Buying A Home
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want to move south!
My husband and I live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin currently. We were born and raised here, but we are both in agreement that we HATE winter! We are looking to move in 5 years to somewhere warmer, but not too warm. Does anyone have suggestions on the best cities/states? Nowhere too muggy like Miami, and nowhere to dry like Arizona...We would like to start taking mini vacations to possible cities over the next few years to feel the places out. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! The US is a big place and we want to narrow down our search!!!
A little snow in winter is not out of the question either, just not 5 months of freezing cold and 10 in snow storms every month 
Re: want to move south!
This sounds like us - - or rather, my husband and, reluctantly, me. We live in Minneapolis, so I can definitely sympathize on the weather issue!
We are currently considering NC - - Ralieigh or Charlotte area, although Raleigh seems to be doing better economically. Mild winters - usually above freezing - warm summers, great proximity to the beach and mountains (a few hours either way) and incredibly afforable housing - at least compared to the Twin Cities.
North Carolina has had a huge influx of relocators, so the population has exploded - which means a lot of the housing (from what I've seen) is newer. Sometimes that is a good thing, sometimes not so much - especially if it went up quickily and cheaply.
We are planning a trip there in a month or so to explore the area - and if we do move, it will likely be in the next year or so as we just sold our condo and don't have that tying us down. It all depends on jobs.
We have also considered Portland, OR, but the COL is going up and is getting close to that of Seattle, which is crazy. Plus, the grey/wet cllimate doesn't appeal much to me. DH wouldn't mind because he is from England, but my SAD would go crazy there!
Good luck - I am curious to see what other places get recommended.
also, I have to laugh that you are in Milwaukee. My sister and her familly live there (my BIL teaches in West Allis!) and she is ALWAYS pressuring me to move there. As she puts it "the winters really aren't too bad and the proximity to the lake means they are milder". HA!! Doubt that!
For weather, you really cannot beat Southern California. It never gets too cold, and hardly ever gets too hot (we were in the mid 80's while everyone was experiencing the huge heat wave!). Of course, you have to pay for the weather. The COL here is very very high - worth it to us, but not for everyone.
Plus, you add in the fact that we are 20 min from the beach, an hour from the desert, an hour and a half from the mountains (and ski resorts) and close to many big cities. I cannot imagine living anywhere else.
We moved from NY (way far upstate, close to Canada. but before that, NYC) to NC at the end of January. WE LOVE IT HERE!!!! I cannot say enough good things about it. We moved for DH's work, but when he was applying for new positions, location was a big factor for us - I wanted a place with very little snow, great schools and a city with fun things to do, but not too much traffic. Chapel Hill, NC is perfect for us. Also, while some costs (groceries etc) are a little bit higher, our property taxes are now so much lower (almost 8k in NY, under 3K here, same value house) that we really feel like we've come out ahead financially.
Other places I was willing to consider: the DC/VA/MD area (we had some slight worries about the traffic but the cultural stuff more than made up for it), coastal VA, Charleston or Atlanta, and a couple of places in TX (Austin).
Good luck with your move.
I'm in Minneapolis too (hi razamataz), so I get the winter thing.
My H wants to move to a warmer climate, but I'd rather stay in Minneapolis. I like it here, I'm such a Minnesota girl and I think we have a pretty good quality of life here that I don't want to give up. But ... I haven't totally ruled out relocating at some point, it would just have to be a pretty awesome situation to get me to leave.
I have no interest in living in the deep south. It's just not for me, I'm too "Midwestern" to fit in among southerners. Plus, I just couldn't deal with the heat & humidity of southern summers. I'll gladly take snow over 110 degrees with high humidity
I also like living in a fairly large city, so small towns aren't my first choice.
Some places I told H I'd be willing to consider ... since pretty much any place has a more temperate climate than Minneapolis, some of these places might not be generally be considered "warm" locations:
Washington DC area (although COL is really high)
Chicago (wouldn't help much as far as winter weather, though)
Denver (still has winter, but not as severe as in the upper Midwest)
Cincinnati
Columbus
Portland (either OR or ME, although Portland, ME is a little on the small side for me, definitely not a big city)
Seattle (COL is kind of high here too)
St. Louis
Kansas City
Mr. Sammy Dog
I live in the Atlanta metro area. Please come visit and see if you like it here. I think anyone from the midwest would already be used to the summer humidity. Besides, everyone here has AC and it's really not that big of a deal. We do have four seasons here, but none of them are too severe. Fall is my favorite!
Pluses:
Cost of living is reasonable. Low rates (but not the cheapest) for electricity, natural gas, gasoline. You can buy a home in a great school district for under $200k. Lots of corporate HQs, good job opportunities for professionals. Politically and ethnically diverse. Major travel hub. Only 5 hours to beach, 7 hours to Orlando/Disney, 2 hours to mountains.
Minuses:
Grocery costs seem to be going up. Traffic can be awful. People freak out with a snowstorm. Not a great public transportation infrastructure outside of the city of Atlanta and some parts of Dekalb Co. Some school systems are under scrutiny for their accreditation.
