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June 11, 2004
The Best Places To Live
in case you haven't heard, the housing market in the SF bay area is out of control. every day it seems like yet another home in our neighborhood goes up for sale and then less then a week later there will be a Sale Pending sign on the post. every one of these homes seem to be selling for more than the asking price, with multiple offers. it's frickin crazy!
a couple weeks back my old buddy Bill, who i've known since elementary school, sold his condo for three and a half times what he paid for it ten years ago. that's right -- three and a half times. he packed up the van with his wife and kids and moved to Boise, ID -- where he bought outright a 2600+ square foot house in a nice neighborhood, in a good school district. like i said, frickin crazy.
with the knowledge that we're sitting pretty on what will someday become a major source of our retirement income, and with the realization that there's probably no way we'll be able to afford to retire here, Chix and i have started looking around to see what our options are. we're still years and years away from this, but it's always good to be prepared. she found this web site -- findyourspot.com. it asks you to rate a bunch of statements -- like The heat is fine - it’s the humidity that bugs me, or I’d like to have good museums nearby. based on your answers, it gives you a list of cities that you might find to your liking. what a great idea!
so what were my top six?
1. Las Vegas, NV
2. Portland, OR
3. Honolulu, HI
4. San Bernardino, CA
5. Sacramento, CA
6. Las Cruces, NM
and to further prove that Chix and i have lived together most of our lives, her top six included the same six cities -- only Honolulu was her #1. not surprising... :)
the cool thing is, all of these places but Las Cruces i've visited before. and of those first five, most i could picture myself living in -- especially the first three.
if you've got a few minutes go over to findyourspot.com and take the quiz, then come back here and leave your top six in the comments. i'd love to hear what the site picked out as your ideal place to live. who knows, we might end up as neighbors!
Posted by P at June 11, 2004 11:03 PM
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» Places to live. from ALLABOUTGEORGE.com
I have no memory of ever having done Findyourspot (via Pete Beck), so here goes ... Little Rock, AR Where America Comes Together All Maybelline products distributed in the U.S. are made in this fashion-conscious spot… Population: 584,000 | Average... [Read More]
Tracked on June 21, 2004 02:34 AM
Comments
I LOVE the places that were chosen. In fact, I've been to several of them and have even lived about 20 minutes from one of them!
Nantucket, MA
Astoria, OR
Provincetown, MA
Essex, CT
St. Helens, OR
Newport, RI
I guess I'm a New England boy through and through!
Posted by: Buzz at June 12, 2004 07:55 AM
Wow, sounds just like the coastal market in Maine. It's insane, it has to stop soon cause peopel are going to realize the economy is not going to back this whacked ass deal!
Las Cruses, New Mexico
San Bernadino, California
Little Rock, Arkansas
Norfolf, Virginia
St. George, Utah
El Paso, Texas
Wow, I guess I am living in entirely the WRONG place!
Have a good weekend! Send my best to Chix, haven't seen her around in a while!
Dew
Posted by: dewnut at June 12, 2004 10:29 AM
Being born on the East coast my favorite places are:
1)SF, California (Spent a week's vacation there) What a great time.
2)Boston, Massachusetts (All of Mass)
3)Key West, Florida
4)San Diego, California
5)Anywhere on the beaches of Jersey
Posted by: MIKE at June 13, 2004 04:25 AM
Wow, how'd I do that? Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia. I've not been to any. Where are my beaches, didn't they get that beaches were important? I wanna live where Mike does, except Boston.
Posted by: Elaine at June 13, 2004 04:51 PM
Pretty cool site, Pete! Thanks for pointing it out.
Here were mine.
1. Norfolk, VA
2. Hampton, VA
3. Charlotte, NC
4. Chapel Hill, NC (not sure I could be Roy William's neighbor right now)
5. St. Louis, MO
6. Seattle, WA (heading there next weekend)
Interestingly, my current city of residence (Overland Park, KS) showed up in my top 20...I must be doing something right.
Posted by: Joe at June 13, 2004 08:49 PM
I (or at least my survey answers) must be somewhat schizophrenic. My six:
-Seattle
-Bellingham, WA
-Phoenix
-Scottsdale
-Greenville, SC
-Hickory, NC
From rainforest to desert, from 60k to over 3M, from Pacific to Atlantic...
Posted by: Sizzle at June 16, 2004 07:43 AM
Little Rock, AR
Portland, OR
Baton Rouge, LA
New Orleans, LA
Providence, RI
Baltimore, MD
I grew up south of Baltimore, so at least I'm familiar with it. have no idea why Arkansas and Louisiana are in the mix. A cross-country bus trip's the extent of my Little Rock experience; a change of planes back in high school's the extent of my Providence experience. I've enjoyed vacations in Portland a few years ago and New Orleans last year, though ... *scratches chin*
Posted by: George at June 20, 2004 11:25 PM