Why you live where you live + what you love and hate

[happyhoix]

Mar 15, 2022 13:06:56 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

Why are you living where you live? Job, inheritance, hometown? I love this city of Montreal. I've lived in many places in different countries but always come back to my favourite city. It's festival after festival, with many free shows, activities, art exhibits and plays.

What do you most love about your location? Neighbors, close to family, convenience, economy?
My neighbours are great! They're from Uganda, Columbia, Mali, Yemen, Paraguay, Mauritius, South Africa, etc. Very convenient, with grocery shopping, post office, drugstore, health clinic, sports center right across the street.

What do you most hate about your location? Weather, traffic, neighbors?
Freezing winter weather. Potholes.

Do you love your location but dislike your home? Would you prefer to live in a single-family home or an apartment/condo/townhome?
I love my apartment. It's huge and full of sunlight. I don't want the headache of owning a home anymore.

Where would you like to live and what keeps you from going there? Is it affordability, proximity to family, job?
I'd consider living in Victoria/Vancouver, but it's unaffordable. I'd like to be by the ocean.

What do Canadians think of PEI? I thought that was someplace I would like to live. Although Quebec was a close second, what a lively city.

[chiver78]

Mar 17, 2022 18:53:56 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Mar 15, 2022 13:06:56 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

Why are you living where you live? Job, inheritance, hometown? I love this city of Montreal. I've lived in many places in different countries but always come back to my favourite city. It's festival after festival, with many free shows, activities, art exhibits and plays.

What do you most love about your location? Neighbors, close to family, convenience, economy?
My neighbours are great! They're from Uganda, Columbia, Mali, Yemen, Paraguay, Mauritius, South Africa, etc. Very convenient, with grocery shopping, post office, drugstore, health clinic, sports center right across the street.

What do you most hate about your location? Weather, traffic, neighbors?
Freezing winter weather. Potholes.

Do you love your location but dislike your home? Would you prefer to live in a single-family home or an apartment/condo/townhome?
I love my apartment. It's huge and full of sunlight. I don't want the headache of owning a home anymore.

Where would you like to live and what keeps you from going there? Is it affordability, proximity to family, job?
I'd consider living in Victoria/Vancouver, but it's unaffordable. I'd like to be by the ocean.

What do Canadians think of PEI? I thought that was someplace I would like to live. Although Quebec was a close second, what a lively city.

PEI is fantastic in the summer, but very touristy in town. and, there's a bridge now from NB (Pont du Confederation) so you don't have to suffer the ferry like when I was a kid.   but that bridge isn't a cakewalk if you're afraid of bridges. 

winter's tough there, though. you're getting assaulted by the Atlantic winds, and it's biting. I flew out one work trip, on the last flight before they closed the airport in Charlottetown, in a 20-seater plane. it took a lot of willpower to not kiss the ground when we landed in Halifax. 

[toomuchreality]

FYI-
If I didn't "like" your post, please know that I meant to! As I read the posts, I quickly lost track of whether or not I had liked each one.

You all are wonderful and your posts on this thread make me appreciate you more than ever.

♡

[weltschmerz]

Mar 17, 2022 18:53:56 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

Mar 15, 2022 13:06:56 GMT -5 weltschmerz said:

Why are you living where you live? Job, inheritance, hometown? I love this city of Montreal. I've lived in many places in different countries but always come back to my favourite city. It's festival after festival, with many free shows, activities, art exhibits and plays.

What do you most love about your location? Neighbors, close to family, convenience, economy?
My neighbours are great! They're from Uganda, Columbia, Mali, Yemen, Paraguay, Mauritius, South Africa, etc. Very convenient, with grocery shopping, post office, drugstore, health clinic, sports center right across the street.

What do you most hate about your location? Weather, traffic, neighbors?
Freezing winter weather. Potholes.

Do you love your location but dislike your home? Would you prefer to live in a single-family home or an apartment/condo/townhome?
I love my apartment. It's huge and full of sunlight. I don't want the headache of owning a home anymore.

Where would you like to live and what keeps you from going there? Is it affordability, proximity to family, job?
I'd consider living in Victoria/Vancouver, but it's unaffordable. I'd like to be by the ocean.

What do Canadians think of PEI? I thought that was someplace I would like to live. Although Quebec was a close second, what a lively city.

I would like it in the summer, but not in winter. The Martimes are brutal in the winter. PEI is known for potatoes and Malpeque oysters. Great oysters.
Remember the show Magnum P.I.? John Candy did a spoof called Magnum P.E.I., investigating someone who was stealing potatoes. One of the funniest things I've ever seen.

