll a piece
And in my minds eye, I see this place the players go and pass it
Got a spot for us all, So we can ball
At Thug'z Mansion

Chorus:
Ain't no place id rather be
chillin' with homies and family
sky high iced out paradise in the sky(thugz Manison.)
Aint no place id rather be
only place thats right for me
chromed out manison in paradise in the sky

Verse 2:
Will I survive all the fights in the darkness? Trouble sparks
They tell me home is where the heart is, dear departed
I shed tattoo tears and couldn't sleep
Good for multiple years Witness peers catch gunshots,
nobody cares see the politicians ban us,
they'd rather see us locked in chains
Please explain why they can't stand us
Is there a way for me to change?
Or am I just a victim of things I did to maintain?
I need a place to rest my head with the little bit of homeboys that remain
Cause all the rest dead
Is there a spot for us to grow? If ya find it, I'll be right behind ya,
show me and I'll go
How can I be peaceful?
I'm coming from the bottom Watch my daddy scream peace while the other man shot
em
I need a house that's full of love when I need to escape the deadly places
slanging drugs
In Thugz Mansion

Chorus

Verse 3:
Dear mama don't cry, Your baby boy's doin' good
Tell the homies I'm in heaven and it ain't got hoods
Seen a show with Marvin Gaye last night
It had me shook
Drinking peppermint schnapps with Jackie Wilson and Sam Cook
Then some lady named Billie Holiday sang
Sittin there kickin it with Malcolm till the day came
Lil' Latasha sure grown, tell the lady in the liquor store that she's forgiven
So come home
Maybe in time you'll understand, only God can save us
Where Miles Davis cutting lose with the band
Just think of all the people that you knew in the past that passed on
They in heaven found peace at last
Picture a place that they exist, together
There has to be a place better than this, in Heaven
So right before I sleep dear God what I'm asking
Remember this face, save me a place
In Thugz Mansion

I don't know what is with all the Florida hate but I love Florida. Have been here all my life and traveled extensively. There is no place that I have been that I would rather be all the time. Yeah it is really hot but atleast I do not have to deal with shoveling my driveway or scraping ice off my windshield. The Tampa Bay area is a great place to live with a good mix of surrounding country and larger metropolitan areas as well as everything in between. Tampa houses the Moffitt Cancer Center which is enormous and world class. We have gorgeous beaches, lots of attractions and no state taxes or vehicle emissions laws or inspections. Public schools here can be great if you make sure your kid stays in the magnet/gifted programs throughout his academic career. I personally went to a magnet that was rated 22nd in the nation. Right now is also the time to move here because the housing prices are very good.

Buy my lakehouse in Atlanta suburbs for $173k:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1343748366

It is on a quiet cove on a 4,750 acre lake.

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1343748366

Edit: Linky: http://www.liveonjacksonlake.com/hom...-30233/3228180

No alligators up there.

But if you are shopping for places to work, try Moffitt Cancer Center. They cut my head open.

that's racist.

Vanilla Ice and Pusha live in Florida. What else would a person need to know?

where classy people live?

I have no advice to offer.

You just broke the internet...

Thank you. I will take your criticism and reevaluate my stance on this issue in private.

I'll buy down there soon.

MD-DC-VA. All the cost of living of some place nice, the crappy, hot-humid summers and cold winters. At least the pay is decent. :jerkit: I can't imagine if I had bought my house at the top side of the housing bubble.

It wasn't fun. I live in a 600sq ft apt now.

:party:

I have a hunch you aren't in a 600 sq ft apt because you have to be in one Brainy. :party:

correct. i just wanted to be closer to my dealer who lives across the hallway, and the fat walrus that lives above me.

I'm glad to see no one really has suggested this sh!thole I live in called Atlanta. I just got back from another visit to Portland OR and I still love it up there.

and whatever you call that genius of an adonis over your back fence.

The wife and I are looking into moving to Albuquerque, NM after school. Not insane hot by our standards and not humid which is more important to us. Crime isn't any worse than anywhere else really. Big VA medical center and Air Base that is very established and not being closed ever probably. Economy isn't bad, it's the only place other than Santa Fe that doesn't suck though that I've been through in NM.

hmmm, I have a neighbor named Hephaestus over my back fence.

The shithole to live in is mostly inside the beltway and within the first 20 miles outside of it. After that, it isn't much different than any big metro's suburbs. There are even people who go out in pajamas and slippers in Albuquerque.
I noticed that many things there seem to get done on Indian time, which is much like island time, but without the sea breeze.

I hope he brought his volcano. Maybe bring it over to Capitol Hill for a little old-school housewarming.

:rofl:True. Comming from SoCal instant gratification land it is a bit different. But Indian time gets worse the closer to 4corners you get. Sometimes it's nice to slow down and chill. Plus there is a raceway just on the side of town a few of my old buddies go to.

Florida? Jacksonville- lots of land, river, ocean, affordable and less FLA climate.