Help me decide where to live!

In My Humble Opinion
21

Lack of cool? The home of the Crown Point Jail that Dillenger broke out of with a gun carved from soap? :confused: Gotta second that Indy’s a (what’s a nice word?) shithole.

I’m a Chicago area loyalist and a former resident of Eva Luna’s Arlington Heights (Arlington HS class of '72!) and can recommend that highly. There’s this big Japanese grocery store on the south side of town where you can get ripped off in a very nostalgic manner. The far-west burbs where I am now can be pretty but also pretty expensive. You can live in Lombard, like me, and take advantage of the good points of living in a VERY wealthy county but pay less for housing than just about anybody in a liveable part of Chicago with none of the negatives. Except, of course, the weather but after your time in Japan you’re about due for a climate. And O’Hare is a hop, skip, and only half a jump with (I assume) tons-o-non-stops to Japan.

One thing about the Chicago area versus small town anywhere is that you can get any kind of food you want. ANY. Friends who have moved away come back here not to see me but to eat. (this is where drop starts playing dirty) Remember Italian beef sandwiches? Decent hot dogs? Pizza? Then there’s the ethnic food. Representative of every ethnic group on Earth have moved here and opened restaurants.

22

Indiana is also ugly in general. Just not a pretty state.

And their basketball team sucks too ducks

See, if you live in Lexington you can go to all the good ball games :slight_smile:

23

I submit Columbus Ohio. It’s a decent sized city, enough to keep you entertained, but not a bustling metropolis. The Honda plant brings in a decent amout of Japanese as well as chinese speaking people. A friend of mine is an international business grad student who does part-time translating (Mandarin) for the folks at Honda. She’s damn smart, and seems to be doing the same type of thing you’re talking about. Her parents are also world reknowned Paleo-climatologists, if you want her resume let me know.

The Dublin are is experienceing a rapid growth in both size and Japanese population.One of the nicer aspects of the Columbus are is that you can either live in the suburbs, or out in the country, and you’re still not that far from downtown. Cost of living is quite low, and we’re a test market for many new retail products since we represent a cross-section of the nation apparently.

Sports are fairly big here, the Buckeyes (Ohio State) were national champs in 2002, and damn near everyone in town is a loyal fan. We also have the Bluejackets if you like hockey, the Crew if you like soccer, the Landsharks if you like Lacrosse, the Clippers are the farm team for the Yankees, and we have the Destroyers for arena football. If you like NFL, you might not want to think about the Browns and the Bengals, I don’t.

Columbus is an expanding, diverse community. It’s relatively crime-free, it’s not far from major cities i.e. Chicago, Detroit, Philly, and they’re even thinking about getting a light rail system for downtown.

I moved out here from Irvine, California and thought I’d hate it here, but I don’t. Visit at least once and you’ll see why so many people decide to call this place home.

24

All the negative things that have been said about Indianapolis can be seconded for Columbus, OH. Out of all the places I have lived, Columbus is by far the worst. This IS a cow town that tries so hard to be a real city. The weather is miserable most of the year. It’s cold in the winter with endless days of grey. Rainy springs and hot and humid summers. The downtown vacancy rate is about 50% with empty buildings everywhere. There will never be light rail, just look at all the cutback in bus service…www.cota.com.

The restaurant scene is the nightly debate between White Castle or Wendys.

I won’t even go into the obsessision with Ohio State Football. From August until January that will be the lead story on every news broadcast.

If you’re going to pick a Midwestern college town, look at Madison WI.

25

Your continued guidance is most valuable.

BTW, re Hartsdale (which sounds like the best idea so far), which is better taxwise: the NY burbs or the NJ burbs?

Thanks.

26

Why are you so opposed to Midwestern states west of the Mississippi? Kansas City might be a place that you might want to at least consider. My only gripe about the area is that traffic can be really bad, and it’s a bit spread out.

KC has some decent culture (Nelson Atkins museum), professional sports, some “nice” shopping areas like Crown Center and The Plaza. I think it has a decent sized Japanese population, for a Midwestern state, but I’m not sure on the actual statistics. There are some nice restaurants too. There’s an international airport, and is within a (long) day’s drive of Chicago, and St. Louis. Maybe a native of KC or someone that currently lives there can give more information.

I’d be interested to hear why you don’t want a Midwestern state west of the Mississippi, because I think you’re needlessly limiting yourself.

27

There is no real animus; I just have never been there, have no family there, and see no reason for choosing a state there if states east of the Miss. have some of those qualities. Had I been raised in, say, Kansas City, I’m sure it would be on my list…

28

You might want to consider Northern Kentucky, near Covington. Toyota’s North American headquarters are nearby and there’s a Toyota plant in Georgetown, KY and a Honda plant in Marysville. It’s really sort of a suburb of Cincinnati, which is a decent sized city. Kentucky itself has a lot of outdoor rec opportunities, and there are a few extremely cool Dopers in the vicinity.

29

[QUOTE=ShibbOleth]
and a Honda plant in Marysville.QUOTE]
Which is 97 miles away from Cinci.

