I landed a dream job at NASA working at the Wallops Flight Facility. It's just over the Virginia line on the Delmarva (delaware/maryland/virginia) peninsula and in a very rural area. I'll be living about 1 hour away at my grandparent's beach house for a few months while getting started, but am trying to determine where would be best to find a place to rent and in a year or two one to buy, along with what's best for our cars.
Wife is a teacher and Maryland schools pay a lot more and they are significantly better to teach at than the schools in VA. We could try to find a house only a mile or two from Wallops, but she'd be guaranteed a 30-60 minute commute and would have few Maryland schools within a reasonable driving distance.
Key things we're considering:
Commute distance
Cost of homes
Broadband internet availability
Distance to my parents in Berlin, MD (dogsitting, future babysitting)
Areas considered:
Next to Wallops - minimal commute for me, long for her, 1 hour from parents, no broadband internet, few amenities, homes 150-200k.
Chincoteague Island - commute isn't safe to bike (7 miles on road and a causeway without shoulder, high speed), longer commute for her, hour+ from parents, no broadband, few amenities, homes 150-250k but most are in the floodplain (I've worked with FEMA, this is a big no no)
Snow Hill, MD - 30 minutes for me, 20+ miles to bike is too far, 30 minutes from parents, broadband available, 20-45 minute commute for her, most amenitiies 20-30 min away, homes only 150-200k.
Southern Berlin, MD - 45 min commute for me, 20-45 for her, parents 10 minutes away, near most amenities, homes 200k+, broadband available. Biking distance to the beach!
Cars:
my 2007 CR-V - ~28-30mpg on the flat roads there, 126k miles, paid off, KBB says worth ~8k
her 2009 Forester - ~26mpg, 95k miles, 2k left @2%, KBB says worth ~8-10k but was in an accident and repaired
I'm considering getting a Honda Fit, the 2015 fits have a huge bump in mpg over the older ones, but my CR-V gets pretty reasonable mpg as is. I'm ok driving the CR-V until it dies if it's the best way to go. I'm extremely into hiking/camping and going on less than ideal roads, plus there's a ton of deer along the route I commute. Not sure the savings by switching cars is worth it along with sitting in a much lower car if I hit a deer.
Ideally i'd bike commute to Wallops, she could just stay home, maybe run an in home daycare for Wallops employees, and only need to own 1 dirt cheap car. Her big hobby is theater though, which means she is gone 3-6 nights/week for the months when she's involved in shows, so car sharing could definitely be an issue and there isn't exactly a Zip Car or anything around to quickly rent. The problem is my new job is 55k, which is good for the area, equal to about 65k where we currently live near DC, but once she finishes her master's (Maryland teachers are required to earn it) she'll be making about 50k working in Maryland. Even with commuting, we'd get a sizeable increase in income with both of us working and be able to save 20% for a house much faster. Plus it's not like living next to Wallops is a big city with all kinds of stuff to do, it's surrounded by farms, it's a lot less exciting than a city in Colorado.