As of July first, my partner and I started staying in downtown Seattle. We were hoping to do so for around three months to see how we liked being in an urban area. After that, we were planning on spending one to three months in each of the following places to see how we liked them (with the goal of picking one of them as a place to put down roots): Albuquerque NM, Austin TX, Tulsa OK/Fayetteville AR, and Reno NV.

Unfortunately, our car was just stolen, our storage unit was broken into, and we will have to leave the apartment downtown by the end of July, so we are now re-evaluating our plans/trying to figure out what to do.

We see our options as follows:

1. Push Forward; find a new place to stay in Seattle for at least two more months.

   1. Pros:

      1. Keeps with the existing plan and lets us hold our word with our friends here (who we told we'd be here until the end of September).

      2. Lets us spend the summer in Northwest by far the most comfortable summer of any of our options).

      3. Shows us the best example of living in an urban area.

      4. We don't need to buy a car for another month or two.

   2. Cons:

      1. Getting a short term rental in Seattle on short notice ends up quite expensive.

      2. Months 2 and 3 are less valuable then month 1 for determining if we'd like it here - we are already reasonably confident we would.

      3. We're somewhat bitter about downtown Seattle right now - through no fault of our own we've gotten repeatedly screwed here over the past 2 weeks.

2. Retreat; move to Fayetteville/Tulsa (or maybe Austin) where our family is.

   1. Pros:

      1. Spending time there was part of the plan anyways (and I feel no matter what, we will need to spend no less than 2 months in Fayetteville due to filial obligations)

      2. The housing market in Tulsa wonderfully cheap - we could buy a home there and never have to worry about having a place to live again (while knowing the home is cheap enough it doesn't have much opportunity cost loss).

      3. Lets us experience a different style of life - our adult lives have been spent in rich left leaning cities (Portland, Seattle, Boulder).

   2. Cons:

      1. We don't expect to find as much of a culture fit as Seattle, in Tulsa.

      2. Personal/property safety is probably not any better

      3. Missing out on Seattle Pro's.

3. Sidestep; purchase an RV and travel for while.

   1. Pros:

      1. We've thought it'd be quite cool to buy an RV and travel for a while - it lets us explore all of the above cities with less transaction cost each move.

      2. Lets us be more flexible as a whole - if we decide we want to build a house instead of buying one wherever we settle down, we own a place to live while doing so (and can do something like park it on the lot we buy).

   2. Cons:

      1. Not really cheaper than the alternatives after factoring in the cost of a place to park near a city.

      2. Our exploration of each city would be lower quality, as places to park are often outside of the parts of the city we'd want to live long term.

4. None of the above; chosen if we end up wishing we did something not at all close to what is listed above.

I will pick the option that closest describes what we wish we did in the month 2023AUG, as of some point during 2023DEC.

Please feel free to ask any questions you want in the comments - assuming there are no egregious violations of privacy by responding I will answer.

I will manalink anyone who makes a comment/provides insight I had not though of atleast Ṁ100 (and up to Ṁ1000, depending on how insightful), and any non-bot bettor Ṁ15.

I reserve the right to N/A this market if I come up with a better way to make it, or if I feel it would make my life significantly better to do so.

Some wider context:

1. Facts:

   1. We're in our early twenties.

   2. I work a remote job for a biotech consulting firm.

   3. We both grew up primarily in Portland.

   4. The family we wish to keep in contact with moved to Austin/Fayetteville soon after we left Portland.

   5. A close family member in Fayetteville is currently terminal with a slowly progressing disease. We need to spend atleast a couple months there. We do not intend to spend the rest of our lives there.

2. Wants:

   1. Long term, we want to settle in a politically libertarian (pro-drug, pro-choice, pro-gun, pro-housing, anti-tax, etc) region.

   2. Long term, we want to settle in a region with a strong EA community.

   3. Long term, we want to settle in a geographically beautiful region.

   4. Long term, we want to be able to have work nearby if I am no longer able to work remotely (Seattle, Austin, Boston).

   5. We enjoy spending less money.