Interracial Lesbian Couple Seeking New Home (rental, neighborhoods, place to live)

[little_ph0enix]

Hello all,

My partner and I are currently stuck in misery - uh, I mean Missouri. She is originally from Florida and I was born and raised here in the midwest. She is black, and I am white. She is spiritual/non-religious, I am an atheist. She is in IT/Multimedia and I am in Higher Ed. She hates long winters and I despise long, hot summers. She needs to be near the ocean and I need to be near mountains or the desert.

Needless to say we are looking for a new place to live. For many years, Oregon has been at the top of my list...however, I would consider nearly anything west of the Rockies as long as it's affordable. I'd love to hear from you about these questions that I have (which, undoubtedly, have been mentioned elsewhere on this site a million times ... I did scroll back a bit and didn't find exactly what I was looking for).

1. Portland, Eugene, Phoenix, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, or elsewhere?
2. Where is the GLBT community? Are they active/hidden, welcoming/cliquish? Specific neighborhoods/cities we should gravitate towards or stay away from?
3. We currently pay $895 for a 2-bed, 1-bath, 1000 sq. ft. rental house in a nice neighborhood of Kansas City. How would you compare this to rental prices elsewhere?

Any other suggestions, advice or information you have would be fantastic. Thanks!

[skatealoneskatetogether]

you might want to consider california as it is close to the mountains, and the ocean, and also the desert. im confused though if you want to be in the near desert and hate long hot summers??? cause some of those cities you mentioned can get pretty hot. but if you are interested in warm climate temps like the cities you listed, you might want to check out Sacramento. A few years ago it was rated americas most diverse city. They have a vibrant gay community in midtown sacremnto as well. rents are actually on par with what you are paying now.The ocean and the mountains take less than half a day to get too. getting to the real desert in southern california will take a bit of a drive, how ever sacramento in the summer has a very warm dry climate similar to that of the desert.

[ApartmentNomad]

Combining a desert/mountain environment with access to the ocean is probably going to run into some money. I would mostly look at California for that (at least the ocean/mountain part, but you should be able to at least find some semi-arid places in CA with mountains and access to the ocean).

Has your partner spent any time in a desert environment? If not, maybe she could be won over by a place like Albuquerque or Santa Fe (not that I've visited the latter). I love the ocean, or bodies of water in general, but have to move somewhere dry because of health issues; however, I found the climate in Albuquerque quite appealing. When I visited, there was often a refreshing breeze (seemingly related to the Sandia mountains), and the weather cooled down in the evening.

If you can wait a while before making a decision, maybe you could both visit some of these places and see if you can find a compromise (although it does sound like one or the other of you will end up geting the best end of the deal, since you want such different climates).

As far as the gay and lesbian question, I know it's come up in the past on the New Mexico forums, and I'd recommend searching. What I've seen people say is that while there is a fairly large gay and lesbian population, and while it's relatively well accepted, that community doesn't have a particular neighborhood or even many distinctive places to meet.

Also, check this out (and the site in general, which just re-invented itself):

http://www.dukecityfix.com/group/*****albuquerque (broken link)

I guess the very small black population in Albuquerque (and presumably Santa Fe) is an issue to consider as well.

(Oops that url got partly eaten. The word that got blotted out is a five letter derogatory word that has been reclaimed as a positive term by certain people, and begins with a "q.")

[ApartmentNomad]

Originally Posted by skatealoneskatetogether

im confused though if you want to be in the near desert and hate long hot summers??? cause some of those cities you mentioned can get pretty hot.

I was wondering about that as well. But if you are going to go desert and want to cut back on the heat, high desert like Albuquerque or Santa Fe, makes more sense than somewhere like Phoenix or Tucson. (I think Flagstaff and Sedona are cooler, but they are also kind of pricey, again if I remember correctly.) Still, Albuquerque does get hot in the summer. It was in the mid-90s some of the days when I visited.

[little_ph0enix]

Sorry, I should clarify. I don't like hot, humid weather. However I've spent quite a bit of time in the southwest/four corners area and was not affected by the heat nearly as much as I am here in the midwest.

I should also mention that being "near" the ocean, mountains or desert means that those aspects would ideally be within a day's drive, not necessarily right outside our window.

[skatealoneskatetogether]

well than by all means check out sacramento

[brikag]

little_phe0nix,

This always helped people.

HRC | Home

gaydemographics.org...Just the facts

Good luck my GLBT friends!!!! DM me for any other concerns!!!!
brikag

[Steve-o]

This thread is over 8 months old....