I just got off the plane two hours ago from a nine day trip to Kentucky. It was my fourth to visit my best friend who moved there three years ago.
I did a "handshake" deal (that is, I bought their property) with a very nice Christian couple in their 20's who will be going back to Africa for their third mission which they expect to be indefinite in length.
It is a spectacular plateau lot (almost perfectly square) on roughly 15 acres and a new house (one year old "hand built" of higher quality than the McMansions in this area) just right for us empty nesters to live in while we build our compound, music studio, etc. It is mostly cleared and the hay grown on it actually pays the property taxes and a thousand or so to spare (the buyers cut and haul off themselves). It has spectacular woods and a view into what looks like a classic "pleasant valley" that you simply have to see to believe. There will be a lot of "porch sitting".
City water
Power
Heat-pump heat and air conditioning
All appliances
High speed internet
Within 15 minutes of two small towns, each with a wal-mart, etc.
1.5 hours from Louisville.
2 hours from Nashville.
The roads are both a motorcyclists and bicyclists dream come true - Smooth, flat, banked curves. Some are literally what the bicycle trails here could only hope to be (and only a foot or two wider). And almost no traffic. To be clear, when I say smooth, I mean like brand new pavement. Potholes are literally non-existent and even the "older" roads are only mildly rough. Most of them feel brand new and VERY quiet. You could literally rollerblade them (and we will) past homes where the grass grows smooth right up to the side of the road. This goes on for miles and miles.
Price - Less than $100k.Yeah, I was gonna wait 'till 2010 or 2012, but I have the income stream that can be produced there just like here in Seattle and I could almost buy the thing on my credit card. What Seattle offers culturally, other than feeding the Seagulls at Ivar's, we've had our fill of. And the music all day every day in downtown Nashville is far superior to pretty much anything here. And all the bands play for tips! Every night (and somewhat during the day) is like Friday night at Pioneer square except more live clubs and NO COVER.
The people in the area (huge McCain/Palin support and very "family oriented" and friendly as opposed to Seattle's "politeness"), the climate, the roads, the proximity to so much. And all that I seriously dislike about Seattle is missing. Just the ride back from the airport tonight reminded us why we wanted to move.
I had to pull the trigger now.
It was actually a hard decision at first. I've lived here since 1966 and almost my whole family is here, including all my adult kids. But as I "t-charted" and, more importantly, prayed about it, the decision was obvious and easy. And we haven't looked back. We've been inching towards this ever since our first trip but had to really analyze our motives. We've fully reconciled that. The future is quite exciting.
BTW, this is ephemeral, but gas there is $2.23 a gal as I type this.
Oh, and the roads... This picture is the closest I could find on the internet of what I am talking about. Imagine this is brand new pavement and only slightly larger than a bicycle trail here, and it is a public road. (not a driveway). That is LITERALLY what the roads look like:
http://terry.kovax.org/archives/front%2 ... 0grass.JPG My point here:
I've pretty much had it with the whole King County politics/taxes/socialism thing since I was a Commercial real estate agent in the '79 to '82 timeframe. It was hard to make the decision. I feel a little like a Jew leaving Germany in 1934 but, better late than never. I'll try to get my kids to follow but they gotta live their own lives.