[happyhoix]

Mar 17, 2022 19:36:58 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

Mar 17, 2022 18:53:56 GMT -5 happyhoix said:

What do Canadians think of PEI? I thought that was someplace I would like to live. Although Quebec was a close second, what a lively city.

PEI is fantastic in the summer, but very touristy in town. and, there's a bridge now from NB (Pont du Confederation) so you don't have to suffer the ferry like when I was a kid.   but that bridge isn't a cakewalk if you're afraid of bridges. 

winter's tough there, though. you're getting assaulted by the Atlantic winds, and it's biting. I flew out one work trip, on the last flight before they closed the airport in Charlottetown, in a 20-seater plane. it took a lot of willpower to not kiss the ground when we landed in Halifax. 

Yeah I visited in the fall and it was fabulous but I wondered what it was like in the winter. If I ever get rich and have a summer and winter house I know where the summer house will be.

[tractor]

I live where I do because it's only an hour from where I grew up. When I met my wife in college, she was from a very small rural town and couldn't imagine living in a "big" city. We compromised and moved outside a small town. 😊.

We've been here 30 years, I love the rural nature of having very few neighbors, having acreage, and being able to do what I want. Not only can I fire a rifle from my front porch without hitting my neighbors, they don't even notice the gun shot, because they do the same thing. I know, strange, but just a point to describe how rural we are.

What I don't like is the internet sucks, and getting a decent variety of food is a challenge.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

Why are you living where you live? Job, inheritance, hometown?

We live in our current location due to DH's job. 

We are moving back to where we used to live because we've launched all of our children, and they didn't stay where we finished raising them.
The specific town we will live in is due to DH's job. It's not the town we'd have chosen, but it's fine. My mother and one sister still live in that town.
We will live about ten miles from one child and 30 miles from another child and our grandchild. The third child lives several hundred miles away, and we don't want to move there until she has children. The fourth child will graduate from college this spring, and we are trying to let her live her early 20s without us directly supervising her. 


What do you most love about your location? Neighbors, close to family, convenience, economy?
Current location: Um, I don't love it. I wouldn't have chosen to live here. DH told me we were moving here for three years. We stayed 12. I love our actual property and the house we live in. If I could pick them up and move them home, I would. It is a extremely-LCOLA, and that has allowed us to catch-up/recover from the Great Recession. It was a nice place to finish raising our children, but I was okay with where we were doing that before. There are only two seasons, and I get tired of the damp and the rain. 

Next location: It's still rural, but it is "real" towns with actual stores and things to do. There are four actual seasons. 


What do you most hate about your location? Weather, traffic, neighbors?
How rural and underdeveloped it is. For the first two years we lived year, I told my husband he moved me to Appalachia. (I have never been to Appalachia, so I apologize for insulting people there.) For the few years after that, I just referred to other places as "civilization".  


Where would you like to live and what keeps you from going there? Is it affordability, proximity to family, job?
I'd like to live in a city that is in the northern part of the state; proximity to family is what keeps us from moving there. 

[billisonboard]

Why are you living where you live?  Job, inheritance, hometown?

Moved here for a job.

What do you most love about your location?  Neighbors, close to family, convenience, economy?

Wonderful arts community within the larger community.

What do you most hate about your location?  Weather, traffic, neighbors?

Lack of good restaurants nearby.

Do you love your location but dislike your home?  Would you prefer to live in a single-family home or an apartment/condo/townhome?

My small single family home with tiny yard is great for the two of us to maintain. Would not object to a lot more of both with maid and lawn care service (see below).

Where would you like to live and what keeps you from going there?  Is it affordability, proximity to family, job?

I monitor the listings for estates on Maui and am just waiting for the right numbers to come up in the lottery to make a final decision on which to buy.

[stillmovingforward]

• Why are you living where you live? Job, inheritance, hometown?

We always liked the town (found during traveling) and it had a reputation for really good schools. I found a house we could afford and fix up into what we’d like so I put money down, then went home and told DH.

• What do you most love about your location? Neighbors, close to family, convenience, economy?

Quiet, rural, lots of organic farms around so we can get really good fresh food (veggies, fruits, berries, breads, cheeses, etc.). Different scenery within one hour drives any direction (ocean, mountains, rain forest). Good restaurants within a 30-minute drive.

It was a great place to raise kids.

