Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Ask HN: How to find a small town to relocate for remote work?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 582 posts

Re: Ask HN: How to find a small town to relocate for remote work?

#31

Post by luckyhn »

> I don’t need more than a good diner, a supermarket, and a friendly bar.

You'd better be sure about that. Having a favorite diner, grocer and bar and only patronizing those businesses is a world apart from having exactly one option. What do you do when the bartender/regulars decide they don't like you. Or your neighbor, for that matter. The one whose family's been there for generations and is buds with the sherrif.

IMO you should find another suburb that you and your wife like. There are major downsides to small town living you're probably not taking seriously.

Re: Ask HN: How to find a small town to relocate for remote work?

#32

Post by ltbarcly3 »

protomyth wrote: post #10

Check a bandwidth map so you are not frustrated. You probably also want to make sure the politicians in the area are of your preferred party since that will tell you if your family will have people with your beliefs in the area. Being the odd person out from the local folks isn't fun.

Who cares about the political party of local politicians? Make sure local government services are delivered on time and on budget (water, power, garbage collection, etc). Make sure the schools are good and aren't run by weirdos. Beyond that, why would you care?

Re: Ask HN: How to find a small town to relocate for remote work?

#34

Post by davidw »

drewcoo wrote: post #15
fredsmith219 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Who made you the judge of where people get to live?

I think the GP's NIMBYism is justified by the threat of gentrifying small towns. On a similar note, many states would like Californians to stay in California and stop trying to Cailifornify everywhere else.

California needs to build more housing.

Re: Ask HN: How to find a small town to relocate for remote work?

#38

Post by ltbarcly3 »

I just moved to Ocean Springs, MS from Los Gatos, CA. We have been looking for about a year, this is the place that checked the most boxes for us. Most places we were looking at either had terrible schools (Alaska, apart from like 3 magnet schools) or were very remote (Islesboro, ME) Very happy I got out of CA before PG&E killed my family (we had a fire break out in June about 100 meters from my front door, if it had been windy we had 0 chance of escape as it would have blocked all the roads to our house. This forces us to bite the bullet and make the move, and Ocean Springs was top of our list).

Great schools, very progressive area (at least for MS). No homeless people leaving needles in the streets or throwing poop at me. Quite humid! 5Gb/s fiber to my house from multiple competing providers. Paid way way way below $1M (way below $500k lol) for 2500sft house with a huge yard, walking distance to the gulf of mexico (and a nice beach area) and about a mile from dozens of downtown restaurants. 10 minute drive to Biloxi and casinos and other nightlife. I have lost count of the number of people who have gone down my street on bikes or jogging (or on golf carts, which are street legal here). Gulf Islands National Seashore's entrance is less than half a mile away.

Re: Ask HN: How to find a small town to relocate for remote work?

#39

Post by pontifier »

My method sure hasn't worked very well... or has it? I was looking for cheap warehouse space to start a business in, and did a nation-wide search for the largest, cheapest building in the entire continental US.

I found one that seemed too good to be true. a 220,000 sqft metal warehouse and office complex on 17 acres. I thought the price was a typo at $375k.The agent assured me that the price was correct, and I flew out to see the place.

It was in a little town called Pine Bluff, Arkansas.

I offered about 3/4 what they were asking, and they accepted the offer.

Fast forward 2 1/2 years, and I've had nothing but problems. Break in after break in. Can't work through the red tape with the city so my warehouse sits empty. It feels like they are actively working against myself and other entrepreneurs I talk to. At least 2 others who bought buildings and tried to open businesses left after getting nowhere.

Maybe I'm daft, but I ended up buying about 75 more properties here... all surprisingly cheap.

The town is killing me though. I haven't seen my kids very much lately - I don't think it's safe enough for them. I'm probably going to be moving back to Utah in the next couple of months because it's just too much out here.

Re: Ask HN: How to find a small town to relocate for remote work?

#40

Post by pugworthy »

Corvallis OR.

Housing costs are higher, but probably not the $1M you mention unless you really want to go overboard.

Walk to the store, city bus is free, great place to raise kids, bike paths and trails, and you're out of town into the woods or farm fields in 15 minutes of driving. 1 hour to the coast, or 1 hour to the mountains. University as well as HP, NuScale, and other smaller companies.

People that come here can definitely turn into lifers.

Post reply on HN