Okay, okay, I’ve talked about moving a lot in the past.
Last year, we were thinking about selling our current house and buying a new one in the St. Louis area again. But, then I left my day job for full-time freelancing and there were just too many things going on.
Good thing we put our home purchase on hold, because now we are thinking about leaving the St. Louis area and buying a home in a different state.
The two main states we are thinking about now are Colorado and Florida.
Yes, I know, these are two completely different states. Florida is hot and humid and doesn’t get any snow. Colorado experiences all four seasons and isn’t humid at all.
Below are some of the different things we are wanting and are thinking about when it comes to our potential move.
A beautiful area.
I used to really love the St. Louis area, but that was before we went to Colorado. After hiking and camping in Colorado, nothing in St. Louis is even remotely comparable.
I love how there are so many things to do in Colorado.
We can visit national parks, national forests, amazing trails, lakes, and so on. There are several outdoorsy things to do in this state and I think it would be impossible to ever feel bored if we moved to Colorado. Colorado is also closer to many other beautiful areas in the country, so it would be much easier to have beautiful outdoor vacations than where we are in Missouri right now.
What we love about Florida is the warmer weather and the beaches, of course!
We are also interested in getting a sailboat, and living in Florida would mean that we could travel the Caribbean potentially with a sailboat. That is a dream and sounds a little crazy though, and I’m not sure if that would ever realistically happen.
Good schools.
No, we don’t have children yet. However, we are thinking about having them in the next few years.
This means that we are looking into the school system for wherever we move. We forgot to do this when we bought our current house, mainly because we were so young when we bought and we knew we didn’t want children in the near future at that time.
The only way I really know how to check this though is with the website Great Schools. Does anyone know if this is a good way to check? Or are there better websites?
If you live in Colorado or Florida, or know of any school systems, please let me know. I’d love to hear!
Budget.
We will, of course, have a budget wherever we move. I’m not the type of person who could live in Los Angeles or New York City where the cost of living is extremely high.
I want a decent house that is within our budget. I’m not exactly sure what our budget will be, but somewhere between $300,000 to $400,000 I think would be good.
Also, we want a home with at least a little bit of land. At least one acre would be great. I just want a little bit a land, a pretty view, and possibly an area where I can attempt to grow a garden.
I’m not sure if all of this is possible in Colorado though. We have been looking at Realtor.com and Zillow and it seems like housing is a little bit more expensive there then it is here in St. Louis. $300,000 to $400,000 in St. Louis could buy you a 4,000 square foot brand new McMansion!
If anyone wants to help with a budget (how much is the average home in a city in both of these states?), cost of living, property and income taxes in each of these states, how is the social life like, and so on? I know this can vary greatly, but I would like to hear anyone’s input about these areas.
Not too, too far away.
Colorado is around 12 hours from where we live in St. Louis. That is definitely a long car drive, but it is something that we can do within one day. Also, a plane trip wouldn’t be too terribly long, so that is doable as well.
Florida would be a minimum of 12 hours from our home, and some places in Florida could even be 25 hours a way. That is definitely a long drive!
One reason why we are thinking about leaving the St. Louis area is because we don’t have much family here in St. Louis anymore. Wes’s parents and his younger siblings all just recently moved to Memphis, and my whole family lives in Chicago.
Would you ever move to a new area? Why do you currently live where you live?
What must a city have for you to want to move there?
Image: The picture above is one I took with my iPhone while we were driving when we went to Colorado in June. No editing or anything, that’s just how beautiful Colorado is!
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