April, 2007

	The FYS Spotlight Ezine highlights exciting new cities that the FindYourSpot.com team has added to the website, and it includes informative articles pertaining to everything from America's most tornado-prone areas to the importance of evaluating hospitals before relocating. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please write to editor@findyourspot.com. We look forward to hearing from you!

FYS Spotlight Featured City of the Month
Billings, Montana
At dusk, lightning from a distant thunderstorm illuminates the navy blue sky, and the rumbling of thunder intensifies. As the storm maneuvers across the vast Yellowstone Valley, raindrops begin to fall, only to be absorbed by the semiarid landscape of the city known as the "Star of the Big Sky Country."

Spring precipitation helps keep the local rivers flowing, the fishers trawling, and kayaks and canoes moving swiftly downriver. Anglers come for the prize trout, and hunters, hikers, and rock climbers come to explore one or more of six nearby mountain ranges. In winter, both downhill and cross-country skiers have more than enough slopes and trails at their beck and call.

Culture aficionados enjoy a plethora of events at the Alberta Bair Theater, where frequent performances are offered by the Billings Symphony Orchestra and the Billings Chorale. Numerous events are also presented by local universities.

Billings' universities also play a major role in ensuring quality education. Montana State University—ranked "one of America's best colleges" according to a recent report by U.S. News & World Report—offers a variety of classes, degree programs, and vocational and technical studies. Rocky Mountain College was ranked by U.S. News & World Report as one of the "top 10 best comprehensive colleges in the West."

Whether it's quality schooling or anything else, Billings lessens the financial burden. Both the cost of living and home prices are below the national average. Whatever the attraction—affordability, numerous recreational prospects, arts and culture, or to raise a family in a low crime city with good schools—Billings' options are endless.

Housing Boomers

Baby Boomers are again exerting their gravitational pull on the American socio-cultural landscape. Now in a state of housing flux, the 400-pound gorilla of a demographic has its sights set on the housing market, redefining expectations and priorities of mature homebuyers, and changing the face of residential development. Increasingly, however, these Empty Nesters are breaking away from traditional expectations. Nanette Overly, director of sales and marketing services for Dublin, Ohio-based Epcon Communities, says they are moving across town, rather than across the country.

Some homebuilders recognize this and are providing an expanded range of innovative housing options—right down the street. New Boomer-friendly housing options incorporate thoughtful design and development strategies that target this demographic. These include ample open space and tall ceilings, kitchens with highly functional, expansive counter space, convenient and accessible laundry rooms, and wider hallways.

These new strategies also extend out into the community by incorporating fitness centers, swimming pools, and workout facilities, which echo the optimism and energy of the "Boomer Consumer." Activity is very important to Boomers, and access to a high quality fitness center is a necessity, rather than a luxury. Boomers don't want to change their lifestyle, they want to enhance it.

Read Overly's full article at www.55-alive.com for more on what Boomers want.

Getting the "dirt" on relocating house plants
Tips on a triumphant transplant

Most green thumbs wouldn't consider moving to a new home without both their indoor and outdoor plants. What if (horrors) the new residents killed the irises the previous owner planted ten years ago! To make the move most effective for a ficus, ivy, or outdoor perennials, follow these quick tips.

Make the plants comfortable.

"Put yourself in the pot," says Mick Gainan, the owner of Gainan's Heights Greenhouse & Garden Center in Billings, Montana. "Plants are like people; they don't like to move."

Try to find places for plants as quickly as possible and make sure if they faced south in the old house, that they end up in a south-facing spot in the new house.

Water the plants the day before the move. Also, prevent the dirt from shaking out of the pot during the journey and after reaching the new abode by padding the dirt with damp newspaper. And, remember to keep them away from direct sun, drafts, or heater vents.

Gainan suggests putting outdoor plants in a sheet of burlap.

"Take as much soil as you can, and pop that whole plant out of the ground," he says. "Move them to the new location—the same day if you can. Call a local garden center if you're having problems."

To read more, please visit the FindYourSpot.com blog.