Perhaps NY?

Just back from a whirlwind exploration of upstate NY. Emphasis on the whirl.

Over the last six months I have evaluated nearly every interesting area that I would consider moving to; Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Sonoma, Portland, Sedona, Santa Fe, Charleston, and the Hudson Valley area of NY.

When all was said and done, I decided that Saugerties, NY was just about the perfect area for me. Highly creative. Tons of hiking and yoga. Nice people. Low crime. Cheap houses. Lots of art and culture. Tubing and water stuffs! Near enough to my friends and family in NYC, but far enough away that I wouldn't feel driven to commute to NYC for work. Because honestly, at the core of everything that is me, I really need to ditch the tech world and focus on my creative work right now. I SO need to breathe for a while.

So my very nice realtor took me around to see a half-dozen houses in the area. She also drove me around the entire area to get me more acclimated. What I learned was this... It's definitely a cool area, but some of the beautiful old Martha Stewart-y farm houses and barns are really old and run down inside!! I mean, I know I have it in me to flip houses, but I'm good at doing new bathrooms, not reinforcing barns or beams or stabilizing foundations.

Some properties are better than others, and there are those with quite a lot of potential. But it's got me re-evaluating now. Damn! My mind was made up. But I find myself drifting over to realtor.com to check out my second runner-up location, Santa Fe. Mulling, mulling...