For Lisa & Others Considering Flying the Coop

My friend sent me the link to Find Your Spot ( http://www.findyourspot.com ) last week. It takes you through a survey asking your preferences regarding weather, topographical features, city size, schooling, cultural and community activities, religious affiliations, etc. and then recommends places across the US where you might enjoy living. You can follow links to pages describing the areas in detail, along with photos.

It's a commercial site, but it costs nothing to take the surveys and view the results. It seems to be driven by realtors and chambers of commerce across America. According to it, I'd like to live in the mountains of North Carolina, or check out the Pacific Northwest. Both sound pretty darned nice! But I'm pretty rooted in Ohio with family and friends here. Good places to dream about, though!

thanks gw! Lisa

I'm having a lot of fun here. Daydreaming is so much fun.

Come visit me, gardenwife. I'm in the mountains of NC. And it is beautiful here. In fact, one of my stock market chat friends came to visit me and moved within 40 miles of me.

This is unbelievable. Totally unbelievable.

I did the quiz, and one my 24 "Top Spots" was the dinky little town in Louisiana where I went to high school, got married, and my daughter was born!!! How weird is that? I lived there for 17 years and never knew it was my dream locale! LOL!!

Oh, and four of my Top Spots are in a radius of about 75 miles from where I now live.

Go figure....

ha! I took the test...the top town for me was a small town in TN. called "Maryville"! Texas got the most votes for me: a whopping 6! Coco, is there enough room for the both of us!!!?? On its heals were Florida with 4. Louisiana didn't ever rank in the 20. Maybe this move I hope to make is not a bad idea after all.

Gee, Lisa, you'd be just a hop and a skip and maybe a swim from Dave and Trish. Also close enough to a city where the people have $ to hire a landscaper. When are you going to go have a look at Maryville? We have moved across states several times, packed up the tractor, implements, sheep, chickens, horses, and all our worldly goods and away we went. It is much easier to do before you have a little one in school. We always make a list of what we do or don't want so when talking with a realtor. They will try to show you places that aren't the type you want, it is easier to resist if you have your needs/wants written out on paper. They try to get the woman to fall in love with the kitchen or the man with the shop. Pray and ask for God's guidance, then start making inquiries. Then before you put any money down on the place find out important things from your neighbors. For instance, are you downwind from something smelly? Is there a neighbor they wouldn't wish on anybody? Does the well dry up in midsummer leaving you with no water? Is the quiet country road part of a proposed super highway system in the next few years? Be sure to look under the house for dry rot and to see what kind of foundation you have and to see if all the grey water empties into a pit under the house (we found this one out the hard way)... I could go on and on, but you get the picture. Those kinds of things can be rude surprises, the kind you don't need. Have fun and keep us posted.

You, know Woodspirit, I wouldn't mind visiting 'tall. I have a friend in Chapel Hill, NC - if I ever get down to visit her, I will take you up on your offer! :o)

Mary's right on! And another place to check out is Realtor.com at http://www.realtor.com - granted, it's a commerical site, but it has tens of thousands of listings and links to info about neighborhoods, schools, etc.

One thing I did when we were narrowing our choices was call the non-emergency number of the local police department. I thought who better than the dispatcher would know what neighborhoods received the least and most calls for various things. We were pleased to learn our neighborhood is a nice little pocket which rarely has trouble.

I'd call the police disptachers for unbiased opinions free of sales commissions. Really, I'd bet they enjoy being able to help people with their first-hand knowledge. Just don't call 911, LOL. ;o)

Kimberley

This message was edited Thursday, Aug 23rd 2:52 PM