What do you 'check' when you're checking out a city? (Spokane: real estate, insurance)

[Counting Down]

I see people on this site often taking trips to check out various cities for retirement suitability; I'm doing the same thing next month and it makes me question what things I should be looking at.
Some things are pretty easy even via the internet such as real estate prices and availability, what the area looks like, etc. But others are tougher... what are the locals like? Welcoming or not? Educated or not? Angry at out of staters moving in or not? Questions of weather are also tough when you can only manage to go there a few times.
My wife and I are very different in how we evaluate a city; to her it's all impression and 'feel'. She will know if it's right within a very short time of arriving... and I'd bet on her instinct as it's proven accurate so often in the past. My problem however, is that I'm want to know that city A, gets a 7.34 in a certain aspect, while city B is only a 6.81. So I guess what I'm interested in is what criteria other people have used to judge places they're interested in. Does anyone have a check list or rating system or is it all feel?
How do you really evaluate medical facilities? Drive past and check off 'hospital' yes? Drive around looking for a resturant for each of your favorite types of food?
I'm just interested in what your approach is and whether it all boils down to the magical 'feel'. Thanks for your input!

By the way... I just realized I didn't say where I'm going and it might make a difference to some of you, so...
I'll be spending a few days in the Spokane area (including Cd'A) which I haven't visited in many years, and then I'm going over to Sequim, which I feel I know pretty well and just want to see if it's the way I remember it.

[brightcopperkettles]

Read all you can about the site(s) you're interested in and ask questions here as they come to you. That will give you a pretty accurate feel. But--and this is the important part--trust your wife's "feel" for the place(s); that "feeling" that we women get is divine-given much of the time--or at least it seems so to me. If her feelings are usually right, they're your best "barometer" of a place. Trust her.

[cdelena]

Weather, housing prices, taxes, traffic, medical services, airport, utility rates, politics, demographics, shopping & services... feel and general impression over a few visits.

[MsV]

We're thinking of moving from central Jersey down to NE Florida
I've done a year's research - your questions could be answered by the computer. When you get enough answers about a place to satisfy you, go there and let your wife do what she does best & naturally, get a feeling.

We heard about a particular area, then I checked online for:
* Hospital ratings for all of Florida ~checking to see how well the local one rated...and yes, it's VERY impt to be near a GREAT medical system.
* School System's ratings for all of Florida ~ checking to know how the ones in the area we're interested in rated ~ bec whenever you move, it's still location, location, location ~ good schools often = less crime by teens, etc., as well as, you might pay a bit more for a home, but you'll eventually have better resale value.
* Churches/Places of Worship in the area ~ reveals a lot about the culture of your potential neighbors.
* Contemporary maps of the area, so you can get a feel for the infrastructure of the area.
* Call your insurance co, asking what they project property/flood, etc. insurance on a (Give them how much you want to spend) house would be.
* How far from the airport ~ if that matters to you
* Cultural events ~ are there any and how far away
After learning all these things, we have visited 3 times in the past year and plan a couple more to "get to know" as much as possible before committing our selves to living there.
Good Luck & God Bless

[fairweathergolfer]

Excellent points and advice. I would also recommend reading the local papers too. Although it can be true that media can really blow up all the 'bad and negative' stuff, it is enlightening--especially around what areas are more prone to what sort of issues. But it also shines a light on what a community is like overall and what they seem to value.

There is a site called Moderator cut: competing site that shows age data etc (as well as City-Data's site)--basically more info then one could imagine. You can compare these usually to communities you know to see how relevant these stats are and what they mean. For instance crime stats are usually broken out by crime, but also have an overall number. Okay, you say, what does this mean? Is this high, low? What? So I always compare it to places I know are good communities as well as on occasion less ideal communities--basically where I haved lived and have a sense of. Every community has crime, I found out. (Yes, I know . . . I am an idealist ).

I have gathered A LOT of information on this City-Data blog. It is amazing what people have to say that have already lived in an area and are either still there or have moved away. It has been extraordinarily helpful--THANKS ALL!! Some times it can be disconcerting, but it gives one new questions to ask and chase down to really uncover how relevant and or important this is to what one is looking for or how much to give weight and relevance to what some have said. Overtime with repeated questions and research, one can shake out the latter concerns and get a pretty good sense of a community (especially when combined with a visit or two).