30

We looked into Austin on realtor.com and could not believe the property taxes. Seriously. I thought there was a misprint – that they added an extra zero by mistake – so I contacted the realtor who told me that the listing was indeed correct. (IIRC the house, priced in the low 300K vicinity, had property taxes of almost 10,000 a year!)

What’s the deal? Was I looking at a particularly rarefied neighborhood?

Or could it have been sitting on top of Texas Tea?

31

I have to agree with Abbie on this one. Kentucky is a really good place to be if you want to have the countryside/city combination. I live in a little tiny town in KY myself (and am surrounded by hills and forests; yay for the Craft Capital! :stuck_out_tongue: ), but I could be in Richmond, Lexington or Louisville within a few minutes/hours to a day (there’s also I-75 running straight through here).

There’s also plenty of Japanese companies around here, Toyota, Tokico, Matushita (I think the last one might be on the outs, I don’t follow these things too closely.) Even the tiny town I’m in has a ‘sister city’ program with Yatsugatake, Japan. The two exchange artisans and regular people quite often during big festivals and events.

The people I’ve met are most often very nice (and have shoes, intact teeth, indoor plumbing, etc.) There are some spectacularly dumb ones, but you’ll find those everywhere unfortunately. The communities are very lively and have lots to do usually (mainly the larger ones though).

Probably the biggest downside I’ve seen is that the area is growing faster than its infrastructure can keep up. So roads, stores, schools, etc. tend to be really crowded.

32

I am seriously considering Louisville, too. Any downsides to this city?

33

Oh yes indeedy. Within a mile of me you can have several kinds of Italian, Thai, Cambodian, Japanese, ribs, Continental seafood, French bistro, Persian, Lebanese, Nouvelle Korean, any coffee-type drink known to mankind, Swedish, Mexican, Chinese, Nigerian, Ethiopian, and American food. And don’t forget the Swedish, Chinese, and Thai bakeries.

I love my neighborhood! Great funky ethnic grocery shopping, too.

34

Traffic can be bad.

Lexington is a nice town. It’s not too big, yet, but it’s not too small either. Housing can be had fairly easy, and it’s really not that hard to get around in once you realize that side streets will be faster than the big roads.

35

Las Vegas.

Don’t laugh.

First of all, there is a huge chunk of Japanese tourists who come here, and the casinos are always looking for someone who speaks Japanese to help the tourists (and of course coddle up to the “whales” which is Las Vegas speak for a high roller - and there are quite a few Japanese high-rollers) so your wife would not only find a nice, well-paying job, she would also be in a position to help the Japanese tourists have a nice visit and not get ripped off.

There are no state taxes in Nevada…something to consider when starting a business. Technology is one of the fastest growing markets here, so your type of buisness would fit right in.

Home prices have soared recently, but they are still quite affordable for someone coming in with a bit a bankroll. You can still buy a nice, new 3 bedroom house for under $200,000. Other than that, cost of living is low, other than the outrageous gas prices. Plus, with just about 1.5 million people, the city is not overly large and still pretty easy to get around.

As far as nature goes…you have Mt. Charleston for skiing which is 45 minutes from The Strip, and there is Brian Head ski area in southern Utah about 3 hours away. You have Lake Mead, about half an hour from The Strip for boating, and you are fairly close to Grand Canyon. Plus, the Las Vegas airport is a hub, and believe me, there are direct flights to almost everywhere.

The weather is great…sunny almost year round…sure it is hot in the summer, but I would take 123 degrees and dry here than 85 degrees and humid in Indiana.

I live about seven miles from The Strip, and it might as well be a million miles away. You get none of the tourist madness, none of the rip off prices and none of the congestion. But when I want it, I can be in the middle of it in a matter of minutes.

Just a thought…at least stop by on your way to…goodlord…Indiana. By the way, I grew up in Illinois, and used to vacation as a kid at Indiana Beach in Monticello. Nice memories, but I have no urge to ever return. Have you really forgotten what those winters are like? Your wife will be whopping you over the head with a snow shovel by around January, and by February, if she is still speaking to you, she will not be cooing in your ear.

36

As far as taxes go, I hear all the time that NY residents are the highest taxed in the nation (that could just be cranks on talk radio though), but I doubt NJ is far behind. One major caveat about my town, and Westchester County in general, you likely won’t be able to afford a house, the median price is now up to about $550,000, apartments are more reasonable, of course, but a 2br will still set you back about $250K and a 3br $300K.

Realtor.com will give you a good idea of what’s currently available.

37

Good advice. Las Vegas sounds kinda cool.

No one willing to stick up for poor ol’ Indy?!

38

Aeschines-Are you going to have time to visit the places you are considering? Or are you going in blind? Just idle curiousity.

39

I’ve visted a good number of them, or have lived there:

Lived
Indy
Chicago
NY Area
Long stays in the Savannah/SC area
Visited
Tennessee
Kentucky

Of course, I will have to visit places again to select a town or neighborhood in which to live.

No Indy fans out there?!

40

Indy has the only Formula One race in the United States!

But I wouldn’t live there. Nevada has it all, baby!

Fagjunk theology: Not just for Sodomite Propagandists anymore.