If you could live anywhere in the USA

[steveny]

Where would it be and why?

After this brutal winter in the northeast my wife and myself are seriously considering moving permanently. Since last fall we've had ONE whole day with the temperature above 70. It's almost May damnit. Before I know it june, July, and August will pass then the winter comes again. That's right it's not a couple months of bad weather it's like nine months of crap and then maybe if you're lucky three months of decent weather which only yields about one sunny day a week..woo hoo, big whoop! If it's not cold here it's usually raining.

This last winter we went almost a month and the temperature never got above ZERO. Some of those days it was negative 30 without windchill, and many days like that strung together. It's always a mess because of the winter. If I'm not dealing with the cold I'm cleaning up the mess that winter makes. I'm just so done with it. Its 52 out right now and raining, feels like 41... been that way for weeks. This winter was so cold I highly doubt any of the lakes will even warm up enough to swim in or water ski. It was actually warmer in Alaska this winter than it was here.

We had a house in Florida up until we had our first child and decided to settle and live in NY because the education system is very good. We lived in Florida in the winter months and I loved it. Yes, I have been to Florida in the summer many times and I know it gets crazy hot, doesn't bother me. I'm very interested in moving back to Florida full time.

I want a house on the water, ocean, intercostal, or tidal with access to the ocean... Not lagoon. Would like to spend less than 1M. Anything else I should be considering? I want warm year round, good schools, low crime. Job market is not important as I won't be getting one. I'm planning on keeping my business here in NY and flying back once a month to oversee things. I'm not dead set on Florida I will consider anywhere.

California is not on my list as the monthly trips back would drive me nuts. Also I prefer low population areas, don't want to live where houses are five feet apart.

 

[Miner]

I have a house in suburban Corpus Christi and other than living in a smaller population area it may meet your needs. Air travel is a bit sketchy having to fly to Dallas or Houston. It is a bit muggy in the summer but no worse than the better parts of FL.
I can fly to the east coast from here in San Diego on a handful of non stop flights.
Of course it is almost impossible to get a house close to the water for under 1m unless it is small. I live about 40 mins from the nice beaches and paid way less than 1m.
Your kid(s) are still fairly small so schools always are a question here and in Texas although better than FL.
What about charleston SC? Lots of friends say it is great. But it is the south to a certain extent. Same w/ New Orleans.

 

[NSX-Files]

You might like St. Augustine. It's far north enough that you do get some cool weather in the winter. It's on the coast so you have the ocean but also the intracoastal waterway runs through it so you've got inland water with easy access to inlets to the ocean. I just sold my property there. It was on A1A which runs right along the ocean. The lot actually had direct access to the intracoastal but also ocean view. There's nothing like falling asleep at night hearing the waves. I had dreams of building a nice beach house there but things didn't work out. Anyway, the county also has reputable public schools and is way more laid back then south Florida. Check it out.

 

[steveny]

You might like St. Augustine. It's far north enough that you do get some cool weather in the winter. It's on the coast so you have the ocean but also the intracoastal waterway runs through it so you've got inland water with easy access to inlets to the ocean. I just sold my property there. It was on A1A which runs right along the ocean. The lot actually had direct access to the intracoastal but also ocean view. There's nothing like falling asleep at night hearing the waves. I had dreams of building a nice beach house there but things didn't work out. Anyway, the county also has reputable public schools and is way more laid back then south Florida. Check it out.

When I lived in Florida I lived in Ponta Vedra on the intercostal. I know the area really well and quite honestly I loved it there. I just want to explore other possibilities as well.

I've only heard complaining about Florida schools but no specifics. Anyone want to fill me in with specifics?

 

[socalx]

I would like in the foothills in Colorado, or in Southern California. Having lived in the east and the west and traveled all over, those are the best places I've found

 

[willabeest]

not sure what you mean by warm year round.
besides the obvious places ( Florida, Florida Panhandle) you might consider Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama.
for a real change, consider Bermuda or the Bahamas. check this one out for < 600K.

http://www.bermudarealty.com/displa...1-26df-46c5-903a-1225007e13a6&ssp=0&sc=0&sd=0

 

[Wizard]

Too bad CA if off your list. You can't beat San Diego CA for the perfect weather, good neighborhoods etc. If you have 1M to spend, you wouldn't have to worry about your neighbor being 5' away from you too.

