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Austin was great in the 1980s, still fun in the 1990's, started to really change in the 2000's, and now it is a perfectly great place for young people with a lot of money who want a crowded bustling foodie city and don't mind living in AC for six months a year. But our sleepy little town of slackers, musicians, and artists is long gone. We've changed, too, and value quiet and beauty a little bit more than live music and restaurants now. Time to turn the house we bought 25 years ago into retirement money (finally!) and move on, out of Texas.
But where??
Here is what we are looking for/criteria (obviously, college towns will come to mind after reading this):
- LAND/GEOGRAPHY: Green, hills or mountains, access to rivers or lakes. Not desert. Desert mountains are okay but too hard to drive up snowy mountain roads in winter.
- OPEN SPACE: Needs to be some, formal or informal, by where we live. Nature matters. And nearby access to non-urban natural areas, trails, etc.
- PRICE RANGE/HOUSE DESIRES: Under $350k give or take a bit, with a couple of acres or more. Wooded, natural, not groomed pastureland, privacy. Probably older houses preferred since new homes tend to be enormous and we want a smallish house -- 1000 -1200 sq ft or so, +/- a few hundred. (What is the deal with all these 2500+ sq ft houses??)
- WEATHER: Reasonable seasons. Summer heat and winter cold with a little snow okay if not five months long/extreme. Winter sunshine is important; no Pacific Northwest unless it's in the rain shadow.
- JOBS: Not too important, mostly retired and have recurring seasonal summer work. PT work in fall-spring in education or retail/tourism nice, but not essential.
- LOCAL RESOURCES/SERVICES: Local availability of decent groceries (fresh produce, reasonably healthy breads, etc.). Decent internet of some kind available (don’t need gigabit high speed, but want more than satellite). Library, some kind of community center and/or workshops or art or local theater or something. Basic health care in vicinity. (Doctors, doc-in-a-box, etc.)
- REGIONAL SERVICES (within an hour drive): Large grocery, home supply store. Hospital/medical center. Airport. A museum or theater or arts center or something like that.
- CULTURE/POLITICS: Politically/culturally tolerant. Live and let live -- we do! Conservative/religious is fine as long as people like us, who are neither, are tolerated and there isn’t an angry aggressive mean “get outta town” mentality. Diversity in race (not all white) would be a plus.
Don’t want the next "HOT PLACE TO LIVE!" (sorry, Asheville NC) because we've gone through that in Austin. MIGHT consider a snowy place if it fit the bill otherwise and there were resources (kids, neighborhood plowing?) so we wouldn't have to physically shovel tons of snow ourselves. Not getting any younger...
WHAT WE’VE CONSIDERED SO FAR:
Visited Eureka Springs AR and it is a definite possibility. Very touristy but can avoid that. Land/country is gorgeous. Fayetteville AR was too much like Austin, a little too busy, not enough close-in quiet peaceful small houses with land.
Very interested in hearing more about places in the Appalachian mountains or Smoky Mountains; I barely know that part of the country except for driving though once or twice and seeing how beautiful it is.
I love NM but too dry/desert-y to live there; maybe there are pockets in NM to still consider? Durango/Cortez/Mancos area also appealing but a little pricey and winters too intense. Vermont would be good except for those long snowy winters. Same with interior Alaska. Thought about the Kenai peninsula or SE Alaska but still cold and dark winters, (and all of Alaska is so expensive anyway and far from any resources if you don't live in Fairbanks or Anchorage or Juneau).
Thanks for playing!
(Extra points if you're Zillow obsessed like me and include some example links to houses you think sound like what we want in the areas you are thinking of...)
Since Jobs and schools are a low priority, you are a perfect candidate for the more depressed but still very beautiful areas of our country (midwest, WV)
Both very nice towns and close enough to their big cities (Chattanooga, Knoxville respectively) for easy access; yet far enough removed that they retain the small town feel. Not particularly touristy, either.
These are all helpful, thanks! I'll look into these places.
I know I said politics don't matter as long as it's a live and let live mentality -- just hoping that a liberal gay couple won't get the hairy eyeball in these Tennessee towns. Looking into Rome, GA, it had some mixed reviews on that. Live and let live is different from don't ask, don't tell. Maybe better to ask on the TN forum.
(Wimberly still has LONG HOT Central Texas summers, and it is out of my price range, and the traffic to get to the nearest big town -- Austin -- is pretty bad. Other than that, I love the Driftwood/Wimberly area.)
These are all helpful, thanks! I'll look into these places.
I know I said politics don't matter as long as it's a live and let live mentality -- just hoping that a liberal gay couple won't get the hairy eyeball in these Tennessee towns. Looking into Rome, GA, it had some mixed reviews on that. Live and let live is different from don't ask, don't tell. Maybe better to ask on the TN forum.
(Wimberly still has LONG HOT Central Texas summers, and it is out of my price range, and the traffic to get to the nearest big town -- Austin -- is pretty bad. Other than that, I love the Driftwood/Wimberly area.)
Traffic should improve a bit once the Oak Hill Y project is done, though I do sympathize with the long hot summers - at least the humidity is improved a touch out there.
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