Question by been there got the t-shirt: Do live in Tennessee, California, Colorado, Arizona or Hawaii?
My future husband and have been discussing at length for some time where we are going to permanently live [[settle down, buy a house and start a family]]. I am asking this question for the purposes of trying to reach out to some people that live in our potential choices to see if you can describe what it is like to live there. We have narrowed our choices down to the following:
Upstate New York (Albany Area)
Reno, Nevada
Knoxville, Tennessee
Colorado
Western Arizona
Central California
Hawaii
Currently, we are living in upstate New York near Albany, where he is originally from. I was born in California and raised in Reno, Nevada. My boyfriend and I are both pretty familiar with California as I have relatives in the bay area and he previously had a job where he was stationed in Salinas, CA (when I met him three 1/2 years ago).
I am a paralegal and he is a mechanic, but currently in the process of trying to upgrade his career to something related that is more sophisticated than typical wrench-turning. Our price range for at least a 3 bed/2bath with garage home is $ 85,000 to $ 139,000 (max). Having land would be favorable, but not mandatory. We also don’t want to live in a big city… we are specifically looking for a smaller town suburbs-type location.
NEW YORK: We must consider where we live now in NY because I have a really good job here. But the houses we like are out of our price range, we are not fans of the harsh winters, and we aren’t exactly on good terms with his family. Essentially, the only thing keeping me here is my job.
NEVADA: We have Reno on the table just because it is close to my family. Both of my parents are likely to be retired when we have kids and, as the only child, something tells me that free babysitting would be involved. The real estate has dropped substantially in the housing crisis and therefore it is affordable to us now. But the schools are not exactly great, and I don’t miss the dessert.
TENNESSEE: We favor the idea of the idea of a quiet southern lifestyle as opposed to the busy, non-stop NY. I like the idea of raising my kids in a little country suburb. The real estate there seems to be very affordable to us (with low taxes too!), but I am not sure how much less we would be earning there in comparison to our NY salaries. I hear good things about the schools in TN. We are actually taking a road trip down to Knoxville in the middle of March to check it out. Mild winters appeal to us and we like warm… but humidity, not so much.
COLORADO: Right after I write about how I like warm weather, I throw Colorado on the map. For some reason, Colorado has always called to me. I think it is absolutely beautiful and I like snowboarding. It’s also a pretty short flight from Reno. But, like New York, I’m afraid it may be too expensive for us – not that I would expect to live in Aspen – but I’m not sure which areas are reasonable and which are not. So I’m really hoping for input from Colorado folks!
ARIZONA: My dad is retired lives in Lake Havasu and loves the heck out of it, and also says it’s affordable. I can deal with the “dry heat” no problem… but I’m not sure about 120*. Other than that, we don’t know much about it.
CALIFORNIA: We like California because it is pretty and close to my family. But like New York, I’m not sure if we could afford the lifestyle that we want. We would essentially need to find a “sweet spot” in a small town somewhere that we could find jobs and have a house in the same 50 mile radius. Bay area is completely out of the question.
HAWAII: It actually came up as a joke when we were going through the list of the states and crossing them off… “Hey, let’s live in Hawaii, I wish!!” And then he was like, “Actually, yeah. We could do Hawaii,” and so it is now on the table as an option. We’ve both been there on vacation MANY years ago and were nothing short of amazed. I mean, paradise, surfing, nice weather… how can we go wrong? But I’m not sure how the job market is for our occupations and how they would pay, in addition to the housing. I would love to hear from someone who lives here – if anything to just find a con!
We are of course doing as much of our own extensive research with regard to real estate, schools, crime rates and jobs on our own, and I realize that at the end of the day it’s up to us. BUT, again, the purpose of my question is to get a taste from some locals to tell me stuff about living there that I can’t find online.
You’re helpful input herein is greatly appreciated!
Best answer:
Answer by Diane A
I personally would knock Calif & Hawaii out–just because housing will be way more than that in both and Hawaii is incredibly expensive to live in-everything has to be imported. Jobs are relatively scare in most of the islands outside the big city of Honolulu. It can also get pretty boring unless you absolutely adore that lifestyle. Everyone we know who moved there eventually moved back to the mainland. Personally, Arizona is a good option, I like the Phoenix area better though. I have a friend in Lake Havasu and she is bored to tears. I have visited Tenn and its OK. The good thing is you can move if you do not like a place; try renting before buying. And I have a friend who just move to Portland, Ore & she loves it.
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