[Don 79 TA]

We are deciding where to move to and wondering if we should consider these states.
I would think of the northern parts of the states. We are relocating from Long Island.

Huntsville was one area, and then i thought maybe we should consider northern Part of Mississippi

she is a nurse practioner in psych and i am a diverse IT technology person. Although i don't care what i do down the road i was just going to use the pay of the IT job to get us moved and situated.

how is the weather in these northern parts?
average housing prices?
job market?
water (like lakes where we can jetski)?
car friendly states?
cruise-in places?
any like off road parks for dirt bikes, quads, 4 wheelers?
DMV fees and emmisions testing?
natural environment like (tornados, flooding, hail, pollen, average rain etc)

if anyone has some input i wouldn't mind talking
thanks

she needs to move to a better area that is suited for her allergies/asthma
we have though about the souther parts of AZ, but i would love to be near some lakes so we can utilize the jet skis..

[boater bill]

I don't live there now, but Birmingham or Huntsville are very good high-tech areas that seem to be doing OK with the economic downturn.

Huntsville with NASA and Redstone Arsenal and the sub-contractors supporting their efforts always appealed to me, it was just too far from the ocean for me.

Good luck

["Me"]

I haven't been there in a year or so but I'm sure someone still lives there.

Sorry, Larry

[Greg Reid]

I grew up in the northeastern part of Alabama and now live in the northern half of Georgia near Atlanta. The weather is a big positive to living in this part of the country in my opinion. We get MAYBE two months of real winter and even that is limited to maybe 3 or 4 weeks a year of actual cold weather and I'm talking 20s with little to no snow and ice. For instance, we have shirtsleeve/sweater weather off and on throughout November and December. 60 degree weather is common for Thanksgiving.
The air quality in the part of Alabama that I grew up in is quite good and would be about the same in Huntsville, Birmingham etc. Atlanta and Birmingham are about 3 hours drive from each other and I grew up about halfway between the two.
I haven't been to Huntsville since I was a teenager but I've heard several times over the years that Huntsville has/had the highest per-capita income in the USA, at least at one time. It's a beautiful area.
Alabama and Georgia (and probably Mississippi) are pretty lenient when it comes to the car hobby and have pretty big numbers of enthusiasts. Also, parts are fairly plentiful and fairly rust free. Older cars don't require a title and you can still change ownership with just a bill of sale on older cars...Maybe 15 years old? Can't remember just now.
4 wheeling and off-roading are pretty popular throughout the southeastern US and probably won't even require a park as there's quite a bit of open land. If you're into any kind of freshwater boating, the Huntsville/Guntersville areas would be just about ideal. Hunting, hiking and camping are also pretty popular and no lack of suitable places to do those things.

One last thing, you'll probably be shocked at the lower pay scale but the cost of living will pretty much make up for it. IT techs are in pretty good demand, at least in the Atlanta area and make decent money. Your wife doesn't sound like she'd have much trouble finding work down south either but I know nothing about her field. I do know that nurses in general are very employable down here.

[Jerry H.]

Move here to the beautiful NE georgia mountains and get all of the benefits and commute to Atlanta to work and make good money if you need to.

[David Jones]

Huntsville would be a great choice.

[TTS]

Alabama gets my vote. Lived in MS, married in MS, had 3 kids in MS, and I didn't leave anything.

[Greg Reid]

'runningbwdog' lives in Huntsville. Ask him about it.

[dragula81]

I live outside of Birmingham and I don't really care much for this part of Alabama but I do like northern Alabama and along the coast.

Huntsville is a really good choice. There is a LOT of hi-tech industry there. It's the home of the NASA space and rocket center. It would be a great place for your profession. For your wife, around B'ham may be better. B'ham is one of the leading cities in the world for the medical profession.

Quite a few years ago, I actually had a "Prince" from some eastern country buy some land near me and build a mansion and horse farm. I thought it was odd that he would pick here to live but I later found out that he had some extremely rare disease and UAB was one of the few places in the world that was doing some research on it and could help him with it.

I graduated high school in Mobile and I really liked it there.

I've also lived in Mississippi before. I lived in a small town called "Futheyville". It only had one street and it was in a circle.


Alabama is the butt of many jokes but one thing that we can be thankful for is that we always have Mississippi to make us look good. (My apologies to my Mississippi neighbors)



You'll like the SE. The cost of living is decent, the weather is GREAT! We just had a 105 car 60 mile cruise yesterday and the weather was PERFECT!

