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Well, forewarned is forearmed. Lots of research to do. Maybe even spend a
day at the courthouse when they are hearing evictions. That could scare me
straight into leaving the house vacant while we tour the retirement areas of
the country. We really want to be in a natural disaster free zone, having
had a lifetime's share of hurricanes, floods and most recently, tornadoes
and earthquakes. At some point, rebuilding your life from scratch loses its
novelty value. )-" With all these drastic changes in the weather, it's hard
to say where the best places to live are anymore.

--
Bobby G.



Don't know where you will find an area free of natural disasters...if
there is one, then man-made disasters probably make up for what nature
missed ) My neighborhood in Florida was largely retirees, of course.
When the old folks die off, they tend to be replaced by rather useless
children...kids who live off parents tend to jump into inherited
property, as opposed to kids who have their own stable life. I guessed
that 80% of my neighbors had alcohol and/or drug problems. Numerous
trust-fund babies. I have no problem with folks having wealth, but
there is a definite group of utterly worthless people who have always
lived off their parents and have never made their own way...so, a fancy
address doesn't mean they haven't had multiple DUI's (lawyered-up,
thanks to mommy and daddy), drug use/selling, etc. Prescription drug
use was epidemic, and I believe the county had two or three hundred
deaths last year from rx drug od's. I wouldn't buy property anywhere in
Florida nowadays. There are still plenty of snow-birds who own condos
that are rarely used or are rented short-time...condos with non-resident
owners are hell-holes because managing is "not my job".

I moved back to Indiana, and there are some great buys...have looked at
a couple of old homes with really great bones that need to be updated.
Also lots of small, starter homes. All foreclosures or HUD owned. Just
had news of another local layoff of 200 or more people from one of the
larger employers, so things aren't fixed yet.

I think employment and housing ref's would be very important, and then
trust you gut. I'm thinking if one advertises a rental that it must
include that requirement to help avoid discrimination nonsense.