My journal of our recent road trip generated some questions. In this space, I’ll tell you how I researched real estate from home. Hopefully, some things I learned might be useful to you.

Know your goals
Since we are Christians, we submit all our plans to God. Some of the things we are interested in are: living below our means so that Greg can leave the “rat race” earlier, keeping our family geographically together long-term, and growing food (for hobby, economic, health, and dependence reasons). These seem like worthwhile goals, but our first priority is “if the Lord wills.”

If you are just looking for adventure, book a whitewater rafting trip. The Ocoee River is pretty good.

Narrow your search
We were able to narrow our search to the southeastern US and Missouri for a few reasons. Climate, price, and convenience for Greg’s work travel were the three reasons for us. Florida, Georgia, and most Carolina prices were higher than we were willing to pay, and we never heard of any people who actually lived in Mississippi—so we were able to narrow our search to certain pockets of the southeast.

I’ve seen snow less than a handful of times. Greg was concerned about choosing a northern area with harsh winters (though, he and the kids would love it) when there wasn’t a reason to. I think it’s freezing in the 60’s, so I’m guessing that he just didn’t want to hear it from me for eight months a year.

Prioritize your search
Yesterday I mentioned that our four criteria for relocation were: significantly cheaper cost of living, a conservative reformed church nearby, a major city within an hour, and a climate/community hospitable to growing food. I could’ve saved a lot of time if I started with the cities wherein a perfect suitable church could be found. This was the most tricky to find. We don’t find it difficult to worship with those who are different from ourselves, but a church that adheres to the Westminster Confession is a more suitable long-term situation for us.

Begin with the criteria that will be most difficult to fulfill and work from there. I found a ton of great deals, perfect homes, and babbling creeks. The problem was that none of them met any of the other criteria. I could’ve saved countless hours if I would’ve thought of prioritizing first.

If you don’t have a work-from-home or independent income source, I’d guess that securing a job would be the first priority. If you work in a profession with high turnover rates, such as nurses and teachers, this is usually not a problem.

Know your search tools
It wasn’t terribly difficult to spent hundreds of hours over the course of several years looking at real estate. I happen to be a real estate junkie. (I even roped Greg into getting his real estate license for our use.) The problem was that I was wandering aimlessly. Never fear, though, you can start here.

I know this list doesn’t exhaust every search tool, but here are a few that I found quite helpful.

(1) Church denomination websites, under “Find a Church”
(2) City Data dot Com, for helpful demographics and usually a list of schools
(3) United Country, for real estate not found in MLS
(4) Realtor dot Com, follow the link to the listing agent’s website for more pictures and information and make sure you use the “advanced” search tool
(5) RealTracs, middle Tennessee property finder
(6) Land and Farm, properties for sale by owner
(7) Google [town, state] yellow pages, this is a quick way to browse the area: churches, hospitals, or whatever
(8) HSLDA by state, a quick reference for homeschool laws state-by-state
(9) Talk to people (especially locals), ask questions
(10) Cost of living calculator

* Please feel free to add more helpful sites in the comment box.

Hit the road
While you can save a lot of time by doing legwork beforehand, there’s nothing like being there. I can’t tell you how many times we pulled in somewhere and I said, “Uh, this doesn’t look anything like the pictures. There was no mention of the interstate behind the house on the description…”

Conversely, when we drove through the northern Tennessee town of Livingston a year ago, the charm of the downtown square left an impression on me. It’s a nice place.

Have fun
Patience is a virtue. We’re the kind of folks who enjoy roots in the community. I was born in Orlando and made my first move an hour away six years ago. That’s it.

Considering a move can be a stressful thing, especially if you have houseful of little ones. Make sure your goals are worthy ones. If you’re not happy where you’re at, you won’t be happy wherever you’re going.