If You Could Live In Any State...

[Mairte]

Which would you pick? I am making a move, a change. It will be a little while yet,had an offer on the house since the lot next door is being sold to the same people, and I am decided (tonight actually) to take it. However it will be contingent on me having another place.
SO, I will be looking for a small house, preferably in the country that doesnt cost an arm and a leg.
Other than that, its the WHERE I have to figure out.
Since I work from home I am not locked in to any one area.
I am just curious what people here would do in the same situation.

[Lady Kett]

Well, where are you now Mairte? And what's important to you? I'm partial to the Dallas/Fort Worth TX area. We moved here 18 years ago by choice and I just love it.

When we made that choice we looked at state income tax rates, job market, what the rental/housing market was like. I had wanted to really look at crime rates and other statistics but we moved here before ye olde' interwebs was able to spit out random information at you.

[Tipsy Gypsy]

Another Texan chiming in! I live in a college community between Houston and Austin. The cost of living and property values here are moderate, the economy and housing bubble burst hasn't quite impacted us like it has the rest of the country (yet, anyhow), and the crime rate isn't too high, although like everywhere, it's somewhat worse than it used to be. And I'm within a 1 1/2- 2 hour drive of a large city if I really need/want something there. We only have about 2 1/2 months of semi-consistently chilly weather,  so we have multiple growing seasons. It rarely gets below the upper 20s, but peak summer can be a little rough for a couple of months if you don't tolerate heat & humidity. Consistent highs in the upper 90's with 80% humidity is not unusual. Typically, lots of rain in the spring with occasional flash floods, though only the low areas are seriously impacted. Lots of bugs and the occasional tropical storm to deal with, but meh, that's life. Best part- I'm close enough to TRF to drive home every night!

[Merlin the Elder]

I'm not a Texan, but a Texas neighbor. I'd almost consider Texas for the faires alone as we approach retirement age. The thing that would dissuade me would be the heat. It's bad enough in Arkansas. I've considered New England so that I could enjoy winter weather besides just ice.

[RenStarr]

IF...................I could live in any state, it would actually be two states.

Texas: from Oct - April  (I already live in Texas)
Montana: May - September

I've lived in Texas pretty much my entire life and I must admit, I get tired of the really hot summer months (July & Aug in particular).  Montana is great during the summer months campaired to Texas but I wouldn't want to deal with winter in Montana either.

[dbaldock]

I'm not a Texan, but a Texas neighbor. I'd almost consider Texas for the faires alone as we approach retirement age. The thing that would dissuade me would be the heat. It's bad enough in Arkansas. I've considered New England so that I could enjoy winter weather besides just ice.

One of the nice things about Texas, compared to Arkansas, that my parents took into consideration when they moved here after retirement was that there's no State Income Tax (which does make a difference if you're on a fixed retirement income).  They don't stay in south Texas during the Summer though - they spend Summers in central Minnesota.

I don't know if Tipsy Gypsy is at Prairie View (Prairie View A&M), College Station (Texas A&M), or Brenham (Blinn College) --- but any one of those is pretty centrally located, and easily within 4 hours of 5 different Ren Faires (Scarborough near Dallas, Middlefaire near Hillsboro, Sherwood near Austin, Four Winds near Tyler, and TRF near Houston) and quite a few Celtic Festivals.


Your idea of New England is nice - the area is beautiful - but the cost of living is higher there than here in the south.  One nice thing is that they do have quite a few Ren Faires and Celtic Festivals in a pretty concentrated area.


I always loved the Ozark Mountains, especially the area around the Buffalo River, Mountain View, and the Ozark Folk Center.  But, it's a long way from any Ren Faires and is still in the "Ice Belt", even though they do get more Snow than Central Arkansas.

[metalcelt]

I would stay here in Pennsylvania. The weather is a nice mix and my home city (Pittsburgh) is a mostly friendly town. We have been described as the Big City with the friendliness of a little town. I think it suits us. Plus I am within a four to five hour drive of probably more than a dozen faires and an 8 hour drive from over a hundred.

[Merlin the Elder]

I wasn't looking at it so much from a cost-of-living standpoint. It's higher in New England, but so are salaries. My interest would not be in one of the major population centers anyway.

[Zardoz]

Texas was set up by folks who were already tired of living in the US states by the 1830s. And don't worry about the weather, it's a big country just pick a latitude! If I wanted to move several hundred miles away, I'd just go to West Texas!

[Lady Renee Buchanan]

There's nothing like Florida.  Oh, how I miss the beach!  Sure, it's hot, there's bugs, lots of traffic, but stand 5 minutes on the beach at Indialantic, how could you NOT be hooked??

And the surfing's great, too!   

[Becky10]

I live in California and there is no way i would ever move (unless out of country). I've already told my dad (he wanted to go to Washington or Alaska....no) if he moves I am staying.

[eloquentXI]

If I didn't love Texas so much, I would go back to Colorado (where I was born) because nothing compares to living on the foothills of the Rockies...

[Lady Nicolette]

California is in my heart and my soul.  What other state has such diversity of ocean (whether you are looking for sunbathing, surfing or picturesque vertiginous vistas), world class cities, fabulous wilderness and snow-covered mountains, some of the best wines anywhere, petrified forests and hot springs, beautiful verdant farmland and the biggest and oldest trees in the world?  It's suffered a lot during the ups and downs of our country's fortunes, but it always ends up back on it's feet.  You can't beat the weather in most of the state, either!  And if you miss the humidity, we've even got the Sacramento valley....Not to mention it's where the Renaissance Festivals were born.  You bet I'm homesick!

[Welsh Wench]

Louisiana.

How can you turn down blues, jazz, Creole and Cajun food?

But I am in Florida which suits me because I am a beach chick. 

[SirRichardBear]

Texas I moved here by choice 32 years ago and never looked back.  Of course I moved to a small town of 36,000 which now has ober 300,000 but I still wouldn't trade it.  Every geo-region in the lower 48 can be found in Texas from beach to mountain to deseart.  Rised in Western PA and its pretty country but the taxes are killers