How big is the truck you’ll be renting?

^ You are asking me or telling me that is one thing to consider? Or both, I guess?

New York state is BEAUTIFUL. Ask Lucky Guy.

Having just undergone a MAJOR cross-country move, I’d say the cost of moving.

Also… Housing and living costs, housing availability, taxes, weather, severe weather events, culture/politics, transportation, whether you know anyone in the area, airport accessibility, local wildlife, median household income in the area, average level of education in the area, local homelessness, general safety/violence concerns, etc. You may be interested in the local religious groups or whether there are social gatherings that would appeal to you. You could also check out the “neighborliness” by joining groups like a local Buy Nothing group.

I’ve lived in both NY and FL… both are incredibly diverse in terms of people, weather, housing, nature, etc.

What about those areas “don’t appeal to you”?

I suggest having fun (I enjoy it, anyway) researching and then traveling a bit and “window shopping” places you could move to. For places you think you might actually want to move, you can also browse for homes online and even go to open houses or ask a realtor to show you some places.

I would say: the people. Who do you know now, and who might you want to meet? That’s where culture/politics comes into play.

@Cupcake Great points.

As a teenager back in the 70s I lived in the Rochester NY area for a couple of years. I loved it there but the weather is probably what makes me think twice about it.

FL’s weather is scary at hurricane season I guess. I’m also thinking that job wise, everyone speaks Spanish there, so being bilingual is an asset here in SC, but not so much in FL (I am a language teacher and a translator).

My late husband’s family lives in Minnesota and although I want to be close to family, the weather again is an issue there.

As I am writing this I see the overall patter of weather but I also want to consider other angles.

Having just come from Florida….it’s crowded

A question to consider, but also, I’m asking, what type of weather appeals to you? No snow, really warm, etc.

@Lonelyheart807 Yes, snow is a problem for me and to a lesser degree, I am scared of hurricanes. I love the weather in the fall and early spring.

@Dutchess_III Florida…it’s crowded

With both people and bugs…so many bugs!

^ Yikes! Although we have plenty of bugs here in SC too.

When we were looking to buy a house, we considered:
– schools
– weather
– politics
– racial diversity
– walkability
– level of education
– median income
– crime
– distance to major city
– distance to airport
– distance from ocean (I grew up near the ocean. And feel landlocked when too far inland.)

@raum Noted…great points to make my own list.

@Yeahright I lived in Tampa and, while we had some hurricane scares, that area is generally spared. I’d avoid Miami and the panhandle if you’re scared of hurricanes.

@Cupcake Now that you mention it, I think I know someone there…

We moved from The Bay Area to a remote, foresyed area.
We wanted 4 seasons. We wanted to be away from crime and heavy traffic.
We wanted a newly built house, with at least 3 bedrooms.
We wanted to be a few hours drive from family, at most.

We understood we were losing ready access to cultural restaurants.
We understood our internet would be limited (though I admit I didn’t recognize how bad it would be).
Hospital availability was also important.

We wanted to be at least a few hours drive from family. Mostly for my own mental health. :P

Proximity to a nearby hospital wasn’t something I appreciated until I was older.

My FIL recently told me a story of his friend who retired and moved out to the country.

He had a minor cardiac event. And died by the time he got to the hospital—3.5 hours later. They said he could have been saved if they had been able to get him there sooner. :(

^ :’( Tragic…I Iive 15 min away from the hospital. There’s never traffic here either.

I also didn’t mind being away from family until my husband passed…I feel so vulnerable now.

Awww…hope you find a good place close to family.

^ TY :)

@Yeahright: I live in NY close to the city. I can tell you that up near Rochester, where you used to live, they get a lot of snow and it’s really cold for a long wintertime. Where I live, it’s cold but really only from January to March, so not so bad.

People in NY complain about the high taxes. California has great weather but also apparently has high taxes too. NY has a lot of services. People that I know who live down south (North and South Carolina for example) pay less in taxes but there are less services. I guess it’s all relative.

What would be a big deciding factor for me if I ever thought about relocating would be do I have family in the area? Family that I’m close to, is what I’m talking about. Also, there has to be good medical care in the area, too. Where I live, I can get to Westchester or NYC within an hour, and I can also get to Yale within an hour. That means a lot because if I ever had a serious problem or needed surgery, I like to know that I’m not going to have to deal with some hick doctor who doesn’t know shit about shit.

Lots of good advice above.

Given how you’ve described where you are in life, and money permitting, it seems to me like the perfect time to try to find a place that fulfills a “wish list”.

I love my house and like where we live, but it’s not as if we really planned it. We landed here because it was a reasonable commute to work and we could afford it. Then, life just happened around it over the years.

I’ve certainly developed a mental wish list of my ‘perfect’ or better living arrangements over two-plus decades.

Were I to move, I’d be looking to go through that list.

Raleigh NC similar weather to SC, lots to do !

