Where to live in the US?

Yeah, that always happens. People are usually not so good at evaluating this stuff.

I stand by what I wrote above. I think that part of PA is a superb place to live and raise kids.

What Armando said, it was in response to his question, not Rob’s. And a lot of the responses to Rob are spot on for most of his requirements.

I think the thread is slowly becoming more general. Hell, a lot of us are getting close to wanting a cheaper and easier place to retire.

I’m telling you guys, Bangkok. It’s OK to go to Thailand if you travel with your wife or girlfriend.

It’s not OK to go to Thailand alone. NOT OK.

Whenever Bay Area housing prices get me down I like to think about moving north to Eureka, CA (Humbolt County). I didn’t mention it earlier b/c I don’t know if it meets the spec on public education.

When I think “affordable,” I think nothing even close to $500,000 for a home. Like I get that you can get a nice home for $500,000 in some cities, but I think when the average person talks about an affordable home, they still want a place where they can get a decent home for $200-300k.

You know, 2-4x the average family income. Which has been the historic ratio for the last couple of centuries, until the recent idiot housing booms.

1/3 of the state of Minnesota seems to move to Arizona every year. I’d go somewhere nice, cosmopolitan and scenic, though, if I chose to reside in that state again.

Are you trying to tell us you are on a list or that you might need help? Are you being held against your will, Stusser?

No, I’m referring to the implication that any male traveling to Thailand solo is there to go whoring.

Anyway you can buy a gorgeous 2 bedroom full-service brand new condo for like two hundred grand in Phuket. More like 300 in Bangkok. And once you’re there the cost of living is extremely low.

And that’s the luxury route, you can rent a really nice apartment for $300/month.

Also, one night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble, or so I hear.

Last checked, largely based on a co-worker moving to Vancouver. Portland is a large city so it doesn’t qualify for 1. Housing is expensive so the acreage isn’t there and only the outskirt are really open. That’s why the focus was, initially not the big cities.

I can feel the devil walking next to me.

Leave a pizza box with a half-eaten pizza on the floor for a while, they’ll come.

I plead guilty to watching House Hunters on HGTV and I am constantly amazed at what homes sell for in some areas. Freakin McMansions on big lots for under $500k.

Here’s the thing, though. The last couple days aside, it’s been hovering around freezing most of this winter and there’s been minimal snow. This is the direction Minnesota is going given climate change. Harsh winters are increasingly going to be a thing of the past, and those places that have nice warm winters now are going to be dangerously hot as things get worse. To say nothing of wildfires, hurricanes, and so on.

We’re not there yet, of course. But it’s coming.

I mean, I guess what I’m trying to say, is you can get that in the Raleigh area. Here’s a very quick example search for homes $300k and less that are on lot sizes 0.5 acres and larger.

My wife and I live in one of Pittsburgh’s poshest ZIP codes (but on the edge of it, where the normal middle-class folk live), so we get the municipal newspaper with all the real estate listings. $2 million out here buys a small estate: 10,000+ square feet of house, tens of acres of land…

I lived about 10 minutes from the Giant grocery store in Phoenixville :-)
My wife used to work at GSK.

OK, these I can do!

Ah! So you should come on back home!

I’m an Ursinus graduate. I am thinking about moving back that way once my kids are done with school. P-ville has a pretty nice restaurant scene downtown now. The Blob brought em in I guess? :)

I’ve been visiting a friend in Spring City lately and it really opened my eyes to how much that entire area has grown and changed. Collegeville is even more of a college town now than it was back in the early ‘90s.