OT - Where would you want to live?
I've always valued insights from members on this board and am interested in hearing about cities members prefer to live in.
Let's say you are given a promotion at work and your company is willing to pay all moving expenses and adjust your cost of living to any city in the United States. Where are you moving to and why?
I have a couple of friends with family members in the greater Houston area who got caught massively unprepared. :(
Good point on the crawfish. I never really thought of catfish as a cajun food -- heck, we had it growing up in Michigan :) -- but it's all about the preparation.
I've found that most of the popular places in Austin are so crowded now that there's almost no point going. I learned my lesson when I had a 2 1/2 hour wait at the Salt Lick on a random Saturday afternoon.
I'm more of a carne asada guy than a taco guy personally. But, frankly, I've yet to find *bad* Tex-Mex in Austin. Maybe my palate is too simple. ;)
Via 313 is pretty good if you miss Detroit-style pizza.
There's a sit-down place on Guadalupe, near Black's BBQ. I've never had to wait, but I haven't tried it on a Saturday though. It's more of a campus location -- further away from the tourist areas. They also have a bar.
Sure, it's a little pricey, but it's cheaper than a trip to the Cottage Inn. ;)
I'm not sure Houston's flooding has so much to do with paving the area with concrete as it is with a really flat area that tends to get periodic large dumps of rainfall. New York and LA are more paved over than Houston, although, Houston is still working on it! The streets actually do flood a lot, by design, as a temporary retention pond (makes driving a challenge). No doubt, Buffalo Bayou (which drains the two main reservoirs) winding though the city and going through downtown is not the ideal setup, and that definitely has to be addressed.
Frankly, I'm amazed at how well the city is actually able to drain water, but 4' in 3 days is too much to ask of any area.
It's both. The floodplain analyses all assumed that the ground could absorb more water than concrete will. All floodplain maps are invalidated pretty quickly -- nature of the business -- but I gathered that Houston's were worse than most.
You're right, though -- any big city is going to face this trouble to some extent.
It never occurred to me that the streets might flood by design. I guess the water has to go somewhere... just makes for some terrifying pictures when the entire freeway is fifteen feet underwater.
Santa Fe and Albuquerque, NM.
Second Santa Fe, Albuquerque is a pit from what I saw.
If you pick the right neighborhoos, it's actually really nice and the same sort of attractions that exist in Santa Fe, exist in Albuquerque, you just have to know how to find them.
I was stationed at Kirtland AFB for two six month tours. I have NOTHING for the area around the base/airport, but there's a ton of great stuff outside of it.
I lived in Alamogordo for 6 months for work. Not great by itself, but within driving distance of a ton of stuff to do. NM is an underrated state overall, if you like the kind of things it can offer (scenery, hiking, no people, prehistoric sites, etc.).
One of the bast days of my life was moving out of Albuquerque. I liked the weather OK, but lack of water and their culture, which is hard to explain, were big turn-offs to me. I dont even want to visit again, but as this thread shows, everybody likes different places.
Well, your username is NYC Fan... :)
Honestly, it's a matter of personal preference. You couldn't pay me enough to live in New York; obviously, lots of other people love it. If you can't wait to break out the hockey skates and snowshoes, don't move to Florida.
Nationally, people are moving southwest -- Phoenix, San Diego, Las Vegas, Dallas, Los Angeles, etc.
BTW -- lots of people are suggesting Maui, and I understand why -- but island fever is a real thing. Hawaii is a great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.
Surprised how many people mention Hawaii. From what I've heard it seems to be a classic "Great to visit, terrible to live" kind of place.
Personally, I'm in Ann Arbor and very happy overall.
Ann Arbor, Traverse City (3 seasons), Sedona, AZ (does not get quite as hot as Phoenix), Boulder, CO, Lexington/Louisville, KY, Santa Fe, NM
I don't care how good the weather is in California. Between the congestion and cost I would not live there as much as I like San Diego.
I recently moved back to Ann Arbor, I only wish I had been able to afford a place walking distance to downtown/campus. I can walk to games but it is a bit of a haul.
Ideal scenario: Ann Arbor Spring/Fall, Lake Michigan in the Summer, and Sedona in the winter.
I have a friend who lived in the Bay Area for a few years, before he got tired of the Catch-22 of either 1) paying an atronomical sum of money for a bandbox of a home or 2) having a horrifically long commute. He's returned to Michigan.
