Pulaski

It sounds like your ideal school principal would be a retired traffic cop!

ddsrph

Kodokan

How did your Ground Hog problem turnout?

kodokan

Not quite sure yet. The sellers said it was an old burrow from last year, but it looked relatively recent to me (sellers had mulch put on the beds twice a year, so it's presumably turned up since then).

We closed on the house on Monday, are having some work done, then moving in in a couple of weeks. Once we're in, I'll try putting soil or grass clippings loosely in the hole, to see if it's an active burrow or not. If dormant, I'll fill it in; otherwise, I'll see who the resident is and if s/he becomes a nuisance.

ddsrph

How did the housing market in Columbus compare to Arizona? Did you get more house for the money in your opinion? I lived for many years, went to high school and still have family in Southern Indiana. Probably very similar to your area of Ohio. It's really a good place to live and if you get tired of the winter cold a few hours on I-75 and you can be in Florida for a few days or weeks.

Pulaski

I'm not sure about "a few hours". Columbus, OH to Jacksonville, FL is 12hrs on the road, probably 16-17 hours minimum actual journey time, unless you want to eat meals on the road. And that's barely crossing the state line into Florida.

ddsrph

It's definitely a long trip. I have done it many times from a almost equal distant starting point in Indiana. It always seemed easier going down with the anticipation of warm weather versus the long drive back home. Getting thru Atlanta is always a challenge.

kodokan

Housing market... Houses are around the same price per sq ft, I think. We've bought a smaller house here, having made the rookie error in AZ of buying much more house than we need, then having to cool/ maintain/ furnish it accordingly at an exhorbitant price tag.

The market is red hot here at the moment; we viewed our house within 2-3 hours of it hitting the market and made a full list price cash offer. Despite this, the sellers still had another full price cash offer as a back up! So we count ourselves lucky to have got it, in exactly the area we needed for schools and wanted for work.

Winter... I don't think we'll get tired for a while, after AZ. We're actively looking forward to a cold snap, and the whole 'ooh, snow! And a snow day for school!' should carry us through a couple of winters at least. Be nice to have Christmas once again in a climate that makes sense for that season.