Where is the best place to live?

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We have our house up for sale and we are going to move when it sells. Right now we are looking at moving to northeast Tennessee, around Roan Mountain. It satisfies our need for four seasons, without terrible winters and the summers are not too hot like they are here in Arkansas. But... we can move anywhere, we are not locked in to anyone place. I'm a nurse so I can work anywhere and my husband is retired and will have time to work on whatever we buy. We like trees and hill/mountains so Kansas is out. I'd really appreciate hearing about what each one thinks is a good place and why.

-- Artie Ann Karns (rokarns@arkansas.net), November 29, 2000

Answers

Northeast Alabama for us, hands down. Our home is surrounded by forest and hills..taxes on our 8 acres are $161/year and because my husband is disabled, our entire yearly property tax is reduced to $24 dollars a year. Alabama residents over the age of 65 also have severely reduced property tax for occupied land, some paying no tax at all. Alabama knows how to treat folks who have worked all their lives. The Summer here, according to the locals was unseasonally hot, yet with central air, we were happy, and found the outdoors to be no hotter than Summer in PA, just hotter longer. The people who have lived here all of their lives are the nicest people I have ever met. I am thrilled to look out my windows in the mornings and see hawks soaring towards the distant hills; to walk with my husband as we did yesterday to the back of our small parcel of land and not hear one thing but the birds..how cool is that? Come visit if you like..check out how great Alabama is to homestead. God bless.

-- Lesley (martchas@gateway.net), November 29, 2000.

Travel around. When you find the right place it will call to you.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), November 30, 2000.

Ken is right. Someplace YOU like, not someone else's choice.

-- JLS in NW AZ (stalkingbull007@AOL.com), November 30, 2000.

Where is your familys located ? Within a days drive would be nice .What type of nursing work do you like private duty ,hospital,nursing home , rehab ? You got your climate .Know think of how much land . Check out prices and then visit at least 6 times before you move .

-- Patty (fodfarms@slic.com), November 30, 2000.

When I knew I was going to leave the DC area and didn't have a particular place in mind to move to, I made a long list of everything I could think of that I wanted in my new hometown. Some of the things on my list were the same as your's: rural, four seasons, but little real winter, etc. Other things on the list included hills, low taxes, cheap land, no reputation for being stand-off-ish to newcomers, etc.

I eventually settled on the Ozarks of southern Missouri and packed my bags and came for a few weeks. I found this place just as time was running out for that trip. It was a good choice. The area is beautiful, the people friendly and other than the drought the weather is fine.

There are a couple of good books on finding rural property. Most of them are mainly to help you figure out what you really want and what parts of the country are likely to meet your needs.

==>paul

-- paul (p@ledgewood-consulting.com), November 30, 2000.



We're enjoying Alabama as well- we just moved here from Texas, and the weather and the scenery are much prettier here- and we get four seasons, too! One site that might help you is money.com's best places to live search. Just go to www.money.com and put "best places to live" in the search engine. They have a program that will let you compare dozens of factors like size of the city/town,health care, cost of living and weather, etc. and then produce a list of the places that best meet your requirements. Best of Luck!

-- Kristin, in C. Alabama (positivekharma@aol.com), November 30, 2000.

I've been in North Alabama for over 30 years. Here in the Tennessee Valley we have reasonable land prices, rural seclusion and urban convienence within 20 miles of each other. Good job market (look up Huntsville, AL on the surveys). Matter of fact, you could even choose land in Tenn and still have the job market benifits of Huntsville.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), November 30, 2000.

I have a friend who packed up the family, two dogs and a cat in a Winnabago and headed south. She homeschooled her two children on the way. They traveled around until they found a place they liked. They settled in Florida.

Don't come to New Jersey, it's getting too built up here.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), November 30, 2000.


We live in NE TN, and my husband LOVES Roan Mountain. I've never seen it, but he says it's beautiful. One of the few problems with this area is the isolation (also it's best benefit). My husband is a PA who loves to work the ER occasionally, but he has to drive pretty far, which takes alot of the pleasure out of it. The company he works for, Rural Health Services Consortium, has a clinic in Roan Mountain, and he's pretty familiar with most of the health care organizations here. If you decide to pursue it further, e-mail and I'll get him to talk to you.

One other thing: do you have school-age kids? Can be a problem or a blessing in this area.

-- Teresa in TN (otgonz@bellsouth.net), December 02, 2000.


Ever consider Italy??? I've been living here for 8 yrs. and I just love it. Right now the dollar is really strong so you would find a house and land cheap!

-- kelly (kellytree@hotmail.com), December 04, 2000.


Don't even think about Texas..

Making todays news! Just one of hundreds of unjust arrest in small towns across Texas. Most small towns and the county police, believe they themselves are above the laws of the people. The courts are just as onesided and above the law too.

Gail Atwater, two children Anya,and Mac, in Lago Vista, Texas. The Supreme Court will consider whether Atwater, who was jailed for not wearing a seatbelt, was subjected to unreasonable arrest.

The Atwaters have been harrassed so bad they have had to sell there home and leave Lago Vista.

-- Danny (triquest@about.com), December 04, 2000.


My family and I call southern Indiana America's best kept secret. We have mild winters, yet an occaisional snow to feed the winter scene itch in me. It's lovely.

-- Sindy (queenbuffness@hotmail.com), December 05, 2000.

Well, I'll have to say that we in Maine have the best lobster bakes. We have 4 seasons too. The really nice thing is that we have little need for air conditioning. Winters are properly cool and we normally have snow for Christmas, tho not last year. We're about 15 miles from the coast. Cost of living is reasonable - still quite a bit of "farm land" that is not out of reach, but don't expect cheap. I'm retired military and there is a fine exchange nearby, a commissary within reasonable striking distance, and better than most places health care. I tolerate cool weather much better than hot muggy weather. I can always put on more clothes in the winter, but I can only strip down so far in the summer. What Leslie didn't tell you was that she considered Maine until she got wimpy about the winters! GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), December 06, 2000.

I meant Lesley, not Leslie. Sorry!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), December 06, 2000.

New Zealand, hands down! Clean air, clean water, unadulterated food, NO crime, egalitarian government, social consciousness, physically the most beautiful country on earth (I quote James Mcihener who should know, as well as my own observations).

-- diane petryk (dianesp@hotmail.com), June 12, 2001.


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