Author Topic: Scouting cities to move to  (Read 2190 times)

Ynari

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Scouting cities to move to
« on: March 24, 2019, 05:00:11 PM »
Hello friends!

We're planning on moving cross-country for no apparent reason in 2020. Because we're not moving TO something like family or a job, right now our research seems arbitrary, even though we have an idea of what we're looking for (mid to large sized city OR a connected college town, bike-friendly, healthy performing arts culture, near mountains, cooler climate). We're trying to fit in a few scouting trips to get a feel for our potential candidates. Upcoming: a week in the PNW, overlapping with a work conference (Eugene, Portland, Seattle) Future: CO/Rocky Mountains territory. Considering: Anchorage, AK, or going back to Chicago (No mountains, but friends.)

Has anyone ever done this before? What was useful to see/experience? I'm thinking I should be focused less on tourist attractions and more on, idk, taking public transit to the library and visiting parks. Is it even possible to get a reasonable vibe in just a few days?

FWIW, we both work in fairly location-independent jobs (teaching, tech). Work culture certainly plays a role (i.e. trying to avoid workaholic techies or underappreciated teachers), but frugality gives us flexibility here. We are not looking to maximize savings rate, just find a place where we'll like living.

GizmoTX

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Re: Scouting cities to move to
« Reply #1 on: March 24, 2019, 05:43:35 PM »
Ugh, not Chicago. The weather is terrible year round, the sun doesn't appear for half the year, the bugs and humidity are horrible, it's not pretty or inspiring, & it's HCOL. (OP, you likely know this!) We moved to Texas the day after our wedding in 1969 & haven't ever regretted it. The business opportunities have been so much better and the people who are not our family/friends are just as friendly. We visit Chicago at least once a year for those friends & family. It's been so much better to have great quality of life every day for the past almost 50 years.

shmoggy

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Re: Scouting cities to move to
« Reply #2 on: March 24, 2019, 06:48:19 PM »
Fort Collins, Colorado!  Bike friendly, Colorado State University, pretty mountains, nice people, lots of micro breweries.  It's real nice!

seemsright

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Re: Scouting cities to move to
« Reply #3 on: March 24, 2019, 08:04:55 PM »
Eugene fits your requirements well. U of O is an amazing campus and Eugene is built around the campus. Amazon Park is amazing.

I am an hour north and I love that in an hour I can get to the beach, the desert, the mountain or PDX.

There are many colleges in PDX so you may want to check out those areas also. You may also like Corvallis home of OSU.

The state of OR taxes are very high. We do not have a sales tax but we do have income tax at 9ish percent. They just added some random part of a percent that I would have to google to figure out what it was for...roads I think. 

 

frugaliknowit

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Re: Scouting cities to move to
« Reply #4 on: March 25, 2019, 04:08:45 AM »
Ugh, not Chicago. The weather is terrible year round, the sun doesn't appear for half the year, the bugs and humidity are horrible, it's not pretty or inspiring, & it's HCOL. (OP, you likely know this!) We moved to Texas the day after our wedding in 1969 & haven't ever regretted it. The business opportunities have been so much better and the people who are not our family/friends are just as friendly. We visit Chicago at least once a year for those friends & family. It's been so much better to have great quality of life every day for the past almost 50 years.

What you say about Chicago is NOT TRUE.  The north side of the city is one of the most bike friendly in the U.S.  Humidity, are you kidding me (maybe you were talking about Texas?).  If you don't own a car here, being "carless" offsets  any of the HCOL.  It's the 3rd largest GDP in the country.   I realize it's got it's problems, but don't trash it without the facts...

reeshau

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Re: Scouting cities to move to
« Reply #5 on: March 25, 2019, 05:17:53 AM »
Has anyone ever done this before? What was useful to see/experience? I'm thinking I should be focused less on tourist attractions and more on, idk, taking public transit to the library and visiting parks. Is it even possible to get a reasonable vibe in just a few days?

We actually did this, in another country.  Far fewer choices, but also much less of a frame of reference to start our search with.  There are many ways to approach this, but here are a few things I would encourage you to keep in mind:

1) This is for the rest of your life (at least, you haven't talked about an end date) so don't rush things.

2) With #1 in mind, I would look for a region to live in, rather than obsess on finding a city.  I think regional tours are a great idea:  if you like the PNW, that can be all the win you need.  Get somewhere there, and then resolve to find the permanent city within the following year, taking time to see lots of places, in multiple seasons.  If you get lucky and fall in love with a place, then that's a bonus, not the minimum requirement for success.

