TimFountain

{Disclosure - 5 year GC and planning on applying for the N400 in 2 months...}

There is a possibility that I could land a job where I would be working from home (with a fair amount of travel). I would be able to choose my location (based on the region I would work in) from the North East, Mountain or West Coast. Company is in the Seattle area so I expect that West Cost would be based near the office.

Reasons are mainly career based but I am also tired of TX, it is just too dammed hot here for too much of the year. OK the winter time is great, but we really don't have 'seasons'. I also get a bit sick of the insular nature and lack of culture/things to do in Austin.

So I'm looking for advice from the forum on where to live, based on the following:-

• 4 bed house with office and 2+ car garage on a reasonable sized lot $300-$400K
• 4 Seasons with not too much snow
• Near a reasonable American/One World hub (most travel would be domestic)
• Good schools
• 'Things' to do for a growing family

Thoughts?

Thanks

- Tim

PS initial crazy thoughts are:-

• Everett, WA
• Denver, CO
• Rhode Island or south MA
• Charlotte, NC,
• Nashville, TN
• Louisville, KY

nettlebed

You might want to take a look at the Federal Way or Auburn, WA areas. I believe that they are similarly priced to Everett. Parts of Kent are nice as well, but the downtown is pretty rough. All of those places are going to be a much easier shot to SeaTac airport than Everett.

Don't know about schools (no kiddlies).

Here is info about SeaTac:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seattle...tional_Airport

Definitely four seasons, and not much snow.

LOTS of outdoors fun around here: Cascades for hiking, climbing, lakes and the Sound for watersports (oo er, Missus!!). The Olympic Peninsula is a great outdoor resource too.

Quick easy access to Canada as well, if you want to exercise your passport. About a 2-2.5 hour drive to Vancouver BC from Seattle.

Don't spend time looking at anything closer to Seattle. Property prices, although they've come down, are still pretty brutal: my boss just bought a three bedroom townhome with no yard in Seattle for $750K.

For your requirements, Everett and Federal Way are about as close as you can go.

Kaffy Mintcake

Actually, Cincinnati would fit the bill as well. I wouldn't have mentioned it except you threw Louisville in. Not sure if it would be exciting enough for you, but it's a big enough city for professional sports, theater, etc. Some communities to check out that could fit what you described: Montgomery, Madeira, Blue Ash, Wyoming and more.

SpaceProg

NC, TN, and KY are nice, but I like mountain/woodlands/ rural sorts of surroundings. I try to stay away from cities.

Climate-wise It does get a bit humid in the summers, but not quite so much as states farther south into the subtropical region.

Bob

Rhode Island would hit your spot...but it's tiny and a bit dull and Providence is a dump....house prices are better than Mass, for a reason....airport is a good hub, close to Boston, commute is goat suckage, public transport might as well not exist outside of Providence, no tolls on their motorway which is nice though, local baseball team is fun and cheap to visit.

Where abouts in Southern Mass? It would hit most of your requirements, except the house price for something that size with land and there's a bit of snow, but not as bad as northern or western mass...cold though.

Pluses, Logan airport has great links, close to Rhode Island hub airport for internal flights. Loads of parks, green stuff, Boston, decent road links, rubbish public transport, great schools in a lot of areas, has the seasons.

CT could be a good option? It's right there on the cusp between the states.

Bluegrass Lass

Louisville, Nashville and Charlotte are not hubs. Cincinnati would be the nearest 'hub' as it's a Delta hub (though it has some of the highest airport fees/taxes in the US). Cincy is about a 90min drive from L'ville. I'm from Louisville orignally, so am pretty familiar with it. For that amount of money, you could get a pretty good sized place closer to the city (esp in the area called The Highlands - which is the most 'Europeanesque' area) and a damn big place in the suburbs. Since we don't have kids, I'm not sure what activities there are. But we do have some nice museums, a baseball team (AAA level), and are currently building a new arena in the downtown.

Public transpo is subpar. We definitely have all 4 seasons. I don't know how humid Austin gets, but the summers are pretty hot here, and the winters are plenty cold enough for me (we drop below 0F regularly). School-wise, I think there is at least one school in L'ville that offers the International Baccaleurette (sp?) high school diploma/degree if you kids potentially want to study in Britain. There is a growing arts culture here, and we have pretty decent hospitals as there is a lot of medical research here. Oh, and we're only about 2 hrs-ish to Nashville, 5-6 hrs to Chicago and St. Louis, and about 90min to Indianapolis. So there are some other decent places to see well within driving distance.