You can get a pretty nice large house in your choice of many beautiful subdivisions for the low 200's. Around here, about the cheapest new house in a garden-home community is around $140k+ and there are plenty of subdivisions around with homes exceeding $1mil.

[Don 79 TA]

thanks for the ffedback so far.
as soon as she is better i am contacting a friend in the area for a job.

i have to her that moving south east is much cheaper right then making the trek out to AZ. plus this gives us a chance to enjoy the water more, at least compared to southern AZ.

i have a feeling once we move, and she is better all will work out for us.
it's just to insanely expensive here on LI, and i don't want to keep working to just pay for an overpriced house (that would be extremly old and extremly expensive in taxes).

my key is to leverage her profession and see if we can get relocation assistance (really only concern is moving the cars and jetskis). everything else we are bailing out on

right now, we are just kind of reviewing potential areas to move to.
i'd prefer a car happy place, and jetskiing happy place (not so fun here on LI)

[Greg Reid]

Jetskis?
Huntsville is the place. There are two huge lakes with State Parks attached to them not 25 miles on either side of Huntsville. The two parks are attached by a river with Huntsville sitting near the river halfway between them. Lake Guntersville State Park and Wheeler State Park on Wheeler Lake. The lakes are probably around 15 to 20 miles long and a 2 or 3 miles wide in places.

[Don 79 TA]

thanks
as soon as i complete 3 more certification exams, we are going to start looking

i'm liking the sounds of the Huntsville Area

[dragula81]

There are NUMEROUS lakes all around so plenty of places to take the Jetskis EXCEPT RIGHT NOW unless you leave it on the trailer.

We're in one of the worse droughts in years so most of the lakes around are pretty dry.

[Greg Reid]

Originally Posted by dragula81

There are NUMEROUS lakes all around so plenty of places to take the Jetskis EXCEPT RIGHT NOW unless you leave it on the trailer.

We're in one of the worse droughts in years so most of the lakes around are pretty dry.

You know, I forgot that you guys are experiencing the same problems that we are here in Georgia. Lake Lanier is nearly 30ft down.

[Don 79 TA]

yeah i heard about the dryness. i was in lake lanier in 06
talk about being in love
that was one reason i want to move

[runningbwdog]

Hi,
For a technical person, Huntsville is the place. Your wife will have no problem finding a job in the medical field.
Real "rip it up" tornadoes are infrequent in Madison County. Summers can be hot and humid, and on occasion the winters can be downright cold. On average, Huntsville is very pleasant.
There are plenty of car shows and cruise-ins from spring to late fall. Be prepared, the South is primarily a chevy, ford, mopar crowd. Very few Pontiacs.
Lots of outdoor activities, fishing, boating, hiking, bouldering, 4-wheeling, hunting, biking, etc. The Tennessee River is the southern boundary of the city of Huntsville.
Close to Nashville, Birmingham and Chattanooga. Atlanta is 3.5 to 4 hours away by car.
Cost of living is not bad. Property tax is small compared to the North. Classic cars are registered for a one time $30.00 fee. Utilities use TVA power that is the cheapest in the nation. House prices are about half to one third of what a similar house would cost out West or up North. 2007 has been a dry year, but it is the first that I have experienced. Besides I don't drive my GTO on days that it could get rained on.
You can look at the classifed ads in the Huntsville Times online at: http://www.al.com/jobs/
Between now and 2011, the Dept of Defense is moving a lot of jobs to Huntsville. With them will be support contractor jobs. The Missile Defense Agency and the Army Materiel Command are two examples. There are job announcements published weekly.
I've lived in Huntsville since 1971 off and on. Great place to raise kids.
The schools are good. High Schools offer advance placement courses that can be used for college credit. My son was awarded 30 semester hours by the University of Colorado
for the AP courses he took at Grissom High School. That's the equivalent of 1 full year at college.
One last thought: Huntsville, AL is not your typical southern town. There are so many people that have moved here from all over the world that it is rather cosmopolitan in outlook. Besides, any place that has 4 Lowes within a radius of 20 miles can't be bad.
My $0.02 worth.
Mike

[Don 79 TA]

Thanks alot for that feedback
like i said we are evaluating areas now
she just received a nice call to work in Minot ND.... Ummmmm awesome offer, but dammm i wanted to get away from the cold, not move to more cold

I think once i get a few more of these certifications i am working on, we will start looking more heavily. I'm hoping she can land something good with relocation assistance