 

[NSXonwheels]

I've always been a sucker for Destin, FL. If I could retire anywhere near a beach it would be there. Not too crowded, amazing beaches, unbelievably soft white sand, plenty of restaurants, close to airport. If you liked Florida before, don't bother with Texas, other than south padre island, all the other beaches will not cut it for you.

 

[willabeest]

nice!!
crime rate not too bad, wonder why it is not lower...

http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/fl/destin/crime/

I've always been a sucker for Destin, FL. If I could retire anywhere near a beach it would be there. Not too crowded, amazing beaches, unbelievably soft white sand, plenty of restaurants, close to airport. If you liked Florida before, don't bother with Texas, other than south padre island, all the other beaches will not cut it for you.

 

[steveny]

This one is perfect, but by the time I sell my igloo here it'll be gone for sure. I'm thinking maybe rent now until something similar comes on the market. Anyone know the price to insure a property on the beach in Florida. I've heard its crazy expensive.


http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3127-S-Ponte-Vedra-Blvd-Ponte-Vedra-Beach-FL-32082/90165928_zpid/

 

[nsxtasy]

I don't mind cold and snow, but I HATE hot weather. I love living where I live, in part because we average only 17 days a year when the high temperature is 90F or higher. That compares with 107 days a year for Corpus Christi, or 80 for Jacksonville, near Saint Augustine. I would never, ever want to live in either of those places. Although San Diego, with 2 days a year, sounds nice. Different strokes...

 

[steveny]

So ken got me thinking...I found this helpful site with clear skies stats for where I currently live...


January 3
February 3
March 5
April 6
May 6
June 7
July 8
August 7
September 7
October 6
November 2
December 2

So 62 total days of sunshine per year BUT...

Average temperatures for my area.

January 25.38
February 26.6
March 36.8°
April 48.82
May 59.79
June 67.86
July 72.91
August 70.85°
September 63.77
October 52.25°
November 41.12°
December 29.25°

So out of those 62 clear skies days 33 of them fall on days where the temp never gets above 60 and is often below 30, only 15 are on days when the temp is above 70. Sometimes it rains all week.

Here are the stats for rainfall, the first column is Portland OR

Portland, OR Rainfall
January 4.92 Inches
February 2.52 Inches
March 3.61 Inches
April 2.77 Inches
May 3.29 Inches
June 1.9 Inches
July 0.4 Inches
August 0.69 inches
September 1.62 inches
October 3.45 inches
November 5.88 Inches
December 5.79 inches

Rainfall my area...
January 2.28 Inches
February 2.8 Inches
March 3.02 Inches
April 3.42 Inches
May 2.84 Inches
June 3.58 Inches
July 3.23 Inches
August 4.21 Inches
September 3.42 Inches
October 4.04 Inches
November 2.87 Inches
December 3.45 Inches

There are also more sunny days in Portland as well and it rains less often there. I'm pretty sure Portland is well known for rain. I'm not thinking of moving to Portland I just used it as an example because Portland is known for rain. The weather here sucks! It's why I got the top score on chompy and a ten grand heat bill with six to eight grand in electric to boot.

 

[docjohn]

wherever you move to remember you are relocating the whole family.

 

[steveny]

wherever you move to remember you are relocating the whole family.

Yes, including my wife's parents. They are both getting older and we will need to take care of them. So something with at least five bedrooms or a guest house would be even better.

Currently. Looking at key largo. I'm amazed actually how inexpensive higher end realestate is else where in the country. RE is cheap here but higher end stuff is still pretty expensive. I'm thinking the reason so many houses in Florida are new is because hurricanes wipe out the old ones?

 

[docjohn]

key largo has some great fishing and seafood .....kinda claustrophobic living as it is a narrow strip of land with house prices varying on what side of the road you are on.

