How to Find the Best Places to Live

The best places to live are found by those who are willing to listen to their own desires, pursue their dreams, and pay attention to what makes a place a great place to live. Whether you are retirement planning or starting a career, follow these steps to find the best places to live for you.

Instructions

1. Make a list of high priorities for a place to live.

   Each person's list may be different that another for an infinite amount of reasons. If you are retired, career choices have left the scene. If you have not retired, a location for your career may be the first factor you have to deal with. What is more important to you? Closeness to family or geography and climate?

2. Decide on your best fit: urban, suburban, or rural.

   Some people love the big city with its diversity and activity. Others crave the sleep suburb with is quiet streets. Many find the country life on acres of land to be paradise. What fits you the best?

3. Consider your recreational hobbies and activities.

   Whether you are in retirement planning mode, or finding places for kids to grow what you do for fun often can be limited or advanced by where you live. Choose places to live that fit your lifestyle if you can.

4. 

   Perform internet searches based on your priorities and preferences.

   For example, if your highest priority is a warm climate and you want to live in a rural environment start by searching for the sunniest places to live. Then look at the maps of those regions and look for more undeveloped locations. Then search for your hobby in that general area. So, if southern California turned up in your list but you also love to ski, type in skiing in southern california.

5. Research school districts.

   School districts are not just important for parents, they are a barometer of a community. Often school districts that are in deep disrepair signal dropping housing values, high crime rates, and other elements that lower it on the best places to live list. However, if part of your desire is to live in a community with needs, then a difficult school district might be the kind of place you actually want to find. There are websites totally devoted to giving ratings to school districts.

6. Look for convenience of shopping and entertainment.

   How far will you have to go to get to a grocery store? In both rural and urban environments this can be a difficulty worth noting. What is the variety of restaurants like in the area? Check out both diversity of shopping and entertainment as well as quality. If you have found a general area you want to live in use a search engines to look for shipping and entertainment by zip code, county, or town name.

7. 

   Drive around an area slowly.

   Many times you may feel you know an area and want to move there. However, if you drive the back streets and weave through the town you may find elements of the town you do not like. Get to know an area thoroughly before moving there not just for property value's sake, but for your own peace of mind and life. Consider taking pictures of neighborhoods you would like to live in so you can examine what you like and why you like it.

   * See more tips on finding the best places to live below.

Tips & Warnings

• Interview residents to get an inside feel for a location.

• Pay attention to cost of living costs.

• Look at crime rates in the area.

• Get a general description of the climate and weather patterns.

• See related articles above for more information on finding the best places to live.