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Don't forget regional and cultural differences. That's the big area that I missed, and has probably made the most difference in negativity. You never hear about that on this forum.
Also look for trends. If you're city is getting a lot of attention and positive PR, if large numbers move there, and the city can't (or doesn't want to) keep up, it will become a problem in various ways (competition over jobs, increasing traffic, rising home prices with competition over homes, etc. Sometimes a city can look perfect or optimal now, but in a few years will start reversing itself. Just when you get settled in and look to the future, the cracks start showing. The most recent town I moved in experienced all of the above, and the companies in the industry I work in starting moving away due to the rising costs of doing business. What started out good became unsatisfactory surprisingly quickly.
Another matter that is sometimes relevant is age. If you are older, and move to a city with a large number of younger workers, that will have an impact. There might be higher demand for them, and/or those doing the hiring might just be younger employees, who can act as gatekeepers for their demographic.
I've found that what isn't talked about and thought about are the very things that can trip us up the most.
A post from another thread prompted me to start this one...
Moving to an area you're not familiar with... Sounds like a catch 22.
You can't become familiar with an area until you live there for a while, so you must move there to become familiar.
I think the best you can do is research online and try different places that seem appealing. Trouble is... the grass is always greener and there is an epic amount of marketing noise that can be difficult or impossible to filter through. I think the best anyone can do is to take your best guess, go, and stay long enough to see if it's a fit
I was all set to move to Tampa Bay area, but then Changed my mind, now it's Austin Tx. Austin has been voted the pest place to live two years in a row. Who wouldn't like to live in the "Best Place"?
How does one decide where to live without actually living there?
I wouldn't base your decision on the "Best Place" listed. Go visit all contenders and decide. You'll feel it or you won't. The Best Place for others probably isn't the best one for yourself. I live in one of those "highly desirable" places and I was much fonder of another place, which was deemed less "popular" whatever that means to different people.
Bear in mind you will be treated differently as a vistor compared to being a resident. You definitely do have to spend a few weeks there to learn as much as you can about the place, scouting places to live, meeting the people, experiencing the weather, shopping, etc. You need to go there when the weather is worst to get a feel for that. I think basically after 2 or 3 weeks you will pretty well know if it's the place for you or not, if you like the people, if you like the surroundings, the weather, the shopping, the housing, etc.
Years ago I relocated to Denver to go to college. I was treated great as a tourist but when I started looking for work I was treated like someone trying to steal a job from a local. The question I got most often was what are you doing here in Denver, asked in an accusatory bewildered way. After 6 weeks I packed up and drove back to California. No one in LA or SF or Seattle or NYC ever asked me what I was doing there. On paper Denver looked great.
Thanks everyone for your comments, especially those that pointed out what things to look for. I'll make a list.
Well, I just bought a ticket to Austin... guess I'll go have a look.
I know I want to be out of the northern winters. I want more variety in restaurants, and just plain more thing to do. My biggest concern with Austin is the younger demographic as I'm closing in on my mid 50's now. Perhaps I'll go have a look at some other Texas cities while I'm there is Austin doesn't "click" right off.
Florida is a second choice for now.
Actually, Best place to Live" is often a bad choice. That means it is immensely popular and is growing like mad. This in turn means soaring real estate and cost of living, crowds, inadequate infrastructure that cannot keep up with growth, slapped up horrible ugly housing tracts that are built to be fast and cheap (although prices will still be outrageous). When places get trendy, they get mobbed, then they get awful - or at least less pleasant. Denver is a classic example (not awful but it got out of control cannot keep up and now a lot of the lifers or early arrivals are leaving, complaining that it has gotten awful to them. New people are still flocking there, but longer term people are starting to look elsewhere.) We encountered that decades ago after moving to Orange County CA. As it became more and more trendy and build up, it became less and less appealing to us. Now I live near Detroit and love it. It is perfect for me. I can walk to my choice of at least 150 bars/restaurants in the city right now and walk in sit down and order dinner. It will not be empty, but there there will be maybe 20 - 40 people there. No line, no waiting but enough people around to make it interesting. For me that is a perfect city. Trendy crowded places annoy me. I am pretty sure I will not ever have to worry about Detroit suddenly becoming the trendy place and getting all crowded and awful. It will undoubtedly slowly become considerably nicer year after year which is cool, but it is never going to be slammed with crowds of people moving in (well maybe in 50 years if global warming makes every other state awful as predicted, but I wil be dead b then).
Maybe look for the tenth best place to live, or find a less trendy place that is best suited for your particular preferences.
Nashville is pretty neat. Not sure if it has caught the trendy city bug yet.
Last edited by Coldjensens; 05-09-2018 at 04:02 PM..
It depends on where you want to move in TN. Some areas have less problems with allergies than others.
We started out interested in Louisiana. I looked at Oklahoma too, as I have family still in that area. We just kept looking for houses that we liked and interesting properties. Found an interesting place in TN and started focusing there. My husband has talked to several people in one area and is just taken by the place. That's what we are focusing on, even though we've never seen the place yet. The house that we were interested in did sell, but we have found others worth a look. The plan is to load up, haul it across county and store it while we look for the place to buy. All of this happens once we sell our current place and as we get our second place ready to sell.
Sometimes, it's just a gamble. When we looked for coastal property in WA state, that was a gamble too. We could drive there to look at places, but it doesn't mean that we'd have a better feel for the area. Dealing with the real estate people in that area was a turn off. And we are just tired of dealing with the restrictions in this state.
My husband and I are pretty easy going people. His dad was military so he's lived in different parts of the country. We think we can fit in pretty much any of the places we are interested in. I guess we'll know more when we actually head back there, but I doubt that we'll find anything to change our minds.
Just thought of one other thing that may help. I'm on several different types of forums (Ravelry, vintage sewing machines, dulcimers). On each of them, I contacted people living in TN and asked what they thought about it. It's been very helpful and I have a nice contact in Nashville whenever we get out that way. Most of these are folks that have moved to TN from other parts of the country. The Nashville contact has lived in the area we live in now, so he could really help contrast the differences. People like to talk about their new home, so look for opportunities to ask about the area they live in.
I visited some friends in Tennessee a few years back and was uncomfortably cold most of the time I was there. That put a negative bookmark in my brain about Tennessee winters. I feel I want to go farther south. The only way to have great weather all the time is to chase the weather you like.
I would caution folks about Oregon and Washington (the wet side). I've lived in the area many years and it is headed the way of California. House prices are high and traffic is bad. Portland has a significant number of homeless people. Lots of rules and restrictions with high property taxes. There's a reason we are leaving. Of course, it means we'll get a decent price for our places.
When you are moving to a different place, you don't know how it's changed over the years. And you won't know if you'll like the people around you until you get a chance to know them. I've lived in this neighborhood almost ten years and don't know the names of the people across the street. That's not a community. It's just a bunch of houses.
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