February, 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!

This Month's FYS Featured City:
Gulf Shores/Orange Beach, Alabama
The glistening warm waters and silky sand beaches of Gulf Shores/Orange Beach—commonly referred to as "Pleasure Island,"—continue to attract new residents every year. Sitting on the edge of the Florida panhandle in the Gulf of Mexico, sun worshippers enjoy playing beach volleyball, building sandcastles, or racing across the water on sailboards. This island community, housing approximately 9,000 residents, offers fabulous views from skyscrapers that now dot the landscape. Although average housing rates have risen along with the skyscrapers, at $326,000, they are just a touch higher than the national average.

Locals and visitors enjoy access to the state's largest charter fishing fleet, offering sailing, diving, and dinner cruises. On dry ground, there are numerous championship golf courses; pathways for biking and running; and nature walks at Bon Secour National Wildlife Refuge. Looking for a break from the warm summer temperatures? Visit a multitude of downtown shops. Gulf Shores/Orange Beach prides itself on keeping the cost of living and crime rate down. By encouraging family travel to places such as Adventure Island or the Gulf Coast Exploreum science center, the community strives to minimize loitering by teens and young adults on local beaches and other popular hangouts. Thirty-two miles of world-famous beaches, over 200 days of sunshine a year, and all the fresh seafood one can eat... it doesn't get any better than this.

Tips for Long Distance Grandloving

Boomers are relocating in record numbers to areas where they can get more education, explore outdoor recreation opportunities, find scintillating arts and culture scenes, and start new jobs. Often their new or second homes lie far away from family. So, these boomers, many of whom are grandparents, must learn to send their love by phone, email, fax, and mail. This, says authors Sue Johnson and Julie Carlson in their book, Grandloving: Making Memories with Your Grandchildren, can be a bittersweet part of grandparenting.

However, there are techniques grandparents can do to alleviate the separation and encourage even the most stranger-shy toddler to smile with recognition when they meet "Opa" or "Bubbie" again.

According to Johnson and Carlson, grandparents can energize communications with stories and games that can only be imparted by the older generations. They can create photos and movies for their children, create and share family histories, chat by phone or by Internet, and/or send clever letters to their grandchildren. Read their article at www.55-alive.com to find out more great tips for long-distance grandloving.

Better Safe Than Sorry
Crime doesn't pay; but researching a city's crime rate before moving does

According to the Census Bureau, 40 million Americans relocate each year. But how many of these people do any real digging into a city's background before actually making the move? Moreover, how many do any research on a city's crime rate? Let's say that a couple is getting ready to retire, and they both decide that after living in the desert for the past 20 years, they're ready to settle somewhere near the coast. After searching for the perfect coastal destination, it is determined—because of the warm weather, friendly people, and a reasonable cost of living—that Corpus Christi, Texas is their ideal spot. They discover only after their move that the crime index in Corpus Christi is substantially higher than the national index. Disappointment and frustration set in. Now what? The importance of researching a city's rate of crime should be no less important than checking the new home for termite infestation or water damage. And nowadays, research is as easy as logging on to the Internet. Web sites such as www.wikipedia.org or www.city-data.com offer plenty of information, and http://www1.move.com/Move/Tools/CrimeLab.asp?poe=homestore allows a person to look at two cities at once and compare their crime rates. Jumping the gun on a move without doing proper research could result in a painful backfire!