3) When you think you have a city, find a place to rent, at least at first.  Neighborhoods are even more specific--again, give yourself time to explore, without the commitment that a home purchase requires.

4) On your tour, I highly suggest airbnb for stays; as you have deduced, tourist attractions are of limited value, but your neighborhood amenities (don't forget grocery options!) will affect you every day.  Hotels are also limited where they are, but you can find airbnb's anywhere.  And if you splurge for a whole place (apartment, small house) then you can poke around in the closets / basement / mechanical room to see what looks familiar, and features you don't even recognize, so need more investigation.  Stay over weekdays, and get up for rush hour, even if you aren't regularly going to participate--see how it affects people, or if it's obvious that the infrastructure is overloaded.

It's incredibly daunting, but a wonderful opportunity.  You have some good ideas to start with, and once you try the scouting trips once or twice, you will get an idea of what you are doing, and what you are looking for.

Linea_Norway

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chicagomeg

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Re: Scouting cities to move to
« Reply #7 on: March 25, 2019, 08:07:07 AM »
Ugh, not Chicago. The weather is terrible year round, the sun doesn't appear for half the year, the bugs and humidity are horrible, it's not pretty or inspiring, & it's HCOL. (OP, you likely know this!) We moved to Texas the day after our wedding in 1969 & haven't ever regretted it. The business opportunities have been so much better and the people who are not our family/friends are just as friendly. We visit Chicago at least once a year for those friends & family. It's been so much better to have great quality of life every day for the past almost 50 years.

What you say about Chicago is NOT TRUE.  The north side of the city is one of the most bike friendly in the U.S.  Humidity, are you kidding me (maybe you were talking about Texas?).  If you don't own a car here, being "carless" offsets  any of the HCOL.  It's the 3rd largest GDP in the country.   I realize it's got it's problems, but don't trash it without the facts...
Plus one to the support of Chicago. If you didn't have to commute, you could live in a more outlying neighborhood like Edgewater or Andersonville, which are super charming and still very affordable. Weather is a matter of preference. Chicago is very rarely anything resembling humid and I like the winters for at least the first 3 months. March is hard sometimes, but overall I'd still much rather have four seasons than live in Texas.

LifeHappens

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Re: Scouting cities to move to
« Reply #8 on: March 25, 2019, 09:34:08 AM »
OP seems to be asking more about methodology over specific recommendations. Last year my DH and I did a similar search, so I'll share our research methods:
1) Define the non-negotiables. We had a list of several variables we absolutely required. Some of those were: good walk/bike scores, a real downtown/central district, access to green space, a great library, etc. You already listed a few things (mountains) that you are looking for, but there are probably more you haven't articulated yet.
2) Develop a list of candidate cities. Book travel. Find several real estate listing in our price range to scout potential neighborhoods.
3) Visit. We stayed at hotels, but AirBnBs in a candidate neighborhood would work even better. Drive around the city. Check out the library, parks, schools (we don't have children, but seeing the schools gives you an idea of the make up of the community), any other businesses/resources you might use. Look at real estate listings. Go for walks. Basically explore every inch.
4) Debrief. These trips can be an exhausting whirlwind. Give yourselves a few days to recover then discuss the pros & cons of each area. Rank and re-rank based on new data.

I hope that helps and good luck in your search!

MonkeyJenga

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Re: Scouting cities to move to
« Reply #9 on: March 25, 2019, 10:07:43 AM »
Take public transit, visit grocery stories, try to make conversations with strangers. I would think about a typical week at home - what kinds of things do you do? What do you appreciate the most about your current home, and what's the most annoying? That will give you more specifics to look into.

I'm doing a likely cross country move now, for no real reason. My research has included:

* Meetup.com
* City-data forums
* Crime maps
* Asking friends who live there
* Housing options on craigslist
* Historical weather data
* Health insurance options
* Browsing Google Maps for both nature and public transit options
* Walkscore.com

If you want to put some quantitative framework around it, you could make a list of all the potential factors, weight them by importance, and then score them. Create your own city score.

I'm working on a programming project to pull in data from some of the above sources and create my own decision matrix. I'll probably find a random sublet before I get to use this tool, but it'll be interesting to see what cities might go up or down in the running for long-term livability.

 

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