Sell me on a city to relocate to

[SWVASkinFan]

I was in a similar situation a few years back.

Rather than making a MAJOR move, we stayed inside VA and actually moved to Roanoke, VA from Sterling. Been here 8 yrs now and really love the area. Cost of living vs NOVA was DRASTIC less.

In NOVA, both my wife and I were working full time jobs and were still living outside our means.(She's been able to be a stay-at-home mom since we moved here) The biggest thing I noticed when we moved here was the difference in real estate pricing. Now granted, we moved before the market crash, but here is what we were able to do:

Sold our 1230 sq ft 3 bedroom townhouse on a tiny little spit of land, and bought a 2600 sq ft 4 bedroom house on over an acre of land for about 1/2 the price we sold the townhouse for.

Gas prices are pretty good down here as well. Right now I'd say we're sitting at about 3.04 a gallon.

I found after moving here that most of the stores and restaurants I was used to in NOVA were for the most part here (although in most cases there is only 1 of them here). And nothing is more than 15 minutes from our home really.

And traffic? Doesn't exist as far as what you'd be used to up there...

Depending on what you're into, we're smack dab in the middle of the mountains so lots of great outdoorsy things to do here.....

AND THE BEST PART: Redskins are always on TV down here! With cable you can even pickup the CSN Pre and Post game shows....

[Predicto]

Yeah, no. You don't want to go to San Diego (or San Francisco) if cost of living is your first priority.

Portland Oregon seems like a really nice place. I always thought that if I were to downsize I would look there first.

In general, I'm a big fan of University towns. Ann Arbor MI, Madison WI, Bloomington IN, Charlottesville VA, Burlington VT, Eugene OR, Chapel Hill NC (and of course Boulder and Nashville too). These are fairly small places with culture and amenities far larger than their size.

[DCsportsfan53]

Agreed on San Diego zoony, trying to avoid the few places in the country that match this area for insane cost of living.

I've spent some time in NC, not that much in Charlotte though. Mixed feelings about that state. The Ashville area would be intriguing but I don't think work would be as easy to find.

I'll have to look Vancouver, WA up. The Pacific Northwest in general seems that it would a lot of what we like but I know nothing about any of it. The extent of my knowledge is that it rains in Seattle and they have a space needle there. Edit: AND I HATE THEIR ****ING FOOTBALL TEAM!

[Yusuf06]

I envy you. Having the freedom to move pretty much anywhere is damn cool.

If I had my druthers I'd live pretty much anywhere in the desert southwest. I love that dry heat. I especially liked Taos, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Tucson and Phoenix. Seattle is really cool too but the weather does kind of suck. San Diego is just amazing but as Zoony pointed out, you'll need to be Bill Gates to move there.

I live in the Atlanta area now and I have a love/hate relationship with it. I love the friendliness of the people, the southern sense of humor and the weather isn't bad compared to the DC "Uhrea". You can also still find a halfway decent place to live at a reasonable price. On the hate side of the equation, traffic can be a little rough (though nothing like DC gridlock) the education system sucks (hey, it is the south), you'll probably take a loss in pay (did I mention that this is the south...the "right to work" south that is) and if you don't like people telling you to "have a blessed day" you're not going to like living here or anywhere in the south for that matter.

Good luck!

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

Agreed on San Diego zoony, trying to avoid the few places in the country that match this area for insane cost of living.

I've spent some time in NC, not that much in Charlotte though. Mixed feelings about that state. The Ashville area would be intriguing but I don't think work would be as easy to find.

I'll have to look Vancouver, WA up. The Pacific Northwest in general seems that it would a lot of what we like but I know nothing about any of it. The extent of my knowledge is that it rains in Seattle and they have a space needle there. Edit: AND I HATE THEIR ****ING FOOTBALL TEAM!

You can buy a country home, and be only 15-30 mins away from the actual city if thats your thing. Charlotte is a great city imo. Your like 2.5-4 hours from the beach or mountains. I dunno, I guess Im biased cause I live here lol. At one point in time we were looking to move and honestly thought about moving to Canada. We could get a home with 5 bedrooms, 2 acres on a lake with a boat dock for what we paid for our home now lol. Only thing that stopped us back then was there is litterally no work up there in our fields. I could have been a canuck.......damn it eh?

