[mom2justynsarah]

My husband & I are seriously thinking about getting out of S. Florida. We are so sick and tired of hurricanes. Plus, our house has gone up triple the amount we paid.

We can't afford the NE states like NYor NJ. Nor do we want any crazy blizzard activity. We would love a town that's up and coming, and close proximity to a major city.

We have heard good things about Georgia, North Carolina, and Arizona. Does anybody have any information on any communities in these states?

We are leaning towards Georiga. We heard Atlanta is a very happening place. But would be open for other states.

Obviously, we want what's best for our children. We would love a child friendly community (with lots to do). We also want the best schools. We would be looking for a single family home (new construction or fairly new resale) with a large backyard. Our price range is from the 130's to 180's.

Where do you live? Any recomendations??

Thanks
Julie

[moonbeam23]

That's a great question, and I would like some input also. We live in so Cal, and are thinking of moving when our son finishes elementary school. The real estate prices aroung here are rediculous, and I don't want to send him to public middle school around here. I happen to love Colorado, and that would be a possibility for us. We won't move for about 3 years probably. But I want to plan ahead!

[momofmykids]

East Tennessee!!! I live right outside Knoxville and it is a WONDERFUL place to raise kids!!! I live in a small, yet growing town. We have great schools and we're close enough to Knoxville (20 minutes) that should we need anything major, it wouldn't take an act of congress to get there. PLUS, house prices are very reasonable!

[Fran27]

I actually have family that lives next to Knoxville, TN also. Definitely seems like a nice place to live. My in-laws live in Virginia and it seems pretty nice also.

[MommyBear]

My in-laws just moved to TN and we are pondering amove their ourselves after a few years - it seems like a beautiful place to raise a family and has an economic climate that is a LOT more reasonable than where we are (DC)!

[momofmykids]

Originally Posted by MommyBear

and has an economic climate that is a LOT more reasonable than where we are (DC)!

Ooh, I've heard everything is more expensive in DC! A friend told me that my house that appraised for roughly $190000 would sell for $500000+++ in DC!!! I think I need to move my house up there and then sell it!

[alwaysus]

We live IN NC and we love it! We bought a BRAND new 5 bedroom 3 bathroom 2 story house on a few acres out in the country and spent less than $150,000. The house has a back deck and a gorgeous covered front porch. Woods in the front and back yard once you get past the lawn.Housing is very affordable. We are 40 miles from Fayetteville. 2 hours from Raleigh and Chapel Hill( North of here) and 2 hours to Charlotte( West)
I am not crazy about the public schools here, but then again I am not crazy about public schools anywhere. We home school our kids. Fantastic colleges here though, Duke and UNC Chapel Hill.
We live right on the NC/SC border.

[redfred]

We live in Tucson, Arizona and we love it. It is large enough to have pretty much anything you can need or want, yet still has a smaller town mentality. Also, with the air force base there is a huge amount of diversity. Phoenix is only two hours away. And as to the weather, we are sunny almost all the time and nine months out of the year we get bragging rights to all of our friends who live elsewhere. And the other three are simply hot, but almost no humidity. And we have NEVER had a hurricane!

[mom2justynsarah]

[quote=alwaysus]We live IN NC and we love it! We bought a BRAND new 5 bedroom 3 bathroom 2 story house on a few acres out in the country and spent less than $150,000. The house has a back deck and a gorgeous covered front porch. Woods in the front and back yard once you get past the lawn.Housing is very affordable.

Now THAT'S what I am talking about! What town are you in?

[riverview]

Maryland is quite expensive also. Around Baltimore some houses can go beyond 1 Mil. Other areas are more reasonable, in the 250-300. Cannot say we found any new for 150 range.

[ourdreamcametru]

We live just about 15 miles East of Nashville, TN in a small but growing community called Mount Juliet. We have some of the best schools in the state and the town is small enough now that eveybody knows everybody. Our cheif of police directs traffic by the school on many afternoons. There is a new area just being built on the other side of town called Providence Place. This is going to be a Live, Work, Play community with a mall and several restruants. There is a living area with housing going up in all price ranges, row house, apartments, single family homes from 1200 sq feet to 4000 sq feet. We really love our community and the schools our children attend. You can check it out by going to MountJulietTennessee.com. Becasue of the new growth housing value is jumping in leaps and bounds, we bought our house two years ago for $250,000 , it has 4000 sq feet,and had it appraised again last month just for fun and it appraised for $345,000! Yea, too bad I never plan to sell.

[alwaysus]

We live in Laurinburg. Scotland County.

[Casey677]

Hey, we also live in so. FL and are always looking for a better place to live, LOL.

We did spend 4 months in SC and we hope to one day in the next few months make our permanent home there. If you have any interest in the upper north/west corner of SC, send me a pm!

[Courtney75]

I grew up in Georgia, just north of Atlanta. I loved it. I still have friends and family there and love going back. It is still my home, even though I don't live there anymore. One thing I might recommend though, no matter where you move, but especially GA, is if you find a house try a couple test runs of your normal routine. What I mean is try driving from the house or at least area you like to the school that your child will attend at 7:30 in the morning. My sister lives in Cherokee county(goregous by the way) GA and she says sometimes it can take anywhere from 10-25 minutes to get off their road to the main road in the morning. I said especially GA because of Atlanta. So many people work in the Atlanta area but live 1-1 1/2 hours away or so so traffic can be quite outrageous in some areas at certain times of the day. Like I said before I love GA. I think its has a lot of great areas, but really everywhere does, I'm sure you'll be happy where ever you go, good luck.

[xillini]

Another vote for TN!!! We lived in Middle TN for 5 years & it was wonderful. We moved b/c dh got a better job- but would go back there in a heartbeat! Have you tried the website findyourspot.com ? Its an online quiz that may help you find a new city based on your quiz answers.