 

[TyraNSX]

Steve, you have covered a big part of the reasons I will NEVER set foot back at Cornell, Ithaca, or upstate NY ever again.
I called for transcript help not quite 2 wks ago. We had freeze warnings at night after a couple of mild weeks here (it had finally warmed up & plants were budding). Out of curiosity I asked the guy if it had snowed. Yep, the day before & that morning. Great place to live if you are an albino cave person. Otherwise, craphole. And let's not forget the winter encompassing 7-8 months of the year with tons of snow.

So ken got me thinking...I found this helpful site with clear skies stats for where I currently live...


January 3
February 3
March 5
April 6
May 6
June 7
July 8
August 7
September 7
October 6
November 2
December 2

So 62 total days of sunshine per year BUT...

Average temperatures for my area.

January 25.38
February 26.6
March 36.8°
April 48.82
May 59.79
June 67.86
July 72.91
August 70.85°
September 63.77
October 52.25°
November 41.12°
December 29.25°

So out of those 62 clear skies days 33 of them fall on days where the temp never gets above 60 and is often below 30, only 15 are on days when the temp is above 70. Sometimes it rains all week.

Here are the stats for rainfall, the first column is Portland OR

Portland, OR Rainfall
January 4.92 Inches
February 2.52 Inches
March 3.61 Inches
April 2.77 Inches
May 3.29 Inches
June 1.9 Inches
July 0.4 Inches
August 0.69 inches
September 1.62 inches
October 3.45 inches
November 5.88 Inches
December 5.79 inches

Rainfall my area...
January 2.28 Inches
February 2.8 Inches
March 3.02 Inches
April 3.42 Inches
May 2.84 Inches
June 3.58 Inches
July 3.23 Inches
August 4.21 Inches
September 3.42 Inches
October 4.04 Inches
November 2.87 Inches
December 3.45 Inches

There are also more sunny days in Portland as well and it rains less often there. I'm pretty sure Portland is well known for rain. I'm not thinking of moving to Portland I just used it as an example because Portland is known for rain. The weather here sucks! It's why I got the top score on chompy and a ten grand heat bill with six to eight grand in electric to boot.

 

[steveny]

key largo has some great fishing and seafood .....kinda claustrophobic living as it is a narrow strip of land with house prices varying on what side of the road you are on.

I've taken a couple of trips there in the past and again I loved it. I like to sweat when I'm just sitting still. When I go that far south I usually stay at key largo and then travel to key west or Miami. Doesn't look like the school are horrible in key largo.

 

[docjohn]

my friends did not complain about the schools there.If you want to bling it up there is always the ocean reef club

 

[OptiCole]

Where would it be and why?

California is not on my list as the monthly trips back would drive me nuts. Also I prefer low population areas, don't want to live where houses are five feet apart.

So you are asking for the second best state to live in? :tongue:

Interesting thread as I love looking at real estate in other parts of the country.

 

[nsxtasy]

The other thing to remember is to base your decision on normal climate patterns, not the weather for a single year. This winter was the worst in forty years here (and in much of the Northeast and Midwest), and a winter like that probably won't happen again for another forty years. Obviously if you hate snow and cold weather, there are warmer places to live, but you probably wouldn't expect to see another winter like this one in your lifetime, either.

There are a lot of things to consider when choosing a place to live, and they don't affect all of us equally - weather (if you care, and again, some like it hot, some like it cold), schools (if you have school-age kids), cost of living (including housing purchase price, property and income taxes, cost of goods and services), accessibility to long-distance transportation (if you expect to travel fairly frequently), traffic, employment prospects, etc. You need to decide which of those things YOU care most about, and so do the other members of your family. There is also the cost and disruption of moving and making new friends and finding your way around a new place and identifying new service providers - not that you shouldn't move, but you should consider all of that in deciding whether or not it's worth all of that to improve whatever other aspects of your life might be better somewhere else.

 

[steveny]

Steve, you have covered a big part of the reasons I will NEVER set foot back at Cornell, Ithaca, or upstate NY ever again.
I called for transcript help not quite 2 wks ago. We had freeze warnings at night after a couple of mild weeks here (it had finally warmed up & plants were budding). Out of curiosity the guy if it had snowed. Yep, the day before & that morning. Great place to live if you are an albino cave person. Otherwise, craphole. And let's not forget the winter encompassing 7-8 months of the year with tons of snow.

