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Family of 5: 3 kids are 7, 5 and 5 years old. Dad works in tech / program management. Mom is an elementary teacher.
Dad is 15 years from retirement. Mom is 15-20 years from retirement.
Thinking of moving from Chicago burbs to a better part of the country for:
- Better weather (50 below zero wind chill in Chicago this year; we're at our limit I think)
- Lower real estate taxes ($19k taxes on $900k house. 5 bedroom 4.5 baths, 2 car garage, 1/4 acre)
- More house & property for the money (same bed/bath, but 3 car garage, bigger yard desired)
- Ideally 5 bed 4.5 bath house for much less, target $500k - $600k or lower
- Generally lower cost of living than Chicago/ suburbs
- Place where we can stay through retirement
But still need:
- Great schools; lots of kids in elementary school
- Family community
- Great job market
- Great healthcare
- Stable real estate market
- Love outdoors; but outdoor allergies a potential concern (pollen)
- Near water a bonus.
Examples, might be a Carmel, Indiana but with a warmer climate
or a Naperville, Illinois, with a warmer climate, lower property taxes, and lower priced housing closer to the top schools
I would suggest Atlanta, Charlotte, and Raleigh/Durham, but there are a lot of trees and flora (Pollen). They would meet much of your criteria. None are on the ocean, but all have nice lakes/parks/greenways/nature in their areas. Some places out west have moderate climates and not as much pollen, but their costs of living are rising fast.
Family of 5: 3 kids are 7, 5 and 5 years old. Dad works in tech / program management. Mom is an elementary teacher.
Dad is 15 years from retirement. Mom is 15-20 years from retirement.
Thinking of moving from Chicago burbs to a better part of the country for:
- Better weather (50 below zero wind chill in Chicago this year; we're at our limit I think)
- Lower real estate taxes ($19k taxes on $900k house. 5 bedroom 4.5 baths, 2 car garage, 1/4 acre)
- More house & property for the money (same bed/bath, but 3 car garage, bigger yard desired)
- Ideally 5 bed 4.5 bath house for much less, target $500k - $600k or lower
- Generally lower cost of living than Chicago/ suburbs
- Place where we can stay through retirement
But still need:
- Great schools; lots of kids in elementary school
- Family community
- Great job market
- Great healthcare
- Stable real estate market
- Love outdoors; but outdoor allergies a potential concern (pollen)
- Near water a bonus.
Examples, might be a Carmel, Indiana but with a warmer climate
or a Naperville, Illinois, with a warmer climate, lower property taxes, and lower priced housing closer to the top schools
Excellent schools including an all-IB middle school and IB at the high school
Very family friendly: children's museum, children's theater, children's library
Great economy with over 3,000 new jobs in the last couple of years including government contractor SAIC which has opened a technology gateway downtown and is on a hiring spree
Large regional hospital that's partnered with Vanderbilt
Stable and thriving real estate market
Beautiful outdoors with 100 waterfalls and 1200 miles of lakeshore within 40 minutes of town
Prosperous, walkable downtown with museums (including the children's museum), parks, performing arts center, shopping, 30+ eateries, art galleries, etc.
Here's a sampling of 5+BR/4.5+BA homes that have sold recently for under $600k:
---
its - possession
it's - contraction of it is
your - possession
you're - contraction of you are
their - possession
they're - contraction of they are
there - referring to a place
loose - opposite of tight
lose - opposite of win
who's - contraction of who is
whose - possession
alot - NOT A WORD
The OP mentioned Carmel, IN as something he'd like to emulate. Cookeville is not comparable to Carmel in virtually any aspect. Carmel is a major suburban job center in its own right vs. Indianapolis, very affluent, no university presence there, no outdoors culture compared to Cookeville, etc. About the only thing that is similar is they vote Republican in national elections. Yes, I can speak to Carmel as a former resident of Carmel for three years. Aside from the bad winter weather and bad roads around Indy, I'd gladly move back. Carmel is a fantastic community.
OP, if you want a similar experience to Carmel, you need to look at either Franklin or Brentwood, TN. Both are more expensive than Carmel, but lower state taxes. Metro Nashville is warmer than metro Chicago in the winter, but you need to accept grey skies will remain and you'll be trading snow for rain. Schools are excellent in these communities. Metro Nashville is creating white collar jobs at a very good clip, though pay will likely take a dip from Chicago area, especially for a government employee.