[DCsportsfan53]

You can buy a country home, and be only 15-30 mins away from the actual city if thats your thing. Charlotte is a great city imo. Your like 2.5-4 hours from the beach or mountains. I dunno, I guess Im biased cause I live here lol. At one point in time we were looking to move and honestly thought about moving to Canada. We could get a home with 5 bedrooms, 2 acres on a lake with a boat dock for what we paid for our home now lol. Only thing that stopped us back then was there is litterally no work up there in our fields. I could have been a canuck.......damn it eh?

Interesting thought. As long as I could get a work visa I could find a job there.

[Dont Taze Me Bro]

Interesting thought. As long as I could get a work visa I could find a job there.

We were looking on the eastern side above New York. Its beautiful up there and all the peeps I know from there tell me they are miles away from neighbors in most parts. I would love that.

[Guild]

Whatever you do, just stay the hell away from Memphis. Lived there for a year my first year of music school (Univ of Memphis), place is a dumpster fire in every way.

[DCSaints_fan]

If you are starting a family, and the cost of living/commute time/school system is a tradeoff is a big factor/I'd probably scratch off California from my list. Oregon and Washington state are probably better bets but the weather isn't quite as good obviously, though you will find the summers to be much milder than anywhere in the US.

[Kosher Ham]

I will add in a vote for the Charlotte Area. It is seriously the cleanest city I have ever lived in. Everywhere has some bad areas, but here the population still hasn't made too many of them. After living in the DC metro area...you should be able to figure out where they are and when to avoid them.

You can get a really nice, spacious (over 2000 sq ft, with garage), new home for about 160, an older home with more land for about the same. You can get around pretty easily and traffic is nothing compared to DC. It takes a little adjusting to after living up north...it's a tad bit slower. Sometimes I enjoy it other times its annoying.

[Skinz4Life12]

San Diego, California

That's where my fiance and I are headed in 10 months.

My family lives there, you don't need to make 500k. Its no more expensive than living in Arlington/DC

[Fergasun]

Tucson... Tucson?! Did you just say Tucson!? - Said like Jim Mora talking 'bout the playoffs... or Allen Iverson talking 'bout practice...

[lovetoaster]

Well, I grew up in a small town in the foothills of NC. Me and the wife (met in high school) moved to Charlotte, NC for college (UNCC Represent!) and we love the area. The key to living in Charlotte is.........not to actually live in Charlotte You can, but taxes in Mecklenburg county are higher than the surrounding areas and you are literally just 10-15 min drive from anything you need should you live in a surrounding city.

I was going to mention Charlotte. I moved here from Gaithersburg about six years ago and I could not be happier with my decision. Cost of living is great, it is big enough of a town where there is always something going on, but it is not so big that you can't comfortably get around. I do actually live in the Charlotte city limits. Yes, the taxes are a bit higher, but it is not that bad and it is worth it to me. There are some benefits, and for where I live, it is easier to get to the places I want to go.

But it truly is a great city. Job market is better than a lot of big cities, housing market is solid and the cost of living is tremendous compared to the DC area. There are several large lakes that surround the city for recreation, and Charlotte is pretty centrally located so that you can get to places like Atlanta, Charleston, Asheville, the beach or the mountains pretty quickly if you want to get away for the weekend. And its also easy to get back to the DC area, most of my family lives around Fredericksburg, and it only takes me a little longer to get there on a Friday from Charlotte than it did from Gaithersburg.

There is a great airport that you can get relatively inexpensive and direct flights to most major cities, as it is the main hub for US Air. There is also the added plus that there are a whole lot of Skins fans here in Charlotte, seeing as this used to be Skins territory before the Panthers came to town.

As you may be able to tell, I love the place and I would be happy to answer any questions if you have any interest.

[Forehead]

I was going to say Fort Collins, Colorado, that's where I'd go. It's where my sister lives so I'd have someone I knew. Young, healthy, college town, clean air, great views. I can dig it.

[twa]

Hows the job market in the Virgin Islands?....maybe change to marine engines
I love Colorado,except for that cold bit