Paisley
I'll Lock Up
- Messages
- 5,439
- Location
- Indianapolis
Paisley, everything you mention about Indianapolis sounds good. Even the notion that the "seedy" part of town is readily identifiable; here (Noo Awlins) the seedy and the nice bump up against each other everywhere, and you can easily find yourself in the former by crossing an avenue in the latter. But aren't you annoyed by those cracked street surfaces? They look almost as bad as the ones that make my grind my teeth when I drive here -- and here we don't have the excuse of frost heaves and the like. Are the cracked streets confined to side streets, or are the avenues like that too?A nice place, and good for your balance sheet. Low costs, and not many normative cues to run out and buy a Navigator or a $500 purse or even a dishwasher. And hiking in the forests nearby restores me in a way that the Rockies never did.
Thanks, Ian! A lot of people think I'm nuts for moving here from Colorado. But between the lower cost of living, less time in traffic, a nicer, paid-for house, and beautiful parks and museums close by, I'm just not seeing whatever big mistake they think I've made.
Thanks! Yes, Denver had a few potholes, but it seemed the city spent all summer repairing them to be ready for the next winter. Here in Da Swamp, the potholes have small animal families living in them. (Not really, but it seems they've been there that long.) You have a 20-degree temp variation in Indianapolis? I'm lucky to see 10 degrees right now (80 at dawn, 90 at 4 pm. 'Struth). And it's rarely any better in the so-called winter.The heat in Denver is a dry heat, doncha know. Kidding aside, though, the past several years have been a lot hotter in Denver than I recall it as a kid. My parents' house, which just sold for over $400,000, had no A/C; my little cracker box had just a window unit and security screen doors that could be left open at night to let chilly air be fanned into the house. It cools off at night in Denver; it doesn't here. Forty-degree temperature variations over the course of 24 hours are normal in Denver; here, it's more like 20 degrees. Be that as it may, the places I've been to here all have A/C. So does my house. It's been in the 90s here lately, so I'm glad to have it.
In gentrifying areas here, there are abandoned houses next to nicely tended ones and hipsters in the hood. But that's the exception. Most places, major streets are dividing lines.
The highways are well-paved here, but some of the little side streets have potholes that could hide a cat. After the blizzard of 2003 in Denver, Broadway wasn't quite that bad, but close. It took years for it to be repaved. The freeze-thaw cycles in Denver (see wide temperature variations above) make for a lot of potholes there, too.
Please ignore this question if you wish as it is personal - but your story was personal and this question sort of jumped out at me as a key pivot to being able to move or not: were you able to find a similar job to the one you had at similar compensation? The reason I ask is, for me, any move would be driven by an ability to find / replace a job. To be sure, if the cost of living - as you noted - is lower, then less compensation might be okay.
It took a few months, but I just got a job offer that matches what I was making at my old firm, with half the commuting time.
Thanks, FF! Yes, that was one of the most stressful things I ever went through: my job being up in the air (I didn't know whether my employer would keep me on in the Indy office), plus buying a house from a thousand miles away before selling the old one. Doing research on the front end of that consumed me for months before I decided to take a calculated risk; even so, I had a lot of sleepless nights.
Again, kudos to you. I've never had the guts to buy and then sell or move and then search. I've moved cities twice for jobs, but had the job offer firmly in had (in writing) before moving. That said, there is definitely something excitation about taking a leap - so glad it's work out so well for you.
Welcome! I love some of the architecture here, especially the old French empire houses. There was nothing like that in Denver.
One of the tornadoes that came through here today touched down on the east side, but I don't think it did any damage.