Bingo, and unless someone's lived here they don't understand just how gloomy it is. It's got to have something to do with the geography, the bad weather just hangs here for weeks on end and when good weather comes it seems to get blown out in less than 24 hours. Dead on with the cave person comment, over winter break, when the kids were off school, we didn't leave the house at all for four weeks. Loaded up on groceries and hunkered down like a family manning a space station. The winter also just destroys everything, 18" depressions where drainage pipes go under the road. I know there is winter elsewhere that's probably worse but probably not by much. When I fly to Florida it's very apparent, right about the state line with PA the clouds break and you can see the ground again, almost every flight.

So I can confirm what Tyra is saying that it was snowing here two weeks ago and the tress are yet to bud still today. I halve mud where grass should be. So let me ask everyone this, how long ago did it stop snowing where you are? Has it been more than two weeks time since the last snow storm? Are you expecting another snow storm four months from now?

- - - Updated - - -

The other thing to remember is to base your decision on normal climate patterns, not the weather for a single year. This winter was the worst in forty years here (and in much of the Northeast and Midwest), and a winter like that probably won't happen again for another forty years. Obviously if you hate snow and cold weather, there are warmer places to live, but you probably wouldn't expect to see another winter like this one in your lifetime, either.

There are a lot of things to consider when choosing a place to live, and they don't affect all of us equally - weather (if you care, and again, some like it hot, some like it cold), schools (if you have school-age kids), cost of living (including housing purchase price, property and income taxes, cost of goods and services), accessibility to long-distance transportation (if you expect to travel fairly frequently), traffic, employment prospects, etc. You need to decide which of those things YOU care most about, and so do the other members of your family. There is also the cost and disruption of moving and making new friends and finding your way around a new place and identifying new service providers - not that you shouldn't move, but you should consider all of that in deciding whether or not it's worth all of that to improve whatever other aspects of your life might be better somewhere else.

Ah and that's the rub. Everyone around the country is bitching about how bad this winter was. Well I got news for ya guys, the bad cold winter you experienced this year was what we get here EVERY YEAR and the bad winter we usually experience turned to brutal hell this winter. And maybe you experienced it for a couple of months while it lasted for 8 months here and IMO is still going, it was 40 degrees here today, feels like 32.

According to this website.. http://www.climate-zone.com/climate/united-states/new-york/syracuse/

Chicago is close to our 136 days below freezing with 131 days, however Chicago gets to celebrate 84 days of clear skies while we only were given an entire 11.

 

[robr]

Last snow fall was April 18. Been in the 40s most of the week and raining for the past 2 days. Year round sun sounds amazing.

 

[The King]

I like nice fine weather as much as the next guy, but I think that having changing seasons is not a totally bad thing. Would I like to have more summer and less winter? Without a doubt! Canadians find ways to enjoy themselves in the winter, hockey and beer come to mind. Of course a warm weather vacation somewhere south helps a lot of folks deal with the miserable months. Young people these days can't tear themselves away from all their social media crap long enough to stick their nose outdoors and develop skin thick enough to survive cold temperatures. Most are more concerned about looking good when they go out, than dressing for conditions. I'll put up with some cold weather rather than having to worry about getting flooded out, hit by a hurricane, or dropping into the ocean after the next big earthquake hits.

 

[OptiCole]

Just think when you live in spring/summer weather year round, your family vacations to "winter" will be all that more impressive and exciting.

 

[willabeest]

i think the ideal set up is two homes. i met a couple once who had a home in the San Juan Islands (Orca i think) and a home in Hawaii. they changed every 6 months (for tax reasons - Washington State has no state income tax). seemed like perfection to me. if i could only live in one place, and i was retired, and had no family, and no friends, i would live on Maui.
but i am working, have lots of friends and family in California (as does my spouse) so i think i am staying in California, despite the highest taxes and the most idiotic smog regs.