Personally, the OH and I are thinking about a move out to the Pacific Northwest ourselves. We're wanting something new, and having in the midwest all my life, would like to try/see something different.

TimFountain

Thank you all for the replies, I appreciate the time you have taken.

I am not worried about public transport, I've been living without any form of that for the last 7 years. There are some great suggestions here and I think a number of you have hit the nail on the head with the "more european feel". I can't quite put my finger on it, but there is something about TX that grates with me.

I am also chasing a job in Duluth, MN, which I know has few of the things I want (except cheap housing) and it will be like going from the sauna to the freezer, but if I can swing it, I will be doing what I really want to do, which I have realized is more important than the money (within reason, I don't want to eat Ramen noodles for the rest of my life).

- Tim

scrubbedexpat091

Seattle fits your bill, and its an Alaska Airlines hub and they code share with American so you can earn AA FF miles on Alaska Flights. Although Alaska is not in One World if your looking for domestic flights.

Los Angeles is the only west coast city where American has a significant operation, they have been pulling back service at their former San Jose hub, and most other citys just see flights to/from Chicago, and DFW with maybe an ocassional city such as NY or Miami thrown in.

AmerLisa

I don't think I'd consider Everett, maybe for cost, but there are probably nicer 'burbs closer to Seattle that you can afford, especially now.

AmerLisa

Might add that Puyallup is very good on the school part.....real estate is pretty good these days (if you're buying!) and if your based in Seattle there is a train that goes into downtown Seattle from Puyallup. I've seen it on commuter days around 5pm - its packed.

tonrob

I live in a small, picture-perfect town in Western MA that fits your criteria. Old, historic homes with broad lawns, sidewalks everywhere so you can stroll for miles around town in you wish, plus several parks and a small zoo all within walking distance. An hour from the mountains for skiing or hiking and an hour from the beaches too. There are quite a few liveable small towns around here.

In good traffic, Boston is 90 minutes and Manhattan 2.5 hours (usually use Boston for flights to Europe) but BDL is only 20 minutes away which is great for domestic travel.

Not sure how much snow is too much though... (but it's not turned out as bad as I feared it might be).

nettlebed

Actually, I hadn't thought about Puyallup, which is odd since we have family there. As Lisa says, it's reasonably priced right now. Road connectivity is good (close to I-5, I-405), and it's pretty easy to get to SeaTac, either up I-5 or along the Kent Valley (WA-167).

Also, some houses there have truly stunning views of Mt. Rainier.

TimFountain

Any suggestions for north/East/West of Everett (the company is in Everett)?

Thanks

- Tim

penguinsix

In the DC area would have some of what you are looking for, but the price is a bit steep. We have three major airports (Washington Dulles, Washington Reagan and Baltimore Washington) so you can get pretty much anywhere from here. Large expat community from the embassy and media communities, along with the World Bank and IMF. Tons of free stuff to do for a young family (all the museums in DC and whatnot), and some of the areas have literally the best schools in the United States in them (Fairfax and Arlington in VA and Montgomery, Howard and Calvert in MD). There is even a British school in DC and an International school as well, and many public schools follow the IB program.

But the price thing is the big problem. You can get a decent 4br with a bit of land in a place like Calvert (45 minutes to downtown DC) but it's kind of rural and 'nice' houses are about $600k, slightly older are $400k. Goto realtor.com and check out Dunkirk, MD or Owings, MD. Very rural but decent houses. Bethesda and Potomac MD are the expensive bits in Montgomery country, just to give you an idea and you can look at Arlington, VA or Mclean ($$) VA as well. Reston was talked about recently in a thread about a person moving to Herndon so you can search that too.

But Washington is a pretty international and cosmopolitan city and you'll certainly have fun.

nettlebed

West of Everett, not so much, unless you want to live on a houseboat (Actually, you have Whidbey Island to the west, but they requires a ferry to get to the mainland).

North of Everett, lots of people find Marysville congenial and inexpensive. I have colleagues who work in Seattle and live in Marysville, so the commute to Everett can't be too bad. Further north you have Arlington, then Mount Vernon. These are much more affordable than Everett and Marysville. I have visited both towns, and they seem very congenial.

East of Everett, Lake Stevens, which is ditto for Marysville. A bit further east and you get to Granite Falls. I like Granite Falls as an area to visit, but I have no idea what it's like to live there.