Moving & Research

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Cody Fousnaugh, Jun 3, 2021.

  1. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    For the different times anyone here has moved, did you research the area before your move? That is, if it was a voluntary move, not a job transfer. Many people have to accept a job transfer to keep working for the same company they want to retire with and/or stay out of the unemployment line.
    Now, before PC's, about the only way to check out a new area/city, was to go there, of which, can be expensive to travel.

    There are those that don't check out an area good enough, like year-around weather, housing costs, etc. and will ask themselves, after they move, "what the heck did I do?"

    The number of times wife and I have moved, they were all voluntary and had reasons for moving.

    What about you?
     
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  2. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    Every move I have made has been voluntary. I probably would have left Alaska a number of years ago for warmer climes if my wife had not objected. I am glad we stayed in retirement, as I feel much more secure here than if I lived in Pennsylvania like my brother. Our state government is pretty screwed up, but so far hasn't done very much truly stupid stuff.
     
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  3. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    We only made one move during our careers that was a job transfer, and we loved it. Moved to Baton Rouge LA in the early 90s for 3 years, then transferred back to the Houston area. We were offered a move to Billings MT and took a trip there to look around; decided that was a place we'd like to visit but not live, so turned down the "opportunity." Other than that, we have always lived in the Houston area and in this house since 1994.
     
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  4. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Before we moved from Texas to Maine, we spent a couple of weeks driving around the state to decide where we might want to live, as well as where we might be able to afford to live. Although we looked at some houses during our trip, the purpose wasn't so much to find a house as to get to know the state. Then, as it turns out, we bought a house in Millinocket, which was one of the few towns in the state we hadn't visited because, well, we couldn't turn down a $14,500 house.
     
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  5. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    It's an interesting question, for no matter how much "research" you do, you cannot predict the things that really impact your daily life. I've often wondered how people can "just relocate."

    We moved to Fairfax County in '63 and with the exception of a couple of years, I lived in the same town until 2010. My wife (at the time) and I were house-hunting and there were only 2 in our price range. One of them was up the road from where be both grew up. So we ended up settling there. It was a great location with access to all sorts of commuter routes, and the job market outside of DC exploded during my career. I had no reason to move, and I've never been transferred with work.

    In 2010 when my employer forced people to work from home, I moved 100 miles south of there and kept the job I had (I telecommuted.) I wanted to stay in Virginia and be close enough I could reasonably go back to HQ for the occasional meeting & such (so I could hold onto that job.) I also wanted to be near one of our satellite offices so I could have a place to work around humans and not be home alone all the time...this really limited my options.

    The only research I really did was to read the online minutes of the county government meetings around here to get a feel for what was on each county's radar screen and how they dealt with stuff. That's how I selected the county I live in (our office is in the next county over.)

    One item from the minutes I read: Someone moved to this agricultural county from out of the area and complained about the sound of gunfire and farming equipment [facepalm]. So the county passed a noise ordinance...and promptly exempted gunfire and farming equipment! It felt so much like they were giving that person the middle finger that I knew I had found "home."
     
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  6. Hoot Crawford

    Hoot Crawford Veteran Member
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    Thinking of moving again????
     
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  7. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Was in Billings, Montana for a couple of weeks. Was going to stay, but there was no jobs there in my career of Purchasing/Inventory Management and I had no ranching experience, so "good-by Billings!".

    In fact, short story about that: When I was there, my truck had a California license plate and my rodeo association parking decal on the windshield. I was at the downtown library, came out and found a note under my windshield wiper saying, "if you plan on staying in Montana, get a Montana license plate, or get the heck back to California!" I thought to myself, "guess they don't like California license plates up here." Then, I read about a guy who had committed a murder in Palm Springs, CA and they caught him at a weekly motel on the edge of Billings.
     
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  8. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    We worked for a large corporation that flew us up there; we stayed a little over a week in a hotel on the company's dime. We looked at housing and talked with people who worked for the facility there. Generally it was a friendly-enough place and beautiful, but the corporate facility was small and not a lot of room for advancement. Plus, we visited in October and the cold was already brutal. (We'd flown out of Houston where it was still in the 90's.) We had friends who had transferred up there and they were desperate to get back to Texas.
     
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  9. Cody Fousnaugh

    Cody Fousnaugh Supreme Member
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    Yes, it does get cold up there, unlike Houston at all.

    You and your husband live in a nice part of Houston? My real dad, and his wife, had a beer/wine bar in one part of Houston that definitely wasn't the nicest. Years ago, I visited him for a few days. Not only was their bar really kind of gross, the neighborhood didn't look that great at all.
     
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  10. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    We live in the unincorporated 'burbs on the northeast side of the county, as far away from downtown as we could get.
     
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  11. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Maybe somewhere close to where our Ina I Wonder lived. I know that she was on the northeast side of Houston, too, just off of East Mt. Houston road. Looks like it is called Dyersdale area. It was semi-rural where she lived, and people had horses, cows, and other livestock out there.
     
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  12. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    I'm not familiar with that area, Yvonne.
     
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  13. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    12ED4202-4A55-4EDA-9897-642D5EE8F6A1.jpeg
     
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