Relocating?
 

Hello there!

Just wanted to see if anyone had an advise of good places to relocate to that were in the mountains but not TOO much snow and low humidity.

Hubby keeps saying Arizona..but I don't know. We currently live in NC and came from NJ.
Thanks!
Joanne

It's a big country. Does employment matter?
Denver CO.

Where are you now?

I don't think there's anywhere in NC, or the south for that matter, that has really low humidity. Arizona has low humidity.

I think people that move south from the northeast are surprised that it's hot. It just is. There are many beautiful places in the mountains. You are here and can drive up and look around. You might also want to post on city-data.com.

Wherever you decide to relocate, rent your current house for a year and rent a house in the proposed location for ONE FULL YEAR.

It is the only thing that can save you from the mistake you seem to have made moving from Jersey to North Carolina.

>>Where are you now? <<

>>We currently live in NC <<

Jodyangel/joanne: Welcome to Fodors. To get useful response it is better to tag a thread w/ where you want to go. Not where you are starting from. So for this thread maybe Arizona and any other states you are considering.

Also -- no one can answer such a broad question. What type of work do you do? Do you have children? What sort of housing budget? What sort of vibe/culture are you looking for, etc etc?

You need to give us more info -- otherwise . . . there are hundreds of places you could go that are mountainous and dry or semi-dry.

Where in NC are you? I hate the summers in the Piedmont, but would seriously consider relocating to Asheville. It will be even hotter in places like Phoenix, and the lack of humidity only helps some.

I know the OP lives in NC. But it's a big place. I can make specific recommendations for a road trip if she tells me exactly where she is.

I lived in AZ for a year in the White Mountains. People there complained when the humidity was 30%, lol. The desert is hot, but AZ is not all desert.

I agree with suewoo, not all of Arizona is as hot as Phoenix, thank god. We lived in the Huachuca Mountains in southern Arizona and loved it.

jodyangel, what are your objections to Arizona? It's not for everyone. Have you even been to Arizona?

Ok. So yes employment does matter. I'm an OB nurse. We moved to NC because the cost of living in NJ is out of control. But we know this place is Not our last place to live if you understand.
Children are all grown so that's not an issue.
I was told Flagstaff is a nice place to live..but in all honesty I can't imagine living in a desert like environment with No grass??? No grass or gardening is my biggest negative thing for me.

Hot is ok. NJ is hot, NC is hot. But the humidity is crazy.

You want hot and dry, then the southwest. If you want low humidity you could live in Denver. 300 days of sunshine.
You aren't very clear about what it is you want, IMO.

Asheville

You need to go to Arizona. Flagstaff is characterized by pine forest, and it's pretty mountainous--not the flat Sahara you seem to envision. Gardening is perfectly possible there, and in other parts of the state, but really, we're just fooling around here, right? You won't decide where to move to without going there first, and nothing we can say will really help.

I gather the politics of the area is irrelevant.

Flagstaff is in the mountains, at an elevation of just under 7000 feet. As the previous post said, not all of AZ is desert.

@NewbE? No need to get annoyed lol. I'm just poking around for information. I've googled with Zillow and 99% of the homes have stones for yards. Gardening is important to me...don't think I could take living in a yard without one.

Politics? Well hubby and I are conservatives. Is that what you mean? Lol!

Denver has lots of snow and real winter. It is also crazy expensive; rentals or purchases. You can have grass and green. It normally is pretty temperate in summer but this year it has been crazy hot, wet and humid [at least what we consider humid here in the SW]

Denver is fairly liberal. [that might be an understatement these days, LOL]

You might like Santa Fe/Albuquerque as the weather is pretty decent. When it snows; it doesn't last long. There are some homes that have grass etc; most don't. Humidity is low. While both are cities, they tend to be more suburban like. There are also some places in the mountains that are really lovely outside of both SF and ABQ.

Several hospitals, lower cost of living but so are wages.

Listen to Acks -- rent for a full year - you need to experience ALL seasons and an extended time; not just a week in each season, to really check out what life would be like.

@jodyangel: I second the recs for the Southwest US. But humidity can be brutal even in AZ. Based on your requests I'd add eastern California to the short list of relocation candidates. Placer, El Dorado, Yolo etc. It's known as Gold Country, the counties here are still very much conservative, about the only area of the state which remains so. And if you live under snow level (3000') you'll rarely if ever have to deal with snow or ice. Otherwise the only humidity we ever get (beside normal rainfall during winter) is a few days a year during the summer, when weather systems from Mexico make it this far north. It rarely happens.

You'd be in gardening heaven here, that's for sure. Everyone here has a farm.

<<It normally is pretty temperate in summer but this year it has been crazy hot, wet and humid [at least what we consider humid here in the SW]>>

Sorry DebitNM, but Denver has NOT been crazy hot this year. Quite the opposite due to all of the rain. Most years in July we have highs in the 100s. Sunday it is only going to be 80°.

It was hotter than hell when I was up in mid June. Lots of rain this year but that made for humidity which sucks. It was pretty warm last weekend as well.

But I see you aren't contesting my comments about price of housing. :)