@cookieman I don’t actually have a wish list because all my husband’s doctors were here and if we were ever going to move it would have been to his beloved Minnesota. As time goes by I am trying to find out what that wish list would look like.

@Tropical_Willie Yes, I’ve been there and love it and also Charlotte.

So/ since schools are no worry for you, I would make my first two, top two priorities, cost of living (which of course includes housing costs), as well as job market, and pay scale for folks with your skills. Then go from there. If you weren’t also looking to be close to family, I’d suggest an expatriate location, Australia perhaps.

When my ex and I were planning on moving from Florida to somewhere, our first consideration was population. Not >750,000, not < 75,000. Next was universities. Then we came up with states we thought we’d like, and looked at a map to check out cities. Once we’d narrowed it down to about 10 cities/states, we plugged in things like, crime, politics, weather (altho that kind of came in with city selection), racial diversity, median income, medical, etc. We ended up in Asheville, NC and altho I’ve since moved, it’s still my favorite of the 15 or so states I’ve lived in. I loved that it was an artsy, cultural, and strong medical community.

So, like others here, I’d suggest listing your definite have-tos and don’t wants, then look at a map. That’ll at least spur your thinking and might give you new ideas. (I didn’t mention price of a move because to me, it’s a given that it’s going to be expensive, so I might as well bite the bullet and go where I want rather than moving again in 5 years because I don’t like where I am.)

I hope I did the less than and greater than signs right!

@Nomore_lockout Auswhaat??? Cletus are you out of your mind? You know how hard it is to emigrate anywhere? I don’t have the energy. It was bad enough having to leave my country and come here. I also lived in London for a bit and it is not easy to get immigration papers and validate my degrees and stuff.

@Yeahright: I hope you land somewhere wonderful that makes you very happy.

@cookieman Awww thank you :))

@smudges Great tips TY..not sure about the less/greater signs tho…I always get confused myself…

Yes, I have heard wonderful things about Asheville, need to check it out for sure. It’s not a long ride from here.

Cletus says, “When you’re down on your luck, and you ain’t got a buck, in London you’re a goner. Well even London Bridge has fallen down, and moved to Arizona, now I know why”... (apologies to Jerry Jeff Walker, as well as my UK friends). Just a silly song from Texas, “London Homesick Blues”

^ Atta boy…coming to his senses…

For me weather is a big deal. Also, I like to be able to eat outside at least half the year and I like to be able to do my zumba. I always recommend visiting a town before moving there and visiting the grocery stores and every day things you will be doing.

If you can live in a place that feels like vacation to you, I say do it. For each person that is defined different.

Obviously, you will want to look at the housing market (it is tough in a lot of places right now) or rental prices and other basic cost of living information.

I live in Central Florida, since you mention Florida, an hour north of Orlando. There are not many Spanish speakers in this area. Not like southeast Florida and Orlando. There are plenty of Spanish speakers in terms of being able to socialize with people from Latin America, our Spanish American club has 250 people show up every month to dance and socialize, but in terms of competition for jobs you would have an edge. At the university level you could look at University of Florida, or any of the community colleges.

The weather from about Vero and Sarasota (depending on the coast) and north is much cooler in the winter than southeast FL, so you do get a weather change and you will have to wear a jacket 60 days a year, but mostly just at night. Central Florida doesn’t really worry much about hurricanes. They get disorganized once over land and don’t pack as big of a punch, similar to some of what SC gets when they deal with hurricanes moving north.

If you are over 55 you might want to consider where I live! If you want to consider teaching at the K-12 level we have great schools in The Villages. I don’t know if the school here needs a Spanish teacher. There are also schools in nearby towns also that you can commute too, and a community college not too far actually. Many people who live here work at the schools or are retired professors and teachers.

No state income tax in FL. No sales tax on groceries. You will be closer to relatives. Nonstop flights to many places from Orlando Airport. gas prices vary around the state. My area is not very expensive.

I lived in Raleigh, and I found it to be only ok. I never felt at home there, but many people do, and there is a lot of universities in the area. I heard that Charlotte is great though. NC has fairly high taxes and they even property tax your car.

NYS is gorgeous, and I love it, but as mentioned, cold and snowy in the winter, you already know that. You don’t have to live as north as Rochester though. Stay out of the snow belt.

Virginia is a nice state, but also highish income taxes. Virginia would have very little natural disaster like concerns. The mountains would have very cold weather and snow, but near the coasts not so much. Northern VA near DC would be very expensive, and a lot of bilingual competition.

I actually liked living in the suburbs of Memphis, TN, but the one thing I didn’t like was higher crime rates. I would look up crime rates when considering areas.

I also think about the health care. Where I live finding a good doctor seems hit or miss, but I am about an hour from excellent care if I had cancer or something else that was serious.

Why move, just travel more to different places to check it out first before spending a lot of time money and effort without checking how you feel in different places.
That way you get to try it and observe how your surroundings feel to you.