Wow! Wonder if my friend has any idea of the local history. She and her husband (and horses) moved there from SoCal after falling in love with the area. They bought a big chunk of land and had a custom house, barn and arena built. From what I understand, it’s an equestrian community with an HOA.
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Odds are that they are among my 250 or so horse farmette neighbors. Our location should probably really be New Ellenton, but the equestrian community developer was able to get the development listed as Aiken properties around thirty years ago. An Aiken farm address is way more recognizable and marketable nationally than a New Ellenton address would be.
In this case of real estate it’s not the location, but what you call the location.
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Agree.
In the US, generally the better healthcare systems are in blue states and near ‘bougie’ urban population centers. Better funding, better laws, richer population. The Deep South and heavily red states like Oklahoma rank ridiculously low on healthcare (and education!). There’s a correlation there with drug legalization.
Also, basing NYS on NYC is just incorrect. Gerrymandering in the US will make you want to rip your hair out - if you feel like making yourself angry, look at Texas and Georgia. NYS is no exception.
Getting off my soapbox now.
To the OP’s specific question - I would avoid New Mexico and Oklahoma. Ohio actually sounds like a good fit, and I LOVE Aiken but it’s definitely The South. I’ve lived in all of these places but I think the Asheville area might feel better to OP vs Aiken. Just my 2 cents, and definitely would recommend spending some time driving around everywhere you are interested in. Get off the main gentrified streets and see what the area ACTUALLY has to offer. And dig deep into the healthcare system.
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To reseach an area, I look on reddit location topics, and for state reddit too, and ‘city-data forum’, look for moving to, or best areas. If you have FB, some places have local pages, or equestrian pages.
For health care, big cities may have better care. Where I live in Dothan AL, good care with two big hospitals, in Birmingham, UAB has a huge hospital, and it’s the transplant center there too. For Colorado, Co Springs has good care, for world class Denver is the best.
I’ve read that some places are hard to get a primary care physician or practice. Albuquerque has been mentioned as lacking in health care, and primary care options.
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I’m not sure if you’ve considered it, but you can check all of your boxes and get a massive amount of bang for your buck in Huntsville, AL and the surrounding area. There is quality healthcare since it is a military+NASA town, the COL is very reasonable compared to other cities on your list, and there is easy access to Nashville, Birmingham, and Atlanta within a couple of hours drive. There are a good number of dressage and combined training schooling shows, fox hunts, play days, etc that are a short haul away. They know how to salt the roads the once or twice a season that it does snow, and there are a few reputable equestrian property specific realtors there.
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OP - We’re thinking of selling our home with barn, indoor arena, etc that checks all of your boxes in the seacoast of New Hampshire - 10 mins from MA border. Wanted to throw it out there in case the location would be considered. Beautiful home, facility and a safe surrounding community 
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Everyone I know that lived in Colorado Springs has mentioned it was not a very safe place.
Also that when they bought horse feed, they could not leave a pickup unattended or what they bought would be gone in minutes.
I didn’t ask for more details, but that is what I have heard over several years.
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First, a general comment on healthcare. Even the reddest of deep south red states has, yes, I know it’s shocking, but has one or more areas where you will find institutes of higher learning, cultural institutions, and high quality healthcare. Even Florida Man has multiple options for living where he can get a top-notch education, attend the symphony, and get high quality health care.
I am familiar with some of the places on your “currently considering” list.
For Florida, rather than Ocala, I would choose the Gainesville area (northwest-west-southwest Alachua County). Gainesville, IMO, has a lot more to offer than Ocala and you’re still close enough to Ocala to haul in to a show.
I will mention, though, that the company I retired from had several regional offices, including one in Corvallis, OR and one in Florida. 100% of the people from the Corvallis office loathed the weather in Florida on occasions when they were sent to the Florida office to work on various projects. The bitching, moaning, and whining was endless. The heat, the humidity, the relentless sunshine, they hated it all. Going from the Portland, OR area to Florida may be a tough adjustment weather-wise.
I don’t really care for the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC area. I used to live in Cary (west of Raleigh) and work in Research Triangle Park. The traffic is awful. I’m not sure 1.5 mil is enough to get what you want unless you go at least two counties out. The farm my kids took riding lessons at was in Apex and I believe it is now a subdivision.
I lived in the Lexington, KY area for quite a while and still have family there. I hate the weather; winter there is way too wintery for me, but it’s a great place to live if that isn’t an issue for you. The Louisville area is also nice. Like @clanter said, check out some of the communities east of Louisville. Really, that whole area between Louisville and Lexington is dotted with nice communities.
I like the Tryon, NC/Landrum, SC area. You shouldn’t have any trouble finding exactly what you’re looking for with a 1.5 mil budget.
My son and his wife live in Hawaii (Maui). She doesn’t love it, says it’s difficult to live there and the cost of living is oppressive, and she’s from Japan, so that’s really saying something. He loves it, but in their relationship, he’s the grasshopper and she’s the ant, so that’s not too surprising. 
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For the Springs, it all depends on the exact part of town you are in. It’s a quirky place for schools too, they don’t have a city school system and a county system, they have a bunch of smaller systems, and all have their own rules. Some of the school systems, especially for high schools, are horrible and dangerous, others are top notch. The two school districts I have heard about that are good are Academy, and Fountain-Fort Carson.
Some of the central city areas are bad crime areas. I wouldn’t go near any of the big malls after dark.
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I had an indoor. I rode and cared for horses in the cold. But after so many decades it just wasn’t fun any more dealing with weather that was trying to kill me 6 months out of the year.
Having lived in the PNW and Portland, the asian fusion food that we take for granted there doesn’t exist in the the rest of the country. If quality seafood (fresh salmon, oysters, tuna, cold water fish,) is important, Denver is as far east as it exists (due to airline connections to Alaska). The southeast has great seafood but the difference between the Pacific and Atlantic is real.
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Get far away from too many humans. Good luck
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OP may want to contact you! I live in the same area (we may be neighbors, who knows) and I was thinking this might be a good area for them but the real estate inventory is so pitiful I didn’t bother mentioning it.
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I bet they’ll be glad to see you go!
What about TN or TX?
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There was a police show from that area I liked to watch. Lt Joe Kenda. Lots of murders!
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Yes, that was a great show. Sad cases though.
There is a new episode of that show coming out soon or it just came out recently
With the same detective?
I love his dry delivery. Also think it’s funny that the guy they have portraying him is drop dead gorgeous but Lt Kenda… ah maybe not so much.
He did a show on at least one cruise. That would be about the only reason for me to get on a ship. 
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I learned weird stuff on the show. Remember the young woman that was murdered, covered in peanut butter, and dumped in a mountain meadow?
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Thanks!
Thanks, good idea!
