need advice on assessing new city/town (best, attractions, mountains)

[Quartz]

I'm a single, male, Ohio native, mid-30s, and I'm considering a couple of out-of-state communities for possible relocation. I'm doing research online, but I want to make sure I get the most out of my actual visits, if/when I go. For example, I am seriously considering visiting Corvallis, Oregon.

Does anyone have advice on how to assess a community to see if it is a good "fit"? It seems haphazard just to drive around and do the "tourist" thing....

A friend recommended talking to local bartenders to get the best info about a community. Has anyone had luck with that?

[5FLgirls]

Haven't had luck with talking to bartenders. Some waitresses and just random people we meet places. We've moved twice in the past year and this is what we do:

The individual forums on this website really give a good/not so good background on the area. Take everything you read with a grain of salt though because what one person likes...isn't everyone's cup of tea.

I know people hate talking to realtors but I've found them helpful. I've always been honest that it's just a fact-finding mission and we only wanted to take an hour or two of their time.

We also do the tourist thing and drive around. We like to get lost, actually, and try to find our way around.

I was looking at a house once (didn't like the house but thought the neighborhood looked nice) and I saw that the neighbors were in their yard. My husband thought I was crazy but I went and introduced myself to them and asked them tons of questions about the community. Their answers determined that we did not want to live in that area and it checked off looking at 6 more houses there.

Do the tourist thing, too. I know it sounds dumb but it can help get you excited.

My husband's great-aunt lived in Corvallis for years and loved it. We visited about six years ago--during the summer. I happen to love the sun and warm weather and she didn't think I'd personally like all the rain and gray during the winter.

Good Luck. Deciding to move and moving is one of the most stressful things to happen to me.

[Quartz]

Thank you. I really like your suggestion about realtors. I've already received a "relocation box" from Corvallis's visitor bureau which supplied me with a list of realtors.

A couple days ago, a friend of mine said, "Hey, Corvallis sounds a lot like Athens, Ohio. Why don't you look around there first?" I live only a couple hours from there, so I thought Athens might be good practice for scoping out a town. Again, thanks!

[wastina]

If you're on this forum, you're starting with the right place. Being from Ohio myself (and a liberal), I think about places which are more likely to share political and global interests. Then I drill down to quality of life issues: ease of access to ocean, mountains, etc. Weather would be important. Then road congestion and housing market.

Those "Top Ten" lists of places to live (or not) often do find some relatively unknown jewels.

My experience with realtors is that they know the local market and that they're paid to make a sale. THey'll push you wherever they have houses for sale. Triangulating between a good map, the internet (for weather, drive time, etc) and community web sites would be how I'd go about it.

Good luck: it sounds like fun!

[litlux]

I would just start a thread with Corvallis, OR in the title and ask people what they think of the place. You would be amazed how many lurkers come out of the woodwork when you hit on something they know about.

You can also Google the town, locate its online newspaper, check out things like churches, cultural attractions, job prospects etc.

You might do a blog search using the place name to find out what the social scene is, and check it out via Facebook, MySpace etc. It is almost frightening how much you can learn with a little effort.

When I was considering Bisbee, Arizona, I checked the newspaper on line constantly and found there was a battle going on between the young party crowd and the retired homesteaders, both of whom "discovered" the place. Turns out the street with most of the bars had the nickname of Brewery Gulch, and the noise echoed off the Mule Mountains which surrounded the town and made life tough for those who liked to open their windows at night when it was cooler.

Being able to live without noisy neighbors was important to me, so I ended up in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. FYI, much of a singles scene, though, but a rich cultural and arts life.

As you can tell, I had fun researching, too!

[AustinTraveler]

Another good thing to do is to check out the local grocery store, Target, WalMart, etc. That's where the locals hang out, no matter what city you are in.

[Lillietta]

It seems haphazard just to drive around and do the "tourist" thing....

Actually I think that is a GOOD idea. Go all over! As far as you can get in the time period. And do talk to people. I think that combination should work best for you because it gives you a genuine FEEL rather than what is read about a place, be it in this forum, other online info, travelogues, etc. I did that this summer with my daughter, and one of us liked it and the other didn't as what we saw affected us differently. From what we had read beforehand, we BOTH thought it would be a perfect fit, and found out it was a match for one, but not the other.