We are Portable …

Kilgour Fountain in Hyde Park Square

With Susan’s decision to retire we realized that our retirement home could be anyplace in the world. We quickly limited it to the U.S.

On studying lists of the best places to retire we found that the Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill area rated particularly high, so we visited it in the fall of 2006. We knew two couples there and met them for dinner. We also spent one day with a local real estate agent looking at condos and planned communities. While we felt that RDCH was a bit too scattered for our tastes the concept of the planned communities, with their “village” feel appealed greatly.

We visited good friends in Columbus and did a brief real estate tour. Columbus was in the running because of our friends there and Susan’s OSU opportunity. Still we were not enthused about Columbus, and decided to add one more stop to our search.

So Cincinnati entered the picture. Susan was born and raised in Cincinnati, frequently visited with her family in the area, but had not lived there in almost 40 years. She contacted a friend at the University of Cincinnati to see if there might be a part-time teaching opportunity, and was encouraged to visit the chairman of the Political Science department.

We visited in late 2006; Susan made her usual good impression, and received an attractive offer contingent on approval further up the organization. On our real estate tour there we found several attractive neighborhoods, and Cincy moved high in our consideration.

We were particularly impressed with the Hyde Park neighborhood, a planned community of a century ago. We decided that, if we moved to Cincinnati, we would rent initially while we got to know the area better and that Hyde Park was our preferred rental location.

Homing In …

Cincinnati soon became our first choice for a number of reasons. It is the largest metro area of the three locations we considered, but its system of neighborhoods makes it feel approachable. It is the most attractive area, downright mountainous for we flatlanders. Its cultural opportunities are numerous and varied. We attended a symphony event before our move, one since, and have subscribed to Playhouse in the Park and Broadway across America.

Once the choice was made, back in New Orleans, Susan began an online search for rental property in Hyde Park. We signed up for one, based on only a virtual tour, and prepared for our move.

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