"Twenty minutes to get to a Home Depot?!? What the heck are we living in, 'olden times'?"
"Twenty minutes to get to a Home Depot?!? What the heck are we living in, 'olden times'?"
Yoga class makes me feel like a total stud, mostly because I'm about as flexible as a 2x4.
"Design"? Possibly. "Intelligent"? Sure doesn't look like it from this angle.
We used to be hunter gatherers. Now we're shopper borrowers.
The three most important words in the English language: "Front Towards Enemy".
The world makes a lot more sense when you remember that Butthead was the smart one.
You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much ammo.
Minneapolis suburbs can be on the rural side of suburban. I live on a 1/2 acre lot, with a nature preserve behind the house; I saw a 12 point buck while working from home a few weeks ago. But I am 25 minutes from the office, 30 minutes from downtown. The downsides are that the neighbors are standoffish, and I can't grow roses or hostas (deer). If you do move here, I recommend you buy a house built before 1960. My present house was built in '88, and it's taught me more than I ever wanted to know about poor construction quality.
I've been living for the last 20 years in a town of just under 2,000, most of whom I do not agree with politically but it's not a problem. It's 30 miles in either direction to Lowes or Home Depot, but only 7 miles to a local lumber yard, hardware store, grocery stores, bank, etc. I'm moving next year to an Adirondack town of about 300, (~2.9 people per square mile) and about 55 miles to a Lowes, 90 to Home Depot, but again only 7 miles to a town with the same kinds of local things. I'm going there for the scenery, my plan is to build instruments all winter and part of the time in the summer, and spend the time when the weather is nice outside gardening, canoeing, hiking, bicycling, etc as much as possible. It is going to be a big change going from living on a 180 acre farm in a 7700 sf converted barn to living on a 9700 square foot lot in an 850 sf house, but it will be fun to exercise my efficiency in utilization of space skills, and I will have a lot less non-shop work to do than I have had here.
It's not just where you live that makes a difference, but on what scale. Moving out of the city it would be nice to have more space, no doubt.
Love living on the outskirts of Boston, I regard it as one of those "you get what you pay for" situations. Stupidly expensive, but everything else about it is great. I'm happy doing outdoor activities in every season. something I can't say for places like Missouri where we lived before.
At this point we have a near-perfect living situation so are not considering moving, but that said if I could live anywhere today it would be New Zealand. Big enough to be interesting, not big enough to support Walmarts; incredibly friendly relaxed people, real towns with individual personalities, fabulous scenery and recreation, great food, the plusses go on and on. The only downside is that it is a long way from anywhere else.
I'd also consider the south of England and the north of Italy, each for different reasons. As others have commented travel is a great way to see what else is possible. I certainly wouldn't constrain myself to just the US.
We moved to northeast Georgia from mid michigan 45+ yrs ago and I have yet to be bitten by a mosquito.... Michigan, they're as big as my truck!
Renting first is the best idea. Moving to the southwest is my choice, hot, cold, mountains, valleys, rich, poor , , we have it a it all, including lots of Home Depots.
Hi Scott,
I lived in NYC even longer than you, and about 16 years ago purchased a weekend house in between New Paltz and Kingston, NY. I'm about 2 hours by car from NYC, so don't get there much these days, have been hunkered down here since early 2020, when Covid hit. We are definitely not moving back to NYC.
It's rural here, definitely not suburban.
Things I miss about NYC are the convenience of public transportation, the breadth of the arts, the variety of excellent ethnic food, and jazz. It's difficult to find those in any rural area. Also miss seeing friends at the drop of a hat, as we only know a few folks in this area.
We are still a one-car family, but most folks that live in suburban/rural areas will require 2 cars, so that means extra payments and insurance, etc.
Perhaps others have mentioned it, but I think one of the biggest issues about moving now is that home prices are through the roof everywhere across the nation, if you're thinking about living somewhere outside of a major metropolitan area.
I grew up in apartment buildings, so someone else always shoveled the snow, tended to the building, took out the garbage and so on. But living in a house, you do all of that on your own. It's a big paradigm shift for some.
Feel free to PM me if you have any questions.
It depends so much on what you want and what you want to avoid. I am about an hour north of Minneapolis and really like where I am. it is a city where I could be an hour from the downtown area and live on an acreage at a reasonable price. Music, food, art it punches above its weight compared to population size and density. The climate is not for everyone but I like it. There are also all my favorite outdoor activities right out my door.
All this is very specific to what I want and things i care about many many not, things others care about mean nothing to me.