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My husband and I currently live in the Raleigh NC area with our two young kids. We moved here from PA about 12 years ago but we are considering moving and need some help with suggestions based on what we'd like to have. Right now, this is more of a hypothetical question. We'd just like to see what's out there.
Also, I know we aren't likely to get everything we want but these are our wish list items to help narrow it down.
Wants:
*We have family in western PA that we visit a few times a year so we would want to stay on the east coast from North Carolina to Maine
*We work from home so reliable high-speed internet is a must
*Within 1 hour of the coast, the closer the better
*Smallish town (~25,000 to 50,000 people?) with a good community feel
*Good schools for our kids
*Low crime rates
*We'd like to have more fall and winter weather than we currently get in NC
*Has nice community events, especially for holidays and in the fall and winter
*We'd like to buy a house on a bit of property (we'd love to have several acres but around 1 acre is fine)
*Politically, we're pretty moderate though we lean a bit left
What towns should we look into to see if they are a fit for us? Any other things we should consider? Thanks!
I thought about an area like Nyack NY, which isn't too far from beaches on the Long Island Sound and you are on the other side of the Hudson River, which mean access to mountains as well. This may also depend on the budget you are working with.
There are towns in NJ that would fit that description, but you should ask on the NJ forum with your budget and also, understand that NJ's good schools mean the taxes are very high.
Also want to add to ckh's post above that the Jersey beaches are probably easier to get to from Nyack, NY, than the Long Island beaches. Nyack is just over the state line with easy access to the Garden State Parkway, which runs down the length of the New Jersey coast.
Nyack is also an easy reach to Route 80 to head out to western PA.
FL_Expert - Salisbury MD is one we already had on the list of places to look into so it's interesting that it was the first recommendation. I definitely need to look into it more. Thanks!
ckhthankgod - I'm not sure how open to New York my husband is but I also expected a resounding "NO" when I jokingly suggested coastal Maine, so who knows! I'll have to look into it. The proximity to the mountains would certainly be a selling point for him. As for Delaware, we aren't very familiar with the state so we'll have to take a closer look. Thanks for the suggestions!
Mightyqueen801 - I avoided stating a budget figuring once recommendations rolled in we could look and see what kind of budget was required to live there. I'd say up to $400,000 for a house but less would be better. I know that will limit choices, especially as we go north. Thanks for the tip about Nyack. I had that same thought when I looked at its location.
Salisbury MD has 33,000 in city and 423,000 in metro. So.... your 25-50k for a "town" was city population? And bigger metro area is not a problem? Just asking. The metro is 3 counties and 2,000 square miles. That added population will add amenities and events. Not exactly what I think of as a town though. Median home, $176k.
Salisbury city schools appear to rate poorly. Could be better in suburbs. Lots of kids and young adults in area. 32% of adults married compared to national average of 50%.
Gets about 13 inches of snow per year.
Elizabeth City has 18k in town, 53k in county. Schools rate poorly. Crime high.
Dover DE, 38k in town, 184k in metro. Better rated schools. Crime high in town, better than average outside.
Presumably a fair amount of big corporate jobs? Median home, $268k.
Middletown DE, 25k in town. Considered a southern piece of 6.1 million population Philly metro. Schools rate high to very high. Crime a bit less than average. Median home price, $411k.
FL_Expert - Salisbury MD is one we already had on the list of places to look into so it's interesting that it was the first recommendation. I definitely need to look into it more. Thanks!
ckhthankgod - I'm not sure how open to New York my husband is but I also expected a resounding "NO" when I jokingly suggested coastal Maine, so who knows! I'll have to look into it. The proximity to the mountains would certainly be a selling point for him. As for Delaware, we aren't very familiar with the state so we'll have to take a closer look. Thanks for the suggestions!
Mightyqueen801 - I avoided stating a budget figuring once recommendations rolled in we could look and see what kind of budget was required to live there. I'd say up to $400,000 for a house but less would be better. I know that will limit choices, especially as we go north. Thanks for the tip about Nyack. I had that same thought when I looked at its location.
Yes, $400K with an acre would be pretty much impossible in NJ within shot of the beaches, except maybe down in the southern part of the state, but then the school quality goes down.
NW Crow - To be honest, I don't have a specific number of people that is acceptable or not. It really just comes down to finding a town that has a close community feel. The town we're in now has about 55,000 people and most are from somewhere else (I know, like us). And, the county has more than doubled in population in the time since we've moved. Everything is extremely crowded and all of the events are very...corporate(?) in nature. We came from a small town that had community events and festivals that weren't put on by businesses and we miss that aspect.
Mightyqueen801 - I had a feeling that was the case. I realize our list of wants is going to be hard to find for a reasonable price. Hopefully, somewhere will get us close enough.
Salisbury MD has 33,000 in city and 423,000 in metro. So.... your 25-50k for a "town" was city population? And bigger metro area is not a problem? Just asking. The metro is 3 counties and 2,000 square miles. That added population will add amenities and events. Not exactly what I think of as a town though.
Salisbury city schools appear to rate poorly. Could be better in suburbs. Lots of kids and young adults in area. 32% of adults married compared to national average of 50%.
Gets about 13 inches of snow per year.
That 'metro area' is basically encompassing the entire southern half of Maryland's Eastern Shore plus a chunk of Delaware around Rehoboth Beach/Lewes. It's more like a region composed of various separate population centers of which Salisbury just happens to be the biggest. You could be smack dab in the middle of that 'metro area' and be on a lonely winding country road. It's not to be confused with a metro area that has a core city surrounded by a series of sprawling suburbs.
I don't think Salisbury is a very notable city. It's not too far from D.C. or Baltimore or the Hampton Roads area and places like Ocean City and Rehoboth Beach nearby are tourist draws....yet you don't really hear about people going to Salisbury like ever.
It just seems like a place that's simply grown on the merit of being a service hub for the surrounding rural areas rather than anything that recommends it in particular.
The upside of that is of course that real estate is likely not too bad cost-wise.
Warwick RI and Fall River MA are about 90k in town. Housing median in low to mid 300s.
Salisbury might feel like a town to some. I dunno.
Check places out further. Google Street View, YouTube videos, in person visits...
Georgetown DE is a town of 7500. Near the beach. Between Dover DE and Salisbury MD. (45 minute drives to each.) Want to be closer to one of those small cities for work or other stuff? Maybe split the distance. It is possible to be sort of a part of two adjacent places at the same time.
Last edited by NW Crow; 07-05-2022 at 12:36 PM..
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