My husband is the instinct person. He knows immediately and relies on it completely. He will not put an ounce of attention towards something until he has decided he likes it first intuitively. Then he will look at details etc. I am also intuitive but really am a serious researcher. But I usually do all of this before we arrive and know exactly what to ask or at least have a great grounding. Whereas he is clueless (purposely by choice) and that works out well as his questions are so in the moment and fresh. Together we make an excellent team.

Since your wife is an instinct person and if you can afford it, travelling to a few locales that you are interested in first could be a great start. Thus you can immediately eliminate some places together and highlight others that you both respond to to start your information gathering on.

In the end there is always a sense of destiny to where you end up as you probably already know if you are moving toward retirement. It sounds like you and your wife are also a great team! Best of luck and many blessings in finding your new home.

Originally Posted by MsV

We're thinking of moving from central Jersey down to NE Florida
I've done a year's research - your questions could be answered by the computer. When you get enough answers about a place to satisfy you, go there and let your wife do what she does best & naturally, get a feeling.

We heard about a particular area, then I checked online for:
* Hospital ratings for all of Florida ~checking to see how well the local one rated...and yes, it's VERY impt to be near a GREAT medical system.
* School System's ratings for all of Florida ~ checking to know how the ones in the area we're interested in rated ~ bec whenever you move, it's still location, location, location ~ good schools often = less crime by teens, etc., as well as, you might pay a bit more for a home, but you'll eventually have better resale value.
* Churches/Places of Worship in the area ~ reveals a lot about the culture of your potential neighbors.
* Contemporary maps of the area, so you can get a feel for the infrastructure of the area.
* Call your insurance co, asking what they project property/flood, etc. insurance on a (Give them how much you want to spend) house would be.
* How far from the airport ~ if that matters to you
* Cultural events ~ are there any and how far away
After learning all these things, we have visited 3 times in the past year and plan a couple more to "get to know" as much as possible before committing our selves to living there.
Good Luck & God Bless

[cspeaker]

I find that the town's chamber of commerce website provides a lot of information on the "feel" of the town. I especially look at suggested activities for residents, not tourists. That gives you an idea of what type of people live there. Do they go to museums or go white water rafting? Also, their calendar of events is useful for getting a feel for what the people get together and do to celebrate what events. Also, every town has crime but what types of crimes are prevalent? I'm more tolerant of theft than rape or murder, obviously, and city-data will tell you that.

Another unconventional way I get a feel for a town is to go on the school's website and read the school newsletter. Even if you don't have kids, it's a good way to learn the subtleties of a community.

As far as what to look for when you visit entirely depends on who you are. I'm a mother of 2 so I look at families and how they interact. (My husband, on the other hand, only cares about how good the fishing is!) I look at what family activities the area provides. I'm most interested in what the kids and teens are like. Spending a little time in the grocery store can tell you a lot about the locals. Do they notice you? Do they smile? Are the cashiers as friendly to you as they are the locals? The way you're treated in the grocery store is a good indication of how you'll be treated as a newcomer to the town.

Good luck!

[orygun]

Everyone has given awesome advice on choosing a city. I agree that how a place feels is a good one. I don't think I really listened to that inner feeling when I made my last move and now I am miserable here.

I really really like reading editorials and comments in papers, usually online. You learn what is on people's minds, the pros and cons. What are locals arguing about? What do they think is great in their community.

This website is awesome though I didn't find what I needed to know about this town so now I like to alert others to the down side of Spokane that I didn't know about. It actually takes some disgruntled unhappy people to vent their frustrations to hear that stuff but even then you have to look at everyone's individual circumstances.

Find a way to talk to locals. If you get a chance to visit, stop into restaurants, bookstores, malls, etc. Start some small talk to get a feel for the people. Spokane is an incredibly friendly place so I was happy to see that. People didn't treat me bad in anyway. But I think when you get talking about housing with people you start to learn more. If you hear a lot about less than desirable people, whatever that may mean to anyone, consider it is probably true. If people say it is really hard to make a living somewhere, believe them.

I think mostly the more time you can spend somewhere before you move the better. Start looking for housing, etc.

As far as hospitals, I like to look at their websites and see if they have won any kind of awards and see what customer satisfaction they have.

All in all, it's hard. I feel like a person can't really know a place until they live there and unfortunately, then we are stuck.

Do your research, put it down on paper with pros and cons and listen to the "gut."