Thinking of relocating somewhere rural -- stay in California or leave the state? (San Francisco: house, school)

[semispherical]

Originally Posted by sarahhorselover

I was guessing around $250k to be conservative. If we sold tomorrow, we could walk away with around $150-175k cash in our pockets. We could put enough down to have a nice, low mortgage and not have to worry as much about work.

$250K for a horse property is going to be tough.

I do finance and HR, so I don't usually have trouble finding work. However, my dream is to start my own non-profit equine therapy center for teens and veterans with mental health issues.

The problem will be to find a country property in your price range that is also close enough to a population center that will have the clientele for your equine therapy practice. "Low land prices" and "close to town" are often mutually exclusive. Of the suggestions offered so far, Redding/Red Bluff and the Fresno area in the central valley may be your best options.

[Mr5150]

Originally Posted by movinon

Maybe a place to start would be by doing some market research regarding your therapeutic riding venture. For example, there are several established ones in the Sacramento area, at least one of which already has a Wounded Warrior program. Perhaps by weeding out areas which already are covered by those services, you could narrow down your potential locations a bit. Just a thought.

Home In the Gold Country-Horse place

[sacreole]

And if you really want to get away from it all, look into Alturas in Modoc County. Lots of ranch properties available.

[sarahhorselover]

Originally Posted by Mr5150

Home In the Gold Country-Horse place

Oooh, I like that ReHorse Rescue place! I wanted to incorporate that same idea of using neglected/discarded horses in my therapy program as well. I could be happy living near a place like that and volunteering my time at their organization.

[SageCats]

Boise, Idaho area or Phoenix, Arizona area (suburbs... Queen Creek, Gold Canyon, & Cave Creek have horse properties). There's also Tucson and Flagstaff up north but it's hard to find jobs there.

[BeauCharles]

Originally Posted by Chuck5000

I'm from the East Coast. Let me tell you, dozens of 80 degree days with humidity, and 15 or 20 days over 90 with humidity, do NOT equal the discomfort level of dozens and dozens of days of dry 98+ days.

When it's over 99, it's over body temp, and you need to be inside, or you need to move like a turtle.

Humid but less-than-99 temps are easier to deal with and get a bad rap. There's tons of good rural living all over the US with that weather, along with some cold. You can get acreage.

Oh gosh no. I've lived in Des Moines, Iowa, have family in Kentucky, Oklahoma and SE Maryland and my best friend lives in Richmond, VA. There is no comparison with the dry summer heat of inland California to those places. None. I would take 90+ dry heat any day vs. that sticky, drippy steam bath heat east of the Rockies. Its so oppressive you feel like you can't breath. I've also lived over ten years in Monterey and Salinas so I've had a lot of exposure to an extremely cool summer climate (so its not like I don't have any other frame of reference than here). Again, I'd take the Sacramento Valley any day vs. the Midwest, Mid South or East in the summer.

The OP's had a question about Oroville area - there are tons of properties that would fit the bill for her in the East Foothills. Oroville town does have a fair amount of poor people and property crime, but you don't have to live in it. There are more people in the surrounding rural areas than in Oroville city limits.

When it gets down to it pretty much anywhere in the Sierra Foothills fits a lot of the criteria you asked about from Eastern Fresno County to Redding. You can get by with 250K, but you'd have a lot more quality options if you could up it to 350K.

[sourdough]

Originally Posted by sarahhorselover

Oooh, I like that ReHorse Rescue place! I wanted to incorporate that same idea of using neglected/discarded horses in my therapy program as well. I could be happy living near a place like that and volunteering my time at their organization.

We have a winner! Oh, sorry it's like 3 AM and I'm wide awake LOL.

[Chuck5000]

I think you have a decent argument in the 95 to 98 degree range. But just no way in the world a 93 degree and humid day is NOT more comfortable than a 105+ degree day. I think objectively this cannot be true re: science.

Now some people get squirmy about sweating, but also, no way you cannot sweat when it's 105.

Originally Posted by BeauCharles

Oh gosh no. I've lived in Des Moines, Iowa, have family in Kentucky, Oklahoma and SE Maryland and my best friend lives in Richmond, VA. There is no comparison with the dry summer heat of inland California to those places. None. I would take 90+ dry heat any day vs. that sticky, drippy steam bath heat east of the Rockies. Its so oppressive you feel like you can't breath. I've also lived over ten years in Monterey and Salinas so I've had a lot of exposure to an extremely cool summer climate (so its not like I don't have any other frame of reference than here). Again, I'd take the Sacramento Valley any day vs. the Midwest, Mid South or East in the summer.

The OP's had a question about Oroville area - there are tons of properties that would fit the bill for her in the East Foothills. Oroville town does have a fair amount of poor people and property crime, but you don't have to live in it. There are more people in the surrounding rural areas than in Oroville city limits.

When it gets down to it pretty much anywhere in the Sierra Foothills fits a lot of the criteria you asked about from Eastern Fresno County to Redding. You can get by with 250K, but you'd have a lot more quality options if you could up it to 350K.

[expatCA]

Originally Posted by Chuck5000

I think you have a decent argument in the 95 to 98 degree range. But just no way in the world a 93 degree and humid day is NOT more comfortable than a 105+ degree day. I think objectively this cannot be true re: science.

Now some people get squirmy about sweating, but also, no way you cannot sweat when it's 105.

Humidity has to be claimed a bad thing as it is one of the few things about CA left to brag about. Mind you the State is very beautiful, but that does not impact a persons day to day life. Yes 105+ and dry is as bad as 95 and humid and I do not like humidity but having lived in very humid States and CA, it ain't that big a deal. In fact as you get older there are distinct advantages to humidity.

[sarahhorselover]

Originally Posted by expatCA

Humidity has to be claimed a bad thing as it is one of the few things about CA left to brag about. Mind you the State is very beautiful, but that does not impact a persons day to day life. Yes 105+ and dry is as bad as 95 and humid and I do not like humidity but having lived in very humid States and CA, it ain't that big a deal. In fact as you get older there are distinct advantages to humidity.

Surely there has to be a happy medium between Death Valley heat and New Orleans/Houston/DC dripping humidity. I could never get used to the latter. Sure you sweat in 110 degree heat, but it dries off. Humid heat just sticks there. And forget wearing a skirt if you don't have thigh gap! I had to shop for a new wardrobe during my week in New Orleans in June of '05 because I couldn't find anything that I could comfortably move in. Oh the chafing!

People always talk about Hawaii as if it's some sort of oasis. I've been there twice as a child because my grandparents lived there and my mom grew up there. She dragged the family there for Christmas. Even in December, the humidity floored me the first time I stepped off the plane. I would go into the ocean in a pair of jeans shorts, and those shorts would still be wet the next day! I was always sticky. It was awful. Add to that the mosquitoes (37 bites in one night) and Portuguese Man-O-Wars (stung by one of those), and I think that place is my own personal hell.

What's the weather like in the central part of the US? My only experience is driving through on Highway 80 on my way to and from Jersey in the spring of '03.

ETA: However! If humidity can help with degenerative disc disease and arthritis in the lower back, I might change my tune. I'm too young to be this old! :P