Hello All!
I have posted most recently in the North and South Carolina forums, as those are the areas that we have targeted now. But, being open-minded people, we are open to more suggestions and areas we haven't yet considered. We would love more input, opinions, and ideas, if possible.
Our situation is that we live in Northwestern New Jersey and can no longer
afford this area, or New Jersey in general, due to high taxes and very high
cost of living. We would consider Pennsylvania except for the second issue,
cold weather and heating bills. We can't stand Northeast winters anymore and spending $2,000 a month for heating fuel.
So right away, you see our first 2/3 major issues. I know we're not unique in this, but we are very eager to find
affordable rent, low cost of living, and warm weather.
JOBS. Duh. We would like an area that does not have a terribly high unemployment rate and/or would accommodate our chosen fields. My husband is an ASE Certified Master Automotive Technician with 10 years experience. I work part-time editing/proofreading but have also worked as a legal secretary. I'm an English major, so that can fill a broad range of positions if necessary.
Also important is
good schools, specifically elementary since we will be relocating around the time when our son is entering school.
Next important is an
outdoor lifestyle-friendly area. We like to hike, fish, go to parks, go to lakes, and generally spend time outdoors with our son.
Finally, we lean left politically. But we are not cool enough to be hipsters.
Politically moderate is fine, we would just like to avoid ultra conservative/very red areas.
We're still being very broad at this point, I'm aware
so allow me to become more specific:
-We would like to be within 3 hours or less to the ocean. The closer the better but we understand that with coastal living comes higher prices, we weren't born yesterday.
-We have no preference regarding dry heat v. humidity, just want WARMTH PLEASE! and relatively little to no snow- yuck.
-We have no preference for small city vs. suburban vs. rural setting. Just would like to avoid big city living.
-We don't care about walkability of downtown and things like that- would be nice but don't really care one way or another.
-We could do desert if everything else was in place, but we'd like some green and trees if possible.
I know these things have been gone over a lot on these forums, but perhaps you could help us by thinking of some areas we have not.
Any help/insight/opinions/whatever would be much appreciated!!! If you love your town, why? If you think we'd be suited to awesomeville, usa, why?
Also, we are quite aware that utopia does not exist
. We're just trying to find a place that we can afford to make a better life.
THANK YOU very much in advance for any and all responses!!
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