Where would you live if...

Even though our mobile society is not so mobile anymore, retirees are. And the leading boomers who officially retire in 2011 (if they're not already out of their jobs due to lay-offs) will make us all look mobile even if only a fraction of them start traveling or moving. They will also talk about it more than most people do....

So, the #1 question becomes, Where would you live if you could live anywhere? Some typical answers are back home, where family is, and where it's warm.

Tom Bold and I chose the climate route with a sub-answer of where it's warm on the way to where family is. But there's another sub-answer and Tom gets credit for articulating it.

"You know, we've always had two priorities for neighborhood. We sure don't, now."

Those priorities were quality of schools (that affected one of our home purchases) and length of the commute to work (that affected all of our home purchases, four of them). Now? Except for a very slight interest in resale value, and I'll emphasize slight, we don't much care about the schools. The commute to work is even less of a consideration. Commuting now centers on Internet access, not road access.

One commute is of interest: number of minutes it takes to reach an off-leash dog park. Happily, with 18 dog parks, the greater Las Vegas area can be called dog-friendly.

What drives us, then, toward a neighborhood choice? So far, it's what is missing that calls to us: sidewalks. The best morning walks with a dog happen off pavement. So, it's just possible that the house hunting will be defined by concrete.

© 2010 Mary Bold, PhD, CFLE. The content of this blog or related web sites created by Mary Bold (http://www.marybold.com/, http://www.boldproductions.com/, College Intern Blog) is not under any circumstances to be regarded as professional, legal, financial, or medical advice. Or education advice. Or marital advice. Or even a tip.