I live about 4.5 hours east of Nashville. Health problems that cannot be treated here are often referred out to either Duke or Vanderbilt. Raleigh and Nashville are roughly equidistant to me. My girlfriend had two joint replacements at Vanderbilt last year. Both went very well, and no one locally would do her surgery. My guess is that Vanderbilt Medical is better than IU Health, Ascension, or St. Francis around Indianapolis.
TN has no state income tax on earned income and a lower mill rate than Illinois, and Franklin may have a slightly lower mill rate than Carmel or Zionsville.
Personally, I prefer metro Raleigh. It feels newer, cleaner, and safer than Nashville proper, which has some rough spots. Raleigh proper largely avoids those rough edges that are seen in Nashville and Antioch.
If considering Raleigh, Cary is basically the Carmel equivalent.
- Great schools; lots of kids in elementary school
- Family community
- Great job market
- Great healthcare
- Stable real estate market
- Love outdoors; but outdoor allergies a potential concern (pollen)
- Near water a bonus.
Atlanta somehow gets missed in these threads, which is weird given how much it nails the criteria. Check out the northeast suburbs around Alpharetta which has great schools, is very family-oriented, excellent healthcare (check out Emory University's Hospital and Clinics), has consistent/in-demand real estate due to a heavy presence of corporate job sites and close proximity to outdoor recreation at Lake Lanier, the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Chattahoochee River.
Don't look to me as an authority on it, but doesn't this post come across as screaming Dallas?
DFW, yes. Kansas City and Indianapolis come to mind as well, which have less harsh winters, but still perhaps too much for OP.
They could just go straight to Florida.
The OP mentioned Carmel, IN as something he'd like to emulate. Cookeville is not comparable to Carmel in virtually any aspect. Carmel is a major suburban job center in its own right vs. Indianapolis, very affluent, no university presence there, no outdoors culture compared to Cookeville, etc. About the only thing that is similar is they vote Republican in national elections. Yes, I can speak to Carmel as a former resident of Carmel for three years. Aside from the bad winter weather and bad roads around Indy, I'd gladly move back. Carmel is a fantastic community.
OP, if you want a similar experience to Carmel, you need to look at either Franklin or Brentwood, TN. Both are more expensive than Carmel, but lower state taxes. Metro Nashville is warmer than metro Chicago in the winter, but you need to accept grey skies will remain and you'll be trading snow for rain. Schools are excellent in these communities. Metro Nashville is creating white collar jobs at a very good clip, though pay will likely take a dip from Chicago area, especially for a government employee.
I live about 4.5 hours east of Nashville. Health problems that cannot be treated here are often referred out to either Duke or Vanderbilt. Raleigh and Nashville are roughly equidistant to me. My girlfriend had two joint replacements at Vanderbilt last year. Both went very well, and no one locally would do her surgery. My guess is that Vanderbilt Medical is better than IU Health, Ascension, or St. Francis around Indianapolis.
TN has no state income tax on earned income and a lower mill rate than Illinois, and Franklin may have a slightly lower mill rate than Carmel or Zionsville.
Personally, I prefer metro Raleigh. It feels newer, cleaner, and safer than Nashville proper, which has some rough spots. Raleigh proper largely avoids those rough edges that are seen in Nashville and Antioch.
If considering Raleigh, Cary is basically the Carmel equivalent.
Yeah, I completely agree here. Cookeville would be too much of a culture shock for anyone coming from a large metro, suburban area with a family, searching for an equivalent lifestyle.
Cookeville is located in a beautiful area and is a growing, nice college town, but lacks anything close to large metro amenities the OP stated they would ideally like to have.
Brentwood and Franklin in Nashville would be perfectly suited for them, as would Marietta or Alpharetta in Atlanta. Also, I do agree that Raleigh could be a good choice. Tax-wise, the Nashville metro would be best, since TN does hit you much less on taxes, with no income tax.
Yeah, I completely agree here. Cookeville would be too much of a culture shock for anyone coming from a large metro, suburban area with a family, searching for an equivalent lifestyle.
Cookeville is located in a beautiful area and is a growing, nice college town, but lacks anything close to large metro amenities the OP stated they would ideally like to have.
Brentwood and Franklin in Nashville would be perfectly suited for them, as would Marietta or Alpharetta in Atlanta. Also, I do agree that Raleigh could be a good choice. Tax-wise, the Nashville metro would be best, since TN does hit you much less on taxes, with no income tax.
The OP never said that. Maybe it was implied when they mentioned two suburbs of large cities, but they never actually said they want to be in or near a large city. Many people assume that the only "family friendly" smaller towns with things like good jobs/good schools/low cost of living are suburban areas, but that's not necessarily true.
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