I have heard great things about Austin, but it sounds like it is outgrowing it's infrastructure and is getting congested.
It outgrew its infrastructure years ago and has been congested for nearly two decades now. Basically, the city planners followed an anti-growth plan for years -- "If you don't build it, they won't come." They invested very little into infrastructure specifically to try to keep Austin from developing. It didn't work, and hence gridlock is a real problem.
Land prices have also skyrocketed with the influx of Californians*, but I'm leaving that out of the equation under the OP's "employer covers cost-of-living" thing.
I love living in Austin, but it's not the same city it was when I first moved here 20 years ago.
* California has a law where property tax assessments don't change until a property is sold. This has caused a vicious cycle in home prices -- people have a disincentive to move within California, so fewer houses go on the market, so prices tend to rise, which gives a greater disincentive to move. Eventually, people who have lived in California long enough are sitting on massive home equity, but simply can't afford to move within the state because their salary won't cover the taxes on the new property value. Lots of those people took their massive capital gains and moved to Austin. This started at a time when you could get 5x the home in Austin for the price vs. the Bay Area. Austin inventory couldn't keep up with the unexpected demand, and home prices skyrocketed.
I'm 58 and grew up in Pontiac and went to Michigan. Since then I've lived in or spent signficant time in the following cities/areas:
Salt Lake City
Reno
Tahoe
San Francisco
Southern California
Lansing (brief stop in Okemos)
Washington DC suburbs
Ft. Lauderdale
Houston
Cleveland
And no bullshit here. Ann Arbor would be easily one of the places I'd move back to in a second. Sports, culture, quality of life, you-name-it, AA's got it. I miss the place very much.
I'm originally from Elko, NV and If I could get to Reno or SLC, I'd go in a heartbeat. But I suspect a lot of that is me being from the area and knowing it well, you couldn't pay to go anywhere near Cleveland as the time I visited I thought it was a fairly standard Midwestern city. I never liked Tahoe, but thats because when ever we played the high school in football those dudes all seemed to come straight out of a 80's teen movie villain catalog in their douchebaggery. It was fun beating them.
If you are single, I would say New York first and Ann Arbor second.
If you are married with a family, I would say South Florida. I live on a small Caribbean island, so this is the closest thing to Blue in Paradise :)
has to be USA? I'm in Los Angeles right now and it's great. Santa Monica specifically is everything I want in a hometown.
Outside the USA, Melbourne is my favorite city. The funny thing is that my fiancee is from Melbourne but she doesn't want to move back
yeah but I like them. we get along
If you like classic cars then you have seen the ads for Hagerty Insurance in Traverse City. But not much industry outside of tourism. But I know a few people who do telecomuting tech jobs in TC.
My dream is to buy a house right next to Michigan stadium. I envy all of the people chilling on their front porch drinking a beer waiting for the game to start. What a better tailgating venue than your own home. Maybe I am wrong but the 30 second walk home seems so nice.
Not Iowa
that is all.
But honestly IC, CR, Ames, Waukee are all pretty solid midwest towns. People tend to exaggerate the differences a lot. Different versions of College Town, USA and Suburbia, USA are rarely that different apart from the weather. When I moved to Iowa from the East Coast I had people living in suburban Maryland asking me why I would move to the middle of nowhere. As if suburban Maryland has anything going for it other than its proximity to government agencies.
I really dig Iowa City. Supposed to move to Des Moines in late summer. I don't mind it there but I don't know if I want to move there. Trying to talk myself into it. But its hard for an east coast boy who, aside from 4+ years in Ann Arbor, spent his whole life in LI/NY & DC.
Naboo
As a single retired man..Bora Bora in a little hut on stilts in the water
Overwater bungalows. Some day I want to vacation in one of those areas that has those. They're gorgeous.
Been there and done that. Not as fun as you would imagine, but should be done at least for a couple nights to say you've done it. They are really really close together and um, water echos. Lets leave it at that.
Was down there again in 2016 and stayed with a local in a mountainside bungalow overlooking the lagoon in Bora Bora. Much more peaceful and quiet, only $250USD a night vs 1000+ for an overwater.
Then went to Huahine(island just a stones throw from Bora Bora, arguably even more beautiful) and did a beachside bungalow with locals w/ meals for $190/night.
I love the UP!