I would REALLY love to move. There are many reasons why, and there are a few reasons why we can't move right now. But that's not my question. This is it:

Is there ANY place that you know of that would fit these picky criteria???

1. Lower cost of living (Right now, our mortgage is about $400 - I can't imagine spending $1200 on a mortgage!! Not with our budget!)
2. Safe neighborhoods
3. Good schools
4. Quality churches
5. In the Midwest
6. Friendly people
7. Middle-class wage earners and values (however you want to describe that! Right now, I am living in and teaching in an area that is extremely low socioeconomically, and we are concerned about some of the things that our future children will experience and be exposed to if we continue to live here.)
8. Not in the middle of the nowhere
9. A Walmart in the town - I know, this sounds silly, I'm sure.
10. A "homey" feel

Is there such a place? I feel like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, asking Toto if there is such a place as Somewhere Over the Rainbow!!!!!!

Any insight you can give would be great. Thanks!

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Where I live in IA I think we have most of what you described. I live in a middle class neighborhood, 3 bedroom ranch and my mortgage is only $630/month. I think every city/town has it's share of crime--we just live in a different side of town. Yep, we have 2 Superwalmarts

Where I live fits alot of that! We do pay $900 a month on our mortgage (which was a huge jump from our middle of nowhere house!) But we needed to have a larger house with 4 + bedrooms. There are less expensive ones around here!

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Have you thought about looking on the outskirts of big cities? I don't know where you are in Missouri, but we live in a suburb of St. Louis. I think that most of the criteria you mentioned is met. Although our mortgage is $1,200 a month, we live in a neighborhood that is only 5 years old and I'm sure there are mortgages for much less around! By living in a suburb, it has the safer/small town feel (everything is close by) and is a great place to raise kids because you are within a short drive to a ton of FREE attractions (the zoo, science center, art museum, history museum, etc.). Plus, by living closer to a large city, your pay as a teacher should also increase.

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http://halfpintjen.blogspot.com/

My little suburb of Chicago fits that to a T, except for the mortgage part. If you move to a different area, you might find a better paying job and then could afford more for the mortgage. ***Good Luck!***

I don't think you will find many places ANYWHERE that have a $400 mortgage. Other than that and not being in the midwest, my part of Florida fits the bill. No state income tax, good values (again, the Panhandle - not the rest of the state - not that they don't exist in the rest of the state, just a different mindset at times), good schools (our county is the top county in Florida), etc.

I am sure there are places that would fit some if not most of what you list. I really don't think you would find lower than $400 mortgages many places though unless you were in a dump and that might be counter to some of your other points.

We live in Fishers, Indiana and love it! It has all the things you describe and the school system is top notch (Hamilton South Eastern School District) It actually got rated as one of the top 100 best towns to live in for families in the U.S.

omg, I wish my mortgage was $1200, let alone $400. You definitely don't want to move to NY!

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You have described the place we want to move our family to, but can't due to Tommy's health issues. (We don't want to leave his doctors here) We want to move to my husband's home town of Bardstown, KY.

Bardstown, Kentucky (KY) Detailed Profile - relocation, real estate, travel, jobs, hospitals, schools, crime, news, sex offenders

I grew up in nearby Elizabethtown, KY.

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Or Vermont! Darn. As I was reading your post, or the very beginning of it, I was ready to sell you on Vermont. I don't even think there's a 1 bedroom RENTAL in the state for $400. Sorry. Oh yeah, then I kept reading about the midwest....Anyway, Vermont wlecomes you whenever you might want to visit

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~Jenn~