Also, mom lives with us so I have to take that into account. She enjoys the quiet and being able to drive because there isn’t much traffic. She only drives into the next town anymore and its small. This keeps her being able to live ‘independently’ and I don’t stress about having to oversee her.

• What do you most hate about your location? Weather, traffic, neighbors?

Dear gods! Hm, no delivery. No UberEATS, no Grub Hub, no mail, no house cleaners, or anything similar.

I thought we were moving to a forward-thinking, liberal, educated area. We did. But its also full of helicopter parents and I swear the mothers all get college degrees and then make it a goal to be stay-at-home and look down on us women who dare to work for a living, do not micromanage our kids, and expect them to be self-sufficient. Consequently, I have only a couple of acquaintances and no friends here. It’s really lonely.

• Do you love your location but dislike your home? Would you prefer to live in a single-family home or an apartment/condo/townhome?

I don’t love my location anymore. It’s a beautiful area to live but it’s a long way from good employment in my field. Our house is a really old Victorian house. Which means a lot of upkeep. I love this house but with DH being injured and not able to help with the care any longer, its much more than I can or want to spend time taking care of.

• Where would you like to live and what keeps you from going there? Is it affordability, proximity to family, job?

I would love to live in a nice little condo or apartment in the middle of a city where I could get a dog walker, house cleaner, groceries delivered, take the bus instead of the car, go to museums or concerts without making it an all-day trip (where I have to drive and coordinate parking close by because I’m the only one who can walk well), etc.

We’ve lived here for 25+ years. We’ve gotten used to the small house payment which is half of what we’d pay for in rent. They love the quiet, large house with the massive garage and storage, easy parking, etc. I’m the only one who struggles. I stay here because they are happy. If I ever lost them, I’d move within the year. And yes, I’ve lived in the city. I know what its like. I loved it until I had kids.

[Ava]

Why are you living where you live? Job, inheritance, hometown?



My job, mainly. 


What do you most love about your location? Neighbors, close to family, convenience, economy?



Good job, nice summers, no local family, but good friends in the area.


What do you most hate about your location? Weather, traffic, neighbors?



Weather, cold winters, snow, traffic. The particular city where I live is not well managed, so it's not clean and well-taken care of.


Do you love your location but dislike your home? Would you prefer to live in a single-family home or an apartment/condo/townhome?



I like my condo. It's a townhouse, so it's like houses but we share side walls. My current neighbors on both sides are not noisy. Walls are thin, so that's important. 
I think a single-family home with a yard and pool near the ocean would be fantastic. 


Where would you like to live and what keeps you from going there? Is it affordability, proximity to family, job?

I would love to live in the Miami area in the US, and also in Uruguay.
What keeps me from moving is the job, and the need to work. Once I have access to retirement accounts then I can move without being 100% dependent on finding a job right away, earning enough to live on, and having a good work environment. 

[steph08]

Why are you living where you live? Job, inheritance, hometown?

I grew up here - in a similar town just ten minutes away. And when I say 'town,' I mean a place with a post office, volunteer fire department, no stores, and no stoplights.


What do you most love about your location? Neighbors, close to family, convenience, economy?

Close to family - mainly my parents and DH's parents. Both are just 15 minutes away. Cost of living is also low.


What do you most hate about your location? Weather, traffic, neighbors?

I'm tired of PA winters. I'd also like to live closer to a city so we could do more cultural events without needing to drive 1.5 hours.


Do you love your location but dislike your home? Would you prefer to live in a single-family home or an apartment/condo/townhome?

We just built our house last year and love it. We built a ranch with a finished basement and a bonus room above garage. I wish we had gotten a bigger garage though. We shouldn't ever need to move for mobility issues.

Where would you like to live and what keeps you from going there? Is it affordability, proximity to family, job?

I'd love to live in London, but that isn't practical. Honestly, I just want to be a snowbird when the kids get out of school. My job is remote so I could easily live in PA through January and then head to Florida for a few months until spring arrives. I'm tired of snow and cold.

[gambler]

Live in lower Alabama on the gulf coast. I love I am on the water and that Alabama is a ultra conservative state no libertarian down here. Hate hurricanes

[tskeeter]

We chose to move to our current location for a number of reasons.

We live at the east foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountain range.

We have four seasons.  San Diego is nice, but we like to ski.  There are 13 ski areas within a 90 minute drive of the house.  But we don’t deal with much snow.  We live in the valley.  We keep our snow in the mountains, where it is pretty to look at from the kitchen window but you don’t have to shovel it.  It can get hot for a few days in the summer time.  Into the 105 degree range.  But temps drop by 30 to 40 degrees between about 4 PM and 9 PM every evening.  Despite the occasional high temperature, we have neighbors who claim to run their A/C only 10 hours or so a year.