I have traveled all over the south, and some other areas I have found as pleasant are Birmingham, Nashville and Charlotte.
I live in south texas. and it is torture. i have lived here the majority of my life and have grown to hate it. I want somewhere that has four seasons
This is on the coast so weather is generally hot but its hotter the further inland you go. summer is always over 90 degrees, recently its been 100 degrees with a heat index of 109-115ish. the winters can get down to the 30's but its rare, it typically stays in the low 40's . last winter we had some freak accident and it dropped to 20 degrees and we had ice everywhere.. the last time it snowed here was is 2004 on christmas day.
oh i didnt mention fall and spring.. thats because we dont have them here.
Another vote for NC. I am actually from NC (but now live in Atlanta) and enjoy many of the different areas. Ashville is a nice area in Western NC full of young professionals - but a bit on the hippie side. Charlotte is another area where most of my extended family lives. I love the area and of all the cities in the Southeast Charlotte or Raleigh are the 2 areas where I would like to live. I went to undergrad in Chapel Hill and loved every minute of my 4 years there. It was nice because it had a diverse population...from college students, to young professionals, to retirees. It has plenty of cultural opportunities and is located only 25 miles from Raleigh if you wanted some of the opportunities afforded by a larger city. I worked in Raleigh for a summer during my undergrad years and loved being in the capital city of NC and seeing the local politics. Many of my friends from undergrad have settled in either Raleigh or Charlotte. Another great place to live is Wilmington, NC (on the coast). Wilmington has a small film industry for movies and tv shows and AMAZING beaches.
While I currently live in Atlanta (and have for 10 years now), my heart belongs to NC. Due to a too good to give up job and a husband, mortgage, and kids we will probably be in Atlanta for a long time. However, if an opportunity ever arises (although it probably won't until many years from now when I retire), I will be back to NC. My husband, a GA boy, agrees that NC is the place to be!!
BFP 2/10/2012!
Due Date: 10/15/2012!
Baby Boy Born 10/11/12! (Not on purpose)
we love Austin, Texas.
DH moved from Houston and I moved from the Dallas area and we can't imagine going back to those locations. We love it here.
However, it's currently hotter than hell and we haven't had a day under 100 degrees in 50+ days. We still don't want to be anywhere else. Austin has a great community feel, it's easy to get around (traffic sucks in every major city), there is tons to do outdoors (our style), lakes, hiking, trails, the music scene.
We also enjoy that austin is a bit less conservative than where we were both raised.
"The House We Built."
A journey of building the dream.
Thanks to everyone for your suggestions! My new sister in law is from Tennessee and we have been toying with the idea of all moving to the Nashville area together, but my husband and I wanted a few more choices since neither of us has really traveled south. We've been to Disney World and I personally have been to Northern Arkansas/Branson Missouri, and Kentucky and to me I thought they were all pretty hot and muggy and I know there are so many places I've never been to that I'm sure I would love! It looks like we'll have some places to give some serious thought to now!
Oh and currently California is out even though that was one of our first choices. We have two ferrets and love them so much - we plan on always being a ferret household. California has a ridiculous law against ferrets...we could sneak them in, but we don't want to risk running into any issue and having to give them away.
I can't rave about the Richmond metro enough. I used to live there, now we are moving back. We pretty much had our choice of where to move in the US and we chose the Richmond metro.
I never lived in the city limits of Richmond. Like any other city, there are the good parts and the bad parts.
But the suburbs are gorgeous. We just bought a house out in the country. Powhatan county to be exact.
You get a nice 4 seasons. While the dead of summer is very hot, and the dead of winter can be cold, for the most part, nothing is too extreme. I used to live in Florida where it was just way too hot for too long for me. Now I live in New England where the winters can be brutal. Virginia gives you a great taste of the 4 seasons.
You are 2 hours from the beach, 2 hours from the mountains and 2 hours from DC.
NYC can easily be a weekend trip.
I've personally found the people to be very friendly. If you lived in the deep south, you'd probably think they were unfriendly. Eveyrone I met who moved to VA from the deep south didn't like it. They said the weather and the people were too cold. I disagree. I love the people.
VA is where the north meets the south. You get TONS of history, which I love. No other state will you see so many remnants of the Civil and Revolutionary War. You'll colonial architecture right along with Southern mansions.
The shopping is fantastic. I used to shop in town of Short Pump and to this day, I've never seen so many stores in one area. I can't think of another store they could possibly have. A lot of people hate it because it's all new. Pretty much all built within the last 8 years. But honestly, that's what I loved about it. Pretty upscale feeling but affordable.
The Richmond metro is great for employment without being the clusterfuuck that is Northern Virginia. My husband could easily work in NOVA and make more money but that money would be sucked up by outrageous housing prices and property taxes. Not to mention the traffic. I love the DC area, but I could personally never live there. But if you want hustle and bustle, it could be the place for you.
That's all I can think of right now. I really think you'd love Virginia.
Although I do agree with the poster who said you cannot beat Southern California weather. I'll add beauty to that. If SOCAL wasn't so expensive and if I ever left the east coast, I'd go there! If COL isn't an issue, look into Cali.