Obviously, outdoor activities abound.  Hiking, skiing, rock climbing, 4-wheeling, fishing, land yachting, gold panning.  In just over a couple of hours you can be in Yosemite.  We’ve got a bit of pretty much everything.

The town is big enough to have both a Starbucks and a Home Depot.  (Actually several of each.  As well as a couple of Lowe’s, A Summit Racing store, Macy’s, Dillards, etc.  Not big city shopping, but you can get a puller for the harmonic balancer of an 07 Jeep Wrangler on Sunday afternoon.)

There is a local branch of the state university system.  That means college athletics, concerts and performances, classes to take, and tours of the seismology lab to observe earthquake testing in progress.

If you’re a history buff, we’re on the transcontinental railroad, the California Trail, and the Pony Express route.  The Donner Party passed through the valley just days before snow stranded them in the mountains in November, 1846.  The historic Comstock Lode is less than an hour drive away and the area where the California Gold Rush of 1849 took place is just “over the hill”.

Local casinos bring in a variety of entertainment.  In addition, there are a couple of good local theater companies, Broadway performances at the performing art center, a month long arts festival every summer, and festivals ranging from airplane races and a 7,000 vehicle car show to the rib cookoff take place every weekend all summer long.

Local wildlife provides some entertainment, too.  Quail, coyotes, eagles, hawks, Bob, the neighborhood bobcat, and the occasional bear, mountain lion, or herd of antelope wander through the neighborhood.

International travel is fairly convenient.  We’re a 45 minute hop from SFO and direct flights to Europe, Asia, South America, almost anywhere you want to go.

Need a big city fix?  A few hour drive, or quick flight, gets you to SFO for five star dining, world class museums, professional sports, and the like.

Like a little peace and quiet?  The population density of the state is 25% of the national average.

[finnime]

Why are you living where you live? Job, inheritance, hometown?



For the next 3 weeks I live where my job, and schools for my kids, brought me. I am moving to New England where my sister and brothers live and I grew up.


What do you most love about your location? Neighbors, close to family, convenience, economy?



I'm moving to be close to family. I will miss the neighbors and neighborhood here, and the urban nature of this area. It's very diverse, has many restaurants, shows and theaters, and is in close proximity to a major city and to various parks and undeveloped space. It is also politically liberal, which is very important to me and DH. Where we will move to is similar. I would be very unhappy in a redneck southern area where I'd have to watch what I say.




What do you most hate about your location? Weather, traffic, neighbors?



The traffic here bites hard. You learn how to work around it over time but there are occasions when it cannot be avoided. Also, the summer weather is the pits. I'm looking forward to living close to the sea (actually the bay) and enjoying summer and winter, too.


Do you love your location but dislike your home? Would you prefer to live in a single-family home or an apartment/condo/townhome?



I really like my home now, but for the stairs. They've been compromising for DH for years now. If we were to stay in this area we'd want to buy a single-story home. That's what I'm looking for in Massachusetts.


Where would you like to live and what keeps you from going there? Is it affordability, proximity to family, job?


I'm on the verge of moving to where I'd rather be. My kids are grown, and DS will not be moving back here. I'll miss DD but imagine she might move up there, too, at some point. 

[thyme4change]

- Why are you living where you live? Job, inheritance, hometown?

I live in Phoenix. I have lived here for 45 years. My family is here. I am not great with change and never got a good opportunity to move - so here i sit.

- What do you most love about your location? Neighbors, close to family, convenience, economy?

I have found my people in my particular neighborhood. Love my neighbors, can walk to restaurants and groceries among other things. But, my hood isn't normal and the rest of Phoenix/AZ don't appeal to me nearly as much.

- What do you most hate about your location? Weather, traffic, neighbors?

Our state politics suck. Our education system is terrible overall. Living here is the summer is just taking up residence inside an industrial kiln. So f-in miserable.

- Do you love your location but dislike your home? Would you prefer to live in a single-family home or an apartment/condo/townhome?

My house is good. I did have living in a high rise as a bucket list - but that seems unlikely.

- Where would you like to live and what keeps you from going there? Is it affordability, proximity to family, job?

Santa Barbara is my stated goal. Houses there cost 1 billion dollars. And my hubs would have significant barriers to employment. I have been wondering if I can ex-pat because I am not impressed with the USA for the past 6 years.